The events sped by in a blur.
The king and queen sat down with the Masters, Loren, and her new friends to hear the tale of their adventures in full. While the broken dragon pendant lay on the table between them, Loren’s mother did not say a word. It was an heirloom and a magical artifact of great importance, but after Loren explained how she breathed fire and heard the dragon’s voice even after the pendant was broken, the sternness in the queen’s brow faded. Whether it was in understanding or acceptance, Loren did not know.
Within a week, Kaiten had defeated Doreos in combat and was slated to be crowned the King of the Beastmen. Their challenge followed Beastman tradition, with both combatants dressed in only the barest of armor and armed with only one weapon. The battle was held in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, attended by as many Beastman nobles and commoners as could fit inside to witness the challenge. There were whispers that the old, stronger bull Beastman would easily destroy the young lion with a swing of his flail. There were bets that the quick and clever prince could cleave the usurper’s head from his body in one blow from his axe. A few observant witnesses saw that the towering Doreos looked disoriented, swaying from side to side and twitching his head. Not a soul complained as the Beastman prince gutted the usurper after a few blows, easily claiming victory and his rightful throne. The applause and cheers were deafening, allowing a single cloaked human to escape the palace unnoticed, a sly grin on his scarred face.
News came to the Spymaster through his network of scouts and connections. The kingdom of Sagna had begun rebuilding and relocating its people, and excavating what they could from under the layer of cooled molten rock. A woman with bright red hair was seen among the people, heavily injured and aided by a woman with bronze skin. The princess Seraphis had survived the wrath of the mountain, escaping through the kennels with the slave girl Elysia and running far enough from the lava flow to survive the last of Queen Haedria’s magic. The reports said that the princess now organized the people of Sagna, and was hand picking the most valiant, the smartest, and those with the purest of intentions into a governing body. In time, the monarchy would be truly dissolved and the people of Sagna would be free of the Dagan line, just as Seraphis had always wanted.
It was a month since her return when princess Loren found herself standing in her chambers, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She wore a beautiful floor length gown, dark blue and embroidered with the faint suggestion of scales in gold. Her shoulders bore pauldrons of hammered gold, likewise shaped into scales and the outline of wings. Her dark hair was meticulously brushed, slicked back and held in place by a crown of strands of gold, no thicker than her smallest finger, woven together into a jagged nest of spikes and fangs. She looked powerful, every bit the daughter of dragons people said she was.
Her reflection looked like a queen. She didn’t feel like one.
As Loren stared at her reflection, tracing the lines of her face that were buried under thick makeup, the blush on her cheeks and caking powder, another face came into view on the glass. Kae had fully expected to be turned away once they returned to Aldoran and Loren was returned to more royal company. Instead, the king and queen immediately offered her and Ma’trii a place in the castle. She stood behind the princess now, dressed in a formal jacket that was fit at the shoulders and arms, fine trousers, and boots so shiny she could see her reflection in them. It was strange to see the huntress without her leathers or her bow, but the green and browns of her new clothes fit her. Kae was earth and nature, the grounding to Loren’s sky.
“What’s wrong, princess?” Kae asked softly. She approached Loren, who watched her through the mirror. “You look beautiful.”
“Do you really think so, and you aren’t simply saying that? I feel like a jester with all this paint on my face.” Loren moved to gingerly touch her face, then thought better of it. If her makeup smudged, the flock of handmaidens would descend on her again and she would be wrangled to the chair for another hour. “I miss my surcoat. I miss the weight of my sword on my hip. I miss…” her hand trailed to the hollow of her throat. The dragon pendant was not there.
“I think you’re beautiful, princess. Powerful and strong as ever.” The huntress moved beside Loren, looking her up and down in the mirror. “You’re complete even without the pendant.”
“I know, but it feels strange not to have it.”
Loren chuckled. “Would you like to know what really makes me feel complete?”
“What?”
The princess turned towards Kae. Her hand was upon the huntress’s, and she smiled. “To have you by my side. I treasure that more than any pendant. More than any birthright or any magic.”
Kae’s cheeks burned with a blush, but she bowed graciously in the way the Masters had been teaching her when addressing the royal family. “I will always be at your side, if you wish me to be, princess.”
“What about later, at court?” Loren sighed and turned back to her reflection. “I am only dressed like this because mother plans to present me to our allies as the crown princess properly and officially. I would have a seat at the War Table, the Masters would listen to my opinions. That is more responsibility than I am prepared
