Chapter 1
Chapter
One
The dragon was restless today. He had been the last few weeks. To be fair, so was most of the city, but Briannis usually didn’t have to worry about her neighbors carrying off one of their cows for a meal.
She glanced up as the dragon glided over the fields, wings stretched wide.
Light glinted off his green scales. Her heart raced at the sight, at powerful haunches, sharp claws, and tail that could destroy a building in a single swipe.
Its wings beat once as it passed over, sending a sudden gust fluttering her long, frizzy hair.
Briannis squinted against the wind then whipped around to watch the dragon as it sailed along on the breeze.
She should be scared. She should have screamed.
Any sane person would, right?
But just like every other time she’d glimpsed the dragon over the years, it was tingling excitement that caused her pulse to flutter and body to warm, rather than fear.
What would its scales feel like under her fingertips? Could its fiery breath really turn a tree to ash in moments?
Truth was, Briannis had spent her life around large animals like the cows at the family dairy, and wasn’t a dragon just an even larger beast? Was it really so dangerous and deadly as everyone believed?
Though it had taken a cow a few months back. A scowl formed on her face as she watched him. If he makes one more low pass over the fields…
Not that she could do more than send unhappy thoughts his way if he did bother their animals. No one would dare mess with their guardian. The Fates would surely punish anyone foolish enough to do so.
Thankfully, he continued on, flapping his massive emerald wings until they carried him away from the fields and up into the mountains where he was said to live.
Briannis let out a sigh and patted Una, one of her family’s many cows, on the head. “Looks like he’s gone now.” Briannis scratched between her ears. “No need to worry.” The cow stomped and tossed her head, nearly knocking her into the wooden fencing.
Most humans and animals alike feared the dragon. Why, earlier that morning when she’d been making a small delivery of a new batch of cheese, Briannis had seen dozens of people scream and hurry for cover at the mere sight of him flying above the city.
Ridiculous.
He didn’t eat people.
Well… She grimaced. Except for today.
The streets had been thick with tension—and people—this morning thanks to the ceremony that would take place in the square when the sun was highest.
Briannis glanced back at the sky, squinting against the brightness. “Damn,” she muttered, giving Una one last pat. “Aunt Davina is going to kill me.” She’d taken much longer delivering her latest blend of cheese than she ought to have.
The family home lay at the end of the lane.
Briannis ran toward it, the cool spring breeze a balm to the sweat rising on the back of her neck.
What once had been a small home had been added onto over the years.
As the family’s dairy business grew, so did their residence…
and the number in their household. How Aunt Davina managed to be such a successful business woman and a mother to so many little ones she couldn’t say.
Well, actually, she could. Her business success let her hire help, but it had been her strong will, determination, and excellent taste in cheese that had built their modest farm into something enviable.
As a grown woman of six and twenty years, Briannis could have moved out long ago; however, Aunt Davina and Uncle Euan had been parents to her since her own had passed when she was but eleven.
They treated her like one of their own, even instructing her in the running of the business.
It was no secret that her aunt saw her as her future successor.
Briannis banged through the main door, aiming for the stairs up toward her room, but was stopped in her tracks by a scathing, “There you are! You’re late.”
Aunt Davina scowled. “Of all the days.” She tsked. “I knew I should have sent someone else with that delivery.”
Briannis shoved her unruly red hair—the same shade Davina’s had been before it became streaked with grey—behind her ears and joined her aunt in the front parlor. “Maybe this will change your mind.” She untied the little pouch around her waist and upended the contents into her palm.
All her aunt’s focus zipped to the five gold coins in her hand. Her anger vanished, replaced by a raising of her brows. “I see. Mr. Stoutwell liked your newest blend. Enough to pay for the next wheel in advance?”
“Enough to pay double, and promise the same amount for the next three wheels.” Briannis beamed with pride. She knew that blend was going to be great. Much like her aunt, she had a knack for flavors and it had yet to lead her astray.
Her aunt’s lips parted in wonder. “Oh my.”
“Though I think today being the Choosing had something to do with it,” Briannis admitted, her joy quickly fading.
“Given what happened with Merilee…” She swallowed.
It was still hard for Briannis to think about the bright young woman they’d lost. How much harder was it for Mr. Stoutwell given she’d been his only child?
“Fates give her rest,” Aunt Davina replied with equal somberness.
Every five years the city held the Choosing where all unwed young women aged 18 to 30 were required to present themselves as a candidate to become the dragon’s bride. No exceptions. Two Choosings ago, it was Merilee who was selected.
It was supposed to be an honor to wed the dragon and ensure his favor, therefore granting prosperity to the city. But dragon brides never lived much beyond their wedding day, if at all.
With a sigh, the hard set of Aunt Davina’s expression returned. “The Fates will be against us if we don’t get you to the Choosing on time.”
Because Briannis would be one of the candidates, just as she had been five years ago. She hadn’t been worried. Not at all. But now that it was almost here, there was a tightness in her throat she couldn’t quite swallow down.
“Your dress is all laid out upstairs.” Davina waved her enthusiastically in that direction. “Go on. The dragon waits for no one.”