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The dragon queen was dead, passing away peacefully in her sleep at the respectable age of 937. There was little time for dragonkind to mourn, however, as war raged in the valley below the stony mountain stronghold. Humans, with their advanced machinery and siege weapons, had begun to scale the mountain to claim the minerals within for themselves.
Jaice paced the halls of the common room, claws sparking on the smooth gray stone, the clanging sound reverberating among the stalactites high in the cavernous ceiling, hands firmly clasped behind his back. As important as the council meeting was—it was not every day that a new queen was appointed—every moment he was not on the battlefield was a moment the humans inched closer to the dragon stronghold, one of the last in the world, towards exterminating dragonkind for good. He wore his armor, polished until it shone, just in case an alarm was raised and he needed to jump into action.
“Jaice, try to stay still, will you? I’m getting anxious just looking at you.” A soft hand rested on his arm, and he forced himself to stop.
“I’m sorry, Divina,” he replied, rubbing his temples. “I’m not used to being stuck in here like this. How much longer will the elders take?”
“As long as it takes. Only a handful of elders were around at the last succession, little more than hatchlings then, and it’s taken days just to find the tablets describing the process in the first place. Besides, you better get used to being stuck in one place soon enough once the war is over.”
Jaice offered a pained smile and gave Divina a light peck on her green scaled cheek. The pair was newly engaged: Jaice a commoner who had quickly risen through the ranks with his tactical ingenuity, and Divina the daughter of a business owner, who was clearheaded and brash, adept and innovative at creating and moving supplies for the war effort in her own right. Best friends from childhood, the war effort and the high stakes for dragonkind had only drawn them closer. They wanted to wait to be wed until dragons were safe once more and they could start a life together properly, without the weight of the war effort bearing down on them every moment of the day, but family and the council elders were not so indirect in suggesting they wed and bed right away. The number of new hatchlings was dwindling, even before the war, to the point where some dragons speculated if the species was cursed to die out completely.
Jaice shifted in his armor and looked around the common room, a space carved into the mountainside hundreds of years ago intended to host gatherings, meetings, and social engagements. He had attended many an event here for births, deaths, and holidays, and, gods willing, would be wed here in the near future. However, since the war, there had been little to celebrate. As anxious as he felt, he did not envy the dragonesses scattered about the room, clustered together in twos and threes making small talk or standing alone, picking at scales and staring into nothingness.
Queen Reyana was the only ruler the vast majority of dragonkind ever knew, so the topic of succession was new to nearly everyone. The title of queen was not hereditary, a moot point since Reyana had never taken a partner or produced offspring and had outlasted all of her sisters and cousins. Instead, a council of elders was to convene and beseech the gods, and presumably receive some sort of guidance on who was to take the role. And that was what the council was currently doing, behind the thick wooden doors at the end of the common room. They had been inside for nearly a day, with nary a peep and no indication of how long the process might take.
The gathered dragons, a collection of dignitaries, military leaders, scientists, and industrialists, waited outside, ready to spread the word of the decision as soon as it was reached. There had never been a king to anyone’s knowledge, a comforting fact to Jaice, considering the mixed emotions flitting across the faces of the gathered dragonesses. For one of them, life was about to change forever. They would receive dominion over all dragons, to be sure, an attractive proposition to some, but it also came with the burden of leading and safeguarding the entire species. Jaice felt enough pressure leading a battalion; the thought of undertaking the royal responsibility was hard to fathom.
He pulled Divina tightly against himself, angling his neck down to brush their cheeks together. If she felt any anxiety over the possibility of becoming queen, she did not show it, her face as strong as the steel her father’s business created and distributed. When he was taken ill with debilitating joint pain, Divina took over business operations like she was born to it, her leadership all the more impressive when the war started and production needed to quadruple to keep up with demand. She had the temperament and resolve for the queenship, Jaice knew, and he would be right by her side to support her if the situation presented itself.
