‚ Shouldn’t she be awake by now?’ a hushed male voice asked as Rhiannon slowly drifted towards awareness. ‘Any moment now. It has been nearly a day. The blood has done its work, it is only her mind that is stalling the process.’ Another female voice answered. Rhiannon groaned silently as she tried to shake away the last remnants of darkness that clung stubbornly to her mind keeping her from awakening fully. ‘There look her eyes are fluttering is nearly with us. Better prepare what you are going to tell her.’ The older female voice stated. ‘Not like I had much of a choice in that matter either, should I have let her bleed out, because Mero was too stupid to keep his sorry ass out of danger as always?’, the male voice she now recognized as the voice of the older prince of the dragon clan, Morgan. Yes, that had been his name. But why was she with him? Hadn’t she died from her cut throat?
‘…could have used someone else’s blood. Need not have been your own. The most potent after your mother’s and mine…’ Another older male voice grumbled from further away. ‘Blood?’ Rhiannon thought still slightly bedazzled ‘Wasn’t that a way to contact the clan’s viruses?’ A memory from her internship surfaced ‘Low doses of clan blood are said to heal neigh every wound over time. Whilst high doses are known to induce the change into one of the clan members given the receiving person is suspectable to said virus.’ Her professor at the clan’s lab had disclosed. A sinking feeling settled into her stomach as she calculated her chances of survival without magical blood directly entering her bloodstream. Zero. The acid of her stomach began to churn in dread when she reached the only sensible conclusion. She was now a clan member most likely part of the dragon clan.
When that thought sank in her heart began to race furiously, finally giving her the strength to push off the laden heaviness of her body to jolt up fully awake. ‘There she is.’ The female voice commented cheerily. ‘Now son, do your worst.’
‘Why, thank you mother, helpful as always.’, Morgan mumbled sourly, clearly not happy with his mother’s attitude. Slowly approaching the bedrest Rhiannon now sat on, with hands held up in a calming gesture, as if he was handling a spooked horse he asked ‘Are you alright? How are you feeling?’
‘Never been better. Being nearly killed by your enemies and now blood-deep involved with the clans, deeper than I ever wanted to be… what else could be better?’ Rhiannon spat feeling mocked by his display. He flinched away as if he had been hit.
‘Quite the hellcat you got us there, boy. And an intelligent one at that.’ The male voice chuckled. It belonged to a middle-aged man sitting at a window on the far side of what seemed to some kind of private hospital room according to the medical equipment and monitors Rhiannon could see.
‘If the both of you are through with botching the situation further than it already is… let me handle the fallout Mero’s irresponsibility has wrought upon us.’ The female voice from earlier chided now without a hint of the playfulness from earlier. Then addressing Rhiannon whilst stepping out of the shadow of the door on the near side of the room she said ‘I apologize for our behaviour. We have not had any convert in the last forty years much less one who did not seek us out to be one of ours. I desperately hope we will get along in the future. For you are one of us now as you have so acutely deduced. With all consequences. We simply had thought you to be less shocked, given your parentage you are surely well acquainted with our ways?’
She was a real looking woman, well surely the queen of dragons looked the part. But Rhiannon’s simply slipped past the fact she was in the presence of a queen. ‘Parentage, you say? What do you mean by that?’ she asked wearily not at all keen on another revelation, whilst already inwardly panicking over what had happened to her in the last hours.
‘You are of druidic blood, as you surely know. Strong druidic blood. Never have thought to see another Druid with your power.’ The queen answered slightly unsure what to make of that young woman in front of her.
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‘No, that cannot be. My parents would have told me, given my interest in the clans, I even did an internship at the lab…’ Rhiannon answered unsure what to make of the queen’s statement, feeling that the dragon was not lying to her.
‘Well, it’s true.’ The middle-aged man said smilingly as he approached. ‘Might as well be they do not know what they are, maybe two watered down bloodlines creating a strong pureblood when combined. Name’s Merlin Drake, by the way.’ He added extending his hand. Rhiannon took it and answered ‘Rhiannon Marrow.’, absentmindedly as she shook it.
‘Morgan Long.’ Morgan offered belatedly before his mother stated ‘Miriam Long.’
‘Okay, now that we have introduced us to each other, we may further this conversation like civilized people.’ Merlin offered. Suddenly something clicked into place in Rhiannon’s mind and she blurted out ‘You are the owner of the Clan Labs!’
‘Yes I am.’ Merlin Drake smiled and started laughing silently when they heard Miriam mumble. ‘There was a time when being the queen of all dragons commanded more respect than being a scientist, but it seems they are gone. Well played, brother.’ ‘Long gone indeed.’ He answered with an emphasis on long, that made it sound more like the surname the queen of dragons carried than the adjective. ‘interesting’ Rhiannon thought as she spied the flicker of a scowl on the queen’s face. It seemed like there was some underlying conflict concerning the queen’s choice of partner.
‘Ah, brother your hints are so subtle, even our newest clan member has caught onto it.’ Miriam chided. ‘Is that a bad thing? Given your son one of only three royal dragons worldwide has changed her with his blood. It is better for her be in the loop. Intrigues and very one-sided versions are going to reach her sooner or later… most likely sooner if you take the lightshow into account her transformation caused.’ Merlin parried.
‘Transformation?’ Rhiannon asked trying to follow the conversation. ‘Of course. You are a dragon now. Your body demanded for you to take on your new true form. It is a miracle you woke up in human form.’ Morgan, who had been silent for a while declared. ‘What does demanded mean?’ the young woman asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
‘Well, it should be obvious, we cannot stay in human form all the time. Compressing that much body mass into such a tiny form is very mana intensive. At least for the more powerful dragon of our clan. That is maybe the only advantage the peasant power stages have over us; they can indefinitely stay in human form without any draconic traits showing up. The strongest of us are always showing signs of our heritage.’ He explained pointing towards his eyes, that were slitted like, well a dragon’s and surrounded by a crest of scales. ‘When in public we do have to put some effort into hiding, but that’s not exactly a problem, cause it’s easy to make humans see what they are expecting instead of what might be uncomfortable.’ Merlin chimed in. ‘So, I surely won’t have any problems staying human?’ Rhia enquired. ‘Well, that’s kind of the point, why there isn’t only Miriam and Morgan welcoming you to our family…’ Merlin answered somehow reluctantly, while motioning her to look into the mirror beside her bedstead. When she finally looked into it, she froze.
It was her face that stared back at her, but at the same time it was not. Familiar features like high cheekbones and the overall form remained. But the blue eyes staring back at her were of a much deeper blue than before and most importantly slitted, as well as framed by a crest of scales. Just as inhuman as the black prince’s face. She gulped and tried to hold back the panic that threatened to overtake her as the reality of her situation finally settled in and asked ‘you said the higher echelons of dragons are sporting those signs? And that there was a requirement to take dragon form frequently, I take?’
‘Yes, to both of those. And dear, let me say, if you are set to do something, you do it thoroughly. We told you that up until today there were only three royal dragons alive. Well, now we are four, all assembled in this infirmary. And the frequency of transformation your body will require to settle down after your changing today will be 50% at first. And believe me if I say so, your body will get what it needs in that regard, even if it means betraying you and changing in the most unfortunate time. So, 12 hours of every day will be in true form. And even in the rest of your time it will be just under the surface, your instincts corresponding to any and everything.’ Miriam confirmed Rhiannon’s worst fears.
And with that again everything went black.