Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers. I likely never will, but that doesn't mean I don't hold out hope. I will, however, use the wonderful world that is Slayers to further develop my plans for a Totalitarian Regime in which I am Supreme Overlord of Your Plan—Oops, what I meant was, I will use the Slayers world to develop offshoots of characters of my own make and design. Enjoy!

AN: This plot bunny comes from my story, The Chaos Within. Devorit is such an effing bastard that I had to write more of him out. This is his story. Well… His and Evanth's at least, though Filia and the Supreme Elder do play an important part as well because it's Vrabazard's sect of Golden Dragons. Be warned, this is not as upbeat a fic as TCW. It deals with very dark and mature themes. Not safe for work or for young eyes. Turn back… Turn back before it's too late.

Evanth had always known she was different. Not different in a good way, or a cute way, or even a weird way.

No, she was different in a bad way.

A way that made her an outcast. A way that made the rest of the dragons of her race more likely to talk about her, but less likely to talk to her, and much less likely to become friends with her. A way that made Evanth feel despised and hated by everyone around her.

Ever since Evanth had been a tiny hatchling, she had been told she was different by anyone and everyone who had thought to inform her of the state of her life—as if she didn't know—so that she would know that yes, she was in fact different.

Well, the truth was that many of those very same people thought to expound upon their beliefs when she informed them that she knew she was different. They would instead tell her that she was worthless and undeserving of life, and it would have been better for all if she had just not hatched like the rest of her clutch. Aside from the fact that the only baby dragon to survive out of the four eggs her mama had laid was just a useless female, Evanth had been determined to be of very miniscule magical talent—which made her even more useless for future purposes.

For what point was there to having a female dragon who could not even cast magic?

The Golden Dragons of Vrabazard's sect were a Priestly order, and as such, females needed to be able to cast magic. The need in males to cast magic wasn't as great because males could always become warriors—and since the Great War and the many deaths that came from it, there was definitely a need for more male warriors. Females could not become warriors, especially since they were obviously the weaker sex—besides they were needed in more feminine positions. If Evanth had been born a male, her lack in magic might have been overlooked. But she had not, and she could not even cast a lowly mage light for the life of her.

It was obvious to all of the Golden Dragons under the Fire Dragon King that Evanth really was just a waste of space and food, and even the air she breathed.

A lot of the males that spent time around her mother had often told her that she was also a waste of energy and effort. That the time her mama spent on taking care of her could be put to better use.

Like serving them.

Though Evanth's mother was considered even more pathetic than she—because her first clutch was and would be the only one she would ever lay again, technically her mother was currently more useful because she was still able to serve all those males, and Evanth was not.

When Evanth eventually came of age for breeding, she—like her mother before her—would be allowed to lay a clutch of her very own. If any survived, it was possible that Evanth would be allowed to continue laying eggs, as that would be all that she would be good for. But she would at least finally have a purpose in life and would no longer be a waste of anyone else's energy.

Of course that was only if the eggs were viable, and had at least some magical potential—or, a much likelier possibility, if the eggs contained strong and mostly male dragonets. If she happened to lay eggs that contained females who had no magical potential whatsoever, she would be denied the ability to breed and would become casteless, just like her mother had become.

Evanth had been told once by one of the kindly female dragons serving her and her mama their allotment of food for the day—after she had been bemoaning her sad lot in life—that the other eggs in her clutch had had great magical potential. That had likely been due to her father—she had never been told who he was, and had never met him because he apparently felt that she was such an embarrassment—but because her mother had obviously been so physically weak, the rest of her clutch had died in their eggs.

It was presumed that their great magical potential had killed them before they could even hatch because it warred with their weak physical bodies. Only Evanth, who was known to have the magical talent of a human of their world outside the Great Barrier, had survived and likely only because her talent was so weak so as not to consume her.

Evanth had heard more often than not, that many of the males wished that at least one of those eggs had survived to hatch, because all of the eggs Evanth's mother had laid had been female. Many of the males, and a number of the females lamented that if only one of those eggs had survived instead of Evanth, that female wouldn't have been a total loss for she at least would have been able to cast magic.

It depressed Evanth to know that her dead sisters were more desired than she was.

She would have ended her life early on, except for one thing. Her mama.

Her mother was so much more hurt over the loss of her eggs than Evanth was over being execrated for what she was, that Evanth knew if she did something so selfish, her mama would take her own life as well. Her poor mama, who had suffered so much already just to provide for her baby girl, was already past the breaking point. All she had left in her poor shattered life was her only daughter, Evanth. Evanth knew that everything her mama did was to make her life that much better. And she knew she could never give up so easily because her mama never had.

Evanth wasn't surprised that this kindly female knew more than she did about her own dead sisters—Evanth and her mother were the subject of much gossip among practically every caste in their society, except maybe the priestly caste. Being in such a small city with only dragons for company for centuries made its inhabitants even more isolated from the rest of the world, and gossip was the best way to pass the time while work was being done. Fortunately, that female dragon hadn't said what she had to be mean to Evanth. The female Golden Dragons of Flarelord's Order typically weren't mean to other females, especially not when they were in the same caste, or close to it. They may not go out of their way to talk to her or make friends with her, but they also didn't go out of their way to be cruel to her either.