A great groan of hinges rang out, drawing every eye to the meeting place door. All sound ceased as a procession of elders walked out, each face serious. Many of the elders had graying scales and hunched backs, the stresses of the centuries finally showing its toll. While the queen was the undisputed ruler, she and each of her predecessors had established councils to debate the merits of potential rulings and to take care of the day-to-day running of the kingdom. This latest council had had its work cut out for it since the start of the war, culminating in having to select the first new queen in close to a thousand years, a decision that could determine the future of dragonkind.
“The gods have shown us their wisdom and revealed our new queen,” said Starx, the head elder, an aged dragon wearing a threadbare robe and leaning on a walking stick. His milky eyes scanned the room, taking in the dozens of dragons gathered. His gaze stopped close to where Jaice was standing. The dragonesses there quietly gasped, and Jaice felt Divina’s body stiffen in his embrace.
“Jaice, please step forward.”
Confused silence struck the room, then a thrum of mutterings under breath. Divina stared up at Jaice, jaw dropped, and Jaice looked around at the many sets of eyes looking at him, dumbfounded. Seconds ticked by painfully slow. Heart pounding, Jaice crossed the room as instructed, though the announcement made no sense. As he passed, he caught snippets of subdued conversations.
“Has the old man gone mad? Surely he misspoke.”
“Do we have a king now?”
“Of course not. He said our new queen.”
“Then why did he call Jaice?”
If it was intended as some cruel joke, Jaice did not let it get to him, holding his head high and trying to keep his cheeks from reddening as he approached Starx. For his part, the head elder’s face betrayed nothing, his stoicism maintaining the gravitas the situation demanded. He offered Jaice a slow nod, then gestured to the open door. Jaice entered to total silence from the common room, followed by the council of elders.
Inside was the council chamber, containing a rounded mahogany table, a gap in the middle, with enough seats to hold the dozen council members and ten additional dragons. The stone walls were covered in maps showing the latest troop positions in the war effort, and enormous bookcases held stone tablets, parchments, and scrolls. Sconces etched into the walls held torches, granting the room a warm glow.
Jaice stood awkwardly in the center of the table, while the council members made their way to their seats. He could glean nothing from their uniformly stoic expressions and he was bursting with questions. He didn’t utter a word until the door finally shut with a metallic clang.
“Wisest elders, with all due respect, what is the meaning of this? Why have I been summoned?”
Starx cleared his throat and nodded, leaning on his cane from his seated position. “Just as I pronounced, warrior, you are our new queen.”
Jaice glanced from elder to elder. If any of them had any misgivings, they did not shrink away from his gaze. He gave a strained chuckle. “But, that doesn’t make any sense. Elders, please,” he said, looking for any council member who might break the charade, “did the gods… Perhaps you… Is it possible you misinterpreted their words? Jailynn is out there as well,” he offered helpfully. “She has long been a worthy noble and beloved by many. Surely she was meant to be queen.”
“My eyes are weak, but my mind is as strong as ever,” Starx proclaimed, loud enough for his words to reverberate throughout the chamber. “I heard your name, just as every other councilor did.”
Nods and murmurs of assent dotted the room. The news was starting to sink in. Okay, so ‘queen’ is just a title, another word for ruler. Damn, it really is me after all. He had never shrunk away from the storms of wing-piercing arrows the humans fired towards the mountain, taking down many a comrade and friend; he would face this challenge as well, though it meant a complete change to his life. Not just his life, but the lives of every dragon in the mountain. Their future rested in his hands.
“What happens now?” Jaice asked, mouth dry. “Queen Reyana was not a fighter herself, gods rest her soul, and I know she consulted the council heavily when it came to the war. But I am a warrior. I have ideas for how our tactics can be improved. The western flank has never had a true-”
“All in good time, my queen,” Starx replied, raising a hand to silence Jaice. “There are matters which must be attended to first.”
