Seventeen

 

A dragon. A huge, fire-breathing, sword-crushing dragon. Briska stared in awe, hardly daring to believe her own eyes. Giants, unicorns...she thought she'd seen everything with this couple, but she hadn't expected to actually see a dragon.

It should have been simple, but she'd learned by now that no witch's mind was simple. George had needed barely a nudge from her magic to fall madly in love with Melitta, but the cool, collected maiden didn't seem to experience passion of any kind.

And when she did...Briska had thrown the spell so hastily she'd been responsible for breaking three beds before she realised the lust in Melitta the mindreader's mind was from someone else's thoughts, every time. She'd almost gotten them killed once, when the lust had belonged to a giant. But lust came in many forms, and a man maddened by battle lust became a liability.

So she'd followed their journey, day after day, hoping to find that tiny spark in the girl's mind she could fan into a flame.

If the dragon didn't burn everything into ash first. Disgusting, destructive beast. His lust for killing hung like a black cloud over its head, almost obscuring it from sight. A cunning creature, but if she could bespell him so that his battle lust outweighed his reason...her pair might have a chance...

She watched in horror as the battle raged, fire and smoke obscuring all, until a scream rose up that could only have come from Melitta.

Briska hunted desperately for the girl, but even the mirror could not find her among the flames. George had disappeared, too. If the dragon had killed him...or both of them...Briska had failed.

She slumped against the wall. She'd never hold Maram in her arms again.

The mirror had gone awfully quiet, aside from the crackle of flames. Too quiet for a battle.

"Marry me."

Briska jumped to her feet, hardly daring to breathe. Had she heard correctly?

When George kissed Melitta, Briska pumped her fist and cheered so loud icicles fell from the ceiling, but she didn't care. Her couple were alive and kissing and...she bit her lip, shooting a spell their way. Alive and kissing and Melitta had every intention of dragging George to bed with her that very night. If she didn't throw him down into the ashes and tear his clothes off then and there...

"Another happy couple, and a dead dragon to boot. There's nothing feeble about that, Mistress," Briska said.

For the first time in she couldn't remember how long, she felt a grim sense of satisfaction. It was gone before she could grasp it, but it was there, nonetheless.

Perhaps she could win her freedom. After beating a dragon...anything was possible.