The Dragon's Slave

Chapter 13

Hello all readers. I am so very glad you are enjoying The Dragon's Slave. I am on my way into some deep wilderness for a few weeks. There is no technology where I'm headed and most definitely no service. I will return at the end of September, so the next update will not be until then. In the meantime I will leave you with this last bit that I have completed! Thank you for encouraging this story!

I held up the delicate silver fabric and eyed it warily. So much for functional. Something special consisted of two fitted lengths of silver satin with wide side panels of black lace. Not only would it leave nothing to hide, but it didn't look easy to move in. Not if I wanted to go past a slow shamble.

Yet my new role, if I were to embrace it fully, did not consist of dashing through forests and back-roads to earn my freedom. It consisted of seducing. Perhaps, in that sense, the dress was practical for my purpose.

I slipped it on, struggling a little to get it past my hips. It pulled at my loose locks as it settled and I freed them from beneath it. I had brushed them and planned to leave them loose and flowing this night.

As promised the old woman had it fitting to perfection. The lace revealed an uncomfortable amount of skin. The sides of my breasts were completely exposed, and most of my hips. I worried that if I shifted wrong I would reveal more than was appropriate at such an event. One of my damaged fingers snagged on the lace, I unhooked the broken fingernail gently and bit at the uneven edge.

My chamber had been invaded while we shopped. The tub and towels were removed and several pieces of furniture brought in. A small, dark wood table and chairs, a full length mirror, which propped against the far wall; A desk complete with parchment and ink, and a traveling trunk that now held my day's acquisitions, six new dresses and accessories to match.

The Dragon Lords spent quarry as if it were nothing but loose gravel, I had lost count of the total far before we had exhausted Tharisa. She ended the afternoon limp and happy, but the money and the crowds piqued my nerves and I was glad when it ended.

Only now I had to survive my first test. Play my role to satisfaction at a banquet full of Dragon Lords and their mates.

I let out a heavy breath, willing my hands to lose their tremble, and moved to the door. I was ready and my guard should know the way.

"Gay?"

The soft, feminine call and knock startled me. No one had mentioned the protocol for attending a banquet, and over time I had given up hope that someone would come to guide me. Dynarys had deposited me at the room and simply directed me to get ready. Dusk had fallen long ago--if the light coming from the vents corresponded to that of the outside, and the room was now lit with the glow of several lanterns.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready? Does it fit?"

I opened the door to Tharisa's bright smile.

"Wow," she grinned, "I knew that one was perfect."

I had the same sentiments, and, I admit, a little relief at seeing Tharisa's dress. It was a mixture of burnt orange and yellows, with delicate embroidered leaves. The fabric parted each time a leaf joined with another, giving the illusion that they were simply glued to her. Until they flowed into a loose skirt that shimmered about her knees. Matched with the golden tan of her skin and the deep green of her eyes and the combination was breathtaking.

I stepped into the hall, noticing at once that both Dynarys and Morkuth waited farther down. The guards assigned to my door shifted slightly, a simple tilting of their heads. Knowing a little more about the shifters it no longer struck me as odd when they did not look up at me, and I took the tilting as their form of greeting. Of course it could easily have been a gesture of distaste, or an agreement between the two to eat me later, when there were no witnesses. I shuddered a little remembering my experience with the wolves. Tharisa mentioned other forms, but I had a feeling that they would be no better.