Dragon Tamer

Prince Camden pulled his hand away to inspect the scar in his palm, while everyone cheered and went back to partying. If I wasn’t mistaken, a genuine smile flitted across his face. It disappeared in a flash when Cadence and Amber jumped to his side and asked to see his scar. A smutty smile crept across his face instead.

“Hey, uh, Amber?” I started awkwardly, never being good at asking for help. “Would you mind healing me?”

She flipped her black hair over her shoulder and raked me in slowly with those spiteful gray eyes. “No.” She went back to feeling up Prince Camden’s arm, dismissing me.

My blood boiled.

“Why not?” I demanded. “You’re the best healer. It’ll take you, like, ten minutes then you can go back to your prince, I promise.”

Bored, she turned her head for me once more. “Because I don’t want to. I’m tired of looking at your disgusting scarred body. Maybe you should have thought about what you put other people through before you decided to go against everyone’s wishes and became a dragon tamer.”

I couldn’t help crossing my arms in an attempt to hide the disgusting body she spoke of. Sure, I had more scars than most women in my village; it came with the territory of being a dragon tamer. Sometimes you got bitten or thrown into boulders. Shit happened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. None of the other healers mind seeing me.”

“Then go ask them. Can’t you see I’m busy?” She splayed her hand on Prince Camden’s chest to make a point. “You’re not wanted here. You were never wanted.”

“A simple ‘no’ would have been fine,” I muttered. “I hope you got rid of all the crabs before you let Prince Camden go down on you.”

The prince stood straighter, having been previously engaged with Cadence, and looked at Amber like a dragon had sneezed on her. At least he hadn’t heard her other comments about my disgusting body. I didn’t want it to go back to the other princes that my body wasn’t as desired as they made it seem during my visit. I’d enjoyed the attention.

“Go die in a hole,” she snapped at me, shoving me.

Because we were in public--and Dad would totally kill me--I didn’t punch her lights out and throw embers at her. I took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Do you have a preference for which hole? Giles has made a lot recently, I’m sure one of them would meet your standards.”

She curled her lip up at me, something she did when she didn’t know how to deal with my calm kindness. “Freak. The one furthest away from me.”

With a mocking bow, I turned away from them and sought out Amelia, the only healer in Plum who never turned me down. She was giggling on a log with Giles’ arm wrapped around her to keep her warm. I cleared my throat. “Hey, uh, Amelia, can I borrow you for a quick healing session?”

She peered over to Amber, who I realised wasn’t too far away so it was likely she’d heard our exchange, then back to Giles. “Will you be here when I get back?”

“Always for you, my pretty.” He kissed her cheek, making her flush. I wanted to puke. It was so weird watching any of my brothers being so cutesy. I’d grown up knowing them to be mischievous badasses, but they were the total opposite with women and it took a lot of getting used to.

She stood up and took my hand. “Come on, I’ll take care of you.”

Ugh. Why did she have to say it like that? I didn’t need to be taken care of. All she needed to do was slap some of that magically ingrained poultice on my wounds and I would be as right as rain in the morning.

She squeezed my hand on the way to the healing hut and blushed again. “Prince Camden’s watching us.”

Surreptitiously, I peered over my shoulder and scanned the crowd. When I did find the prince, he was very much not watching us and was busy laughing at something Cadence had to say.

At least he’s having more fun with her than Amber. It shouldn’t make me feel better--it was petty and I could care less who he found interesting--but it did.

Though, that didn’t stop Amber from trying to get his attention. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He brought it on himself with those suave moves and sexy eyes. What else did he expect? He seemed to like the attention, anyway. . . .

He lifted his gaze away from Cadence while she was clearly talking to him and looked in our direction. Embarrassed for being caught staring, I turned around and ducked my head in the off chance he hadn’t noticed.

Maybe he had been looking when Amelia said he was. . . which meant he’d been watching us twice!

And? How old are you? Twelve? Who cares?

Yeah, that’s right. Who cared if he was looking? Definitely not me.

Amelia giggled, further inducing my mortification. She’d seen it all!

You know what that means, right? No witnesses, Kal. You cannot let it spread through the village that you have the hots for Prince Camden.

Ugh. Even admitting it to myself made bile rise in my throat. Everyone knew I didn’t have crushes. One, there was no point, not when men were scared of me or my family. Two, I had better things to do than to be wiled by a man. Three, I didn’t need a man to make me happy--especially that one. He had no respect for me or for dragons. That was a big no-no.

Amelia squeezed my hand. “Your secret is safe with me, Kali.”

“What secret?” I was taking this to my grave.

Rolling her eyes, she playfully pushed me into the healing hut; though, “hut” was a pet name for the large A-framed building, for the days when it used to be a hut. “He’s very handsome. There’s no shame in liking the view,” she told me, lighting a few candles by the table. I was relieved that she wasn’t going to make me lie down in the cots. They freaked me out. Dying people slept in those cots. I was not dying.

I sat at the table, hands on my knees while I waited patiently for her to make a poultice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I was adamantly not sharing my shameful thoughts with her.

“All right,” she relented, mixing some herbs together in a stone bowl. “I’m just saying. . . he’s hot and every woman in the village is jealous that you get to spend every day with him. You might want to watch your back--especially if Amber is going to be as bad as she was earlier to you. It wasn’t right what she said to you. I never agreed with the way the other women treat you.”

