Rise of the Phoenix

Chapter 2: The Ice Prince

The dragon stood in the middle of the room, staring at me, a disturbingly hungry look in his eye. It was said that sometimes dragons blended easily with humans, but looking at the one in front of me I didn’t see how. He towered over everyone in the room, unnaturally beautiful, graceful, and strong.

The crowd had parted for him and watched our silent exchange with bated breath. My heart thudded as I tried to decipher if he could tell what I was, or if he thought I was merely a dragon-blood. I had never felt more like prey than I had in this moment. 

No one else would even dare to outbid him. I wasn’t sure if they even could; it was an obscene amount of gold for one slave. Pretty sure there were princesses with smaller dowries than a thousand gold pieces. 

He had to know what I was. No one was fool enough to spend that much money on a slave, and yet I saw nothing in his face or manner that indicated he knew what he was buying. 

He looked, well, irritated. I lifted an eyebrow at him, and one side of his lip curled in a predatory smirk. Well, at east my impending enslavement was amusing to his supreme sexiness. 

There was so much tension in the room I could have cut myself a slice, spread it with butter, and eaten it for breakfast. No one moved, no one breathed, and no one spoke. Even the auctioneer was rendered speechless. When the auctioneer did finally speak, he could only say one word. 

“Sold.” 

“Take her outside,” the Prince called to the guards. The guard took my arm gently and started ushering me through the crowded room to the exit, even carrying the length of chain for me. It seems not even a cruel slaver guard would dare disrespect the Prince’s property, which I was now. 

It felt amazing to be outside in the fresh air, despite the pain my eyes felt from being in darkness the last week. For a moment, I almost forgot my impending doom.

Two more dragons were loading male slaves into a wagon. At least I assumed they were dragons, because they were also insanely large men with the same ice blue eyes as the Prince. Both of them turned to me and stared, not even bothering to conceal their astonishment. My heart was beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings in my chest. 

“What have you done, your highness?” the older of the two men asked in a low voice. The other man’s look of astonishment had morphed into a wide grin. 

“Doesn’t she come with… you know, clothing? She’s practically naked, and she’s not even wearing shoes,” the Prince frowned at me while addressing the slaver guard. 

If Callie had been in sight, I’d have given her a smug look and a proper ‘I told you so’.

“Their masters usually prefer them this way, so they can test the goods on the way home. I don’t know nuffin’ bout no dresses,” the guard answered gruffly. “All I’ve been given were the keys to the dragon-steel.”

The older dragon glanced at me, and then opened the door of the wagon. He looked to me, and then back at the wagon again before scratching at the back of his neck in frustration. 

“She can’t ride in there with the men,” the older dragon frowned. Every set of eyes in the slave wagon was turned on me, probably either undressing me or sizing up how much of a fight I’d put up. I shuddered, taking a step backwards and nearly tripping over my own bare feet. 

I was caught by two strong hands against my waist. I snapped my head back to come face to face with the smiling dragon accompanying the Prince. 

“Careful, lovely,” he cooed, not even bothering to remove his hands from my person. His nostrils flared, taking in my scent, but nothing in his demeanor made me think he realized what he was smelling. 

I glanced at the Prince, who looked supremely annoyed if the furrow on his handsome brow was any sort of indication.

The smiling dragon was certainly handsome, too, but in the generically bland way that I’d seen a hundred times before on a thousand other men. He was muscular and blond, with a boyish grin showcasing pearly white teeth. 

On the other hand, the Prince was striking- hauntingly so. I’d be dreaming of him for many lonely nights to come, as much as I hated to admit it. Then again, I was a sucker for anything dangerous, and he was chock-full of that. 

The Prince effortlessly handed some sort of heavy sack to the guard, who accepted it with a heavy grunt. “That’s six hundred pieces,” the Prince said off-handedly, like he wasn’t holding enough precious metal to feed several villages for the next decade. “The rest will arrive within a week, as the dragon flies.”

The guard blanched, staring at the gold in awe. I guess the old wives tales about dragons hoarding gold held some truth after all. I watched the guard scamper off with the gold and I wondered what was keeping him from just wandering off with it, but then I remembered no one would dare cross a dragon. Well, maybe I would, but that was besides the point.

“Hah! You really did it!” the blond dragon laughed. “You actually bought a bed slave, and a dragon-blooded one at that. That’s so… royal of you.”

The Prince rolled his eyes, but he had taken to slipping on a pair of rather expensive looking riding gloves and didn’t look up from his task. 

“Damned inconvenient time to go exercising your royal whims, Prince Tai,” the older dragon complained. “Where am I supposed to put her?”

“Can’t she ride in the box with you?” the Prince asked, his deep voice radiating annoyance.

“Where would she sit? On Desmond’s lap?”

“Oh, please?” the blond dragon smirked. “That would be delightful.” I supposed he must be Desmond. The Prince didn’t seem to like that idea, judging by the faint snarl perched on his lips. 

“Never again! I’m still trying to forget about the last time we shared a tent and made ‘friends’ with those Lavarian dancers,” the other dragon snorted. “And before you say anything, neither one of us is leaving this post until these men are delivered to his highness in one piece.”

“Gods! I let a few humans escape and suddenly I’m no better than a grunt,” Desmond whined. 

“The humans escaped because you spent three days cavorting and carousing with prostitutes on the way back!” The older dragon took one finger and jabbed it at Desmond’s chest. Desmond only grinned and threw a laviscious wink at me. 

“Enough!” The Prince waved them silent and they obeyed instantly. “I don’t want another word from you two unless it’s about how to take care of my current problem.” He gestured towards me again, leaving me to wonder why he even bothered to bid if I was such a problem. 

“You could fly her back,” Desmond shrugged. 

“Wearing that? She’ll freeze, that is, if she doesn’t fall off first,” the older dragon scoffed.  

“No, Corvyn is right. We’ll have to get to a town first. She needs clothing. Afterwards, we can decide if we need another horse or if I can risk flying,” the Prince replied. 

I had no idea why I hadn’t said anything. I suppose the shock and despair at having been purchased by a dragon was still in effect. And he wasn’t just any dragon— a devastatingly handsome, royal one. 

I listened to them argue about how to keep me safe during the trip back to their land, and it dawned on me that they couldn’t possibly know about the whole phoenix thing, or else they wouldn’t be so hotly debating my safety as if I were some fragile, breakable creature. 

I was used to being underestimated. I was on the puny side, as much as I hated to admit it. I was strong compared to a human woman, but still nothing to write home about.  But I was quick when it counted, and that got me out of most of my scrapes. 

If only I could be quick enough to escape from dragons, everything would be just peachy. 

“She’ll ride with me for now,” the Prince said finally. 

I almost gasped aloud, but caught my tongue at the last second. That close to the Prince? I was screwed.