“Oh, of course,” Jaice muttered, trying not to show his impatience. He was far too young to have been present for Reyana’s ascension to the throne, but storybooks held plenty of tales of queens and their elaborate ordinations, grand celebratory balls, and all the pageantry of the exchange of power. A quick announcement is all anyone needs. Save the celebrating for after the war. And for when Divina and I-
He furrowed his brows. What did his newfound royalty mean for his engagement to Divina? Reyana did not take a husband. Was he expected to remain single, to focus solely on leading dragonkind? The thought grated at him. If I’m the king, or queen as they want to call me, I’ll do whatever I damn well please. Divina will be queen after all. He smiled at the thought. She deserves a life of resplendence and adoration. She’ll make a beloved queen, and we’ll chart a bright future for our people.
“You must proceed to the queenly chambers,” Starx said, snapping Jaice from his reverie. “What happens next, none of us know. No one is permitted to enter the queen’s chambers between a previous queen’s death and a new queen’s ascension, save the ordained herself. The gods say only thus: Enter the pool, and receive your wisdom.”
Two attendants rose and proceeded to the opposite end of the chamber, moving aside a solid black curtain covering another carved wooden door, this one bearing depictions of dragonesses in various murals across the great surface: raining fire on armies, dispensing wisdom to a gathered dragon clan, plucking a stringed instrument in a garden. It was a breathtaking work of art, one the attendants did not touch.
With a nod, Jaice exited the circle, crossed the room, and passed by the two attendants, who bowed low before him. He gripped the great metal handle and, with an effort, pulled the door open, slipping inside and closing the door behind him.
Inside, he gasped at the sight. The queen’s chambers were strikingly simple. No lavish golden bed, no silken garments or mountains of jewels. A wide window in the far wall, letting in the afternoon sun, revealed a wooden bed holding a lumpy mattress stuffed with straw. A simple armchair with minimal cushioning, carved with a hole in the back for a tail to pass through, was angled toward the window, alongside a side table holding a stack of books. A plain armoire sat beside the bed, containing a plethora of plain shapeless dresses, more suited to a serving maid than a queen.
The queen had made increasingly fewer public appearances the past few years due to her declining health, and Jaice’s life in the military had kept him occupied, but in his memories of seeing her deliver speeches as a child, sitting on his parents’ shoulders to be able to see over the crowds, he had remembered the dragoness as a striking, grand figure garbed in a stately royal gown and wearing a silver circlet crown that shone as the sun struck it. He hardly expected living conditions so plain.
As he strode through the chamber, taking deliberate, careful steps as though he was walking through a stranger’s room rather than his own, he hardly noticed the pool at the far end between an outcropping of raised rock. The warm afternoon light had masked the soft, phosphorescent glows emanating from the water, illuminating its depths, which spanned a good five feet and extended more than ten feet down. The silver crown, the mark of royalty, sat on the ground next to the pool.
“'Enter the pool and receive your wisdom', he said,” Jaice repeated out loud standing in front of the placid waters. Surely the queen’s books contained more wisdom than a bath might provide, but who was he to argue with the gods? Aside from his designation as a queen. And Starx calling me ‘the ordained herself’, the old beast. Maybe they made a mistake after all and can’t fess up to it. Regardless, they made me king and I might as well follow along.
Jaice took off his armor, setting it in a pile far from the water to avoid having to clean it again later, and stripped down to his undergarments, stepping toward the pool. With a shrug, hoping to at least get a pleasant dip out of the glowing waters, he stepped in, keeping his arms and tail close to his body as he submerged.
Jaice immediately popped up to the water’s surface again, his body rising when it should have continued to sink. He wiped the water from his eyes, then his hand fell to the stone floor as his vision cleared.
The queen’s chamber was gone, replaced with a flat stone surface that stretched into infinity. Thick fog clung to the ground and the horizon was formless. Shimmering floating lights provided the only illumination. The ceiling, if it existed, was far out of sight. Jaice climbed out of the pool, excess water dripping from his scales, into a void.
