Secret Dragon

Chapter 5

Wyvern

As soon as I stepped outside it felt like a tidal wave hit me. I could feel my emotions again! I had felt nothing for so long that I forgot what it was like to have emotions. I stop the guard and they look back at me.

“Are you alright?” The king asks me worriedly.

“I’m not sure, your majesty. I just feel so much after feeling nothing for a year.” I get tears in my eyes and I look at my guard. My head is swirling and yet Hayle is… purring?

“Maybe you should sit down.” Charming offers me a nearby bench and we all sit together. Sure, it's just completely normal to sit with a royal guard and the king!

“Mate is here! He’s right next to us!” Hayle pips up.

“What do you mean, Hayle? Mates are rare! You heard what Charming said!”

“Yet he’s sitting right next to us! Charming is our mate!” There’s no way! I’ve been talking to my mate this whole time?! I slowly look at Charming who’s holding my hand.

“Charming? Are you…” I’m so nervous to ask this in front of the king… “Are you my mate?” Both of them look stunned and say nothing at first.

“I think I broke them, Hayle! What do I do!?” I’m slowly freaking out and trying to calm my breathing.

“Relax, they’re just as stunned as you are. As Charming said, mates are rare, and if Charming is who I think he is, then we’re going to be in for culture shock.”

“Culture shock?” Charming puts his hand on my shoulder and it calms me so much. Just by instinct, I put my head on his shoulder and my panic was calm.

“Are you ok?” Charming looks at me with worry on his face.

“Yeah… I think so.”

“Why don’t you two go for a walk.” The king suggested, and he stood up from the bench. “I better go inside and tell the queen and the visiting princess she can go home. Don’t you two worry I’ll handle those two.” He heads towards the palace and we’re all alone.

“Did you know?” I asked him seriously.

“I wasn’t sure, but I had a suspicion. It was confirmed when you came outside.” I took another deep breath to calm down. Soon I hear an angry scream come from the house. Guess the princess knows. We both turn to see fiery red hair, a sky blue day dress that hugs her nicely, hazel eyes and her fair complexion seems like she barely does any work. Course I can’t really talk either.

“What is the meaning of this!? Why does the king tell me I can go home!?” She screams at Charming and I’m still confused.

“It means that you can go home. I don’t need an arranged marriage anymore. Go back to your island!” She screams at us again and stomps away like a toddler not getting her way.

“Yikes… she’s… pleasant.” I tried to say something nice, but that was hard.

“Wyvern… I think we need to talk. I know somewhere where we can have some privacy.” He takes my hand, and it makes me feel all warm inside. We go into the woods where the hustle and bustle of the capital disappear and it’s just us and the woods. Soon we’re on the foothills of the mountains and I’m thinking this is more of an exploration than just a quick hike in the woods.

“Where are we going, Charming?” I asked him finally. He turns to me with a smirk and squeezes my hand gently.

“My family’s cabin, it’s not far. We don’t use it much anymore so no one will think to look here.” In the distance, there’s a two-story cabin. It looked more like a house than a cabin. He does some magic to unlock the door. I guess only royals can get in here. “Come on in.” He opens the door for me and I can’t help but blush.

“Thank you,” I tell him quietly. I walk in and it is beautiful. The living room is full of light and a view of the mountains from a different angle. The kitchen is nice and big with a kitchen table and dining room. The stairs to the upstairs are near a fireplace and it sounds so good right now. Spring hasn’t quite come yet and I’m longing for warmer weather.

“Lovely cabin.” I try to take the nerves out, but I’m still nervous.

“Thanks. I’ll make us some dinner.” He heads towards the kitchen and I just follow. He can cook?? I thought he had servants to do that if he’s who I think he is.

“Charming… why didn’t you tell me who you really were?” I ask him timidly and almost afraid to find out. What if he thinks I’m too common to be a future princess?

“I wanted to get to know you organically. Not because I was a prince.” So he really is…

“So you really are him? Prince Cadmus?” I look in his eyes, and his eyes flash from his normal blueish gray to an icy gray. I gasp and try to hide it by covering my mouth with my hands. “You are him…” I give him a little bow to show respect, but he grabs onto my waist.

“You don’t have to bow to me, ever. You’re my princess… my outlaw princess.” He smirks at me and it feels like we’re back in my jail cell. Everything seemed simpler there. “You’re my equal, and I’m sure you have lots of questions, but I will answer them the best I can. Did I know, sort of? I guessed you were, but with the spell around the jail it was hard to tell.”