That seemed to be the job of the males.

And the High Priestesses—but then they typically were cloistered within the temple, and were not allowed to converse with the lesser born, like Evanth.

Still, it had hurt to hear the actual reason she was so reviled.

It wasn't her fault, was it?

Evanth knew better than to bring up such a subject to her mama, who seemed more and more listless as the years passed. She knew better than to bring her poor mama more grief, especially when she could see just how broken her mother was. Her mother's eyes had long ago lost that spark of life to them that everyone else seemed to have. But even without it, her mama still told her everyday that she loved her precious daughter and that she would do anything she could to make Evanth happy.

No, Evanth would never tell her mama about her personal troubles, about the cruelty of the other Golden Dragons.

But Evanth was tired of being different. Of being scorned and worse by the males that passed her by in the huge halls and walkways of their city.

Of being ignored.

Of being useless.

Of being unwanted.

Evanth knew her duty was to her God, Vrabazard. Even if she was dismissed by the other Golden Dragons because she was a mere low class female. Even if she was detested because she had no magic in her being. Even if her dead sisters would have made much more desirable female dragons than she. Even if she, like her mother, would never bear a proper clutch and become casteless.

She was still a Golden Dragon of Firelord Vrabazard.

And her God could not abhor her.

Evanth was one of His creations. And she had been taught that all of His creations had purpose. She had survived because He felt there was reason for her existence. She didn't yet know what that function was, but she was determined to make sure she lived up to it and pleased her God with her determination. She would not be a waste, and her talents would not be squandered.

And if the Elders of Vrabazard's Temple could not come up with a better purpose for her than breeding, then she would.

Evanth knew from her studies that not all priestly work was magic and potions and worship to their God. There was cleaning to do, and other non-essential tasks that the priestly caste was not expected to soil themselves with.

She had pestered the oldest priestesses—whose magic was practically drained from their frail old bodies and were no longer as important as they once were—about what needed doing most and had discovered that there was an even greater need in the temple.

Anyone could clean the Temple of debris. And acolytes, those Golden Dragons who actually had enough magical talent to cast some spells—like mage lights—were important for setting up the altars and magic circles required for heavy duty spell casting done by the priests. Acolytes were supposed to make sure the side chapels and shrines were kept in order for praying and worship. But not everyone could write legibly, or more importantly, not everyone could make exact copies by hand of whatever was before them. A scribe was sometimes—according to those old priestesses—the single most important person in a temple, not the priests and priestesses, the acolytes or even the servants.

And there was always a need for scribes.

Magic users didn't have time to copy their complicated and practically illegible grimoires into comprehensible books for usage by their pupils. Priests always had letters and correspondence that needed to be written and the time it took to actually write it all out was unacceptable when those priests had other duties that needed to be attended to—like praying to their God.

And, Evanth's penmanship wasn't too shabby.

Plus, books and spells always needed to be translated from Ancient Golden into Common for the younger priests that didn't have the time to learn their ancient language and then still cast the powerful magicks expected of them.

Evanth had been praised, on more than one occasion, for her absolute brilliance in languages. It was the only thing, aside from her lovely script, that she had ever been commended for in her entire life.

That small bit of praise was like water to a dying plant.

It made her flourish!

She took that approval and applied herself to all of her studies, except for the ones that required magical learning and that she was not allowed to attend anyway. Evanth wanted to hear more and more compliments, so she had become very studious during the three hundred and fifty years of life that she had been allowed to learn outside of her home.

If nothing else, Evanth was very clever, and she realized that she had a place among Vrabazard's Golden Dragons after all. She could be a scribe, and she would be a good one.

The best.

With her only prospect in life the demeaning task of a brood female, or worse if that didn't work out, she prepared herself for her interview with the Elders. She had gone before them once previously, and aside from being nervous, she had been unprepared. Which was to be expected with a mother who had withdrawn into herself, and no one to explain to a struggling young Evanth what to expect when she faced the Elders, the first and only time, for her purpose.

Evanth did not want to be allowed a single chance at being a brood female, and then to end up like her beloved mama, without any prospects but pure drudgery.

So yes, she may have been weak magically speaking, and she may have only been a weak female unable to do much physically beyond breeding. But her other skills could be useful. Those skills may not be viewed as too important by the priests—but they were still important enough that she may have found a better purpose than what she was expected to do, to become.

Evanth walked into the long dark hall that was the lone entrance to the chamber that the Elders took their councils. Evanth knew that this hall had been created for dragons, for her kind—but as a low caste female, she was not allowed to be in her dragon form for more than a couple of hours a day, and this was not one of those times. She felt like an ant walking through the hallway of a human's home. She stood as straight as she could, but in her human form she was rather diminutive… and chubby.

