She then turned to Cassandra again without waiting for him to respond.
“Yet, that is a dangerous way to think. You are protected by this Empire’s War God and that is your only strength. Otherwise, this knowledge would get you killed. You know that, don’t you?”
Cassandra nodded.
Yes. Her knowledge and past were all too dangerous to expose in this Empire. Even with Kairen, who protected her, she had been hesitant to reveal the truth. The Imperial Concubine sighed.
“Fine. Bring it in!” She ordered a servant.
A few minutes later, the elderly woman from earlier brought in a large case, and put it at their feet. Cassandra suddenly sensed a tremendous presence over them at the same time Krai’s curious head popped over the wall, watching closely. Was the dragon interested in its egg?
The servant left and Concubine Kareen stood up and raised her hands to her head, plucking one of her hair pins out. Cassandra realized it was actually a very intricate key. Had she kept it there for safety? She opened the chest and Cassandra soon forgot her questions.
“There it is.”
The egg was simply laid on some soft leather, but it looked hard enough that it wouldn’t easily break. It was much larger than Cassandra had expected too! Bigger than any other animal’s egg, and about the length of her forearm. It was not black like she had imagined, but a shiny grey, almost silver-like. She had thought a dragon’s egg would be smooth, but it seemed to be covered in some strange substance, like a lustrous oily coating.
Cassandra couldn’t resist the desire to touch it and, to her surprise, it actually reacted! Like a magnetic pull, something inside briefly moved at the slight touch of her finger tips. She was in total awe.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” whispered Kareen. “Dragon Eggs are among the greatest wonders of this world…”
“When will it hatch?” asked Cassandra.
“When you give birth...if you do. Dragons are linked to their Masters. If the child dies before birth, the egg will use this coating to self-destruct.”
“What if the baby dies…after?”
Kareen’s eyes darkened.
“Let’s not have such somber talk. For now, we just need to make sure that your child sees the light of day in a few months’ time. That is, if my son comes to his senses and allows you to remain here instead of behaving like a headstrong teenager...”
Kairen was glaring at his mother, visibly annoyed by her words. Cassandra, however, was hesitating. She was reluctant to part from Kairen, but for the sake of their baby, wouldn’t it be better for her to stay here? How was the Concubine Mother so sure she would be safer in the Diamond Palace instead of the Onyx Castle?
Seeing her uncertainty, Kareen rolled her eyes.
“Enough! I haven’t seen my children in a while. All three of you will stay here for a few days and I am not asking! Krai too.”
Hearing its name, the dragon turned its head to the Concubine Mother and purred softly in her direction as she smiled.
“That’s right, I missed you too, little one.”
Cassandra wondered if Krai’s attitude towards her meant Kairen loved his mother more than he let on. The Imperial Concubine turned to Cassandra again, frowning as she looked at her slave collar. She pointed it out with her finger, displeased.
“This! We need to get rid of this as well when we go to the Imperial Palace for the New Year celebration.”
Hearing this, Shareen almost choked on her wine. Kairen seemed shocked too.
“Mother, you will be going back? To see Father?”
“Who said anything about seeing that old man? I am going there to attend the celebrations, and to show off my future grandchild to all those whores at the Imperial Palace.”
“As if,” said Shareen. “If you show up without going to see Father, he’d send the entire army to fetch you!”
Her mother shrugged, not phased at all. Cassandra was speechless! Their mother was so strong-willed, she would even dare to ignore the Emperor himself! She then instructed them to eat, essentially closing the topic. While eating her little bites, Cassandra tried to remember how much longer until the New Year celebrations. She felt like her time at the camp had been months, longer than the couple of weeks it actually was. As she took the time to count exactly how many days had passed, she realized the celebrations would be held only two months from now. How big would her baby be in two months? And the dragon’s egg? Cassandra wondered if the Baby Dragon would look like a miniature Krai.
As they ate silently, Cassandra felt a bit more at ease. The Concubine Mother was a very strong-willed woman, scolding her children for bad posture, and was cold towards the servants. She was nice to Cassandra though, as if she respected her from the start, and ignored her slave status completely. She urged Cassandra to eat more though; insisting she consume more of the dry fruits as they were, according to Kareen, very nutritious for babies.
“Don’t Southerners eat meat?” she asked, noticing Cassandra had barely touched it.
