Secret Dragon

Chapter 11

Wyvern

Most of the castle had to be rebuilt since of age and the elements, but some we could salvage. Snow and ice cold enough to use as building materials. It was nice to see mom and dad back in their kingdom, with their people, where they didn’t have to hide anymore. I smiled to myself as I saw dad talking to some builders.

"They seem happy." Cadmus smirking at me from over my shoulder. I jumped a little since I didn't even notice he came up to me.

"You startled me!" Once I calmed down I snuggled against him. "Yeah it's nice to see them where they belong. Even your dad is helping."

"Yeah apparently they were friends during their reigns." I leaned against his shoulder and just smiled at them working hard to rebuild our life again.

Unknown

“This can’t be! The Blizzard King and Queen had been missing for years and now they’re suddenly back?!” I couldn’t believe my eyes! The castle was being rebuilt! I partially shifted to let my wings spread and flew as quickly as I could to my meeting spot in the woods.

“Well what’s going on over there?” My informant asks me angrily since she’s unable to fly there without her wings freezing.

“The Blizzard King and Queen have returned and they also have a princess that’s of age.”

“What!? That means that the queen is going to be more cranky than usual.” I can see the annoyance on her face. She paces the forest floor trying to come up with something. “Ugh I’m tired of making tea parties for her and that bratty princess. The one that claimed to be the prince’s mate is so much better.” For once we agreed on something, but I couldn’t say my opinions in the castle without being out of work.

“I know the feeling, both of them are just planning parties all the time and it's usually just for them and that fire island which is odd since it’s too cold for them in the first place so why not just have her mate with someone from the desert or her own kind?”

“Not sure and to be honest, not my place. I just do as I’m told and keep my head down if I want to keep working.” She seemed like a nice girl, and I couldn’t hate her for just doing as she was told.

“Well I better tell her the report you told me. She’s not going to be happy. Be careful in that cold.” She flew off towards the capital and I watched her until she was out of sight. I made my way back to the Blizzard kingdom.

Cadmus

Everyone has been working for hours and the castle is coming along nicely. The main hall and a couple of towers have been rebuilt. Back to its snow and ice glory. Her parents seem to be happy with the progress so I am too, but something doesn’t feel right.

“Dad, isn't this going a bit too smoothly? Shouldn’t we head back and check on mom?” I had almost forgotten about her and her house arrest.

“Yeah we probably should. I’ll let them know we need to head back.” He goes off to talk to Wyvern’s parents and I find Wyvern looking over construction for what I guess would be our room.

“We need to head back to the capital.”

“Why? Is something wrong?” She looks at me with concern and it makes me smile a little to know she cares.

“I don’t think so, but we’ve been gone long enough that mom could get into something and that worries me. Especially if that annoying princess didn’t leave like I’m guessing she didn’t." To be honest I almost forgot about them. Spending time with dad, her parents and Wyvern has been a nice day. Now for the reality check… we get back just in time to see a bunch of ladies walking into the palace garden.

“Mom? What’s going on?” I asked her very confusedly. She was supposed to be on house arrest according to dad!

“Having my annual summer tea party. I would’ve had it in the spring but due to… unforeseen circumstances I had to change it.” Motioning the extra guards around her.

“You’re supposed to be under house arrest.” Dad spoke to her angrily and frankly I don’t blame him.

“And technically I am. Hence the extra guards. They haven’t left my side since I left my… prison cell.” She says with a disgusted look on her face.

“Fine… no causing trouble.” We

“Just a moment! Before you gentlemen go, Wyvern, why don’t you join us?” We look at each other in shock. She’s never been to a royal function before and even as frivolous as this one it’s still a royal function. She looks nervous, but how hard can a tea party be? Right?

“Uuhh… sure let me change into something more suitable and join you. Thank you, your Majesty.” We both hurry off to our room and see if we can find a suitable dress for her to wear. Normally her peasant ones would be fine but not for her first function. She found a soft pink dress that went past her knees and I thought it was classy enough for it, but clothes aren't my strong suit. I just know what looks nice on her.

“You look lovely, dear.” I kiss her cheek as she does some light makeup and I don’t want to mess her up.

“Thanks, I hope this will help.” She puts on some white sandals, a pearl necklace and earrings, and a floral headband. “Think this will please your mother?” I know she’s trying really hard to please her, but mother can be hard to get on her good side.

“I think so, you make us happy.” I nuzzle her neck making my dragon almost purr in contentment.

“Thank you, dear, and I know you’re easy to please, but let’s see if I can try to please your mother and her friends. Who are these other queens anyway?”