For the most part her human form reflected her current health as a true Golden Dragon, and the plumpness of her figure compared to other female dragons her age showed she was extraordinarily healthy—too healthy, in fact. She was only around four hundred years old, and she was still a hundred years or so off from puberty—at least based on the time scale when all the female dragons were officially considered adults, which was at five hundred years. Evanth knew her human body was changing to accommodate this, growing older, despite the fact that it was supposed to stop so that she looked like she was only thirteen. The other girls that were her age and older all looked as they were supposed to. Evanth on the other hand, felt like she looked just a tiny bit older… maybe fourteen? Her human body had actually developed breasts and hips—nothing prominent like her mama or any of the other adult females who had been adjusted physically when they turned five hundred—but enough that she stood out quite a bit in comparison to the other girls.

Perhaps it was because she had yet to lose her baby fat…

And maybe because she was eating more than she was supposed to.

Her mama wasn't eating as much as she was supposed to for an adult, so Evanth ate most of her mama's portion as well—Evanth couldn't bear to see the food go to waste, and it would go to waste if she didn't eat it. She knew it was against the teachings—that females weren't allowed more than a certain amount of food per day and were only given the amount they were expected to eat for the age they were. But she just could not stand the idea of burning or discarding the very nutrition that she hungered for day after day, and as she grew older the amount she hungered for increased. Even with the amount she ate, including most of her mama's adult portion, she still fell asleep hungry every night.

She couldn't imagine how her mama was surviving on so little.

Perhaps it was because she was already an adult.

Evanth had been told that females stopped growing after they hit puberty, after they had their first clutch. It certainly seemed that way. All the adult females that she had seen flying around the temple were all the same size and rather small when she really thought about it.

The males of her race, especially the adult males, were huge when compared to the fully-grown females. An adult female of five hundred years next to a male of the same age was always half the size of her male counterpart. The same female next to a male twice her age was sometimes only a third the size of the male. And Evanth had once seen an adult female next to the Supreme Elder—she had only been a fourth the size of the Supreme Elder. She had been told once, by that same kindly female dragon serving her her food, that the males didn't stop growing—and Evanth could certainly attest that this was accurate just based on the fact that the oldest males were definitely the largest.

Finally the enormous doors swung open to allow Evanth admittance into the council chamber. It was a long slow walk to the middle of the room, the eyes of the Elders and of the gigantic statue of her God on her the entire time. She prayed quite fervently to Vrabazard that she wouldn't fall this time.

The first time she had ever entered this hall, she had face-planted badly in front of the very Elders she had hoped to impress—she had taken too deep a step in her hurry and tripped on the hem of her hand-me-down dress, ripping the practically threadbare material at the knees and showing the skin of her legs into the bargain—and they didn't take too kindly to her clumsiness, or nakedness, in front of their God, or themselves for that matter.

When Evanth was in the center of the room, like last time, she realized that they would not be generous this time and allow her a chair. That hurt, but she refused to allow it to affect her. She had been upset by far worse, a lot of the insults thrown at her while she had only been a child were much more vindictive than this petty one.

The Supreme Elder spoke up the moment she was in the exact center of the room. "So, you have learned a little more decorum in the past year."

He was trying to keep her off balance mentally, but she held her head high instead. He had snidely told her a year ago that she would exist as a breeding female—not that she had been expecting much else—and then nothing more than a servant to a large number of the males if her first clutch was less than a miracle. With the knowledge she had now, she knew her future sanity was at stake if she stayed on that path. She would not end up like her beloved mama—Evanth knew that even now, her mama was doing more than cleaning while she was in the lairs of the males she worked for. She was in the service of only males for a reason, and it was not because they needed her as a breeder.

The older male practically sneered down on her. "You have us asked to convene. Do not waste our time."

It was now or never, and Evanth would not waste her last chance to be useful in a proper setting. "I would implore you to reconsider my purpose."

The Supreme Elder sat back in his high-backed chair, the scowl on his gnarly old face and the snarl on his thin lips making him look every inch the predator he was. It was obvious that he had been expecting this, and he'd had the time to formulate an argument against her. "Reconsider? You are to be a brood female to build up our depleted stock of fighting males—if your body can actually sustain a clutch longer than your whore of a mother. If it cannot, than you will do what is expected of you and service the males whose mates are brooding and unable. What is there to reconsider? You are not mating material. Your utterly weak talent in magic proves that. And out of your mother's first clutch only you survived, which means the same will likely happen to you as well. You are not even fit to become a breeding female based on these disadvantages alone, and yet you beseech me to reconsider?" There was almost a laugh there, at the end of his speech, as if he found the whole idea preposterous.

Evanth steeled up her courage, she had to in the face of such oppression. She would not be a whore. There had to be more to life than that. Her Lord Vrabazard could not have made sure she alone survived out of her dead clutch just to be a whore among His servants. "I do, Supreme Elder."

The Supreme Elder snarled. "And what is it that you think you can do, that others could not do better?"