“Let’s hold off on dinner and let me see the house some more.” I pull him close to me and he shows me around. A sunroom, living room, bathrooms, bedrooms…

“There are 5 beds, but I think we’ll only need one.” He kisses my cheek and I feel flushed. The thought of sharing a bed with him!

“Isn’t there some special ceremony we’d need to do to share a bed?”

“Of course, mother would want to have a mating ceremony, but we have time until then.”

“And until then I’d like my own room,” I smirk at him and he seems sad.

“Fine… I’ll be all alone…”

“Ooh, my prince will all be lonely.” I giggle as he pouts at me. I feel better knowing that he supports me even if I am just a peasant.

“Now I’m sure you’re just itching to go back to your family, so you lead the way and you can introduce me to your family officially as your mate.” I blush again at the thought. My first time home in a year and I bring a boy home, and not just any boy, THE PRINCE!

“Sure I’d like that.” We leave our cabin sanctuary and off we go into the woods again. Soon the woods became familiar as my little family cottage peeked out of the woods.

“Father! Mother! I’m finally home!” I shout from outside while holding Cadmus’ hand with my other. I shout again and when my father finally comes out, he looks like he's aged so much in the year I was gone, and starts looking for me. “Father! Oh, father!” I let go of Cadmus and ran to him. Tears of joy started running down my eyes and I hugged him like I’ve wanted to so many times while in jail.

“How are you here? I thought you had years left on your sentence!?” He looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“I told them the truth and they believed me. Also, being on good behavior helped.” We chuckle as the thought of me being in jail just hours ago seemed like a distant memory. He hugs me tighter and the smell of him just makes me feel like I’m home. His scent of wintergreens and an icy breeze. Soon I hear mother coming outside to join us.

“Oh Wyvern! We’ve missed you so much!” She hugs us and it just turns into a big group hug. Her scent of white birch, frost and a hint of cranberry makes me smile. “Let’s go inside. I have some hot chocolate in the kettle right now.” We all head inside and home is just as I remember. Small, cozy, but comfortable enough for the three of us. Two beds, two baths, a kitchen and living room. We don’t need much, but this is all I’ve known. When Cadmus comes inside my parents almost seem to have forgotten he was with me.

“Oh right, how silly of me. This is-”

“Your highness!” My dad bows out of respect for him.

“Oh that’s alright, we’re family now, right?” He smiles at him and it just warms my heart that he welcomes my family like his own.

“Right.” Dad holds out his hand and Cadmus gladly shakes it. “Well… this makes things… interesting… there’s something we have to tell you both.” I know pretty much all there is to know, so what secret could they have been hiding from me?

“Dad? What’s wrong?

“There’s something we should’ve told you a long time ago, but I was too ashamed to tell you.” He takes a deep breath and his eyes look sad. I take his hand into mine to try to comfort him.

“It’s ok dad… take your time.” I give him a small smile and that seems to calm him.

“We didn’t always live like this.” To my memories, yes we have…

“I don’t understand. This has always been home.” Mom pipes up and grabs my hand with tears in her eyes.

“Well of course you wouldn’t remember. You were probably two, maybe three when this happened. Go on dear… she has a right to know.”

“Remember when I told you to hide in Flurris?” I shake my head yes, and urge him to go on. “That used to be home…”

“I don’t understand. There was no castle there, just dragons running wild and caves everywhere.”

“That’s because it got destroyed… the people revolted against us and didn’t want us as their king and queen anymore… even got a very powerful witch to take away your mother’s dragon…” That’s why I’ve never seen her dragon!?

“Oh mother… I’m so sorry…” I gave her another hug as I could see her tears falling.

“I still miss her sometimes… her name was Frost… she was a snow dragon.”

“That’s why the dragons didn’t harm me when I stayed there for months, maybe they still remembered you or they just didn’t know who I was and helped me out of pity.” Cadmus puts an arm around me trying to comfort me.

“I’m not sure why they helped you, but I’m glad they did. They used to call us the Blizzard King and Queen. You were going to be the Blizzard Princess when you turned 16, and got your dragon. That never happened… for some reason there was this group of revolters who rallied the kingdom against us even though we didn’t do anything for them to revolt against us. Our beautiful castle of snow and ice was gone… and we were thrown out. I built this little cottage with my two hands while your mother took care of you. It’s not the castle we were used to, but it’s been our home for the past… 22 years… and our reign has been forgotten to time.” Dad cups my cheek and wipes away my tears with his thumb “You’ll always be my princess.” I hug him again and just keep on crying into his shoulder.

