Reece jerked awake, her eyes fluttering open and her chest heaving on a desperate inhale before she clamped her jaws shut and tensed. Being overheard through the night was a decidedly bad thing. She took another few shuddering breaths to calm her racing heart and then silently rolled over. She was laying on the floor on a musty straw mat that stretched most of the length of the room, along with all the other girls. There were close to four hundred of them, though only about seventy were Reece’s age, and another two hundred boys, though they slept in another room. There were no pillows or blankets, just the well-worn straw matting to protect them from the cold, hard floor.

Reece shivered and pulled her legs up close for more warmth. It was early spring now. The leaves were budding and the sun made morning dew glisten like gold, but the nights were still winter cold, and with nothing but the ratty slip she had been given last year, there was little to protect her against the elements. Nothing save huddling up with a few of the others to share warmth, but she was on the outside tonight. They all took turns to preserve warmth and strength, though Reece tended to take more turns shivering than she would allow younger or weaker girls to do the same. Here, survival of the fittest was encouraged, and Reece loathed it.

Finally, she sat up, drew her knees close, and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes wandered over the prone forms of everyone else. She had been having nightmares since she was little, and the one about being abducted was always the worst. The deaths of her parents still haunted her vividly whenever she closed her eyes. The roars of the dragons, the stench of the acid spitter’s breath as it stared her down and threatened her, the look on her auntie’s face when they were separated and her death was promised…it had all haunted Reece for the last thirteen years. Thirteen years of abuse, of lessons and lectures and work, so much work. It was all designed to break them, mould them into obedient slaves that would worship and serve for the rest of their lives. Those who excelled were liable to become pets, favoured by a particular dragon and showered in faux luxuries. Reece thought it was a scam. And she knew she was destined for a different fate. Those who excelled were given those chances, but for the rest of the girls in the room, they would be sent for hard labour, working fields and mines and building, worked into the dirt until they perished. Humans were expendable because they were already working, already serving, it just grew worse when they grew up.

Reece had seen a few of the children here perish unfairly already, crushed or drowned or even stepped on by a careless landing dragon because their lives were regarded with so little value they may as well have been field cattle. Reece did not excel, she could never bury her hatred for the dragons, and that rotten, scalding knot in her gut kept her glaring at them through gritted teeth no matter how much abuse they threw her way. She was beginning to suspect her trainers admired her perseverance. They frequently commented that she would be good in the hard labour, instead of just throwaway fodder that wouldn’t last the day.

She stared at her hands and shivered. It wouldn’t be long now. She was eighteen, she was grown. Spring was the time that the grown were sent away. Already there had been dragons in and out all week, coming and inspecting and selecting favourites. There had been ninety girls who had grown just a few days ago, and already ten were gone. The new moon was in a week’s time and any who were left would automatically be shipped off. She had been passed over each time a dragon came, and often was not even shown as a prospect because she was considered too unruly. She didn’t mind, no really. What came next scared her and she still desperately wanted to face down the first dragon she’d ever encountered and avenge her folks, but even if her fate came to an end in a week or two, she would rather that than play live-in servant and doll to one of the scaly monsters.

Still, dawn was beginning to break and this time of year especially, there would be harsh repercussions for any tardiness or disobedience. Even Reece knew to keep her head down when reassignment time came around. So she began to quietly rouse a few of the other girls, shuffling them down to the buckets of stagnant water left at the front of their room where they could wash their faces and scrub as much dirt as they could.

She knelt and helped several of the younger children clean up. One little girl, in particular, was new. She still cried at night, still tripped and fumbled over the rules. It was early for a raid, they typically started up after reassignments to replenish stocks, but occasionally someone like the girl showed up. She still even tried to tell others her name. Of course, that was strictly forbidden. Reece had never forgotten hers, but they didn’t have names here, they had numbers. And even then, the dragons rarely did more than point and bark “you” or “human” at them.

