It was highly disrespectful to sit in front of the royalty without explicit permission. But I gathered that hovering over the prince while blowing the wind with my wings into his face might be considered even less so.
“My apologies, Your Highness,” I spoke in a calm, even voice, hoping to convince the prince that I meant no harm to him or his woman, despite my frightening appearance. “I mean no disrespect. But the dragon’s poison rendered me unable to stand or walk on my own. Though it did provide me with wings.”
“What exactly are you?” the woman asked.
She seemed slightly taller than Elaine, a little slimmer maybe. Her yellow hair was pinned up and arranged into elegant coils on the back of her head. She wore more gold and gems than even the prince, indicating that her status at his side held important significance.
“What are you?”she’d asked. Notwho. Because no matter what I said or how I behaved, I remained a hideous beast to her. My looks spoke louder than my words or actions.
Prince Rha shifted to the side, concealing her from my sight behind his broad back.
“Go inside, Dawn,” he said quietly, yet his tendrils remained connected to her as if he couldn’t bear to part from her.
“Dawn?” I exhaled in recognition. “You’re Elaine’s friend?”
She gripped Prince Rha’s bicep, peeked from around it again.
“What do you know about Elaine?” she asked anxiously.
Dawn had different colored eyes, I noticed. One was blue-gray, the other one brown, mismatched to a far lesser degree than my eyes were. Still, it amazed me to find a similar imperfection in the woman favored by the prince when only absolute perfection was normally worshiped by the highborn.
“Are you the one who stole her?” Dawn asked suspiciously, squinting her bi-colored eyes at me.
“No. I didn’t steal Elaine. I bought her.”
Dawn snarled, baring her teeth and curling her fingers into Prince Rha’s arm, like she was ready to claw my eyes out in hatred.
“I bought her,” I repeated, keeping my head high. “Only she’s the one who ownsmenow. All of me—my heart, body, and soul—belong to her.”
Dawn’s scowl softened a little. She tilted her head, running a curious gaze down my frame.
“Is Elaine here then? Did you bring her to Teneris?” Excitement ignited her expression.
“No, sadly. Though I’m glad to find you here, Sweet O?—”
“Lady Dawn,” Prince Rha corrected me promptly.
“Lady Dawn,” I repeated with a bow of deference to her. Elaine was right about coming to Teneris if the ruler of the city demanded respect for humans here. “I promised Elaine I’d find her friends. I just never thought it would happen so quickly.”
Dawn’s pale face grew even paler.
“Where is she then? What happened to her?” she asked.
“She was taken,” I said grimly, then turned to the prince again. “I’ve come to ask for your help to rescue her, Your Highness.”
Dawn gripped the prince’s arm so hard, her fingers left dents in his muscle. Yet he didn’t flinch and didn’t lower his sword.
“What do you need from me?” he asked.
“An army.”
He exhaled a brief, derisive laugh. “You want me to risk my warriors’ lives because you failed to keep your illegally acquired Joy Vessel and now need someone to return her to you?”
His words caused more pain than his sword ever could.
“We can’t return Elaine to him,” Dawn said to the prince with a quick glare at me. “She isn’t his property. We need to bring her here. This is the only place where she can be safe.”
“Elaine can choose for herself where she wants to be,” I said evenly, struggling to contain both my indignation and my impatience. “My heart’s deepest desire has always been to give her the freedom to be her own person and to make her own decisions. But she can't do that where she is right now.”
