~ 3 ~

In Which the Dragon and the Princess Somehow Learn to Get Along

"So you're going to curl up your fist really right."

"Like this?"

"Ngah! I-If you're trying to kill me, yes." Itty-bitty hands beat on talons, and, for a moment, I relished at the touch of revenge. "You can uncurl your claw now!"

"Hmm... I don't know." I propped my chin on my other fist and looked out the cavern. Dying sunlight washed over the entrance. "You've been awfully mean to a dragon you're asking for help. You do know we're spiteful, vengeful creatures, yes?"

Something wiggles between my digits and, before I knew it, half of the princess had plopped out. Her hair hung like a waterfall over her face, and she spat it out of the way. Pinned there, she glared over and up at me. "You don't have it in you to kill. Or to even hurt others."

I bunched my lips together and looked to the side, nodding. "You're not wrong. Hurting and killing makes it harder for me to relax at the end of the day. But there is one thing you got wrong about me."

The princess would have crossed her arms—if they were not locked against her sides. She waved her head about, trying to throw her hair to the side, but having the jet black strands fall back into her face. "And just would that be?"

"That I'm petty." I grinned back down at her. "And that I can find at least a hundred viable ways to annoy you."

The princess groaned and struggled some more, while I pretended to yawn and lay my great head on the ground, closing my eyes for extra effect. She slipped an inch between my talons. That was until I rubbed them together, tucking her back in.

"H-Hey! That's cheating!"

"All's fair when you mess with a somewhat peaceful dragon."

She fought the good fight for a few seconds more.

Before collapsing.

"Fiii-ii-iine."

"Fine what?"

My eyes opened to see the princess rolling hers. Her cheeks puffed as she looked away. "I'm not saying it."

"That's fine." I shrugged. "We can keep like this all day long, and then I can go and fly over your castle with you in claw." I smiled. "That'll still clear you of having to be married. However, both families are going to be wondering why you left the castle in the first place."

The princess gasped. "You'll really screw with me on that?"

My lips joined together and pushed upward. "Who knows? Are you going to let that happen over a few measly words?"

Her face scrunched into hatred. "You really are petty!"

"It was that or be pretty," I replied. "And from my looks, you can already guess what I picked at the character select screen."

Her anger morphed into confusion. "The who what where now?"

My left eye twitched. "That was a joke. A joke from a place... really far from here." I shook my head and returned to what was important. "Now listen. Are you really going to spend the day trapped inside of my claw? Or are you going to just say the words so we can be on equal ground?"

The princess huffed and stewed, and silence kept in the cavern, the odd falling droplet echoing throughout its emptiness. In truth... I kind of like holding her in my claw. Feeling her around my palm and peeking her slide between my talons. I don't know if that enjoyment came from being able to toy with another so easily...

...or if I just missed holding hands with someone.

That's the tricky part about becoming a dragon after spending your whole life like a human. You're humongous and powerful, and you're basically the top predator in the world... but there isn't much for you to do. You can't kill because... well, I would feel bad for a really long time.

And hurting people really wasn't my thing.

So even though you're given this great power and size, I can't really use it for anything good or useful. Even toying with the princess would lose its fun as I would have total control over the situation. To make matters worse, if I teased her too much, I would lose the only enjoyable person I had to talk to in this world.

Being a dragon actually kind of sucked. There was nothing to do but sleep. You couldn't drink, go to the bar or hang with friends. You could collect all the gold in the world to flex on the other dragons—but what good did that amount to? And it's not like you could use the gold to buy anything.

Even if I were a human in this world, there still wouldn't be much for me to buy.

Getting transported, in hindsight, actually kinda sucked.

"You could have them all."

The voice rattled me from my thoughts. Looking to the left, I raised the arm holding the princess, with her locked at the center of my fist. She looked over the bridge of my snout and gazed into my eyes. "Did you hear me? Because I said it. The Green Dragon, nearest to the sea, could kidnap any princess should he please it."

My eyes narrowed before I spoke. "And that he's jacked, talented, and handsome."

The princess wiggled upward, and her upper body arched into freedom. Resting her elbow on my index, she claimed her chin in her palm and tapped her fingers on my scales. She exhaled again, droning out delicious words.

"And that the Green Dragon is jacked, talented, and handsome."

I grinned as, thinking about it again, there was a lot more opportunity to make your own fun in a fantasy land. Opening my claw by an inch, the princess fell into the tube before closing my fist again. It locked her within my grasp but left enough space to crawl around.

"How's that?"

"Way better." The princess chuckled happily to herself. "It's crazy how efficient you are when you're motivated."

"Easy now," I replied. "All I did was tighten my claw a little bit. Start giving me real credit after we've put on a show for your folks." I spread my digits by a hair, allowing her a thin view of the world beyond them. "How's this? You'll be able to see a little bit of what's happening."

"It's nice."

"But?"

"I-I said it's nice!"

"You forgot the but," I said. "Every 'it's nice' is eventually followed by a but."

Silence for a moment.

