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"You are to have her"

Bercelak frowned, which see even to him since he frowned most of the time But this made him frown more

"What does that mean?" his mother asked before he had a chance "He is to have her?"

"It hter"

"Over my dead--"

"Shalin," Ailean cut her off "This isn’t your decision It’s the boy’s"

"Yes, but--"

"I kno you feel about Addiena, Shalin But, again, this is Bercelak’s decision Not yours Not mine Nor the queen’s" Silver eyes focused on hiht the queen on this I haven’t seen her in centuries, but I’rinned--"persuasive"

Shalin snorted and turned away, but his father continued, "But I wanted to give the option to you What is your decision?"

He had no decision to oness He was barely fifty winters and she was already fifty-two An older dragon He’d never been to court before and he’d accompanied his mother this time He made his first misstep as soon as he entered the Queen’s Hall He stoe was instantaneous and without waiting for an apology, she sent the tip of that tail directly for his eye

What fe, but eventually learned, was that all of Ailean’s children were raisedwelldifferently than other hatchlings Bercelak couldn’t re out of sorab his tail and toss hih it was--but because he wanted his offspring’s reflexes to be better than anyone else’s And, to Bercelak’s annoyance, it worked While other dragon warriors were caught off guard or had run fro battles, Bercelak never flinched, never feared, and he definitely never ran Not ever Instead, he destroyed any and all in his way until they finally gave hihest rank a low-born warrior dragon, such as himself, could hope to obtain

So, on that day, when he saw that razor-sharp tail point co for his face, he reacted as he would with any of his kin; he grabbed hold of that tail and swung, flinging the princess and heir to the queen’s throne across the Queen’s Hall and right past her ht for sure he’d die that day But the Queenshe had other plans And, to be honest, didn’t seehter

But he did care After that, he tried everything to get Rhiannon to forgive hiet close to her But when she saw him, she rolled her eyes and went the other way If he tried to speak to her, she yawned in his face and left hi there