Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
It’s the same as it was when I last saw it. A vibrant place, sunny and bright, with chimera and humans going places and doing things. Getting coffee, and talking, and laughing, and being normal.
When I look down at myself, I am… I put a hand up to my mouth because I suddenly want to cry.
I’m me. Real me. A lioness with paws instead of feet, and claws instead of fingernails, and covered in velvety golden fur. And when I reach up to the top of my head, there they are! My magnificent antlers!
I am dressed in royal garb. A short skirt with layers, and layers of mustard-yellow chiffon and tulle, with the markings of the Royal Beasts embroidered along the hem in gold thread that shimmers in the sun. And I’m wearing the royal jacket of that year’s fashion with a light-blue camisole underneath. My satin sash is smooth and the color of beeswax, covered in medals that celebrate all the things I learned that first year—sewing, and singing, and playing the pintar.
I recognize the outfit. It was my favorite many years ago when I was just a princess and not a queen. Before I was sad, and broken, and mean.
This is my first year in Vinca. The fog has taken me back in time and this is such a respite from my real present-day life that I sigh and take solace in the sparkling, silver river that is crowded with activity. Houseboats lining the stone banks, and barges slowly meandering their way around the serpentine curves, and fun boats filled with happy people dancing and laughing to music.
They were grooming me to be the queen from the moment I arrived. And that’s what queens did back then. They dressed in high fashion and had hobbies that pleased the men.
At least, that’s what they did before I ruled. Queens were ancillary to kings. They had their ladies, and their guards, and their hobbies. They held dinners, and tea parties, and dances. They were polite, and pretty, and soft.
Tarq would’ve been learning his duties during this year too. All the things he would be expected to do. All the important Royal Beasts he would be expected to negotiate with on behalf of the people of Vinca.
I stand in place, smiling like a dumbstruck simpleton. Because it’s here. And I’m here. And it hasn’t been destroyed and neither have I.
But as I stand there taking it in, clouds quickly form in the sky. They swirl and make it dark. People change right in front of me. New fashions appear on the humans and chimera and then disappear just as quickly. Businesses close, change, and then go empty. The sky grows darker and darker, changing dramatically as time moves forward.
There was no dragon.
And then, one day, there was.
I wait for it. Her, I mean. I wait for her.
And this is when I realize the truth. This is the moment when a piece of my puzzle falls into place.
I didn’t know who that dragon was back then, but I do now. Because I met her, in human form, in the foggy town of Savage Falls. She runs the feed store.
Madeline is my dragon and this is the very first Fireday of my rule in the city of Vinca.
She appears in the sky, circling.
I watch as human and chimera alike scurry around. They are all wearing clothes. Which is fine if you are human.
But animals do not wear clothes. Animals wear fur.
I look down at myself and find that I too am naked. Because this is how it’s supposed to be. We should not have to put on clothes. That was my decree. That the beasts be free.
That’s how Fireday started. That’s how I started.
But I ended up a sad and defiant gryphon-chimera princess.
And Tarq ended up an overly ambitious minotaur-chimera prince.
All we needed after that was the alchemist, Lyrica.
And the dragon—Madeline.
She flies low. Sweeping down towards the river. Mouth opening. And then… everywhere, fire.
People are screaming. Horrific screams. The fire billows out, growing into a cloud and covering the city with searing heat. Charring bodies and buildings alike.
I look up at the palace and find Tarq on a terrace. He’s yelling. The Skull King, that’s what I called him that day. He’s telling me to stop. To make Madeline stop.
But I did not make Madeline stop.
I sit up, coughing and sputtering, the taste of smoke in my mouth, smelling of sulfur and covered in ash.
“Callistina!”
Someone is calling my name. No. Not someone. Eros is calling my name. “Callistina! Where are you! Can you hear me?”
I’m in the fog. Surrounded by a cool, swirling mist.
“Callistina!” He calls and calls for me. But I can still smell burning flesh and even if I wanted to answer him, I can’t. I can’t shake the dream, or vision, or memory—whatever the hell it was.