"But..." the princess sighed after being called out. "...I worry I might get scared after seeing how high up I am."

"No shame in that," I replied. "If we have a few more days to pull this off, we could get you some practice. But I'll close my claw real tight. Just close your eyes, breathe deeply, and you'll be through it before you know it."

"So long as you don't crush me, impale me, or drop me."

"Do you think I could pull off all three?"

"Only if you impale and crush me after dropping me."

"There's some answers you shouldn't give."

"Only to people we don't trust." The princess shuffled within my grip. "Or dragons. Say... think you could let me out now? I'm starting to bake in here." I turned my claw over and opened my claw into the air. The princess stood and stretched. "Mhmmh! Much better!"

She dusted herself down. "I think that's everything down to pat. You fly in, kidnap me, then fly away to the other side of this island." The princess curiously looked at me once done with her dress. "That reminds me! There was something that I forgot to ask you."

I curled an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I never asked for your name," she said while looking to the ceiling. "Or given you mine for that matter."

"Oh, yeah." It was odd that we never exchanged names. It was hard to blame her as dragons never really had titles. Humans usually made them up for us. Quifkar the Gobbler. Snideinhor the Village Burner. They weren't creative names. Though being known for your deeds helped to give folks to picture of what the fuck to look out for in dealing with them.

"My name is Astria," the princess bowed as her delicateness returned to both her voice and movements. "And who might you be, my gigantic sir?"

I struggled to recall it. Both from the fuzziness of ending up in this world and never having the need to speak it once since my arrival. I knew that it began with a 'C' and was a name unbecoming of a dragon. Still, I trusted her enough to share the truth.

"It's Cole."

"Cole?" Astria rose from her bow with a finger poised on her lips. "Like in... Cole the Green Dragon?"

My face scrunched into the form of an apology. "I know. Not the most thematically befitting of names. But that's my name. Cole. Though don't tell any of the other dragons that."

"Cole... Cole." Astria played and shifted the words various times on her tongue, something about it tasteful enough for her to keep speaking it. "I rather like that name. It doesn't suit a dragon."

She flashed me a smile. "But it fits you well."

"Thanks," I answered in a deadpan. "But it's probably best if you stick with Emerald Dragon or something. Your family might laugh instead of scream if they catch wind of my real name."

"But I rather like Cole."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Fine. You can call me Cole... but just when it's you and me, okay?"

Mirth lengthened her face.

And the scent of a trap floated into the air.

"Okay," I said in not wanting to wait to hear the punchline. "What now?"

"No-no! Nothing! Just... you plan on us being alone, just the two of us, a couple of times after this is done, huh?"

I leaned forward and flared my fangs for a second. "Mee-moo-maah! I'm a princess, and I think I'm super important! Hur-bur-duuur!"

Astria punched one of my talons without breaking our eye contact. "Meanie."

"But you're ready to do this, right? You've already been here for a while." I looked beyond her to the cave entrance, to the beach beyond the forest trees, and the peek of the sea from way up here. "They might already be looking for you as we speak. Every minute wasted is another excuse unable to be used."

"Uh-ah! Cole, the Green Dragon of Wisdom!"

"No-no! We dragons hate it when you try giving us names." I nudged my chin toward the exit. "Now c'mon then. Shoo. Cast a spell. Twinkle out of existence in a great blue light or something."

Astria smiled and did as asked. Her hand lifted to the air to the glowing blue magic rising from her fingers; a circle of the same hue spawned around her feet. It seemed like she was enchanting something inside her head, infusing it into the spell.

However, as she did so, her fingers also curled inward, the woman telling me to pull closer. I did so, inch by inch, bringing my head close enough that the steam from my nostrils blew into her dress. I had gone to ask what she had wanted...

Until I felt her lean into the cliff of my chin.

She held her teleportation hand away as she embraced me, kissing a batch of scales below my bottom lip, a motionless, sincere gesture, leaving me stunned. The kiss lasted for a few seconds before she pulled back. Magic lathered her form.

"Until next we meet."

A brilliant flash blinded the cave, and I was forced to turn away, even though going blind would have been worthwhile if it meant I could have looked at her for a moment longer. I'd been smitten. Touched. Not from the banter or the games... but the raw sincerity of care that she showed to me in those little moments.

I knew nothing further would come from them. That they were little beats to further invest me into helping her. She was very good at being sweet and leading a guy on to do what needed to be done. But I couldn't help but be played. To fall for the acts that a stronger man could step over.

But they had all felt so sincere that... it would have been wrong to claim that kiss as anything close to fake. Instead, I just had to take it without question. To let it power me to become an evil dragon for once to do a good deed. Would I have to fight? Scar some honest knights trying to protect their princess?

Doubts washed through me.

Had this princess really thought this through? The grief that her family would endure upon thinking her to be dead—or so removed from their world that she might as well be gone? How about those who will feel as though they failed her? More and more, I realized that what I was doing wasn't a good deed.

I was helping her.

But I had to be a little bad to do a little good.