A dragon kidnapped a princess and brought her home to raise. The princess didn’t cry, fuss, or try to run away. She even sharpened swords, cooked, played chess, and sewed clothes.
The dragon was overjoyed. Every day she wagged her tail and tried to win the princess over. She pushed a pile of gold coins toward her. “These are for you!” She brought over a moonstone in her mouth. “This too!” She washed some raspberries and set them in front of her. “Eat!”
The princess gave a quiet hum and went back to sharpening her sword.
The dragon thought this was happiness.
Until one day, she lifted the covers and found that the princess had a flat chest. She froze, her tail stiff as a rod. The princess, not a princess, but a prince, looked at her and calmly removed his wig.
“You deceived me?”
“I used you.”
“Will you still cook for me?”
The prince fell silent for a moment. “Yes.”
What the dragon didn’t know was that this false princess taught her to use a sword by day, then sat alone at the cave entrance at night, contacting his former allies with a beacon. His younger sister had stayed behind in the castle, pretending to be ill, while his older brother had deployed weapons designed specifically to kill dragons along the border. He had planned for everything, except that he would be reluctant to leave.
On the day of his coronation, he set the crown aside and held out his hand to the crowd.
“Tania. Come up here.”