“She’ll be in good hands with me,” Cadmus speaks up with a smile and with confidence.

“I know she will.” Dad smiles at us and it’s like he’s giving us his blessing.”Go upstairs and take whatever things you need.” We head upstairs to my room. My little sanctuary for most of my life until my prison sentence. Dresses that mom and I have made together over the years, childhood toys that have been boxed up and saved for my own children, books on dragons that I’ve learned from, even a figurine of what Hayle looks like with a little frosted crown on her head. Until now I didn’t know why she had one, but now it makes more sense.

“I guess my peasant clothes aren’t going to fit in at the castle, but maybe I could sneak a couple for days when I want to go to market and help around a little,” Cadmus smirks at me and grabs me by my waist.

“And here I thought you were done with your sneaky ways. Didn’t a year in jail do nothing?” We both laughed as I grabbed some of my favorite dresses.

“Of course it did. I’d take you with me.” I kiss his cheek just to prove my point.

“Oh that makes it so much better.” Sarcasm noted… I chuckle at his remark and I put my Hayle figurine with my dresses so it doesn’t get smashed in transit.

“Well, I can’t get in trouble if you’re with me, now can I?” I smirk at him back. “You’re still my guard and now my mate, what a better choice to come with me if I want to. Plus now I can pay back that butcher that I stole from.”

“I suppose I could. I need to keep an eye on you.” We both laugh again, and I finish packing up some shoes, blankets and family pictures in a different box. I don’t have much, but the stuff I do keep I at least can wear when I’m not doing princessy things.

“I think that’s everything.” I look around the semi-empty room and look around to see if I missed anything. We head back downstairs where my parents are waiting for us.

“Got everything you want, dear?” Mom asks shyly.

“Yeah I think so, and if I missed something just a good reason to come back and visit.” I smile at them and give them another hug.

“We love you so much and we couldn’t be prouder for you finding your mate.” Dad smiles at me too and gives me another hug.

“You’ll be able to visit, once we get settled.” Cadmus promises them with a smile.

“Thanks, we'll wait for your letter.” We head towards the door and Cadmus shifts to his dragon so I can carry my stuff on his back. His dragon is just as handsome as he is.

“Hello, mate. My name is Volt.” He tells me in my mind and I squeal. My parents come out of the house with worry.

“He talked to me in my mind!”

“All dragons do that. It’s called a mindlink. Once you’ve recognized each other as mates, you establish a connection. His dragon was probably saying hi to you.” Dad smirks as he explains it to me.

“Oh…” I look back at the large dragon. 10ft tall, 24ft length, 27ft wingspan. He’s black and dark grays like a thunderstorm before it happens. Volt has horns all around his face like it’s a crown and hook-like claws on the end of his wings.

“It’s ok, Hayle. I won’t hurt you. There’s plenty of room for those boxes. Just hold on to them. We don’t want anything to blow away.” He smirks at me and I bop him on his shoulder.

“I didn’t introduce Hayle to you, how did you know her?” I asked him curiously.

“You mentioned her when you were in jail. How you missed flying, remember?”

“Oh, yeah…” I blush sheepishly. I climb onto his back as dad hands me my boxes.

“We love you!” My parents wave at me as we fly. I hold on to him and the boxes and when we fly, it’s just magical. I’ve never ridden on anyone else besides my dad. What would’ve taken a few hours, maybe the rest of the day, took minutes! We’re back in the capital and we land just outside of it so we don’t take out anyone. He shifts back to himself after I take the boxes off his back.

“Thanks for the ride.” I blush shyly trying to hide it. “Everything made it safely, nothing flew off.”

“Good. Now let’s go to the palace… we knew this would happen, eventually.”

“Yeah… hopefully that volcano princess is gone.”

“Me too…” We walk through the market with the boxes in my hand and we find that butcher I stole from.

“YOU! You’re the one who stole from me!” He screams at me angrily.

“Yeah, I know… I did my time, but I got some money from my parents. Here…” I gave him a small bag of coins, just enough to pay for the meat I took. “I think this is enough and then some for what I took.” The merchant didn’t even notice Cadmus next to me but that’s ok. “You’re welcome,” I smirk at him and we walk away. I held my head high as I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. When we get to the gates of the castle, the guards give me a disgusted look as if I’m some scum that’s walked in.

“Open the gate!” Cadmus tells the gatekeeper and after a few seconds of shock, they open the gate for us. Now the real fun begins.