As soon as everyone was ready, they shuffled outside just in time for one of their instructors to approach. Some were human, but the true heads of their training were dragons. This particular man was human, but he had the same cold eyes and iron soul of any dragon Reece had ever seen. Once he saw them, he began barking orders while keeping one hand resting on the whip at his belt. He had used it more than once, and Reece herself was quite familiar with the agonizing burn of the leather landing across her back. But she would never risk defying him at this time of year. The dragons running this facility hated to look back and they took it out on everyone for even the smallest offence. Reece would not risk the others just to be defiant, and she herself was too scared of the consequences to endure them again. It was a miracle she had survived, but she certainly never forgot.

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So, when the instructions were issued, Reece gritted her teeth, bowed her head, and got to work alongside the others. At least, one way or the other, she would be rid of this place soon.

***

Sweat beaded on Reece’s brow as she scrubbed at a particularly stubborn stain on one of the marble columns in the virtually abandoned courtyard. It used to be a training yard, Reece had heard, but it had not been in use since well before she was brought here, and was mostly in disarray. She could not fathom why they suddenly cared about it being presentable or how they expected the handful of human children and their buckets and rags to do anything about the deep gouges in the marble or the tumbled pillars and massive amounts of debris scattered around. It felt like an impossible task they were doomed to fail and despite all the cruelty and lack of care for their lives, Reece had never known their overseers to order something that could not be accomplished.

“It’s because royalty is coming.”

Reece jerked her head up at the comment. One of the other girls, around fourteen or fifteen years old, had come over to rinse her rag in the sudsy bucket.

“What?”

She shrugged. “I heard a rumour the other day, straight from Darmellion’s quarters when I was scrubbing the floors. A member of the royal family is coming here today. That’s why they’re working us all so hard, they want the main areas to look pristine, and they want anyone they consider undesirable out of the way so that they’re only showing off the best.”

Undesirables. Reece wasn’t sure how to feel about the word. On one hand, it branded her unappealing, which was good because she wanted nothing to do with dragon society, but on the other hand, it would condemn her to a horrid and pitifully short life in some of the most gruelling places humans could get assigned. She knew she was one, and now placing them in this courtyard made sense, but it was still mortifying to hear that the draconic leaders would be so close. They were known to be ruthless and ill-tempered. Even other dragons tended to fear them. They grew larger, had more powerful breath attacks, and delighted in their power and ability to sow chaos and destruction.

Reece shuddered. And now, one was coming here, no doubt for the same reason all dragons came here this time of year, and she could not fathom the horrors that might await whichever poor souls wound up leaving here today. Maybe some of the others would be delighted at the chance to live with royalty, but Reece knew it would be a cursed fate wrapped in riches to the outside eye. Nothing good could come from living as a plaything for the evilest of dragon kind to toy with. Still, it was unorthodox. Why would a member of the royal family come to take humans from a place like this?

If the rumours were true, any humans who worked or lived in the capital were bred for it. Born and raised where dragons could carefully control their every skill and thought. There was no reason for one of them to come here, but Reece was glad she would have no part in it, and simply hummed in response and resumed cleaning. She would mourn anyone missing tonight, but she would clean a thousand courtyards like this one if it would keep her from standing in that selection lineup.

Just as she had resumed scrubbing, her attention was drawn skyward as two massive shadows passed overhead and the gusts from the dragons’ wings tossed up her hair. The larger of the two wore the gold neck and chest plating of the guards. The other, smaller dragon must be the royalty that was coming to visit, and Reece found herself slinking back. Even from a distance, she could see the jet black of the dragon’s scales. It wasn’t always a guarantee, but she had come to learn that the dragon’s colouring often hinted at the type of breath they had. Reds and oranges tended to breathe fire, while neon greens spat acid, and blues had scalding water or frigid, icy air.

She had never seen a black dragon before, but she could only imagine that such a dragon would have an equally dark and horrifying breath attack. Being a member of the royal family made it worse and she gulped. Fear prickled up her spine and she shrank away. “Horrible,” she whispered.

Beside her, the other girl hummed in agreement. “I feel sorry for them…the ones who aren’t out here cleaning with us. The royals never come here, right?”

“Not that I’ve ever heard of,” Reece agreed.

“Then what do they want from us now?”

That was the question, but Reece was fairly certain she did not wish to know the answer. “Nothing good,” she decided.