Evanth gulped. "I am quite adept at languages Supreme Elder. And I have been told on more than one occasion that my writing is that of a scribe's skill level, and that with time, and more experience and practice, it could be even better."

One of the Elders spoke up, while the Supreme Elder glared at Evanth. He was not as old as the Supreme Elder, but then again, she didn't think any dragon could be as old. What was the Supreme Elder, two… three thousand years old? He was also not as cruel as the Supreme Elder seemed to be, as he looked as if he were actually considering her statement. "If this is the truth, then why did you not say so before when we asked you a year ago what talents you possessed?"

Here it was; the glimmer of hope she had might actually have a basis. "I was not aware at that time that these were skills of any import. I was told that only magical talent was the most important thing I could have."

The Supreme Elder was quick to cut her hopes down. "It is. We are a priestly order. Do you honestly think that a female has any worth besides magic and the ability to produce viable offspring?"

Evanth grasped tightly to her hopes, her dreams and the last of her courage. If he said no after this, she was done for. She would be just another temple whore, her body to be used until she was a mere reflection of what once was or could have been. "I am sorry Supreme Elder-

"As you should be." The old man interrupted as he triumphantly smirked down at her.

Evanth had not finished, and she hated that he thought she was supplicating forgiveness from him. That spark of anger forced her to drive her words through with more vehemence than was allowed an underage low caste female to her elders. "I am sorry Supreme Elder, Elders, but do not priestly orders also need scribes and translators? Our priests and priestesses cannot be expected to waste their time with such tedious work when they can be bettering their magical skills. I have heard say, while serving at the temple, that there is even a backlog of work that needs to be done with the grimoires as there haven't been scribes enough to copy down all the new Holy Spells that have been created since the Kôma War. Surely I could be of more use with just my scribing abilities alone, than wasting away until I am of age to eventually produce an unfit clutch. I would think you would want my time spent more wisely at least until I am old enough to be suited with another task."

For the first time since Evanth had walked into this way too large council chamber, the Supreme Elder was not sneering down at her. He was frowning, yes, but not sneering. She didn't know if that was a good sign. Without even a glance to his fellows, the old male gave a slight imperceptible nod. Evanth might have missed it had she not been paying such close attention to him. "Leave us."

Evanth did as she was told, and immediately. She knew not to expect a yes so soon. A definite no was the only response she would have gotten right then. They still might tell her no. But at least now, they would reconsider their former ruling, and she had a possible chance of yes.

Her glimmer of hope for a better life became just a spark brighter as the massive doors closed behind her.

The adrenaline wracking through her body from facing the Supreme Elder a second time was wearing off, and her nerves were hitting her full-tilt. She even had to stop for a moment just to calm herself down a bit. She hadn't eaten anything all day for fear of puking it and looking less decorous in front of the Council of Elders. She was glad now that she hadn't eaten because she still felt like puking, especially as she thought of how the conversation could have turned had she not argued her case more effectively. Evanth hoped the nerve sickness would go away soon because the afternoon time was coming up for all the females to transform into their dragon forms so they could stretch their wings and fly. And she dare not go flying without anything in her stomach. But even now, she wasn't hungry.

How could she be after facing him? The Supreme Elder wanted her to fail, wanted her to be just another whore like her mother.

She was young and vigorous, and her mama was not.

Evanth had heard complaints on more than one occasion that it was too bad that she was still too young to be taken. It had made her blood run cold. She was not naïve, not about that at least. She knew what she was expected of her. Her mama had nightmares constantly, and some of the things she screamed whilst in the grip of them were chilling. Evanth knew exactly what she had to look forward to for the rest of her life if she just let the world go by without trying to change it.

And the hungry stares were starting to get bad. They were even worse than the looks of disgust she had gotten most of her life. The males didn't want her to be a brood female, as that meant that she would actually be mated to only the strongest of the lot, or the one that would produce the best offspring with her—which meant most of them wouldn't get a chance to have her. The males were hoping she'd turn out just like her mother and be barren. They were hoping she'd become casteless, because that meant she was fair game, to any and all of them.

They, like the Supreme Elder, wanted her to be their new whore…

In her human form, Evanth was short… and pudgy. It wasn't exactly a choice she had made. Her mama had made the decision for her human design when she had been a wee babe, and until she hit puberty, she couldn't change one part of it. Her muddy brown hair was not the beautiful pale golden blonde like the rest of the females, though her eyes were still gold. Well, they were kind of a pale greenish gold, more like a cat than a true Golden Dragon. She wasn't sure what her mama had been thinking when she designed her body, as she felt she could have at least made Evanth look like the rest of her race—that way she wouldn't have stood out so much. She could have at least blended in more with the other females of her caste and just been different for who she was and how she had been born, not because she also looked different and… ugly.

But despite looking so unattractive in her human form, she could not change how she looked in her true form. Although her eyes and hair strangely stayed the same color while she was in her dragon form.

