“At once, mistress,” the servant said, and hurried from the chamber to first speak with the dragon’s cook. “She’s awake,” he said, entering the kitchens and giving the cook the order for his mistress’s dinner.

“Is she ill?” the cook wanted to know. “’Tis scarcely a mouthful.”

“It was only a nap,” Tavey said. “Add a few dozen roast geese and capons to the order if it pleases you. She could very well discover she is hungrier than she thought, and will thank you for thinking of it,” he said. Then he slipped out the kitchen door to cross the dragon’s gardens, which led into the king’s gardens and into the king’s castle. Before he could find the king, however, he met the king’s daughter, the sorceress Cinnia.

“Is she awake?” Cinnia asked immediately upon seeing Tavey.

“Yes, my lady, she is.”

“When will she see my father? The sands seem to be moving faster,” Cinnia said.

“Come with me, and you will learn the answer to your question,” Tavey said.

“Tell me!” Cinnia demanded.

Tavey turned and looked at her. “You are not the king of Belmair, my lady, and my message is for the king, not his daughter.”

Cinnia’s green eyes narrowed, but the dragon’s servant stood his ground. “I should be Belmair’s next ruler,” she said darkly.

“Belmair has never been ruled by a woman,” Tavey replied quietly, and he began to walk toward the king’s chamber once again.

“Does that mean it shouldn’t?” Cinnia said.

“It is not our tradition, my lady,” her companion replied. “The dragon has always chosen Belmair’s kings. When there has been no son as has happened in this case the dragon chooses a suitable man, and if there is a king’s daughter and she is unmarried, then she weds the new king so that the blood of the old king continues on as will happen for you, my lady. It is a good and sensible tradition, and has kept peace on Belmair.”

Cinnia said nothing more. What was there to say? Her fate had suddenly be taken out of her hands. She was Belmair’s most respected sorceress, but she no longer had any control over her own life. If she attempted to defy tradition she would be punished. The dragon’s magic was far greater than was Cinnia’s, and she was more than well aware of it for it had been the dragon who had taught her.