This news surprised me. I’d grown up thinking I was alone, that I was despised by all the women for the way I behaved. “You don’t?”

“Of course not. It’s awful. We grew up with you. We went to school together. You’re no different from us.”

“Except, you know, I act like a man and tame dragons. This whole Rite of Passage thing is supposed to be a man’s job. We couldn’t be more different.”

She paused in the middle of mixing the poultice, looked at me dubiously, then went back to grinding the herbs. “You’re crushing on Prince Camden like everyone else.”

Ignoring the pain tearing at my shoulders, I sat straighter, challenging her to say that again. “Am not. I have more self-respect to fall for a man who doesn’t respect me or dragons.”

She giggled. “Who said anything about falling for him? Kali, you can find someone you hate attractive.”

“Oh.” I flushed. This was all so new to me and it was embarrassing that I was only now being taught how to understand my emotions. I understood dragons better than what was going on in my head. “Well, I wouldn’t go so far as hating him. Ask me at the end of the week about that.”

Smiling at that, she dipped two fingers in the bowl and tested the consistency. Satisfied, she closed her eyes and murmured a spell that made the green paste glow for a moment. Only certain people possessed enough magic in their blood to charm herbs to increase their healing properties. Usually we were tested when we turned five to see if we would become a healer or find some other profession that didn’t involve magic. I was never tested. After Elesor hatched, it had become clear I would be a tamer.

“There. All done,” Amelia said, a little smug. “Do you need a hand taking your shirt off?”

I was already pulling it off and biting back a groan of protest. The wounds had started to scab and the shirt had stuck to my flesh; it was a real bitch peeling it off and reopening the wounds.

She frowned when I dumped it on the floor, biting my lip so hard she might have to heal that too. “You know I see people in pain every day, right?” she comforted, watching me carefully. “It’s okay if you hurt. You don’t have to hide it from me.”

I said nothing, straddling the bench I sat on so she had better access to my back and chest. There were three angry holes on either side of my shoulders and one big gash in each of my shoulder blades where the harpy’s talons had dug in.

Frowning in concentration, she examined the wounds. “I don’t think I made enough. I’ll do what I can with this then make some more. . . . Kali, I can’t believe you’ve been strutting about for the past two hours with these wounds. We should have postponed the ceremony.”

I shrugged--then winced. “It’s fine. I can take it.”

She tossed a strand of blonde hair out of her face indignantly. “It’s not a matter of if you can take it,” she snapped, surprising me; she usually wasn’t one for being curt. She was the gentlest soul I knew. “You shouldn’t have to go through this kind of pain. Who are you trying to prove? Your brothers? Grant?”

“They wouldn’t have postponed the ceremony,” I grunted.

“They weren’t attacked by a harpy! Kali, if any of them had sustained an injury like this, Grant would have asked to postpone it.”

I somehow doubted it. Dad would have told them to buck up and power through it. It seemed only fair that I did the same.

In her rage, she seemed to have forgotten I was a patient, so she slapped the salve on my back. I screamed. My wounds roared and felt like they were sizzling. I could practically hear my flesh boiling.

“Oh, Kali! I’m so sorry. At least I know you can feel pain, now.”

Biting my lips shut to keep another scream at bay while she massaged the poultice in the gashes, I nodded and blinked the tears away. My God, what did she take me for? I was stubborn, not numb.

“I’m going to shut up now. So, so sorry.” Fear waived her voice. I wished I’d passed out from the pain so I hadn’t heard it. The last thing I wanted was for her to fear me. I might have been known for my dragon-like temperament, but that didn’t make me a monster. I only hurt those who hurt me and deserved it. The woman healing me definitely didn’t deserve it and it made me feel awful that she thought I was going to hurt her.

A numb haze seemed to wash over me while she moved from wound to wound. By the time she’d dressed everything and helped me put the shirt back on, I ran automatically, trudging across the floor and opening the door, thanking her for taking the time to help me.

I barely noticed Elesor outside, who wasn’t allowed to be standing in the middle of the road where she was. Dad and my brothers were with her, calming her down. The only thing that did sate the dragon, though, was my touch as I came up beside her. She’d heard my scream and was scared for me.

Dad watched me with sad eyes as I hopped onto Elesor’s back. I could barely feel my legs; I wasn’t sure I would make it through the village to my house. It would give me the distance I needed to be away from my fellow villagers, some of which had also come to check out what Elesor was doing here. Prince Camden was one of them.

“I’m fine,” I told my family numbly. “Go back to partying.”

I held onto Elesor’s horns while she gently took to the sky to glide over the buildings for my backyard. Reluctant to move again, I rubbed the length of her neck and gave her a big hug. Normally, she would purr, but the concern in her eyes was too great.

“I’ll be okay, girl. I’m going to sleep and when I wake up, I’ll be all better, I promise.”

She nodded solemnly then flattened her tummy against the ground so I didn’t have to slide far. After a gentle nuzzle, she watched me enter the house then curled up into a ball at the base of my window. I climbed the stairs and pushed my door open. I’d only just managed to take my pants off before I collapsed on the bed and let the weight of my day drag me down to sleep.