Evanth reveled in being able to fly each day—it was all the exercise she was allowed and even if only for a few hours, she felt free and she took every second she could to stretch her wings.

And as she had gotten older, her body had gotten larger and stronger. She was much larger than many of the other females her age, and almost on par with some of the older females, even the fully-grown adult females. She didn't tell anyone why. That she was likely eating one and a half times more than they were. She would be punished severely, and so would her mama, if word like that got out.

So in her dragon form, she looked much older than she was because she was much bigger than she was supposed to be for her age. Perhaps that was why the Supreme Elder wanted her to become a whore like her mother—because she was healthier, stronger and would last far longer than any of the other females delegated to that demeaning task.

It seemed females in that undignified charge didn't seem to last very long, or perhaps they were letting their bodies waste away, so they didn't have to continue doing what their souls cried out against.

Her poor mama seemed to be a prime example.

None of them killed themselves, or attempted to kill themselves. They were under such careful watch, that hardly any of them dared try. Oh she was sure a few of them had likely tried in the earlier years of their slavery, and perhaps that was why there were always males around in every corridor or room and a fair number outside the city, always watching…

To make sure none of the females died before their time.

It was another reason Evanth was trying so hard to be a scribe. It may not be much of a position in terms of excitement, but it would keep her locked away in an area where she might be forgotten about as the males pursued other forms of enjoyment, the more available females they saw everyday. As a scribe she might actually be safe from the unwanted attentions of the males. And it wouldn't be wholly bad, despite how boring it may have seemed to others.

She'd be surrounded by books.

Evanth had never gotten more pleasure, other than being in her true form and flying, than when she had been let loose in one of the libraries. Having become as studious as she was, she loved learning new things. If she could translate old texts into the common tongue, not only would she be useful to her race, but she'd also be learning valuable information that had previously been hidden from her. She could not wait to start that part of her life!

But she was getting ahead of herself. Just because the Supreme Elder had not said no outright, didn't mean he was going to say yes. She still had to be prepared for the worst.

A reminder of what the worst was was just a few paces down the hall, his golden eyes watching her every movement as she came closer to him.

The fact that he was there was odd since not many Golden Dragons were ever seen in this hall. It was typically abandoned unless the Supreme Elder called for the council and did a summons, which did not happen very often and definitely not twice on the same day. The Supreme Elder liked to space meetings out so that he met with someone once a week, if not once a month.

Evanth didn't know whom this male Golden Dragon was exactly, not in terms of name or purpose—just an older male who had staked her out as a possible servant… when she finally came of age.

He always seemed genial when he spoke down to her, but she could read his body posture very well. She was prey, and the only reason he hadn't gone after her yet was because the Supreme Elder had not given the okay. She was still only four hundred years old after all, and she had a hundred years more to go before she finally hit puberty and was allowed to bear her first clutch. It was a flimsy type of armor, but it was the only one she had against those insidious stares from those predatory males.

Unfortunately, that flimsy armor didn't stop this male from touching her in ways that made her uncomfortable.

Even if all the touches could easily be described as innocent and were just gentle caresses of the skin on her face or her exposed arms, or his fingers running through her long mousy brown hair, there was still the worst one of all, the one that made her shudder beneath her robes. It was the slightly possessive grip on her shoulder as he pulled her close to him so she could feel the burning heat of his body and more often as of late, something protruding from the lower half of his robe that was unlike anything she had ever experienced outside of what happened when she was alone with him.

The only thing she could guess that it was was perhaps a weapon of some sort, for no male walked around without one.

Since she had not been trained to heal, as healing required at least some magical talent, she knew nothing about anatomy other than what she saw of herself and her mother in their human forms. And aside from the largess of the male dragons, there wasn't much of a difference between a female and a male whilst in their dragon forms.

As far as she knew, males in human form just didn't have breasts…

She may not have been naïve in what was expected of her as a lowly female caste member of the Golden Dragons, but in this she was still very much an innocent. And she did not like any of the advances that this male thought he could make with her. Her shy backing away from him always seemed to make him more resolute about keeping hold on her, and that frightened her, since that thing of his always seemed to press into her harder the more she tried to move away from it.

And he always made sure he did this to her when no one else was around to witness his sly actions towards her. It was almost like he planned on them being alone before he tried anything with her.

He smiled when he saw she was close enough to see his face. Evanth supposed that in his human form, he could be deemed handsome—his human form was very typical of all the male Golden Dragons that she had seen in her short lifetime, tall with a muscular body hidden behind the concealing robes and long tunics the Golden Dragon males all wore. He had sharp golden eyes, shoulder length golden blond hair, and tanned golden skin—but his very demeanor towards her repulsed her. She shuddered in remembrance at the possessive sound he always had in his voice when he was around her—his very tone always made her skin crawl, though she supposed other females might find his baritone attractive.

Evanth wanted to back away from him and run back into to the council chambers. She may have been punished severely by the Elders for it, but at least she'd have escaped this older male and whatever his intentions were.

She didn't dare though as much as her instincts implored her to.

