Nixiesocean: Wow… so I feel bad for not updateing sooner, but life caught up with me (again) and now I'm way late and you all deserve this chapter, except that nothing big happens, except that … oh… I won't tell you that. You'll read it anyhow.

Responses:

Simplegrl007: Aww t'anks for de long review! I feel humbled. Anyways, I never really set a time for courting because in the culture (with the excepting of Chief's Daughter Hyane) the native women have little rights. So, I guess that if Fiona's husband wanted to marry her, he'd just march up to Hyane, or the chief – who has yet to get a name-, and demand wedlock. That, or, just do it the old fashioned way. Which, of course, he didn't. Anyways, yes Lord Coven is a jerk. Ceara looks down on him since Silver Dragons are mostly the leaders of the group. You could say the order of succession of power among dragons would be Silver, Gold, Blue, Green, White and Red. Half-Dragons and Mixed-Raced Dragons are among the lowest, with only pure Humans being lower than dirt to 90 of Dragons (Ceara being an exception). Also, like in Human society, there would be Noble Dragons, and Commoner Dragons, the order being the same in both, because I'm too lazy to figure out a new order for Commoners.

Anyways.

T'ats about it, folks!

Read and enjoy. Also, pardon me for not updating sooner!

Chapter 16: Three Weeks of Boredom

Mira Eyen was not in my study the next day. I sent for Lord Coven. He arrived in my study with a bow and a compliment for my tunic/breeches. I greeted him with the cold distain of royalty toward a lower lord. He shrugged it off like he wore a winter coat in the freezing poles of the earth.

"Lord Coven," I said tersely.

His eyes softened. I put up my solid walls of concrete and faced him. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

I didn't mean to confront him with my information so soon, but he was corrupt. "Where is my student?"

"Who?" His blue hair shone in the candlelight. "Who is your student?" He asked innocently.

I leveled my blue eyes at him. "Mira Eyen."

His golden eyes betrayed no hint of surprise. "The servant girl? Surely, Your Majesty-"

"Don't give me that!" I yelled. I pointed a finger at him. "Do you deny sending Mira Eyen in here to invade my privacy?"

He looked me coolly in the eyes. "I do not."

"Do you deny having any sort of intimate connections with her?"

He let out a breath of air, something like a snort. "I do not, most women would desire it."

I laughed. "I love your use of 'most women'." I replied sarcastically.

He bowed comically. Obviously, he didn't catch my sarcasm. "Ah, yes. Your Majesty, but you have not swooned."

Of course not, you hardheaded man, I've got my Ade. I thought to myself behind my walls of concrete. Then I stopped myself. I don't have Ade. I left him… my heart couldn't figure out why.

I turned onto him with deadly eyes. "I did not call you here for flirting, Lord Coven. I called you here because I want you to leave Mira Eyen, and any other women under the age of fourteen Human years alone."

He bowed. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Lord Coven turned to leave I added, "The next report I have of an assault on your part, or anyone else's, the offender will be put into prison."

I heard a strangled voice reply, "Yes, Your Majesty."

"It better stay that way." I murmured.

If he heard, he made no move. He left and I sat down, exhausted by our "little chat" and by the child under my heart, growing. I don't know if I'll be able to bear the snippets of gossip that will float around. I told myself warily. I shook my head. I was no longer in the Human realms. Dragons don't care about the father, though they will still wonder.

When will Ade arrive? A small part asked.

Why do you care? Another asked.

Because!

Why did you run?

I -

Ade wasn't going to harm you.

They would.

Not you, merely your reputation.

Exactly!

When have you cared?

Since now!

You're worried your love will fade.

Am not!

Are too. Why else run after sleeping with him? You've gone through the trouble of helping him regain his normal self; you saved him from a horrible fate as a mindless being! Why run from his love?

Because… because… The small, not-so-brave side whimpered.

Because you're scared. The rational, more dominant side replied.

I shook myself out of my stupor. I had to stop doing that. I turned my head back to my shelves upon shelves of books. What could I do to pass the time? I only had one meeting a day, and that was already over.

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My three weeks of servitude, was needless to say, painful. Hyane didn't turn out to be any better than her first impression. Worse still, she found out I was visiting Everett, and barred me from going. All lessons on the language and information came strictly from Fiona.

Life was terrible. I couldn't escape (too many guards around Hyane and the exits) and I couldn't visit Everett. I have a few cuts, now, from the guards, who decided I was 'out of place' with the Princess of the Tribe.

