Princess Willowyn's Arc

Chapter 49 of 70

The egg cracked in Willowyn's arms. She felt the shell split against her chest, and the slow heartbeat inside quickened. Kai stepped close, his hand on his sword. "Set it down," he said. But Willowyn held it tighter. She had woken this thing with her moonlight. She would not drop it now. A second crack ran along the shell. Then a third. Pieces fell away in her hands. Willowyn knelt and cradled the egg in her lap so it would not spill. Whatever slept inside had waited longer than she had lived. She would meet it with steady hands, not fear. A pale head pushed through the shell. It was tiny, small enough to sit on her shoulder. Wet scales the color of the moon. Silver spikes lay flat along its neck. Two damp wings unfolded, thin as glass and shining. Willowyn's breath stopped. She was holding a dragon. Kai lowered his sword. "I only heard of them in stories," he said. His voice had gone soft, like a boy's. He reached out one finger and touched a silver wing. The dragon turned its head toward him and made a sound like a kitten. Kai laughed, surprised. "It likes you," Willowyn said. The two kings had watched the whole time. Now they bowed their heads. Their servants and soldiers bowed too, all across the grass. "A moon dragon," the first king said. "No one alive has seen one hatch." The second king, the one who gave her the egg, knelt lowest of all. "You will fly this dragon someday," he said. "When it is grown, it will carry you over every kingdom." Willowyn looked down at the small creature in her arms. Its heartbeat matched her own now, quick and warm. This was more than gold. A dragon could reach lands no griffin could. A dragon could be seen from far off, a sign of peace flying above warring fields. Her dream did not feel so distant anymore. But the dragon shivered. Its wings drooped and its eyes half closed. It pressed against her, cold and weak. Willowyn's joy turned sharp. "It's freezing," she said. "It's just born. It has no mother." She had cracked open a life that no one knew how to keep alive. Kai wrapped his dark cloak around them both. "Then we keep it warm tonight," he said. "We learn the rest tomorrow." Willowyn nodded. She drew a thread of moonlight down into her hands and let it flow gently into the little dragon. Not to heal a wound this time. Only to warm it. The dragon stopped shaking. It tucked its head under her chin and slept. Willowyn held it against her heart. The egg was empty now, the choice made. She had a dragon to raise, far from any castle, with no one to teach her how. Whatever came next, she would not face it alone.