“Ah, you’ve made it. I am happy to see you,” an aged voice called out, echoing in the expanse.
Queen Reyana stepped out of the mists, clad in a pure white robe. She smiled brightly. After a moment of shock, Jaice dropped to a knee, head bowed, his cheeks growing redder than his scales at his underdressed appearance.
“Your majesty,” he said, eyes catching the hem of her robe as it seemed to caress the ground with her steps.
“There’s no need for titles, dear. I’d say we are on equal footing now, don’t you think?” Her voice was aged, matronly, like listening to a beloved grandmother back from the dead. In a way, she was a grandmother, to all of dragonkind.
Jaice rose to his full height, taller than the queen by more than a foot, but he felt like a child again in her presence. What she lacked in height she more than made up for in her bearing and countenance, which she had used for nearly a millennia to chart the course of dragonkind. Her grayed scales were a mark of wisdom, her shrunken tail a tree ring denoting the overcome trials of years gone by.
“I suppose so, though I don’t quite understand it,” Jaice replied. “Where are we? And how are you- …Are we both dead?”
Reyana chuckled warmly, the sound echoing throughout the void and covering him like a soft blanket. “Only one of us, dear. And that is the crux of the matter, isn’t it? Walk with me.”
Reyana began strolling into the void and, after a pause, Jaice followed. “I hope you can forgive me someday,” she said.
“What’s to forgive? Everyone passes eventually. Gods know I’ve seen my share of it on the battlefield.”
Reyana started to speak before stopping herself, concern etched on her face. “I wasn’t chosen for bloodshed. The gods chose me because I had the skills of persuasion, of industry, from my previous life. I knew how to extract the minerals from within our mountains, to expand commerce and mechanical advancements, and how to negotiate with neighboring kingdoms to grow our realm of influence. Yet even in that I was lacking. I did not see the greed in humans’ eyes nor anticipate what they might do to steal our minerals and eradicate our species. When they attacked, I leaned on the council, and my predecessors, heavily, not knowing a sword from a switchblade. And as the battles raged, this body gave out on me.”
She turned to Jaice and looked up at his face, tears in her eyes, and clutched his hands. “I was not the leader I should have been, and I apologize.”
“I’m sure you did the best you could. It’s all anyone could have asked for. And we’re hardly out of the fight yet. I know we can still succeed. My ideas will work, I just know it.”
She smiled and released his hands. “I have no doubt you will lead our people to victory.” It was perhaps the greatest compliment he had ever received, and he felt like the most important person in the world just being in her presence. “While I was chosen during a time of peace, you have been chosen during a time of war. You are the person most equipped to lead dragonkind out of this conflict.”
The weight of those implications—being chosen by the gods—was equally empowering and debilitating. If the gods believed in him, how could he fail? On the other hand, failure meant total extinction. He tried not to let the thought linger.
“I appreciate the confidence,” Jaice replied. “The title will take some getting used to. The head elder insisted on calling me queen; I want to nip that in the bud early. They’ll have to call me king if I say so, right?” he finished with a chuckle.
Reyana’s face remained serious. She did not look away from his gaze, and his smile faded. “This won’t be the first time in our history,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Our kind has always had a queen and will always have a queen, as long as the gods live; Shelsei, our patron goddess, sees to that.”
“What… are you saying?” Jaice asked, his stomach filling with butterflies.
“The role of queen is more than a title, dear. I’m so sorry.”
Reyana stepped away and the floating lights suddenly swooped down, circling Jaice in wide, pulsating arcs. His body tensed as the arc closed around him, the light increasing in intensity and speed. The outer void and a sorrowful-looking Reyana faded from view. Jaice shrank his wings and tail from the encroaching light until there was nowhere left to move, confused, offering prayers of mercy from any god who might be watching. The light nipped at his scales then plunged into his body. He glowed from within, his scales becoming translucent. He cried out as an intense pressure exerted itself on his body, weighing on him as though gravity had increased tenfold.
