I was summoned to be interrogated by a jealous dragon (Part 3)

I ran away from the chamber, closing the door behind me. I understood now why Korvan did not want me to see this room. I saw something I was supposed not to. Will I get punished? Not until someone finds out. If I need to take this secret to the coffin, I will do it.

The sun was already setting, flooding the castle with molten gold, the sky outside a bloody red. This meant the dragon would return home soon. It looked like his curse made him a wild dragon during the day, but his true human form appeared during the night. That would explain why I never saw him inside when the sun was up in the sky.

Even though the castle was big, it was still built for humans, not the dragons. He was probably not able to fit in here in the form of a big scaly monster with wings. So he was spending the whole day outside, flying around to chase away his boredom. I wondered how many years he had to live as a half-human, half-dragon.

They told me it has been seven years since Prince Dragan wed his previous bride. So Vesna has been here already for seven years. How many years ago was the first bride living here? And how many years were they living here happily together? His Highness didn’t look very old. He was probably the same age as me, maybe a few years older.

Was he even aging, or had the curse stopped the time for him?

With my head full of open questions, I returned to my chamber to get ready for the night. I was planning to get to bed early, as I was fairly tired today, but I was unable to. I was sitting on my bed, pondering, my hands faltering every minute. How should I face the fact that those dumb villagers are forcing brides on the poor guy grieving his wife? How should I face him?

Hey, thanks for not eating me, but can I stay here? If you kick me out, I will die in the wilderness. I swear, I won't be jealous even if villagers send you a fourth wife. Pretty please?

The sun has set already, and even though there was still a bit of light outside, the blue sky was fading quickly, my room getting darker every minute. I did not light the candle. Instead, I hid my face in my palms, agonizing over the things I saw in His Highness' chamber. Was the weasel trying to help me or curse me? I will not be able to sleep tonight. What good did it do, seeing those paintings?

I wanted to hide under the blanket and forget the whole thing. Or better, I wanted to disappear from this world! Homesickness got hold of my stomach, and I felt sick. I just wanted to go home. Without traveling through the wilderness of the world, I did not recognize.

During the day, when I was too occupied with the stuff happening, I was not thinking about my hometown at all. Now, when the world around me went quiet, my mind got louder. I felt worse. Why can't I go back? Why am I here?

A ray of golden light crept into my face. Noticing a sudden change, I raised my head. On the window of my room sat a beautiful yellow bird. It had a sharp, curved beak and a fluffy, long tail. Its feathers were full of yellow and red, glistening with gold, glowing brightly like the sun itself. It looked at me with its dewy eyes, shimmering like gemstones.

“A firebird,” I said.

I dared to come closer. I feared the bird would get scared and fly away, but it stayed, looking at me. Now I was so close to it that I could touch it with my hand.

I hesitated, but then reached out. My fingers slid on its sharp, thin beak, then up to the soft feathers on its head. Its feathers were radiating warmth.

I petted the bird on its head, scratching it gently. The bird tilted its head, leaning into my head.

I couldn’t help myself. “So cute,” I said, my voice melting away.

The bird chirped at me.

“Why did you come here?” I asked the bird. “You have such beautiful feathers.”

The firebird tilted its head and then started preening its feathers. As it turned back to me, I could see a feather in its beak, still glowing even though it had just fallen out of its wing. The bird softly nudged my hand and left the feather on my palm.

“Are you giving me this feather?” I asked.

It nodded at me.

“But why?” I asked.

It opened its beak, as if trying to tell me something. A sharp knock on my door destroyed the peace in my mind. The firebird jumped out of the window, disappearing into the night sky. I looked after it, sad.

“Yes?” I asked.

“His Highness wishes to see you on the rooftop,” Korvan said behind the door. “Now!”

I went pale instantly.

“Why?” I squeaked.

“We do not question His Highness' orders.”

“Okay, I will be there,” I said after a while.

“Hurry!”

“I said, I am coming.”

“It always takes you a long time to get ready,” complained Korvan.

I did not respond. Instead, I just listened to the tiny birdie feet stomping through the hallway. The angry bird has already left, but I was still standing in my room, motionless. The firebird made me forget for a second what I just did an hour ago.

