Despite the glee bubbling in her belly, she forced herself to remain calm and composed as she glided down towards the large landing window at the top tower of the encampment and flapped her wings twice to land with a soft click of her claws. She folded her wings to her sides and flicked her tail before stepping out of the way so that her companion could land beside her.

The larger, onyx dragon dropped down with an imposing thud and snorted. Steam wafted from his nostrils as he stepped up beside her and fixed her with a solemn stare. “All due respect, princess, but this still feels like an unnecessary venture. You know their majesties do not approve. It is not too late to turn back.”

She growled softly and snapped her teeth together. She was tired of hearing this repeated argument and momentarily wondered if she snapped at his neck if he would finally cease pestering her about it. But that would be an inappropriate response so she took a breath to swallow her temper before she lifted her chin. “I have never turned back on anything and I am not about to start now. This is my decision and it has already been made,” she retorted. She quietly wished she could have come alone, but there was no way she would have been allowed to leave the capital without a bodyguard. Raxtone was a gruff, old dragon with a short fuse and tired eyes, who disapproved of many of her antics, but she never once questioned his ability in a fight if necessary.

Before either of them could continue arguing, another adult dragon slithered into the space, his long talons clicking against the marble with every step. His horns curved up from his rust red skull and his orange wings were folded by his sides. A brilliant red mane ran down the back of his head and along his spine. When he approached, he bowed his neck to her. “Princess Navyriss,” he greeted. “It is an honour to have you grace these halls, though I must admit it is a rather unorthodox situation.”

Navyriss huffed and lashed her tail. “So, everyone tells me. But humans reared for the royal bloodline are boring and broken from birth. I seek a more…entertaining specimen.” Her lips pulled back into a wicked smile that showed her ivory fangs.

The older dragon blinked in surprise. “Princess, I must assure you that all of our humans are trained to be docile and obedient. It is a quality that we view of the utmost importance for human slaves. But if you wish to select from here, it would be our pleasure to accommodate. We have gathered the best of our candidates for you to choose from. If you would follow me.”

Navyriss frowned as the red dragon turned to return the way he had come. “The best,” she echoed. “So not all, then?”

“I beg pardon, princess?”

Navyriss snorted and curled her talons against the floor so that it screeched horridly. “You said you had gathered the best of your candidates, the ones you presume would please me most or reflect well on your institution.”

“Yes, your highness, I would not waste your time on anything less than exceptional.”

Navyriss tossed her head, a low rumble echoing in her throat. “Well, I want to see them all.”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow, princess.”

“I want to see all the humans you have here, even the younglings. I do not wish to select from a cherry-picked few, I want to examine all that you have to offer.”

His charcoal eyes widened and he seemed to fumble for a moment. “Princess, I would be remiss to offer you any stock outside of what has been gathered for you. The rest are suited to hard labour and sacrificial work, and little else. It would be unacceptable and improper to allow such vermin to disgrace the presence of royalty.”

Navyriss wanted to stamp her foot and snarl at him, but both would merely be viewed as a tantrum, so instead her eyes narrowed and she pulled her head back like a coiled snake ready to strike. “I have grown weary of others deciding what is proper or appropriate for me. I am not a child and I will decide for myself what type of human I will allow in my presence. I think it would also be improper to tear your throat out for offending me, but I’ve refrained for the moment. You decide which would be more unacceptable.”

She watched rage flash in his gaze and for a moment, his own lips curled to match her snarl before he snorted and broke eye contact. “I will have the rest of the humans gathered in the yards,” he relented. “Even the young. It may take some time, if you would care to settle in.”

Navyriss grinned and the very tip of her tail twitched through the air as she dipped her head. She padded over to where the wall was carved into massive windows overlooking the courtyard and settled in on her belly to wait on the cool marble. “Darmellion,” she called out in a much calmer, cooler tone, and waited as the rusty dragon turned his head. “I am certain that the candidates you selected are of the highest quality and any one of them would be well suited, but I am not just seeking obedience or quality training. I want something with some…entertainment value. There are very specific qualities I seek and I have every confidence that I will find it here. And whether I take one or ten, or simply find a snack, you will be more than fairly compensated and will have been the first to provide human stock to the royal family. You need not worry about your reputation.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He stared at her with narrowed eyes before he dipped his head and turned away with a swish of his tail. Once he was gone, Navyriss lowered her head onto the window ledge to watch the courtyard. There had been a small group of humans there, but now the workers were scattering about like a disturbed insect mound, pulling others into the lineup as frantically as they could.

