‘I panicked,’ Lady Iredys continued. ‘I tried to become Human again, but all I managed to do was flip through several different transformations. Some of them were Human-like, but most of them were not. The chains that held me bound changed size to keep hold of my limbs. When I stopped struggling, due to exhaustion, I returned to being a Dinakal. I was given more of the sweet liquid, but it had a slightly earthy aftertaste this time. An aftertaste I didn’t mind as the one who gave me the drink gently petted my head.
‘I desired more of the gentle touch. I desired more of the sweet, earthy, liquid. My thoughts turned fuzzy. I no longer cared that I wasn’t Human. A different hand started to pet me. I relished it at first. Doing everything I could to please the man so he would give me more attention. Sometimes I was successful, sometimes I wasn’t. What exactly I did during that time, I am not able to recall.’
Prince Kelton fisted his hand and closed his eyes. He tried to steady his breath and swallow back the bile that threatened to rise as Iredys continued.
‘What I do know is that, at some point, the man petted the matted fur on my back. It pulled on the wounds that had yet to heal and ripped the scabs open. I snipped at his hand because it hurt. The man picked me up and slammed me against the ground, breaking my front left leg. The pain allowed my thoughts to clear and I became Human once more. I was whipped again before the next hot stone burned my chest. The Aquamarine stone tore into my chest while Ansuz left its mark. My consciousness started to fade as the pressure left my chest, but before I fell into the deeper darkness, I was bombarded with the noise of so many voices in my mind.’
Iredys shivered and closed her eyes. She rubbed her forehead with her fingers.
“Iredys?” Prince Kelton asked, starting to reach toward her.
She shifted the cot back a little, to keep out of his reach. ‘Forgive me, Prince Kelton, a little bit more of my time away has just come back to me. Allow me to continue.’
The edges of his mouth dropped down into a frown, but he nodded. He sat back in the chair and waited.
‘I was free of the chains when I started to become aware again. I spoke via thought to many as I ran errands for my captor. My actions felt strange, my words even more so. My form changed often, depending on the task he wanted me to do, and being something other than Human didn’t bother me anymore. I was content to be a mule. I was content to be whatever he needed me to be. Not once, while I was free of the chains, did I think of escape. I only desired to serve the one who had taken me. I only wanted to do his bidding.’
“Did he take advantage of you?” Prince Kelton asked, looking at her belly, as his heart started to shake with all she had revealed so far.
‘No. He left my virtue intact so I could give it to you.’
He let out a sigh of relief then furrowed his brow. “Give it to me?”
She nodded once. Her expression was serious, but otherwise emotionless.
‘Plans were made so my captor could get a hold on you as well. We knew you were away from Greywolf Castle, searching for me. I was to use our betrothal to subdue you, so you would follow and worship the man I obeyed. This in turn would allow him to use us to overthrow Queen Leona’s rule and give him the power he needed to control Greywolf Kingdom.’
Prince Kelton stood. His heart pained, his thoughts in turmoil as he stared at Iredys.
‘His plans for Greywolf Kingdom did not stop there, however, but before he got caught up in his excitement to see these plans fulfilled, I….’
“Stop,” Prince Kelton rasped. “Just stop.”
Iredys remained silent.
He was silent for several minutes. He felt shocked and disgusted, betrayed, yet suspended in disbelief that Iredys would actually go through with this. “...Is that why you are here?” he finally asked. “To lead me to become….”
‘No. I no longer serve, nor have the desire to serve, the man that took me.’
“How can I be certain of that?”
‘That is something you will need to decide for yourself, if you are willing to listen to the rest of what I have to tell you.’
Prince Kelton sat down slowly, but refused to look at her anymore.
‘Thank you.’
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He gave her a perfunctory nod.
‘In order for his plan to be successful, it required I be burned again. The Diamond this time. …The intensity of the heat and pressure in the center of my chest made it hard to breathe. My heart shook as the Diamond cracked my breastbone. Sorrow, love, and desire flooded my soul. I remembered you. I remembered who I was to you. I shuddered and collapsed when the pressure against the Diamond finally ceased and Wunjo firmly settled into my flesh. I gasped for air. I retched hard because I had swallowed some in an attempt to catch my breath.
‘I heard the man command me to leave the place where we stayed, and I did. I flew to Palion City where you were last rumored to be. I changed into a dog so I could learn which room you were staying in at the Crunching Otter Inn. My timing was such that I was able to see you stand on the balcony and look at the night sky before you went downstairs. I hurried out of the city then to grab some clothes and return to your room. I flew through the shadows to your balcony. I let myself in then waited for your return.
