In the park, planted with many rare species, the birds had fallen silent and in front of the wrought iron fence decorated with spearheads, two dragons had ruined the lawn.

One of them was lying on its back, crawling and moving away from the other, they were both red but the one lying on the ground had white wings and blond hair while the one brandishing the sword against its cheek had a black cheek.

Slave dragons rushed to stand between the two belligerents. They served the princesses but obeyed the king.

"NOON Not Sangria. Lord! Not that!"

Sangria groaned and called for Astrix, her dragon maid. She was brown and small, and only the size of a human, like the other servant.

Sangria, in shock lay sobbing in the servant dragon's paws.

"Lady Natalia.. What....." one of the dragonesses shouted in terror.

Astrix, on his knees, holding his mistress: "Princess Natalia... how could you raise your sword on our mistress who came to ask for your forgiveness for earlier...!!!!"

Sangria moaned: "I... I just... I just wanted to be friends..."

She began to cry with all her tears.

"I'm sorry, Princess Natalia .... I couldn't know that you were so sensitive... Sorry... Sorry...."

She was lying in the arms of her maid, who caressed her to comfort her...

Sangria:" I... Even though we don't have the same blood running through our veins, I... I consider you as my sister... I have no ill intentions towards you... Rest assured..."

I was shocked.. No words could come out of my mouth... It was too much. What nerve.. what a lie.. What a comedy!!!

The dragons made obstacle of their body between this bitch and me.

Who did she think she was? Sister? And what else? And she dared to insult my mom???

Me: "HAH!

I was still holding my sword

Astrix: "Lady... Mrs. Sangria... But you are bleeding! She cut you! A doctor! Quick... what if it gets infected?"

Sangria: "It's fine... it's nothing, just a scratch."

With the way things were turning out for me and my family, I was in shock...

Sangria was a manipulator, an expert, a formidable enemy. A deadly enemy.

Pushing the dragoness back and helping her to her feet, the two maids escorted their mistress away with a reproachful glance at me. I could feel their hostility in their eyes and I was beginning to distrust the staff as well.

Out of reach, Sangria walked away but she turned her head and our eyes met. She smiled in victory, showing me that she had won again.

The corridors were dark and the windows of the palace still gave a little light from a sun that had been down for some time.

The rectangular panes gave the impression of prison-like grates and only the shadow-filled decorations and moldings reminded me that we were not in a dungeon but in a corridor.

With a heavy step, I had been summoned to my father's office.

I never went there but I was afraid.

I had acted foolishly and compromised the entire kingdom by raising my hand against the daughter of a God.

He was alone, staring at his papers at his desk. It looked like the old Elysium, but that name had no meaning now.

Everything exuded luxury and opulence, and the light faintly illuminated the room, which had become dark now that night had set in.

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The gilding reflected the light and was now showing its usefulness and efficiency.

They looked like candles but they were light stones. An art once again used by the High Humans to show the mere mortal the difference and the fact that magic was reserved for the nobility.

The luxury and opulence had nothing to envy to the comfort of the ancient modern times, before the cataclysm. But this was in contrast to the condition of the towns and villages, which had been reduced to a Salic society with a technology equivalent to the 7th century.

For this reason all the nobles stood together, and even the surviving demons or their descendants followed the same way of life.

King Uriah paused, realizing that I had entered in silence.

He thought of his former wife, my mom...then Aldebaran, his new wife and their daughter Sangria. He saw Sangria as a female double of his father, the terrible Wyvern Lord and the terrible trials he had to undergo in his youth to survive and the ignoble sacrifices in his youth. Natalia's efforts, were nothing exceptional in the face of the death ordeals he had to undergo, as well as his mother, who ... never recovered ... surviving the rape of this monster.. "I must not waver in my judgment..." he thought...

I then made my best curtsy before my father and king and with my violet eyes, I stared at him.

To add to the heavy and dull atmosphere, the night was standing behind him, personified by the window and its lattices like a golden gate, giving a hard and dry atmosphere like a dungeon.

His hard and unbearable look with its red and slit pupils crushed all my will.

Uriah: "I just heard what you did today, that you raised your sword against Sangria."

"Father... father... I..."

Uriah: "I can understand why you hate her and how you might feel."