Beside her, Raxtone settled in with a rustle of scales, but said nothing.

“Are you going to lecture me?” Navyriss growled.

Raxtone snorted. “You know I never miss an opportunity, Princess.”

“Let’s hear it then,” Navyriss hissed.

But Raxtone said nothing, and when she glanced at him, he inclined his head. “In this, I have nothing to say. I still think this is a pointless venture, but you have displayed that you are smart enough to know what you want, that you won’t hesitate to use your power and be ruthless to get it, but wise enough to smooth any ruffled scales along the way. Would you have actually gone for his throat?”

Navyriss lifted her lip and growled. “If he had pushed me.”

“Good. Never make an empty threat or you’ll lose respect.”

She growled low in her throat and curled her talons so that they screeched horridly against the floor. If the noise bothered Raxtone, he said nothing. Navyriss’ tail thumped angrily on the ground and she narrowed her eyes as she watched the ground below. Respect was so easily lost and so tediously gained, and she was tired of being questioned by other dragons, by tutors and cranky old guards, by her older siblings and by her parents most of all. She would show them all one day.

As her talons dug deeper into the stone beneath her, she felt Raxtone shift beside her, his sharp gaze fixing on her. “Temper, princess,” he reminded.

Navyriss parted her jaws and snarled furiously before twisting away, heaving her body up off the floor and spreading her wings. She shook off the rage with a huff and refolded her wings. But she could still feel Raxtone’s gaze on her, so she turned to face him.

“You must keep better control of-”

“Do not finish that statement,” Navyriss hissed through clenched teeth. She stamped a foot on the ground and lashed her tail again. “I grow weary of everyone treating me like a child. I am no longer a youngling to be questioned and hassled. I have earned respect tooth and nail and I will defend it with both, even from you, Raxtone. My temper is my business, so if you do not wish to be on the receiving end of it, I suggest you back off and cease warning me about respect, because I am all too aware.”

Her jaws parted and she felt the glow and heat in the back of her throat that promised a much more deadly exhale than air.

For a moment, disapproval flickered in Raxtone’s eyes before he lowered his head and yielded. “I apologize for overstepping, princess Navyriss. It will not happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

Raxtone remained stoic as Navyriss settled down on the floor once more, and said nothing while they continued waiting. Eventually, a human entered the room, dropped to his knees, and bowed until his face was pressed to the floor. “Esteemed dragon princess…I have been sent to relay that the yard has been prepared for you and at your desire, you may make your way there. Do you require a guide?”

Humans never addressed the dragons by their names. At least, not to their faces. Navyriss was sure there was plenty of gossip that went on when they were alone. Still, she was relieved that the wait was over. She no longer wished to dwell in the silence. But she required no guide. So, she left the human where he was and instead dove through the window and spread her wings to glide down into the yard. The place was run by a few dragons, but primarily by human guards who carried out the orders, and each one bowed their heads to her as she landed and swept her gaze over the humans. There were many of them, some still very young children, others grown and awaiting assignment. Several were quivering with fear, all had their heads bowed.

She was content to take her time walking down the line, where the humans had been separated by sex and organized into four long rows one after the other. Navyriss bypassed the males relatively quickly, they weren’t what she sought. Despite what she had said to Darmellion, she was only taking one human with her. Her family was already going to be furious and while she always held her own against their disapproval, there was only so far that she could push, so she needed to be exceptionally choosy.

She walked much more slowly down the rows of female humans. None of them were particularly well-kept or healthy, but they didn’t need to be. She took a moment to sniff each one. Humans felt their emotions so expressively that one could smell them easily. Mostly, she got fear, terror, a small bit of hope amidst it, but that was rare. She was well aware that some thought living with royalty would be glamourous, but most of these children were under no illusion. But then Navyriss found the one emotion that gave her pause. Hatred. Anger. Sure, plenty of fear too, but that single spicy flavour had her examining this one more closely.

She was old enough to be assigned, and her mane of too-long light brown hair was a knotted mess that indicated that she was not intended for Navyriss to see today. She was an average height and thin, which was not uncommon, and she kept her head down just like every other human in the lineup, but Navyriss was drawn to her. She raised the flat of one claw under the girl’s chin and forced her head up to examine her more closely. As soon as she met the human’s deep green gaze, which swam with disgust rather than terror, Navyriss knew. She grinned widely, and the human girl cringed back from her fangy smile just a bit. Navyriss didn’t blame her. “This one.”