‘I did not have to wait long before you stumbled drunkenly into the room. You looked at me, but thought you were seeing things until I spoke to you as I am speaking to you now. Your drunken mind did not pick up on the fact that your ears did not pick up the sound.’
“I embraced you,” Prince Kelton said softly. “Kissed you.”
Lady Iredys nodded. ‘You asked me if I had kept my vows to you.’
Prince Kelton nodded. “Then I passed out, despite wanting to consummate our vows so we would officially be wed.”
‘Just before you passed out, I was able to help you to the bed. I made love to you, letting the magic of Wunjo and the Diamond bind us together. More memories of our time together came back to me as we became one. You woke long enough after your release to make love to me again. You passed out again after that, and I only rested until I had enough strength to be able to carry you away. I had just picked you up so I could fly us back to where my Master was when Sir Hamnet and Sir Droyn barged into the room. Sir….’
Prince Kelton held up his hand to get her to stop for a moment. “Fly how?”
Iredys turned her head to look at Ponderosa. ‘A little help, please?’ she requested.
Ponderosa came over and held a blanket in front of her as she loosened her dress. She then tucked the edges of the blanket under Lady Iredys’ arm before she stepped away. Prince Kelton watched as Lady Iredys stood and shrugged her shoulders. Large, black, dragon wings unfurled from her back. Standing slowly, Prince Kelton took in the appearance of her wings.
“Sir Hamnet said I was nearly taken by a black Dragonwoman,” he mumbled.
‘That statement would have been accurate, as my skin was as black as pitch when I came to you that night,’ Lady Iredys said. ‘Had he not grazed me with his sword, causing me to drop you before I fled, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’
Prince Kelton stared at her wings a little longer before he turned his head to the side and looked at the floor. He heard the whoosh of air as Lady Iredys’ wings disappeared, before Ponderosa stepped over to hold the blanket once more while Iredys pulled the top of her dress back into place.
“One night together doesn’t mean the child is mine,” Prince Kelton said softly as he pulled the Garnet ring off his finger enough to expose the Diamond band that still encircled his finger, “especially since the fidelity of our union was broken less than a day later.”
Lady Iredys sat back on the cot and ran her hands over her belly. ‘Our union was broken because he killed me upon my return,’ she said softly.
Prince Kelton turned to her.
‘He was angry because I had failed to bring you with me, despite being able to complete the most important part of that mission.’ Iredys held up her left hand, so he could see the Diamond band that encircled her ring finger as well. ‘He burned me with two stones at once. Kenaz pressed the Emerald stone into my chest at the same time that Berkano pressed the Alexandrite stone into my chest. The pain was intense enough that I could feel myself slipping out of this world and into the next.’
The tension in Prince Kelton’s body softened a little, but he did not relax enough to sit on the chair again.
‘But Berkano held me back,’ she continued, ‘locked my soul in my emaciated and wounded body. Kenaz flooded my mind with more memories while severe convulsions shook my body. The Emerald, combined with the renewing powers of the Alexandrite and Peridot, ravaged my body to rid it of the evil that had taken root. I vomited. The once sweet, and somewhat earthy, liquid I had eagerly accepted was now putrid. Until that moment, I was unaware that the sweet liquid was remaining in my body, which is what allowed the man to have the amount of control he had over me.’ Iredys let out a sigh. ‘Had he not burned me with Berkano when he burned me with Kenaz, I would not be alive anymore, and our son wouldn’t have been conceived.’
Prince Kelton winced. His eyes filled with tears of sorrow and rage.
‘...Unfortunately, my torment did not end with the purging of the sweet, earthy, putrid concoction that gave my will to that man,’ Iredys continued when Prince Kelton gave no sign that he was going to speak. ‘I was chained up once more, and he sewed my eyes shut with a dirty needle while I was still conscious. The man tried again and again to gain control of me once more by using stronger versions of the concoction, but anytime he forced the stuff down my throat, I would throw it back up again.
‘On the twelfth day, I felt the conception of our son. That was the day that he started to try and break my will in other ways. He broke my right arm and left leg. He whipped and beat me. I don’t understand why, but he didn’t force himself upon me, nor did he command one of his other minions to do so. All the while I refused to give up. I refused to give in, for our son’s sake. Thankfully, my pleas for rescue were heard by Ponderosa and she came for me, but not before he burned me one final time. Ehwaz pressed the Ruby between my ribs while Algiz pressed the Jet between my ribs. He pressed harder than necessary. The force pressed all the air out of my lungs. I could not get my lungs to expand. The intensity of the burning increased with the amount of pressure being put on those stones. The darkness around me started to turn white.
‘I needed to breathe to keep our son alive. I needed the burning to stop. Mentally, I pushed the stones and the man away. I heard a crash, before a rumbling filled my ears and my attention was pulled out of my body.’