The light began reshaping his body as though he was made of sculptor’s clay, and he could only look on in horror. His arms, carved into muscle by years of regimented training and wielding weapons, shrank, losing much, but not all, of their definition. His broad shoulders, molded to bear weight like a pack mule, narrowed noticeably. In fact, he noticed with a start that he was shrinking as a whole, his undergarments growing looser, seeming to take up more space on his body. He groaned at the intense pressure that felt like a clamp being pressed against his head, narrowing, lengthening, remolding the bones within his face.
Jaice dropped to his knees, the pressure more intense than anything he had ever felt. It moved to his chest, raising and expanding twin lumps of scaly flesh until it resembled two apples beneath the surface. The pressure continued to move downward, pulling and widening his hips, the flesh from his waist seeming to migrate downward onto his hips, thighs, and rear. The most visceral change occurred inside his undergarments, but he could not bring himself to look. He felt every detail, however, as though the area had become the most sensitive place on his body. His genitals shrank then his scrotum recessed inside his body, reshaping itself into another organ entirely on the inside. His member continued to shrink, housing itself within the upper folds of his new anatomy.
Jaice laid on the floor, panting, as the light left his body and resumed illuminating the room from above, the pressure within finally gone. He slowly rose to his shaky knees, then to his unsteady feet, and looked down at his changed body. His masculine form, as he had known it his entire life, was gone, molded into the feminine. It was still his body, the scars from battle in the same places as before, but the concave and convex were all shifted around. Who was this stranger?
Jaice smiled, taking in each new shape. He had enjoyed appreciating Divina’s form from afar, but this was different. It was like feeling the warmth of the sun on his scales for the first time when he had only known darkness before. It felt like his soul had been restored, that he was truly himself for the first time. But wait, the wording wasn’t quite right, the last shape left unmolded.
She.
One single letter, and her puzzle was complete. She wrapped her arms around herself and spun in circles, laughing, overjoyed to embrace the person she might never have known she was supposed to be. When she finally stopped, steadying herself after growing too dizzy, her swimming vision settled on a befuddled Reyana.
“I… did not think you would take it so well, dear. It seems the speech I prepared on the importance of duty and sacrifice will go to waste.”
“Are you kidding? This is… I didn’t know I could feel so… whole.” Even her voice was different, a register higher than before, a sensation not unlike soaring on her wings over a grassy plain. The sound brought about even more euphoria and she reveled in the noise.
“I am happy for you, truly, and understand there is much for you to take in, but returning to the matter of your succession…”
Jaice snapped to attention. “Yes, of course.” As profound as her transformation was, she could almost forget the why of her change. She was now responsible for all of dragonkind, and the war to decide their fate still raged.
“This place is available to you at any time, whenever you should need it. The longer I lived, the more I began to understand how little I truly knew, but whatever knowledge I have is yours; you need only ask. And not just me, but all of your predecessors.”
Reyana gave a small wave and dozens of figures appeared out of the void, materializing from shadows into swirling mists into flesh and blood. Jaice gasped at the sight. All of the previous draconic queens stood before her, their scales the colors of the rainbow, their clothing reflecting snapshots of fashion from recorded history into the distant past, of billowing maximalist dresses to simple loincloths and everything in between. But what united the previous queens was the air of authority in their standing, looks which demanded respect.
“You will get to know them in time, and learn from them as I did,” Reyana explained. “We have had many warrior queens in our past; you are only the latest. Though technology and weapons have only improved, the grit and determination of a warrior has never changed.”
One of the queens approached, garbed in a soft blue gown complementing her rich red scales. She nodded deeply and deliberately at Jaice, then took Jaice’s hands in her own. “Welcome, sister, in more ways than one,” she said, her voice as rich as her clothing. “You are not the first to encounter this change in your life’s journey. If the outside world is not as… supportive as it should be, I am always here to listen, to grieve, to confide in. You need only ask.”
“Thank you, I’m sure I will,” Jaice replied.