To escape him today only meant he could corner her later, and she'd be in even more trouble, for he would take it as an affront to his dignity and the Supreme Elder would punish her for such audacity. She was only a mere female, and a child. It was a requirement of both those unfortunate facts that she speak to an older male who made an effort to speak with her.

She should feel honored that he would give her the time of day!

And she could not leave him until he either dismissed her, or he left her without so much as a by your leave. She absolutely hated the control the males had over the females.

But this was how it had always been, and it would remain this way, forever and always.

"Ah my lovely Evanth, I had wondered where you had gone off to. Usually about this time you're out flying. Are you well?"

Evanth hated that he could be so free with her name, that he could lay claim to her with a simple 'my' in front of her name like she already belonged to him. And she really hated that he knew her schedule so well.

Was she so habitual? She would have to change her routine more frequently if that was the case.

Unfortunately, she was only allowed to be in her dragon form either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and she and her fellow 'sisters' were constantly watched by a contingent of the male warriors to 'ensure they didn't hurt themselves with too much exercise'.

She knew that was not the case at all.

A number of females in the same caste as she and expected to do the same as she if their clutches failed like her mother, had tried to escape their enslavement before. It had not ended well. They had been caught, and quickly since their poor malnourished bodies were not used to such harsh physical strain like the hard flying required while being chased by stronger, well-fed males—males who knew how to teleport, which the females of her caste had never been taught. They hadn't even made it a quarter of the way to the mountains in the distance before they had been taken down by their captors, three males for every female.

And they had all been made examples of.

In Evanth's humble opinion, those poor females were the worst off, for they had lost their ability to think as well as any freedom they may have had had they just stayed put. The Supreme Elder had erased their minds, but only after they had experienced the pain of being flagellated with spiked chains, and then allowed to wallow in their misery and pain for a time, as they knew they would never know any type of freedom ever again.

She didn't know the exact details of what had happened to those females afterwards, just that they weren't killed. She had heard the rumors though, all the females of the lower castes had—that those poor females were kept in the dungeons, and used by any male that needed a quick… fix. And if they happened to become pregnant, their eggs were taken away from them immediately once they had been laid.

Not even being forced to become a breeder, or serving like her mama did could be as bad as that.

It was after learning of this that Evanth knew that the Supreme Elder was not a male to be trusted or liked, ever. She didn't think she could ever trust any male Golden Dragon, knowing this. But even if she didn't trust them, she was still stuck with them and had to make the best out of her situation in any way she could.

Which meant playing nice with a male she would have liked to snarl and hiss at instead.

Evanth ducked her head, attempting some semblance of the subservience she never felt toward any of the males. "I am well My Lord."

He was all charm, and were she less experienced in watching people, she would have thought he actually meant every word. But he was one of the males that took her mama on occasion. He did it in their lair too, instead of his own like most of the others—like he was supposed to. She wondered briefly if he was thinking about her as he and her mother… mated.

She shuddered at the very thought. He couldn't possibly be thinking about her like that, she was too young and he was way too old for her.

"I'm glad to hear it. I would not want my pretty Evanth to be ill. What were you doing then, if you don't mind my asking?"

Evanth did mind, greatly. It was none of his business what she was up to. But she could not sass a male, especially one who was at least thrice her age, if not more. She and her mother would get into a great deal of trouble. Whatever protection she received because she was too young to yet be a breeder might be lost, and she was very afraid of being in his charge a hundred years too early. "I was seeing the Elders."

There was a slight frown on his face and it was almost too quick to catch, but catch it she did. She winced. She should have added 'My Lord' after that last bit. But she just couldn't force it past her lips. And now she knew she had to be on her guard, for he had not liked her response. His posture indicated that quite clearly even if his face did not.

His smile was just a hint too wide as he asked, "Whatever for? It must have been something important, for they don't call a council for just anything."

He had moved a few steps closer to her, almost hovering in her personal space. Evanth knew she dared not move. If she did, he'd find a reason to move even closer, and she couldn't allow that.

She was already close to being backed up against the wall of the hall as it was. He would effectively close off her escape if she moved away from him. She knew she had to keep her responses brief; so as not to give more than she had to away, but she knew it wouldn't help. He was pressing her for the information, and he would get it out of her.

"My future purpose."

His eyes narrowed, and for just an instant she could see that possessive nature of his lurking in them. The anger in those eyes didn't leave for a full minute before his smile was back in place, the heated look in his eyes gone… for the moment. He grabbed a lock of her hair and Evanth had to fight not to cringe. "I recall that your purpose had already been decided a year ago. When you turned four hundred."

Evanth lowered her head. She knew she was now on very dangerous ground with this male. She could feel the heat of his body radiating out and caressing her bare skin, the heat of his anger with her, and the heat of something else… She couldn't place it, had never had to. He had never come on to her this strongly before. No male had. "I believe that I can be of greater use elsewhere."