I stood up straight like the columns and moldings separating the decorative elements and the rows of books in the bookcases, most of which contained codes and excerpts from laws and law books.

The only thing standing between my father and me were a coffee table and two Victorian lounge chairs.

Strangely, the room was getting brighter. Was it my father's power?

Uriah put down what he had in his hand and crossed his hands, his elbows on his desk and his chin resting on his two hands. He was wearing white gloves. Always so clean. Magic? no doubt about it.

"But, don't you think it's shameful for someone of your rank to show off in all the palace?

Just because she was raised by your grandfather, who was known for his roughness and lack of manners, doesn't mean you have to stoop to her level.

From now on, you are no longer a child... you must act with your head. Every action must be thought out. Think about the consequences of your actions."

Feeling that he was defending her, but I was wrong without knowing it, I protested: "BUT... But... She was the one who sullied mom's name... She claimed that I was a bastard... That mom slept with other dragons, with beasts..."

I fell on my knees and begged for his shoes... "I can accept everything, everything but not to have mom's honor soiled..."

My father, with a look always indifferent, as my grandfather answered: "It is up to me to see the true of the false. Now go back to your room.."

I was defeated by father's reproachful attitude but it could have been a thousand times worse...

The hallways were long, but this time they were even longer.

And I thought about mom on her death nest...

She had the same eyes as me... and the same hair... and she caressed me between my horns

"My poor little Natalia...I know you are the chosen one...you don't have to have any doubts and wherever I go, I will always watch over you. Be proud, don't be afraid and make friends...allies...That's what lost me...you have to find the blood of the origins...So you can resist it.."

Then she closed her eyes, a last tear running down my paw.

Her wounds never really healed but she held on as long as she could. She never told me how she got those wounds. The doctors and daddy said it was an occlusion and that a stuck egg was often fatal for reptiles. A birth in humans and mammals was also a risk. A pregnant woman or a pregnant dragoness was said to have one foot in the grave. And even if they were eternal, dragons were not immortal.

The shock came back to me and I fell into the hallway on all fours, no longer able to hold my human form.

I realized I was a beast. A dragoness but a beast.

"Why? Why?" and I began to cry.

Why Sangria?

Why do I doubt now? Why do I doubt mom?

Did she tell me this to protect me? To hide the truth? Or did she tell me the truth?

Then I gasped in the darkness of the hallway. The last person I wanted to meet was behind me: Sangria!

"Natalia??? What are you doing here at this hour?"

Her emotionless face revolted me. Her voice, her presence drove me crazy.

Then she was startled to see my face full of tears but her red eyes crinkled and her viper face split with a smile that only reptiles and dragons were capable of.

"Oh!!! my dear...Why are you crying all alone on the floor? You risk to be scolded" And she stretched her paw to help me to get up

GRRRRRRRR!!!

I kicked her hand/paw "DON'T TOUCH ME! GRAAAAH ROAAAAR!"

She let out a little whiny cry. I must have bruised her paw a little. In fear, she closed her eyes

I said to myself, no, I was screaming inside: "Calm down! Calm down! "and my breathing was all jerky.

"Sangria... I know you live in Grandpa's palace, so what are you doing here at this hour?

"But, Natalia, didn't you know that? Mother ordered me to take my cue from you and move here to the palace of our big brother, King Uriah. We'll finally be able to get to know each other better."

WHAT! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?

Sangria: "But tradition dictates that until the ceremony and the fulfillment of the prophecy, the descendants must live under the same roof in order to reveal those who are blessed by the powers of our God and parent.

Aldebaran himself demanded it. We'll be in the same wing together... isn't that great?"

Me: "BUT WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! I will be recognized as my mother and father! I too will be recognized as the sole heir of the kingdom. And it is not a savage like you who will tell me otherwise. You're nothing, you're just a miserable good-for-nothing."

Sangria clutched her stomach and then exploded with laughter.

She was making as much noise as possible on purpose

"You say I have no outfit...but you...you have no self control...How can you react so fast for so little!!! Hahaha!"

Then, sharp as a tack, her mouth was at the level of mine, near my vents and she whispered to me very weakly. :

"If I stay near you, it's to take everything you have... everything!"

Then, like a ghost she slipped into the darkness of the corridor, without a sound.

I was shocked. She was a real demon...I was not like that...I was not like them. I didn't want to become like that!