They flick the page to reveal a stunning lake with a beautiful woman rising out of it, a sword gleaming in her hands. Her gaze pierces me even through the pages.
“Who is she?” I ask as my fingers trace the sword.
“The Lady of the Lake,” Malachi answers, leaning forward. “She guards the sword of power, also known as Excalibur. Whoever holds that sword rules the Kingdom of Arthur.”
“But no one has seen her in several centennials,” Theo adds.
“Not correct. Merlin has seen her multiple times,” Nash says.
Malachi leans back and folds his arms. “In his dreams.”
“It doesn’t count,” Theo says.
When I turn the page, I’m met with the sight of a monstrous, yet beautiful dragon, its wings curving dramatically over the double page spread. A young woman touches his chest and as she raises her hands, a bright reddish light spreads over the dragon's glossy green and purple scales, cascading down to his tail.
Nash's powerful hands grip my hips as he guides me to one side. I tilt my head up at him. He glances at an empty chair next to Hart. “Sit down, Burgher, until we need you.”
I plonk my ass in the empty chair and glance at the words and pictures in front of Hart.
“Have you solved the damsel’s defiance?” Nash asks.
Theo nods. “They will provide the sacrifice.”
“Who’s getting sacrificed?” I snap.
Nash glares at me. “Do not interfere in things which do not concern you, Daphne.”
He knows my name. How does he know my name? “I just want to know why you need a sacrifice.”
Hart flicks a few pages back and spins the book to face me. A dragon is zoned in on a barely dressed female tied to a post. A knight brandishes a sword at the dragon, the tip poised to pierce the heart of his scales. “The damsel is tied to the post,” Hart explains. “Then the knight comes and rescues her before the dragon takes her.”
I squint at the picture. “Takes her where?”
Theo laughs. “Our pretty mouse is more astute than half the kingdom.”
A smile stretches across Malachi’s face as he glances at Theo. “Dragons enjoy coveting precious things, but the damsels in the kingdom don’t interest him. They are whiny little capons, with black hearts and tiny brains.”
“So he eats them?” I shriek. Being a boring sour female should not be a crime punishable by becoming dragon chow. Damn, the Hallowed are vicious. If I had lived here, I would have heard the drums of sacrifice calling for me before my twentieth annus.
“Just as Charming is expected to search for his Cinderella, the knights are expected to rescue a damsel.”
“Even knowing she will likely be sacrificed? Seems like a ridiculous expectation to me.”
“What do you know, you are just a Burgher,” Hart sneers.
I flick a few pages forward and point at the female with her hand on the dragon. “And who is that meant to be?”
Nash glances at his brothers, and they all fall silent. “She is an anomaly, born of myth and legend. The dragon tamer is a fairy tale told to damsels to give them hope. No one can tame a dragon, not a knight, nor a pretty damsel.”
“This is why the damsels are revolting? They don’t want to face certain death?”
“But the realm demands it,” Malachi says with a sigh. “The Lady of the Lake will appear to a true knight of the realm, one who has found his mate.”
I lean back in my chair and narrow my gaze. “The rescued damsel is then bound to the knight by marriage?” My brain is trying to make a connection, something glaring at me, but at the same time, escaping into the recesses of my mind.
“Correct,” Theo says. “There are four knights,” he waves his hand around, encompassing his brothers. “And we each have to attempt a rescue every annus.”
“Four damsels an annus are sacrificed because you can’t defeat a dragon? Have you thought about attempting it as a team?”
