"What the Goddess," I gritted out, keeping my eyes closed.
"Son! You're awake!" My father's voice was loud as ever, doing me absolutely no favors. "How are you feeling?"
His hand landed on my shoulder, and I growled, surprising myself. My father just chuckled.
"Still feeling the beast, are we?"
The beast? I cracked open my eyes and found my father's face directly above me, grinning like a madman.
"Don't worry, son. It's completely normal. You won't remember anything for a time, but you were magnificent out there. The biggest dragon in our family to date!"
Dragon.
I could practically feel the cool wind on my face as I flew through the skies, a hunter. The ultimate hunter.
My eyes finally caught up with my brain, and I met my father's stare. "I did it. I became the dragon?"
"Yes, Torin. Yes! And what a dragon you are!"
I lifted myself upright, already feeling the pain in my head waning. "The last thing I remember was being outside of the Keep's walls... Corvus chanting..." I trailed off, searching my memory for anything else. There was nothing. I was scared to admit it, but I couldn’t deny the truth. "I don't understand. I have no memory of my time as the dragon?"
"The first shift is always the hardest and that’s to be expected. All will be restored by dinner, don’t worry, Son. But you still feel it—within you?" He searched my face, and I nodded. I did feel it. As if I was sharing part of my consciousness with something else. "Excellent. I have never been so proud of you. We won't be revealing the scores of The Hunt until the Choosing Ceremony, but believe me when I say, you did well."
I swung my legs off the bed and made to stand, only to wince at a horrible pain in my leg. Confused, I looked down and saw a stab wound.Someone had stabbed me?"What is this? Who did this?"
"A wound you obtained in The Hunt. No worries, it will be healed by midday."
"What day is it? How long have I been asleep?" I looked out of a window and found the sun to be low in the sky. Morning, then.
"The Hunt ended yesterday. Most of you are still sleeping it off. We retrieved you from the forest and brought you in to sleep. You've been asleep for about eighteen hours."
The dryness in my mouth confirmed that. "I'm thirsty enough to drink an entire lake," I rasped as I moved through the room in search of water. Locating it on a wooden stand near the door, I skipped pouring it into a glass. Instead, I raised the decanter to my lips and chugged greedily, only stopping when it was completely empty. Satiated, I turned to my father. "What is the plan then?"
"We will give the others another two hours to awaken on their own, then we will wake them. A discussion is to be had in the smoking room, and then we will prepare for the Choosing Ceremony. It will be held this evening."
I blinked. "So soon? Don't we have more time?"
"There is no need to delay. The remaining women are eager to know their fates after witnessing The Hunt, and then we must prepare for the next steps. Returning to the capital to prepare for the weddings and celebrations could take days or longer. Not to mention all of the celebrations and parties that will be held in honor of The Recurrence. It’s going to be a very, very busy month."
Theremainingwomen.
As though he could read my mind, my father placed a hand on my shoulder. “If they didn’t make it to this point, they were never going to be strong enough to rule. I know it sounds harsh, but it is the truth.”
I didn’t want to dwell on it, especially not in front of my father, so I nodded in understanding and changed the topic. "I'll use this time then to get cleaned up. I desperately need to wash." I could smell myself, and it was not pleasant. "No woman would appreciate me in this state."
"I highly doubt that. You're to be a king. You're desirable no matter if you smell of shit or flowers."
Flowers. I could see them in my mind, beneath me. Swaying in the wind, moving in rhythm to the powerful beating of my wings.
I snapped my eyes to my father's and found him nodding encouragingly. "You're remembering."
"Yes," I whispered as flashes of memory came to me. The landscape, so small below, my shadow being cast over the trees like a warning.
"Wasn't it incredible, Torin? I'll never forget the first time I became my dragon."
"It was everything I ever hoped it would be, Father. Better, even. The freedom in the air, the power..."
My father approached me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Now, imagine if we could do this all the time. At will. To be in control of our dragons. Can you imagine that, my son?"
