The End of His Misery

The prince looks at the book leveled in his gaze. As I look outwards towards the kingdom he might rule, I gulp and say, "Whenever you're ready."

I can feel him take a deep breath and slowly let it out, smoke coming from his mouth. He takes another breath in and blows out a little harder, some flame escaping his lips this time. The next breath sends a plume of fire shooting above the book. "Dumhuvud," he seems to whisper to himself.

Once more he takes a deep breath in and shoots out another plume of flame, this time hitting the book dead on. The book bursts into flame, angrily burning, the flames changing colors as if they were battling something. I look at the small prince in my hand and he looks up at me, "Are you okay, Prince Dracome?"

"Put me down, my dear Tallia," he says and smiles at me. I do as he said and he stands on his own. Suddenly smoke starts to ring around him, turning into a column as it rises higher, engulfing the small prince, and slowly fading away.

Suddenly I see a man, tall and slender, he looks at me and says, "Tallia, thank you for ending my misery." He pulls the hood of the cloak he is wearing off and looks me in the eyes. His eyes are a deep blue and his hair is black with a twinge of red at the ends. "Does my human form surprise you?" He asks noticing my shoked expression.

"N-no," I stutter trying to find the right thing to say to this beautiful man in front of me. "I just thought that you weren't so," I pause as he looks at me quizzically, "handsome."

He lightly chuckles and says, "Oh really? Does this affect your feelings towards me then?" He says slowly walking towards me removing his cloak. What's happening?! I think as he wraps his cloak around my shoulders. "You shouldn't have came out here without one of these, it's chilly," he says carefully kissing my head.

"I was making sure the curse was lifted as soon as it could be," I say looking into his hypnotic eyes.

Issy looks at him and then at me, "Will someone explain what's happening here?" She asks looking at the place where the book was just burnt, "Or am I supposed to guess?"

"I'll explain," Dracome says sitting on a stone bench near the fountain. "To begin let me tell you about my mother. Her dragon form was magnificent, yet hideous. Her name suited that form perfectly but did not fit in her human form." He takes a deep breath and slowly let's it out. "My father was forced to marry her and produce and heir to the throne with her, thus here I am. My mother and father hated each other." He continues to explain how his mother had cursed him.

"So your mom cursed you because she hated your father?" Issy and I ask simultaneously.

Dracome nods and says, "It's the only way she could attack him without getting tried with treason."

"How did my family fit into this?" I ask curiously.

"Your family were one of the first to find the healing magiks. My father charged your family with the task of healing me, but after centuries of hard work they had no results. My father cursed your family, of course, the cure to your family's curse was to break mine. I am truly glad it was you and not anyone who came before you because," he shrugs, "you're the most beautiful out of all the women I've seen."

I blush, "But there are alot of women you haven't seen. I'm not as beautiful as most women I know."

"Well you will always be beautiful in my mind. No other woman would have been brave enough to hold a fire breathing dragon in their hand as he shot a column of flame at a book, or be brave enough to lie next to a dragon just to speak to him in his dream."

I smile and blush turning my head down so my hair covered my face, "I'm sure you could've made someone."

"No," he says lightly holding my chin so I am looking into his eyes, "That wouldn't have worked to destroy the book. We needed to work together and that we had."

"I-" suddenly a roar echoes through the land and all that can be seen is the shape of a giant dragon.

"No," Dracome says looking at the giant figure. "She can't be alive."

~~~♡~~~

I look into the figure slowly moving towards us, "Who is it?"

Issy looks at me with a worried look then turns to Dracome, "Is it your mother?"

Dracome nods and says, " I thought she was dead."

I grab them both and drag them into the castle. "Where is the library, Dracome?"

He takes the lead and asks, "Why are we headed there?"

"I will show you when we get there," I say following alongside Issy.

~~~♡~~~

We arrive at a vast library, which looks like it contains over a million books, I walk to a shelf that looks like it has history of the kingdom. 'This looks like the one I need,' I think taking a book off the shelf. I open it and see immediately a beautiful woman with the name Casorina underneath.

"That's my mother," Dracome says walking up behind me. "Why did you wish to come here?"

"This book can tell us how she's still alive. I remember reading about these books adding to themselves every time something historical happens," I reply flipping the pages.

I get to the last few entries in the book and begin reading out loud, "Casorina had cursed the small child, her son, to die slowly with only one cure. The cure is the burning of a book that tells the history of any who reads it. The only way for the spell to continue working is for her to live silently and hidden. Once the spell has been broken she is to awaken the kingdom and will try to kill the Prince herself or be killed."

Dracome looks at me, "I guess we have a lot more work to do before I am completely free." He sighs, "I should have known there was more to it than what I was told."

"I suppose we should plan how to kill her before she kills us," I say walking to a desk covered in fresh paper.