The queen laughed. “It does not matter where the successor to the Starry Night chief has gone. I will call someone else to help assist you and… Thestian, was it?”

  She waved her hand and moved her middle finger forward twice. A pale gold fairy in a green outfit appeared. He bowed with his eyes closed, a way that fairies showed respect to the noble fairies. Rau, as the personal caretaker of the queen’s disciple, did not typically demonstrate this show of respect.

  “How may I serve you, my Queen?” he asked, his head still lowered.

  “Return to my palace. Anya has formed a contract with a dragon, but the dragon requires clothing. Help my child find suitable clothing for her companion.” Kiridian did not bother with telling the fairy servant to raise his head and simply gave him her directions.

  The fairy servant bowed deeper for a moment, then lifted his head as he turned around to face Anya.

  “Shall we return to the palace then, Lady Anya?” His voice was warm, like honey.

  Anya nodded, of course, and the three of them headed to the palace. As they entered, Thestian was somewhat unwillingly drawn away to be fitted for clothes. As other fairies tended to the dragon’s needs, Anya was separated. The servant fairy who had guided them back remained with her; should she be in need of anything, he was at her side to take care of it.

  She had somehow gotten used to the servants, the beauty, and the presence of magic all around her, but she was still uneasy at heart. Everything had aligned too well for Anya to allow herself to get comfortable here. She remembered how easily her aunt and uncle had abandoned her. She remembered the lack of emotion in their eyes as they sent her off, those cold, distant eyes that showed no empathy, regret, or guilt. She knew that all they had required was a reason to get rid of her and the burden she had placed on them.

  Knowing that, she felt that it was entirely possible for it to happen again, and the fairy queen, her own master, would turn her back on Anya, plunging the young girl back into the hardship she had always known.

  As her thoughts were drifting into the darkness, a warmth came from the center of her forehead. Anya lifted her hand to touch the dragon’s scale left on her, the source of the heat.

  When her fingers traced over the scale, the warmth seemed to grow stronger and spread throughout her. This was a friend that Anya had not known for very long, but would never again want to be without.

  This was comfort.

  -

  Kiridian felt a trace of magic drift across her fingers. Earlier, she had placed a magic thread between the purple scale on Anya’s forehead and the dragon who had given it to her. She did not fully trust Thestian, no matter how much Anya did. It was Kiridian’s responsibility as Anya’s guardian to protect her. As long as the thread existed, the pair would always be able to feel what the other was feeling.

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  She hoped that the thread would make the dragon think twice before even considering to betray her child.

  -

  After some time had passed, Thestian finally emerged from the dressing room. He was in his humanoid form, clothed in the stiff clothing that male noble fairies would typically wear. Anya had not really noticed earlier, as she had been distracted by Thestian’s lack of clothing, but the dragon actually appeared fairly young.

  He looked older than Anya, of course, but if Anya was only about six years old, Thestian looked about eleven or twelve. His immature face still had some roundness and his height did not yet reach that of typical adults.

  “How do these fairy clothes suit me, Lady Anya?” he asked jokingly, shooting her a flirtatious wink.

  Anya grinned shyly as she nodded. “They suit you.”

  Thestian shrugged, causing the whole ensemble to move along with his shoulders. “I think they are too constricting for me. If I move too quickly, it’ll shred the whole outfit to pieces.”

  “You just need to get used to wearing clothing,” Anya wrote out with her fingers.

  The dragon chuckled. “You may be right. When you’ve never worn clothing in your entire life, it probably takes a while to adjust.”

  When Thestian laughed, Anya realized that he had two pairs of canine teeth, and the observation startled her for a moment.

  He acted so freely. He was arrogant and proud, and so persistently amused at some little joke that he had not communicated with anyone else.

  He was a dragon. This was a dragon. He marched to his own beat, however incomprehensible it may be to those around him.

  It was strange to Anya. The fairies were free spirits as well, but the way they acted was completely different. They did whatever they wanted, but that was usually just tending to the world around them. Brighten the stars, grow the grass, sprinkle the rain.

  Thestian held no such sense of responsibility, from what she had seen. He was just… there.

  Granted, she had only just met the dragon. She was, perhaps, a bit hasty in her judgment of his character, but she felt an innate understanding of him. Was this part of the bond established with the contract?

  He suddenly knelt down on one knee in front of her.

  “Anya Tran, my contractor,” he began, reaching for her hand. “This is a tradition practiced by the Evening Violet Clan upon forming a contract. Earlier, you made me revert to my original form before I could complete it, but we take our contractor’s hand just like so…”

  The dragon held Anya’s right hand with both of his new, humanoid hands.

  His silver eyes met her own.

  “And we make a vow. I vow never to bring harm to my contractor. I vow to protect you. I will give you my life should you need it. I am your knight. You, who have granted me the name Thestian, will be someone to whom I am always connected, and of whom, I will always be part. Accept my vow, and accept my strength.”

  Anya was captivated by the dragon’s eyes. He was so noble, so unlike humans. For a moment, just a moment, she felt her heart skip a beat.

  “I accept your vow, but I must say the same to you. I will never bring you harm. I will protect you. I will give you my life should you need it. We will be knights for each other. We will always be connected, my Thestian, and I will always be part of you.”

  Violet flames spread from Thestian’s hands, but they were not hot. They wrapped around their three hands and were absorbed by their skin, inky tattoos forming over their hands.

  “The vow is complete.”