“Probably the Volcano queen, Princess Kendra’s mother. Ugh, I’m sorry… maybe queens from neighboring kingdoms, their princesses and general wives. So the queen of Huricus, the air kingdom, the water kingdom, Ocecadis, the snow kingdom would’ve been invited but no one has seen them in a long time.” I smirk at her knowing her little secret. “Anyway, the mountain and forest kingdom of Terbius, the desert kingdom of Seri, the Shadow kingdom of Malefis and the human kingdom of Crovaria.”

“Whoa… I didn’t realize there were that many kingdoms.”

“Easy, I know this is your first royal function even if it is frivolous, but you’re going to be great. Just be yourself.” She gives me a small smile and a kiss on my cheek.

“Thanks for the pep talk, I better get down there, before your mom starts something.”

Wyvern

I take some deep breaths and go back downstairs and into the garden. I get glares and some smiles from all the ladies and some guards. One of the maids gives me a sparkly drink of I guess champagne and I politely take one. A lush garden of grass is contoured by rare hedges, bushes, and shrubs. A couple of pudgy trees stand in the back, their trunk and crown form an almost protective roof of the garden. The flowers and plants are well kept, precisely cut, and meticulously looked after; they're highlighted with garden lights. The hedges, bushes, and shrubs reach 1.2m/4ft high, but this happens only when well cared for. Various stepping stones mark the best spots, giving people an elegant way of exploring the garden and all it has to offer. Grass and plants creep and crawl their way beyond their own borders, sneakingly trying to take just a little more land. The trees, beech trees, have stood there for several decades, and demand all attention, but in doing so also draw the attention to all the life forms living on them. The flowers and plants make sure they're paid attention to as well, and the hedges, bushes, and shrubs are hard to miss, but the rest will just always be eclipsed by the beech trees. A small tent and a pagoda offer shade for everyone. I know that his mother and her friend are going to give me snooty looks but I try to find someone friendly to talk to.

“Wyvern??” I perked up when someone called my name and it was one of the maids. “You may not remember me, but I was your cellmate on your first day in jail years ago!”

“Oh my goodness Elena!” I hugged her for a good minute. I had honestly forgotten about her, glad life seemed to have gone well for her after she got out. “Glad to know you’re doing well.”

“Beats being in jail. I’ve been here for the past four years and been to these way too many times so I can tell you the who’s who of these things.”

“You’re a lifesaver! I have no idea who these ladies are!”

“Over there in the shade under the pagoda is the shadow queen, her majesty Queen Malinda Klauth.” She was in an elegant black lace dress that was similar to mine. Modest but tasteful. “The one talking to the human queen is the air queen. Her majesty Mariana Spencer and her princess Regina of the human kingdom. I think the princess is in her early 20s. And Queen Aeria Vox of the air.” Both queens are just beautiful. The air queen in a sky blue a-line tea dress, and the human queen in a soft light green, tea length dress. “Um who else… ooh the water and mountain/forest queens talking together. Her majesty's Queen Azuris Rainpeak and her princess Marissa but everyone calls her Maris, I think she’s in her mid 20s. Queen Eden Monaghan and her princess Fauna.” She points to them and they’re just as regal and elegant. The water queen is in a vintage style pale blue tea length dress and the forest queen is in a dark forest green mermaid style dress that went to her knees.

“Who’s that almost tanning in her chair?” I asked her confusedly.

“Oh that’s the desert queen. Not surprised she’s soaking up the sun, she’s probably cold here.” Soon the door opens behind me and I see the last person I expected to find.

“Mother! I finally made it!” I closed my eyes hoping it was a dream, but sadly not.

“I see you’ve met Princess Kindra from the volcano island.” She giggles at my reaction. Kindra, not surprisingly, is wearing a bright orange floral dress, walking towards her mother and Cadmus’ mother.

“Not formally, but when she arrived Prince Cadmus and I just found out we were mates, and the king thought he threw her out. I can tell you the gossip later. We have so much to catch up on!” I hugged her again and smiled. At least I had one friendly face.

“I know the blizzard queen and princess would’ve come, but they haven’t been seen in years! Wouldn’t that be exciting if they came!?” I smile and let out a nervous laugh.

“Yeah that’d be very exciting. Well I guess I should make the rounds. I’ll talk to you later.” I walk towards the princesses since they seem close to my age.

“Hello, your highness.” I gave them both a nice curtsy out of respect. “My name is Wyvern Tiamat. I’m Prince Cadmus’ mate.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I'm Princess Maris of Ocecadis, but Princess Kindra was going around saying she was his mate.” I let out a low growl on accident and covered my mouth quickly. “Oh yeah, you’re the real deal. My parents do that all the time if someone insults them.” She giggles at my growl and at least they believe me. Princess Maris matches her mother in the same kind of dress but instead of a crown she’s wearing a raindrop necklace.

“I’m Princess Fauna of the mountain and forest kingdom, Terbius.”