I did not even have time to wrap my head around the things I learned today, and he was already calling me. How was he able to find out so quickly? Did I lose something in his chambers? I was doomed.

Questioning my future, I still decided to face His Highness' wrath on. I hid the firebird feather in my apron pocket and took out the shawl.

I went to the same tower I wandered into the night before. As I appeared on the rooftop, I could see the first stars blinking at me from the dusky sky.

“I am here, Your Highness,” I said.

A courtly bow would be dangerous on the tower rooftop, but I was able to lower my head to greet him.

“Oh,” he said, his thin lips smirking. “So you can behave politely if you want to.”

The corners of my mouth were twitching, but I bit my tongue and did not react. So you can be a jerk if you want to, too.

“Or did you get yourself into trouble again, so now you’re acting all proper?” he added.

Now my pale cheeks flushed bright red. I bit down on my lips. Hard. Better change the topic as soon as possible. I know I did the stupid thing today, but I am not as dumb as to get caught.

I raised my head, the fake smile blooming on my face. “You mean the trouble I had to go through because your magical bead was stolen?” I smiled, all my politeness gone.

I knew I messed this up. I wanted to be nice to this person, learning that he is grieving, but why was he so bold and annoying, suddenly? I got irritated.

“Yes, the crystal magical bead,” he repeated. “It was not required to get it back.”

“I thought it was important?”

“It is,” he agreed. “But once the thief realized who the real owner was, they would return the thing to me immediately. So to say, you did something completely unnecessary.”

Anger colored my face. I bit my tongue for the third time. Blood spilled into my mouth, but I did not care. Do not explode, Zora. Just let it be.

“Unnecessary, like teaching Korvan to read. I get that he is excited, but what is the purpose of that?”

I looked at him. If my glare could kill, I swear, he would be done hundreds of times already in this moment. My blood was boiling over. Was he really that cold? I thought he was different, but these words just now, I did not believe my ears.

I gulped down the blood accumulating in my mouth.

“Pardon my bluntness, but I will be direct, Your Highness,” I said.

“You know you can call me Dragan,” he replied. “It does not make sense to force you to call me Highness when I see that there is no respect in your eyes and you are spitting those words out like a curse.”

“It is unnecessary, right?” I smiled.

His lips twitched. Maybe this will cost me my head, but in that moment, I was too busy with my anger to think about consequences.

“Oh, good. That will make things ten times easier,” I continued. “I do not care about that goddamn magical bead. I just wanted to help that poor weasel, which was scared out of its wits thinking the falcon would eat it, and you will hurt it after you find out it got stolen.”

He opened his mouth, but I did not allow him to talk.

“It looked important to it, it looked important to you, so I just went with it. My bad, I guess. Next time, I will just be sitting inside, sipping some tea and doing some embroidery or other stuff,” I said. “But for you to tell me that teaching Korvan to read is unnecessary… How could you? That poor bird is trying to learn how to read, so he can help you! He knows you are always working on something in the library, and he wants to be more useful to you! Please, tell me you are just awkward with words and do not know how to talk. Tell me you do not consider Korvan just some stupid servant who should only do his job and nothing else. Because if you won't do it, then you will be an evil dragon for me until you die, and I do not care that you do not eat humans.”

“Are you done now?” he asked.

I huffed. “Yes! You are now free to behead me or whatever is needed in this world as a price for treason. That is how aristocrats handle poor people speaking their mind.”

He was still sitting on the roof, his chin resting on his hand. “Do you know you can be honest and respectful at the same time? Politeness does not equal dishonesty, you know?”

“Why should I treat with respect someone who considers his servant unnecessary?”

“I never said that. You are now putting words into my mouth.”

“But you said–”

“I just said it is unnecessary to teach Korvan how to read. He is already taking care of the whole castle, so he is as busy as he can be, so why should I give him another task? He is doing enough for me already.”

I went quiet.

“As for the magical crystal bead, you did not have to go to catch the thief. I would handle it myself. I admit, I chose my words poorly. But I don’t think I deserved this outburst of emotions.”

Now my cheeks were burning not because of anger but because of embarrassment. I lowered my head, not meeting his gaze, wanting to really disappear from this world.