The pair squeezed each other’s hands, then the queen departed. One by one, the queens disappeared, leaving only Reyana. “Welcome again, dear,” she said, giving Jaice a hug. “I know you will be a splendid queen. You have been chosen by the gods, and they never choose wrong.”
Jaice expressed her thanks once again, then Reyana vanished as well. With renewed determination, she returned to the pool and stepped in, the shift in reality not as startling as the first time. She pulled herself out of the waters and found herself in Reyana’s chambers once more or, rather, her chambers now that she was queen. The silver crown sat near the pool’s edge, and she slowly and deliberately placed it on her head, where it fit perfectly between her horns. Her armor sat a few strides away and she mechanically began the process of putting it on, a motion repeated hundreds of times. This time, however, it felt alien against her scales, the familiar pieces much too large now, as though it had been made for someone else.
I suppose it was made for someone else.
Jaice went to Reyana’s wardrobe and searched through the drawers. Her undergarments no longer fit either, so a total change in clothing was in order. She found a new top and bottom, fumbled an exasperating few minutes trying to figure out the top, then combed through the dresses for something that fit. She was slightly taller than Reyana, but eventually found a plain dark blue dress that fell to her shins. The dress forced a smile to her lips as she walked around in it, feeling its soft touch against her scales and taking delight in the way the skirt danced along her legs at her movements. She absentmindedly moved her hands to her side, intending to hook her thumbs in pockets, a favorite standing position, then frowned upon realizing the dress had nothing of the sort. That would have to change.
She strode across the room and returned to her armor, cinching on the breastplate despite its large size. She was still a warrior and would present as such when she met her people for the first time post-transformation.
Jaice paused, the thought suddenly filling her with dread. Reyana and the rest of the preceding queens had welcomed her with open arms; would the rest of dragonkind do the same? Steeling herself, she forced open the door leading back to the council room, with more effort needed than before. She had faced hordes of enemies threatening her people’s extinction; if she could face them without fear, she could also face her new subjects.
The council elders still sat at the roundtable, forced to attention at Jaice’s return. Starx slowly rose and raised his arms. “Behold, our new queen,” he exclaimed, his voice and face betraying no reaction. The rest of the elders rose as well, repeating his words. Each face was solemn as she passed, each head dipping low. Two attendants stood before the great wooden door facing the common room, where presumably the crowd outside still awaited her return.
Jaice approached, then stopped and turned around when Starx asked, “Your majesty, it is commonplace, though not required, for a new queen to christen herself with a new name upon her ascension. In your circumstances, the appeal is apparent, but the matter is up to you.”
She stroked her chin. Her name was as familiar as her armor but hardly fit anymore, just the same. If her armor could be reshaped, why not her name as well?
“Jaicie,” she replied, the name fitting like a glove as she spoke it.
Starx nodded, approaching the door. “Then it will be my honor to pronounce Queen Jaicie to the world.”
The attendants threw open the doors. Thrums of conversation, previously blanketed behind the doors’ great bulk, was subdued to whispers as Jaicie strode outside, led by Starx. The crowd looked on in confusion. If anyone recognized her, post-transformation, none showed it.
“Presenting her royal highness, first of her name, Queen Jaicie!” Starx announced, his words echoing through the high stone ceiling.
Many in the crowd gasped as muted conversations erupted throughout the room. Some looked at Jaicie incredulous, others with a glint of amusement in their eyes. Still others glared daggers, particularly those who had perceived themselves closest to becoming queen instead. Jaicie stood with her head held high, back straight, at her full height, albeit shorter than before. She memorized the faces of those who could be troublemakers; in the days ahead, would they desire the position enough to try to kill for it? As the seconds ticked by, she resigned herself to her new role. Even if her people did not accept her, she would still fight like hell to get them through the war, from the frontlines if need be, same as before.
“All hail Queen Jaicie!” a voice proclaimed. Jaicie eyed the room for the source.