In less than a week, Everett would be sacrificed and my last chance to find Dragonhold, and Ceara, would be lost. Syan and Sara would be orphans…

I had to save his butt.

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In less than a week, my mother's child would be due. My new sibling would be born.

A sibling…

In these short few weeks, I've managed to stabilize my rule as Dragon-Queen. Mira Eyen came to my study two weeks back and we resumed our studies. She's changed.

I blame Lord Coven, I have no conclusive proof, and so I can't call him out. Ade hasn't found Dragonhold and my mind is going crazy with the evidence of our child. My stomach has begun (very subtly) to grow. I feel weird.

I'll be a mother.

Weirder still, I know I'll be a mother in a half-year. Dragons carry children for seven months, and I've had this child growing for about a month now. My journal is filled and so I am having a new one made. Mira is quieter and less happy. When I inquired about it, she merely shrugged.

I'm going crazy with boredom. Mira's studies keep me busy, for a time. Mostly, she dictates the studies for that day, so it takes very little thinking.

"Guano." I yelled. A small, half-silver, maid appeared. "Go get my Spymaster."

"Yes, Your Majesty," She murmured. She wasn't gone one hour when another woman (yes, I appointed a woman as Spymaster). "Your Majesty, Spymaster Hyane."

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Hyane wasn't in the camp; she plain disappeared when I was getting well water. I was allowed to roam free. Never, in the three – nearly four weeks – of my imprisonment had I been allowed to roam freely. The again, during that time, I had to be broken into being a slave. Something, I hoped, Hyane never achieved.

I visited Fiona's hut. She had a smallish hut, like every childless pair, that was the same earthen brown. The only difference was the small eagle-print on the right hand side. I wondered what it was for. I looked at my arm, the one branded with a similar eagle-shape.

Had Fiona been a slave? Had she married one of the 'natives' to get out of it, and that's why that mark was there? Questions ran through my mind as I flicked the small metal plate outside her door. It served like knocking, since the doorway was only covered by a piece of leather.

I heard yelling, in their language. I couldn't make out most of it. Were those curse words? I heard Fiona's weeping voice.

What was wrong?

A man, assumedly her husband, left the hut. He went to the main tent-hut and left my field of vision. I entered the small hut.

"Fiona?" I whispered in Fudian.

I saw her huddled in a corner, weeping. "Oh… Your Highness, it's no use."

"Why?" I murmured kindly.

Her tear-streaked face was upturned. "I – I want to leave with you, if Your Highness will allow it."

I smiled. "You need to help me break Everett out of jail."

She sniffed. "Anything to get back at that horrible man."

I brushed her hand. "What did he do?"

Her face turned aside as she spoke softly. "He – he's to divorce me… because he thinks you're a threat to my felicity." I gasped. "He thinks you're going to take me back because… I was a-" She wept hysterically.

"Because you were a slave." I added.

She nodded, wiping her tears with a cloth. "Y – yes. I've been with him since I left the palace a few years back."

I patted her shoulder. "Hyane is gone. Now is ideal if we want to leave."

She breathed deeply. "No wonder men think us women weepers. I'll help."

I smiled. "Not all women weep uncontrollably."

"Ah, yes, the lady Ceara." She sighed. "She was a good model." She looked down, "Begging your pardon, Highness."

I touched her shoulder. "It's of no consequence." She looked back up at me. "Besides, she's why I'm out here. I need to find Dragonhold. Do you know where it is?"

She sighed. "No, Your Highness."

"You've heard of it?" I asked cautiously.

Fiona sighed. "Dragonhold is the last major city from the great empire of Dragons." She replied. "I only know that because recently Princess Hyane has been going there, or so my former husband said."

I gaped. "No way!" I gasped. "Why does she go?"

Fiona shrugged. "Pay homage to the new ruler?"

"Ruler? Who?" I whispered.

"Pardon the noncompliant comment, Highness, but why?"

"Who is it now? The last time I heard about the ruler, he was an ailing dragonman." I whispered. "Who's the new monarch?" Where did I hear he was sick? I asked myself. The question brought to mind a silver head. Oh… Ceara…

She cocked her head. "Horan, my husband, said her name was… Adele."

"Adele? Really?" I asked. Where do I know 'Adele' from?

Fiona nodded as she stood. "Yes, really and truly."

Where do I know that name? Where???

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Thank you to simplegrl007 for reviewing! You're the bomb!

Nixie!