Dragon and the Princess Read Online Free PDF Page B

dragon. The dragon was dead. They could kill the man, but that, she was sure, would mean war. Abruptly hopeless, Rozlinda let him take her to the corpse, as accepting as a dumb animal to the slaughter.
    The fallen dragon still gave off heat and a pungent odor of burnt rock and blood, but its fate touched her.
    “I can’t believe you killed it. You, a man of Dorn.”
    “You like dragons, Princess?”
    “No, but you should.”
    “I do.”
    She turned on him. If no man would fight for her, she would fight for herself. “Then why? You can’t want to marry me, sir. You must prefer women of your own type.”
    “You, Princess, are the bride I want.”
    “
Why?
”
    “Your blood is highly valued in Dorn.”
    She thrust out her bandaged arm. “If it’s blood you want, take more.” When he didn’t respond, she protested, “You can’t drag me off to a foreign land that I know nothing of! I don’t speak your language. I know nothing of your customs. How can I make you a good wife?”
    He looked down briefly, so briefly that she might have missed it if she hadn’t been staring so fixedly at his face.
    “I regret any discomfort, Princess, but it must be so. Some of the Dornae speak Saragondan, and you will learn our language as you learn our ways. Seven years ago, the conditions of peace were broken. This is the only means to mend them.”
    The words reduced her rebellion to dust.
Refuse
, he said,
and there will be war.
Armies of dragons will again stream over the Shield to wreak disaster on Saragond.
    Desperately, she looked to her father for help.
    He looked older by a decade, but said, “He’s right, Zlinda. If he insists on this, by our own laws, there’s nothing to be done.” He turned from her to the Dornae. “Sir, do you promise to treat my daughter well?”
    “Your Majesty, she will have all honor and respect in my land, as the vessel of the blood and as my wife.”
    “And who are you in your land, sir? I must know that.”
    The demand was bluster, but the Dornaan answered. “I am Rouar, Guardian of the Queen, third maj of the second council, Seyer of the Dragon’s Womb.”
    For all that meant, Rozlinda thought. She knew they had a queen, but the queen didn’t seem to rule. Instead there were tribes and councils, partly elected and partly appointed, perhaps by inheritance, and everything seemed to be connected to dragons one way or another.
    It made no sense to normal people, and his name, with its rolled
r
at the beginning and end, sounded like a multisyllabic roar. At least he obviously held high rank. She couldn’t help being glad that she wasn’t being snatched up by some vagrant.
    She couldn’t tell if this Rouar’s words meant more to her father than they did to her, but he seemed to have no further resistance to offer.
    “Very well, Seyer Rouar. We must agree. We will all return to the White Castle so arrangements can be made—”
    “We will be married here. The Priest of the Blood has the spiritual power, and you, Your Majesty, along with your council, have the right of approval.”
    Now her father flushed red. “Come, come, you must allow my daughter time. Court her a little. Let her gather her bridal chest.”
    “Alas, I cannot. We must return to Dorn immediately. My wife may return to visit her family later, if she still wishes to.”
    “If I still wish to! Of course I will. When will this ‘later’ be?”
    “Let us say a half year.”
    “
A half year?
I’m to be a prisoner until then?”
    “No. You are to be a wife. A wife stays with her husband.”
    “You could accompany me back here.”
    “I have duties.”
    “All the time?”
    “For the next half year.”
    Rozlinda wanted to snap that she did, too, but in truth her only duty was to be the Sacrificial Virgin Princess and that was over. Except for marrying the dragon slayer.
    And presumably ceasing to be a virgin with him. She shivered in a deeper way and cast a frantic glance at Jerrott. He was staring grimly at the