Divina. The dragoness was already down on one knee, head bowed. The dragons around her dropped to their knees as well, repeating her words. The action spread across the room like a wave until all knelt, chanting her name. Jaicie smiled, her attempts at a stoic, regal expression falling away as her heart swelled.
“My people, please!” she called out, attempting to quiet the room. “Thank you for your support. No one expected this outcome, least of all me, but I will do what I have done for years now: fight like hell for our future. Though my role has changed, my dedication has not. Listen, I’m a m- I’m a woman of action and I don’t like wasting my time. I won’t waste yours either. I understand that royal ascensions in the past have involved parties, feasts, and decadence spanning weeks at a time. But that has never been my style. We can have a hell of a party once we secure our victory. I look forward to reintroducing myself to each of you in the days ahead. Until then, I’d say enough time has been spent on my account. Go forth and return to your duties. You can be sure I will embrace my duties with open arms.”
Applause erupted across the room. Jaicie breathed a sigh of relief; public speaking had never been her strong suit. The crowd dispersed and the council members offered Jaicie commendations on her speech. If they had any misgivings on her discarding the pageantries of the royal ascension, none spoke of it. Instead, they spoke at turn of her itinerary for the rest of the day and for the weeks ahead. Being queen was the greatest responsibility in the land, and a multitude of matters needed her attention. Even a few minutes of conversation was already making her head spin; she could see why Reyana had relied so heavily on the council. But before the situation became overwhelming, she thought of the realm beyond the queen’s pool, and of her predecessors. She was not alone.
The council members filed back into the chamber to draft meeting notes and take care of the logistics of the royal succession. She lagged behind, rubbing her temples. The common room outside was empty.
Except for Divina, who stood by, hands clasped before her. Jaicie approached, heart pounding.
“That was quite the speech,” Divina said, a thin smile on her lips. “Just what everyone needed to hear, I think.”
“Thanks. It’s something I’ll need to practice. Reyana’s speeches will be a lot to live up to. She’ll be a lot to live up to.”
Moments ticked by in awkward silence. Divina’s face betrayed nothing. In the short time since they were last together, their worlds had irreversibly changed and it felt like a gulf as wide as a canyon stood between them.
“When the head elder called my name, I didn’t expect this to happen,” Jaicie explained. “But I… after I changed, I felt good. Complete in a way I had never felt before. Like this body was always meant to be mine. Despite all these changes—becoming queen, becoming myself—something vital remains the same as before: my love for you. If you don’t-… If my being like this now- … You agreed to marry someone else. If you don’t want to stay engaged, I understand.”
Throughout Jaicie’s halting, stilted explanation, she fought off welling tears and a lump in her throat. Divina meant the world to her. But becoming queen meant sacrifice, of giving up of oneself for the good of dragonkind as a whole. Perhaps this was another sacrifice. Divina deserved to be happy.
Divina slowly reached up and cupped Jaicie’s cheek in her hand. “I agreed to marry you. The outside may look different, but I know the same caring, dutiful heart beats inside. Those eyes are the same ones that made me feel like the most special person in the world. I have every intention of becoming your wife and standing by your side for as long as I live. I… My only fear was that, becoming queen, you might not feel the same about me anymore.”
Divina started to cry and the pair embraced, sobbing happy tears onto one another. “How could I ever stop loving an angel?” Jaicie asked, beaming. “If anyone has a problem with it, I’m queen now and what I say goes.”
“I love you.”
“I’ll always love you.”
They stood together, swaying in each other’s arms, like the world ceased to exist outside of arm’s reach. A cough from Starx brought them back to reality. They separated with a kiss, as Divina said, “I’ll see you tonight, I hope? I have a stack of shipments to approve in the meantime.”
Jaicie nodded. “We’ll meet tonight, the same as always. Duty calls.”
Divina departed and Jaicie followed Starx back into the council chambers. The future of dragonkind was still at stake and the war raged on, but with Divina by her side, Jaicie felt the weight of royalty a little less than before.