The Shamer's Daughter - A Fanfiction

Chapter 9 - Out of Breath

Drakan stood as a shadow on the other side of the bars, his face invisible in the darkness.

"What was in that bottle?" Dina asked fiercely, but she didn't leave Nico's side.

"Wine." He said with no hesitation. "The boy drinks too much and doesn't take well to it. Hasn't he told you that yet, since you're such good friends now?" Dina had no chance of reading his face, so she looked at Nico instead. He made a gasping sound as he tried to speak.

"She knows everything about me, dear cousin. Knows me better than most." He coughed and twisted on the bed to face his cousin.

"Her mother's daughter?" Drakan didn't seem surprised but he still pretended not to know. "Come little Shamer, let me free you."

"No." Dina said in a voice so stern it surprised even her.

"No? What do you mean by no?" The lord was clearly surprised as well and Nico's next cough sounded like laughter.

"Not until you help him. Not until you tell what was in the bottle and do something about it!" He hardly took her seriously and unlocked the door as he spoke.

"Has your mother not taught you to do as the adults bid? I guess I will get you myself." He stepped into the cell, but Dina still couldn't make out his face.

"No! You have to help him, he's dying!" She was going crazy with the thought, but Nico encouraged her to leave.

"Dina, go. Go with him." He managed to gasp in between breaths. She grabbed his hand before Drakan got to her and held it tight.

"No! He needs to help you. I don't want you to die!"

"Come Dina." Drakan's voice spoke behind her. It was calm and soft and almost luring. "Come to me." She turned around and looked at him. In the Dragon Court, she had been so terrified as she thought she could be. But she was wrong. In this moment, she was more scared of Drakan than of any dragon. She could almost smell their rotten scent on him. Nico was dying, what did he think he was doing? Dina slowly got up from the bedside but kept a hold of Nico's hand.

"Why won't you help him? He's your cousin." She whispered towards Drakan, and halfway didn't expect an answer.

"Cousin?" He stepped closer and Dina tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go. "Oh, that's just what they call it. You see, you're not really a part of the family when you're only a bastard." He spit with the last word and Dina felt like throwing up again when it landed on her shoulder. He definitely smelled like the dragons.

"Cousin." Nico called him in spite. "What was in the wine?"

"It wasn't poison, dear cousin. On the contrary." Drakan knelt down beside Nico, right next to Dina and his cape touched her free hand. It was cold and smooth but nothing like material she had ever felt before. "Dragonblood." He whispered so only people who were as close to him as Nico and Dina were, could hear.

"Drag..." Nico's breaths were getting even shorter and he could barely say a word.

"Dragonblood?" Dina finished for him, without meaning to, because she hadn't even noticed that the prince had tried to speak.

"Yes." Drakan's teeth shined white in the moonlight when he spoke with a smile. "Dragonblood is no poison. It makes you stronger, faster - it heals you." He spoke with the same insane impressed voice he had used when he had first introduced Dina to his dragons.

"Then why did you give it to him?" Dina was torn between confronting Lord Drakan and helping Nico.

"In smaller doses, I might add." He looked like he found it amusing which angered Dina even further. "Of course, you aren't used to it. So perhaps it was a bit too much for you." He touched Nico's cheek and almost curressed him, as if he was trying to calm him down. But Nico kept gasping frantically. Suddenly, Dina realised what the cloak was made of. When it touched her hand, it had been too smooth to be compared with any silk or other fabric. And too cold and dark to be of anything she had seen before. It was made of dragon scales. Did he kill a dragon to take its scales and blood? If he did, she wouldn't be surprised. From what she had seen, he had plenty of them in The Dragon Court and maybe his cloak would be worth the price. But the fact didn't make him any less scary. And what did he mean by Nico not being used to the blood? Was Drakan? Dina took a step back without even noticing. She didn't stop walking backwards until she felt the stone wall against her fingertips. She wanted to be brave - she really did. But the cell was open and somewhere on the other side of the bars, was her mother. And even closer, other people who didn't smell like monsters and drank dragonblood. So she ran for the door. But she didn't make it very far before Drakan had swept the legs from under her. She fell and hit her knee on a sharp pepple, hidden in the dark. She only managed to break her fall with her hands last second before her face hit the ground as well, but she already felt scratches all over her palms.