A wide grin stretched Audun’s scaly lips when he finally spotted the royal castle of Greater Greensward from high in the sky. Although the castle wasn’t as big as some of those he’d visited, it was by far the most beautiful. Green pennants streamed from the tops of the slender towers, and the white stone of the walls reminded him of home. Flowers grew in profusion along both sides of the road leading up to the drawbridge where guards kept watch over the people coming and going.
It had been more than three months since Audun had seen Millie. Although he’d planned to return to Greater Greensward sooner, Prince Owen had begged him to stay to help him and his father, Cadmus, regain the Aridian throne. Because of Aridia’s ties to the ice dragons, Audun had felt obliged to help them in whatever way he could. Unfortunately, the short campaign they’d planned had lasted far longer than anyone anticipated and it had been many weeks before Audun was able to leave.
Through it all, Audun had spent hours thinking about Millie. Curled up under the stars trying to rest after yet another battle, Audun often lay awake, remembering how Millie had looked when he saw her last. She’d been so happy to see him when he first arrived, and later had looked as if her heart was being ripped apart when her mother whisked her away. Sometimes Audun tried to picture what she would look like when he finally saw her again; he was sure she’d be just as excited to see him as he’d be to see her. Yet now that the time was approaching, Audun was no longer quite so certain. They’d been apart for too many months. Could time have dimmed her memory of him? Or even worse, could she have met someone else?
No, he thought, bringing his wings down with extra force so that he shot toward the castle. After all he’d gone through, he wasn’t going to let doubt mar their reunion. Millie was his one true love, his soul mate and the one with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. He knew deep down inside that she had to feel the same way. Now that he was back, he was going to do whatever it took to make sure nothing got in their way.
Audun circled over the courtyard looking for Millie, but the only humans in sight were the guards on the towers and some servants hustling from one building to the next. Folding his wings to his sides, Audun dove toward the pavement, pulling up short beside one of the outbuildings. He was more concerned with landing where he wouldn’t frighten the horses than he was in the humans who might be there, so he didn’t notice a young man dressed in a cloth-of-gold-lined cape run down the steps, grab a spear from a nearby guard, and prepare to throw it.
Audun had barely set his feet on the ground when a voice shouted, “Don’t worry, Princess! I’ll save you!”
Audun’s head snapped around just as the young man hurled the spear. After having spent so many days in battle in Aridia, the dragon sidestepped it easily.
“Beware, foul lizard,” shouted the man, as he pulled his sword from its scabbard. “I, Prince Rudolfo, am about to slay you and rip your evil heart from your chest and—”
“Oh, for the love of fish!” Audun cursed. Although instinct told him to stand and fight, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt someone who might be a friend of Millie’s. He wanted to make the best impression he could when he met her family again, and was sure they wouldn’t take kindly to the sight of human blood on his talons.
A shadow moved in the open doorway, but before Audun could see who was there, the prince’s sword came whistling through the air, and the dragon had to jump out of the way. Wondering if things had changed so drastically that dragons were no longer welcome in Greater Greensward, Audun turned and hid behind the outbuilding.
“Rudolfo!” shouted a familiar voice, but Audun was already changing and wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.
“Did you see that, Princess?” called the prince. “I sent the beast scurrying away with its tail between its legs! Wait here while I go finish it off.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Millie shouted, as Audun came around the corner, now in his human form and dressed in the blue and white tunic that he’d chosen specially for their reunion. He looked up as Millie dashed down the stairs, saying, “If you’ve hurt him . . .” with a worried look on her face.
“Millie!” Audun said, reaching out his hand, but she ran right past him, stopping suddenly when she saw that there was nothing behind him between the back of the outbuilding and the castle wall.
“What happened to the dragon?” demanded the prince, who had also come running. He shot a glance at Audun and frowned. “Who are you?”
Audun nodded in Millie’s direction. “I’m a friend of the princess’s.”
Millie gave him an odd look. “The dragon is gone. He must have flown off when we couldn’t see him. But that’s beside the point,” she said, turning to glare at Rudolfo. “How dare you attack a dragon at my very door!”
“I was protecting you!” said the prince, falling to one knee before her. “I was going to slay him and lay his head at your feet and serve you his heart on a—”
Millie looked a little queasy as she shook her head. “That’s enough, Rudolfo. I don’t want to hear any more. I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself. As I said before, I appreciate your request for my hand, but we really aren’t suited to each other. Please go before you embarrass us both.”
“Embarrass!” said the prince, his brow creasing and his mouth turning down into a frown. He stood and gave her a stiff bow. “I have done nothing to embarrass myself. However, I do think it is time that I take my leave. Goodbye for now, Princess.”
Both Millie and Audun watched Prince Rudolfo stalk to the horse that a stable hand had just brought out. They waited until he was riding under the portcullis and onto the drawbridge before turning to each other again. “All right,” said Millie, “tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know what you—” Audun began.
“Don’t act all innocent with me! Rudolfo may not have seen you change, but I could see it all from the top of the stairs. How is it that you’re a human? Why didn’t you tell me you could do this before? I can’t believe you deceived me!”
“I didn’t deceive you. I spent months learning how to—”
“There you are, Millie,” said the older woman with the fading blond hair who had been so rude to Audun the last time they’d met.
Audun bowed to her, having remembered that this was Queen Chartreuse, one of Millie’s grandmothers.
“So Prince Rudolfo has gone,” she said. “I was hoping you had changed your mind, Millie. But I see another suitor has arrived. How delightful!” Leaning closer to her granddaughter, she added in a loud whisper, “You’ve already rejected most of the eligible princes in the known kingdoms. Try hard not to chase this one away as well!” Smiling a little too brightly at Millie, the queen nodded to Audun. “Welcome to Greater Greensward. May your stay be a pleasant one.”
Millie frowned at Audun as her grandmother climbed the stairs. “I suppose I’ll have to let you in now, although don’t think I’m happy to see you. I hate being lied to, especially by someone I trusted.”
“But that’s just it,” said Audun. “I’ve never lied to you and I never would! If you’d only let me explain—”
“Explain what?” asked Emma, Millie’s mother, coming down the stairs. “I just saw my mother and she said Millie had a new suitor. Who are you, anyway?” she asked, eyeing Audun with suspicion. “I feel as if we’ve met before.”
“This is Audun,” said Millie.
“But I thought Audun was a dragon.”
“Exactly!” said Millie, her eyes flashing. “Apparently he had hidden talents that he didn’t bother to tell me about. I can’t believe I was so gullible!”
Confused, Audun watched as Millie turned on her heels and stalked up the stairs, leaving him alone with her mother.
“Would you mind telling me what is going on?” Emma asked.
“I’m not sure I know, but I’ll tell you what I can, Your Highness,” said Audun, bowing. “The last time we met, I was a dragon. After I left here, I went to see King Storm-claw, as you know. Thank you for going to see him, by the way. I think your visit helped him decide to let me court Millie. Anyway, I asked the king and his council to teach me how to turn myself into a human. They did, after I performed several difficult tasks for them. I came back to see Millie as soon as I could.”
“You mean you couldn’t change into a human before?” asked Emma.
Audun sighed. “Don’t you think I would have if I could have?”
“Then why didn’t you tell Millie?”
“I was trying to! I wanted to come back sooner, but I had to help the king, and then they needed me in Aridia.”
“I see,” said Emma. “Millie was upset when you didn’t come sooner. She was afraid you’d forgotten all about her. Explain to her what you’ve been doing and I’m sure she’ll understand . . . eventually. It may take a while for her to calm down, though. She can be awfully stubborn at times.”
“I know,” said Audun, “but then, so can I.”