She couldn't see his face, didn't want to see his face, but she could hear the edge in his voice. "What greater use could there be for a beautiful young dragon like yourself? I believe a number of my fellows would agree that the purpose decided for you last year suited you just fine."

Evanth didn't dare look up. He might interpret it as disrespect, and that was the last thing she wanted him to think, when he seemed so furious with her already. "I wish to serve Lord Vrabazard in whatever capacity I can."

His moves had somehow become more predatory as the grip on her hair got tighter, and he was slowly pulling her closer to him, closer to the heat of his body. Evanth was truly frightened now, and her instincts were practically begging her to run away from this suddenly dangerous male.

But she didn't know how!

She had never once been taught that situations like this came up, that males could become dangerous around females they viewed as their property, and she had realized a little too late that he viewed her as his.

And she was not allowed to fight back, not that she knew how—low caste females were not allowed to learn anything close to self-defense. The excuse had been that their males would protect them from bodily harm.

But what if those very males were the ones wishing that bodily harm on you, what then?

"You would be serving Him, by serving the men under His command."

She didn't know how to respond. She couldn't lie to him, he would know, or he would find out. But if she told him the truth, the consequences could be just as bad, if not worse.

"Nothing to say My Evanth? You just wanted to waste the time of the Elders with your female silliness?" There was a snarl in his voice, more vicious than anything the Supreme Elder had thrown at her—but then the Supreme Elder thought she was worthless. This male obviously saw something in her that made him want her, despite her youth, despite her being a pariah in their society.

She shook her head, opening her mouth several times, but her fear of him eclipsed her ability to speak.

Evanth was suddenly shoved against the wall, the older male's large body was pressing against her, his weight crushing her—his fingers were digging into the flesh of her upper arms, bruising her with their force as he firmly kept her in place, unable to escape this madness. That protuberant thing from his lower half was digging almost avidly into her abdomen. And her fear only grew the more he pressed his body into her. He pressed his nose and mouth right against her bare neck, inhaling her scent, her fear.

She could feel the heat of his mouth as it hovered right above her jugular. Could feel the points of his teeth as they grazed her sensitive skin. Could feel his moist tongue as it tenderly caressed her neck.

He was actually tasting her!

And that horrible thing pushing into her robe-covered belly practically throbbed in time with her own racing pulse, the pulse she was certain he could feel through his tongue as it lingered on her jugular.

Evanth tried to move away from him, but his human form towered over hers by at least two feet, and his strength was incomparable—she had no idea how much larger he was than she in his dragon form, but he had to be huge. He held her easily in place, and her struggling only seemed to make that thing behind his robes grow in size. Any larger, any longer, and she was certain that he was about to impale her on the spear that most of the warrior males carried around. One of his hands was suddenly on her chin, forcing her to look up into his eyes—bright golden eyes that were blazing with fury, his face contorted with rage.

Did he want her dead that much?

"Tell me, My Lovely Evanth, just how you think you, a poorly educated low caste female, can choose a better purpose for yourself compared to a High Council of males whose entire job is to decide where you may serve best at?"

If she didn't answer him now, he would surely kill her with that spear of his. And despite her hatred of her lot in life, she still wanted to live—if only for her mama's sake. "I asked… I mean… I believe I… I might be able to serve… the priests and priestesses of our temple better, as… as… as a scribe."

The older male laughed. It seemed to be such a jolly laugh, and she could feel the vibrations of it through her body, that spear of his stabbing her each time his body shook with his mirth. And just when she thought the levity of his laugh had broken the tension surrounding him, and that he might pull away from her, his laugh cut off mid-belly shake. He sneered down at her, his lips curling over his teeth, making his face a feral mask of rage.

"A scribe."

Evanth nodded. "I-

He slapped her, hard.

Evanth couldn't stop the gasp of pain that came through her parted lips—she had never imagined that he would hit her! She looked back up at his demonic visage, tears of pain in the corners of her eyes. Her right cheek throbbed with pain, and she tasted a little blood as she gulped, knowing that he had hit her hard enough for her molars and canines to slice the inside of her cheek and mouth. He grabbed her chin again, and with her mouth open once more, even she could scent the blood in the air.

It seemed to spark the predatory instincts in him.

The older male growled and began rubbing that protuberant thing against her stomach even as his lips crashed down upon hers, crushing her mouth with the strength of his. His tongue began probing her lips, and she tried hard to keep her mouth shut to him, her jaw firmly locked. He didn't take this too kindly, for his sharp incisors sunk into the soft flesh of her lips, causing her to gasp in pain once more—subsequently opening her mouth to him.

His tongue invaded her mouth and she fought to keep her whimpers silent, but he bit her lips again, harder this second time, actually piercing through her skin. She couldn't stop her cry and that seemed to affect him even more. He began to grind his hips and that thing against her stomach with even more fervor, even as his mouth claimed hers. She could taste the metallic tang of her blood once more as he sucked and tongued the bites he had made on her lips—she tasted something sweet as well, something that made her slightly dizzy, that made her moans of pain just a hint louder as they escaped her throat.

