Chapter Eight: Settling In

Finally alone for the first time since she’d turned ten, Crystal sat down and enjoyed simply existing. No worries about her behavior, no worries about the other Ice Dragons, the only thing she had to worry about now was that someone might barge in and take this blessed quiet away from her. 

The ice-cold floor felt amazing under her paws, and if Crystal closed her eyes, she could almost imagine that she was back home in Wynter’s Grove. Back in the safety of her family’s dome.

 

Then she moved to lay down and felt the chain brush up against her neck, felt the hard metal of it scrape along her legs. Crystal’s purple eyes opened slowly, and she frowned at the offending item. She could feel ice building up in her throat, her typical reaction to anything she didn’t like. It had been an absolute pain keeping it inside during the placement tests, and now she was quite tempted to blast the chain. 

Despite the massive desire to freeze the chain over ten or more times, Crystal bit back the ice. It wouldn’t do her any good and would restrict her movement. Ice breathed from an Ice Dragon took almost two full days to melt when shot out in a relaxed manner. When released in anger, stress, or fear, well it would take nearly a week for the ice to thaw enough to be removed. 

Slowly getting back up to her feet, Crystal swung her head towards the bed. It looked uncomfortable, and the blanket would do essentially nothing. Not that it mattered of course, but it was too thin to even bundle up into a decent sized pillow. Carefully stepping over the chain, Crystal made her way over to the thin window on the opposite wall. It was wide enough for her to stick her head through, but any more and Crystal would find herself stuck, in a position that would make it seem as though she was trying to escape.  

Jaws parting into a yawn, Crystal let herself relax. Without any Fire Dragon eyes on her, she finally didn’t have to worry about the consequences of her actions. Crystal wrapped her wings around herself and tilted her head up again to look up at the moon. It was barely a sliver in the sky, but the stars left an empty hole where the rest of it would appear in a few days.

The plan prince Ember had laid before her was…well, it wasn’t anything she’d been expecting from a dragon like him. The heir to the throne, the infamous slayer of servants…secretly a traitor? It just didn’t fit in with the puzzle that was the world Crystal had known.

Crystal flicked her tail forwards, winding it around her forelegs. She had an idea of a plan, but there was no way she could tell it to the prince. If he was just playing her, which she quite thought he was, then the instant she revealed any true signs of betrayal, then it’d be off with her head, and Crystal was quite attached to her head.

Sliding lower until she was laying on the floor, Crystal lifted her neck up and rested her head gently on the small window ledge. The sun was starting to set, and stars were slowly appearing in the sky. Crystal knew she should try to get some rest on the cot, but for some reason she felt perfectly content to simply lie there for the rest of the night. 

But even as Crystal’s eyes drooped shut, there were dragons stirring. Dragons who were listening to a message being passed from ear to ear, dragon to dragon. A message that had started from the mouth of a servant who had overheard the crown prince’s kind speech.

A message that would stir the hearts and minds of every Ice dragon in the castle.