All Chapters of The Dragon Princess and Her Three False Knights: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

"Absolutely not, Evelyn!" My father strode over and took me by the shoulders. "The north is much too far away. And you're my youngest daughter. If your mother knew I'd married you off so far away, she'd—""Mother would understand."He stared at me, his eyes reddening. "Your mother came from the north. She told me it snows ten months a year there. They barely see the sun. You're already frail. How could you survive up there?"I looked down, my chest tightening.He patted my shoulder. "Evelyn, tell me. Have those three been mistreating you?"I started to answer.But I didn't know what to say.Mistreating me? No.They'd simply changed. I was no longer the person they cherished most.I couldn't tell my father that. If I told him about each incident on its own, I'd sound like I was overreacting.Lucas used to wait outside my chambers the day before my dragon breath became unstable. Now he hadn't visited in about two weeks.Darian always said I was too delicate, but he'd stay with me all nig

I returned to my room alone.The burning spread from my chest through my arms and legs.I curled up on the bed, twisting the blanket in my fists.Heat tore through my insides, then gave way to a freezing chill. Over and over.My breathing grew uneven. I began to black out.I remembered how things used to be.On every treatment day, Lucas would press his rough palm against my back, slowly warming the currents of power inside me.Darian would complain that I was spoiled and too much trouble, but he always stayed beside me through the night.Silas was the gentlest. He'd put a piece of candy in my mouth before helping me drink the bitter medicine.Now I was alone, with no one to help me through the surges of power.Power surged into my throat. The pain sent me tumbling off the bed.I gulped down some medicine. It was so bitter I could barely swallow.Through the haze, I thought I heard myself whimpering.I didn't know how long I lay there before I passed out.When I woke, I was still on th

I spent the next day drifting in and out of sleep. Between my unstable dragon breath and what had happened at the festival, I felt hollowed out. I couldn't even find the strength to pack for the journey north and my new life there.That evening, I dimly heard a knock.I struggled to my feet and opened the door.Kassan stood outside with a bowl of medicine. She looked more like the victim than I did."Princess," she said softly, "I've come to apologize for what Morrie did at the festival yesterday. He didn't know any better."The sight of her made my chest tighten."There's no need," I said. "Please leave."Instead, she put a hand against the door and slipped past me.I frowned and looked her in the eye. "Get out."She turned, staring at my high collar. A strange smile crossed her face. "A dragon's scales are a source of pride, aren't they? Tell me, how much power will you have without this one?"She pulled a long, thin dragon crystal hairpin from her sleeve and drove it into the back o

By the time they reached the square, a crowd had gathered.Their hearts pounded in their throats.The dragon knights hadn't been ordered to provide an escort. The king's closest courtiers had heard no rumors. No one had asked the priests to offer wedding prayers.This wedding seemed to have come out of nowhere.It was all too strange, too sudden. They couldn't make sense of it.They scanned the crowd for Evelyn, desperate for a glimpse of her. Perhaps she'd come to watch, too.Aldric stood alone on the dais in the center of the square.A silver-white frost dragon circled above him. A carriage of the same color waited nearby.Maids were helping a slender figure in a wedding gown into the carriage.A white veil hid her face.She moved slowly, as though every step were a struggle.The frost dragon lowered its head and settled quietly in front of the carriage, waiting for her to take her seat.Lucas's chest tightened. "Evelyn!" he shouted.Silas started to rush forward, but Darian caught h

So much could change in five years.The northern wind and snow hadn't broken me. They'd made me into someone new.Five years after I left, Derek and I brought our daughter, Emma Frostborne, to the Golden Crown Court to visit my father.I wore a long silver-white cloak and a crown of ice crystals.Color had returned to my once-pale face, and the timidity in my eyes was gone. I was older now, calmer and more confident.When I stepped out of the carriage, the court guards dropped to their knees.It wasn't because I was a princess. They felt the deep, powerful dragon breath of the frost dragon chief's wife.Everything at the Golden Crown Court seemed unchanged.I rested a hand on my rounded belly. The little one inside gave me a small kick."Mommy, it's so big. Bigger than home." Emma tipped her face up and looked around, her pale gray eyes full of curiosity.She had Derek's long silver hair, but she looked like me.Derek shifted into human form beside me and rested a hand against my lower