Each sound she made, made his physical reactions to her worse, made him respond in kind with his own grunts and groans. The hand that held her chin slithered its way down her back, pressing her more viciously against his hips, even as the hand that held her upper arm pulled harder, practically wrenching it out of its socket. The howl of pain that Evanth made seemed to undo him and suddenly his hips were rubbing against her stomach almost violently, his spear stabbing her painfully without impaling her, and just as suddenly, he shuddered against her with a groan of relief.

Evanth couldn't stop her whine, as his full weight pressed in against her, pinning her to the wall. He was much heavier than anything she could compare to, but at least that painful spear of his seemed to be shrinking and going away. She could not move, not with his bulk pressing against her so tightly—though if he moved away, she feared her legs would give out beneath her for she felt incredibly woozy. She wanted to sob, knowing he had done something very wrong, but knowing no one would believe a prepubescent female over an adult male in his prime. Even with the bites on her lips, which could be easily explained away, there just was not enough proof in her favor, and if there had been, she would likely be blamed because she had been 'leading him on'.

She had heard it happen many times before, and the female never won, unless she was a priestess, and even then…

His next words proved her musings to be correct, the previous anger in his tone gone, replaced by a lethargic condescension. "See what you made me do? Oh my poor young beautiful Evanth. You need to learn not to anger me. I can't help myself around you, you know that… my sweet little tease."

He lifted her chin with his hand again, forcing her to look up at him. When she averted her eyes, he jerked her chin up higher, the sharp nails on his fingers pricking the flesh of her cheeks drawing yet more blood from her body. There was a definite snarl in his tone. "Look at me when I'm talking to you."

Evanth quickly looked into his eyes, afraid he was going to repeat what he had just done to her. His face was still gentle, but his dark golden eyes were made of steel.

"Good girl. Now you forget this silly little notion of becoming a scribe. You're needed in a much more important place. I've had my eyes on you for a while now, and you don't want to disappoint me by not giving me the opportunity of tasting your nubile flesh the moment you come of age, do you?"

Evanth didn't answer.

Couldn't answer.

"Do you?!" There was now a growl in his voice.

Evanth shook her head, even as her lips trembled, her dizziness all the greater from the extra movement.

He pet her hair, and gently caressed her face, his fingertips smoothing the bloody scratches on her cheeks. He licked those fingers, and placed them again on her scratches, his saliva burning the cuts. "That's my girl. My good young Evanth. I have already spoken to the Supreme Elder about it. I'll be your first mate, and if I have any say, your only mate. My offspring typically aren't magical in nature, but they are strong and healthy. Just like you, my lovely Evanth. That means our first clutch will survive the hatching. Which means you won't have to be a whore for just any male that wants you. Only I will have you. Understand, my perfect Evanth?"

Evanth could barely nod, the dizziness overwhelming even her fear of him.

"That's my good sweet girl. Now when the Supreme Elder tells you that this notion of yours is ridiculous, you will agree and then plead to become my mate, understand?" His tone became sharper as he asked.

Evanth finally spoke up, her fear of being mated to this horrible male overcoming the woozy sensations plaguing her confused mind. "But I'm not old-

The older male snarled. "You're young yes, but your body…" She trembled as he touched her in ways that could definitely not be mistaken as innocent, especially not after what he had just done to her. The hand that had held her arm so painfully released her as he slowly caressed his way down her back, smoothed over her bottom, to her hip and then up to her breasts, giving each part of her body a firm squeeze.

She winced with each touch, more tears forming at the corners of her eyes. But Evanth refused to let them fall—not in front of him, especially since he was still watching her face so intently—as if memorizing her pain, and her fear of him and his touch.

His smile came back, pleased that she was still so untouched by any other male. He would have known if she had been claimed, the male's scent would have been all over her. Now his was. He reveled in being the first to make a claim on her luscious young body. And even if she washed herself—which he knew she would—his scent would still remain on her for some time, especially since she only did sponge baths. He knew that was the only type of bathing that she did, for he had listened to her outside of her small room as she did so, wishing he could interrupt her and assist her with her cleansing ritual.

Unfortunately her mother was always there when he was, so he never could.

"Your body is well developed enough that even if you are not yet capable of laying eggs, you are still capable of pleasing your mate. Besides delivering a vast number of healthy clutches, pleasing your mate should be your top priority. And when we are mated, I will make sure that your human body becomes much more developed so as to please me better. I can assure you, my sweet succulent Evanth, I will make sure you please me greatly."

He kissed her one last time, a gentle touch of lips upon lips, but there was still pain involved for not only had he drawn blood when he bit her and kissed her the first time, he had also bruised her. And then he was gone, whistling merrily as he disappeared. Evanth collapsed in heap against a column near the wall that she had just been violated against, the tears finally streaming down her slack face, her only testament to how distraught she truly was.

AN: Thanks to my Beta Autumn Ivy for the multitude of suggestions in making this chapter so much more than it was. And yes, I will still be writing on The Chaos Within.