“I’m going to need a lesson in all these kingdoms. I’m just from a small cottage on the outskirts of Galvan close to Flurris.” They both shiver at the thought. I giggle since I don’t mind the cold.

“Too cold. You must be either an ice or snow dragon.”

“My dad is an ice dragon, my mom is human.” I gave them a small smile on their shocked faces.

“Human?? That’s rare. Are you a royal?” Princess Fauna asked out of curiosity, and I don’t want to drop the bomb of my real identity yet, but I like making friends.

“No I’m not, just a real lucky peasant who met the prince at the wrong time. He trapped me in a net.” We all laughed and I told them how we met. Minus the part of the last few days of us being in Flurris.

“Well that’s unconventional. One way to meet your mate.” We all laugh and the next princess joins us.

“Hello, you’re new. I don’t recognize you.” She also looked my age and was wearing a simple floral off the shoulder tea length dress.

“Hello, your highness.” I gave them both a nice curtsy out of respect. “My name is Wyvern Tiamat. I’m Prince Cadmus’ mate.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I'm Princess Regina of Crovaria.” We both curtsy to each other. “Glad you’re the real mate and not Princess Kindra. She’s so full of herself.” We all laugh cause we know it’s true.

“You didn’t believe her when she said she was Prince Cadmus’ mate?” They all laughed again, but I’m left confused.

“Absolutely not! There was no way he was going to take that bimbo as his mate!” Princess Maris boldly said and I was left shocked. “Most of us royals usually have a chosen mate since we’re unfortunate enough to not find our real mate, but he got lucky. Seems like he found her all along. Plus I heard that Cadmus’ mother and Princess Kindra are on house arrest!”

“That’s true, they tried to put a sleeping potion on me.” They were the ones shocked this time.

“Such a crime is treasonous!” Princess Maris spoke up first. “If it were me, I’d banish them or put them on trial!”

“Actually the king put them on house arrest and Princess Kindra was in the dungeons until now.” They all gasped at the thought of a princess being in such a horrible state.

“I’m actually not surprised that a greedy and power hungry family is bound to get in trouble someday.” Princess Fauna spoke up, and the rest agreed. At least they were all on my side. Soon we heard a teacup being banged on and we all took a seat together.

“Thank you all for coming ladies. As you’ve noticed…” She cleared her throat and had a disgusted look on her face. “We have a new guest joining us today.” I see Cadmus leaning against the doorway that leads to a hallway.

“Sorry to interrupt ladies.” Some applause came from my table of fellow princesses. “Despite what my mother was about to say or what some… other guests” He makes a pointed look to the Sunswirls. “Have been saying today, I wanted to make the air clear.” He walks over to me with a smile and opens his arm for me to take. “This lovely lady.” Making me blush already! “Is my fated and chosen mate. Wyvern Tiamat.” Cheering and applause abrupts louder from my table and I think I just made some new friends. Meanwhile his mom, the queen and princess Sunswirl look like a mix of envy green and angry red as a shiny apple. The other queens looked just as happy as the other princesses so I’ll make sure to say hi to them as well.

“Anything you’d like to say, Wyvern?” He asks me with a smile on my face.

“Speech!” Princess Maris yells at us.

“Well how can I say no to that. Thank you kindly to Queen Adelinda for inviting me. I’ve had a wonderful time and made lots of new friends. I can’t wait to spend more time with you all, I’m sure we’ll see each other soon. Oh and if there’s any maids still around make sure the guards get something non-alcoholic to drink. Don’t want them getting thirsty while on the job.” Some of the other queens nodded in agreement and offered their guard a drink of their choice. “Now I’m sure you don’t want to hear me blab for hours so let’s enjoy the party.” The crowd applauded me and went back to their conversations.

“Very tasteful and thoughtful.” Princess Maris golf clapped me and Cadmus looked like he was a proud peacock wanting to show me off to the fellow kingdoms. I see the water queen heading towards Maris.

“Welcome to this crazy bunch of gossiping queens and princesses. I’m Queen Azuris, some call me Zuri, some just call me mom.” Giving Maris a hug. “Don’t let Queen Adelinda get to you, most of us just ignore her since we all know she’s the type of mate that’s a glorified party planner and wanted her son’s mate to be the same. I’m so glad that you’re not the same. You’re probably the best thing to happen in this kingdom.” Queen Zuri hugs me and nudges to Maris. “Unfortunately for us we have to start flying back home towards the coast, but when you start doing your kingdom tour we’ll be happy to have you in Ocecadis.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“Call me, Zuri. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of you.” She smiles and Maris gets up from her seat to head out. I like them and hope we’ll keep being friends. I walk them out to be polite and a nice host.

“Bye I hope to see you soon.” They shift into their beautiful ocean blue dragons and head south towards the ocean.