The Princess's Dragon

FANTASY

Flanked by two lovely and graceful sisters, Princess Casiondra Falanell Cristalona Ariva—

Sondra to her family—doesn’t feel confi dent or beautiful. In fact, she’s an unconventional princess who spends her days trying to disprove the nonsensical ideas of magic and myth.

As she stands on the edge of achieving the life she has only dreamed about, Sondra’s handsome suitor, Derek, prepares to propose, and her poverty-stricken kingdom of Ariva uncovers a valuable resource that will change its future forever.

Everything seems perfect in Sondra’s life until she encounters a wizard who transforms her into a monstrous dragon. Forced to fl ee from the man she adores, Sondra blunders into the territory of Tolmac, a powerful and ancient black dragon.

Instead of killing her as she anticipates, Tolmac takes her under his wing, un-knowingly training the human princess in the fi ne art of being a dragon. As Sondra soon discovers, she must constantly sacrifi ce to make the right choices as she grows to love and admire her new mentor. With her homeland poised on the brink of war, Sondra fi nds herself facing an unbearable decision; she must choose between her heart and her duty to her country.

S U S A N T R O M B L E Y is an avid reader and writer of both fantasy and science fi ction novels. Now that she is no longer traveling as a soldier in the U.S. Army, Trombley dreams up new worlds in Arizona along with her husband, daughter, and a menagerie of pets.

U.S. $XX.XX

TM

Editor’s

S U S A N T R O M B L E Y

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

Copyright © 2010 by Susan Trombley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,
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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fi ction. All of the characters, names, incidents,
organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products
of the author’s imagination or are used fi ctitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4502-0599-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-0600-6 (dj)

ISBN: 978-1-4502-0598-6 (ebook)

Printed in the United States of America
iUniverse rev. date: 12/31/2009

78

Y 7

CHAPTER 1

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The empty sockets of countless skulls stared down at the lone fi gure in the center of the tower room. Th e sullen afternoon

sunlight fi ltered through the stubborn miasma of dust that drifted through the chamber crammed with dried herbs, unguents, and mysterious crumbling scrolls. Much like a wizard’s workshop, the poorly lit room harbored a menagerie of the strange and bizarre, though most of the creatures there were already dead.

But this was no wizard’s room; quite to the contrary, this laboratory belonged to a princess, one bound and determined to disprove the very existence of such nonsensical ideas as magic and myth. A princess as unconventional as the chamber where she idled away most of her afternoons studying the artifacts of nature and devising logical explanations for everything even remotely mysterious.

“Steady, steady …” The young woman didn’t realize she was whispering to herself under her breath. She carefully fitted the rare and expensive clear glass disk into the twisted frame of a close-viewing apparatus.

“Sondra, why are you hiding in this dusty old room again? We have work to do.” The unexpected sound of her sister’s voice shattering the dusty silence of the tower room startled Sondra and sent the glass disk flying. Sondra shrieked and snatched at the glittering glass as it swam through the dust motes, sparkling in the meager sunlight. She fumbled with the slippery disk a few times, then managed to gain a firm grip on it and carefully placed it on the table with a sigh of relief. She turned to her sister, swiping wisps of hair out of her face and leaving a trail of dusty streaks behind.

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✥ Susan Trombley ✥

“Sarai, don’t sneak up on me! You scared me halfway into Morbidon’s kingdom! I think I nearly wet myself! And I almost dropped my ocular disk!

You have no idea how hard it was to come by. I ordered it last season and only just received it from yesterday’s trade caravan!”

“Sondra! That is horrifying! What would Mother say if she heard you speaking so crudely? Honestly!” Sarai regarded her sister in her filthy apron and worn morning gown with despair. Why couldn’t Sondra behave as a princess should, instead of saying and doing such outrageous things?

“Oh, you know Mother; she would probably say something like ‘I give up’ and then proceed to prove that she hasn’t by setting a pack of maids upon me like a hunted fox to fix me up and retrain me in comportment and all of the other vital necessities of life. Quit rolling your eyes, it isn’t seemly, Sarai.

Besides, you know I speak the truth.”

Sondra watched her sister struggle to form a reply that would fit within the narrow confines of propriety they were supposed to live by. Sarai gave up and changed the subject after a moment.

“I knocked and when no one answered I cracked open the door to see if you were in here. I even called your name. I finally had to enter this horrid chamber and walk right up to you and shout in your ear just so you would hear me!”

Sondra could not help the giggle that escaped her at her sister’s offended expression. Sarai could not bear her ‘chamber of horrors,’ as she called it, and claimed she would rather tour the dungeon below the castle than this tower room.

“Stop laughing, Sondra! You must attempt to be serious for tonight at least!” Sarai insisted.

“Why? What’s different about tonight?”

“Sondra! How could you forget? Tonight is the summer party! You have only a few hours to prepare and you are such a mess!”

“Oh, that! Yes, I vaguely recall hearing something about a party or some such nonsense. I’m not going.”

“Yes, you are. You have no choice and you know it. If Mother discovered you missing she would send the guards up here to haul you downstairs by force.

Stop acting foolish, Sondra.”

Sondra heaved a sigh of regret. She despised these ridiculous parties and

✥ Th e Princess’s Dragon ✥

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the inevitable boredom she must endure as much as her older sister looked forward to them.

“Of course, you’re right. I can’t wait to leave my newest and most exciting invention to stand around for hours in a room filled with lifeless furniture, not to mention all the chairs and settees.”

“Sondra, I hope you are not referring to the nobles as lifeless furniture!”

“Sarai, these parties are a waste of time. The kingdom is broke, we have no dowries, and we couldn’t get married to an eligible prince or duke even if one got lost and somehow wound up at our snore fest. In fact, if we did meet an eligible bachelor with all his teeth, breath that doesn’t fell entire battalions, and a face that doesn’t send maids screaming from the room, we would only be disappointed by our inability to actually engage in a betrothal contract.”

“Don’t be so certain we could not find a husband. Elona married the Bladen prince,” Sarai insisted.

“Yes, that was surprising; here I had always believed Mother and Father liked Elona, but apparently they harbored a secret hatred for her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sondra. Elona made an excellent marriage. I envy her good fortune.”

“What? Why? I would rather cut off my own legs than walk down the aisle to a man like that. Rumor has it the real prince fell inexplicably and irreversibly ill after meeting Elona, and King Arctuor dressed up a game boar and sent it to the wedding in his stead.”