Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 176(@300wpm)
This is going to hurt way worse than the thrashing I would have gotten if I’d stayed up in the royal bedchamber.
I close my eyes, though I am not sure it matters. Everything will be dark soon enough. The wind will cease its whistling, the sun will no longer shine. I will no longer be Emma in any meaningful form.
What feels like mere inches before I hit the ground, a clawed hand reaches around me, gripping me by the midsection. I am no longer falling, instead I am swooping, being carried over the rocks and river at high speed, propelled by the incredible power of dragon wings, each of which is larger than a plane.
The sheer relief that floods me comes with a caveat. I have been saved, but it is by a dragon. It is just as possible that it has grabbed me in order to eat me, because it did not fancy licking me off the rocks than it has saved me to preserve my life.
The dragon carries me away from danger and out over fields that border the castle region. It slows its speed and flies lower until I am deposited lightly on the ground, beautiful spring grass meeting my feet as the dragon flaps its great green and gold wings and circles up and around the mountain and the castle.
Yet again I have somehow survived something I expected to very much not survive. But now there are fresh dangers. I have been set down quite a ways outside the castle proper. I’m now just a girl in a very ornate dress, standing in a field, wondering what the hell is going to happen next.
There’s a bridge over the rushing river which was torrential over the jagged rocks at the base of the castle but seems to flow more serenely down here. Over the bridge there seems to be a small village. I have a faint memory of reading Chip a book that explained how villages would be built close to castles so that the villagers could rush up to the castle for protection if armies came.
I start walking, though my progress is slow, because large princess gowns do not play well with thick, lush pasture. The lace and silk hem keeps getting gripped up by these tedious little plants that seem to have suckers on them, so it is like walking through a field of annoying tiny gropers.
King Charming is not going to be pleased with me. Not one bit. If he wanted to beat me before I fell off his castle, I can’t imagine what he’s going to do now. I try to imagine, but I really can’t. Harsher implements I suppose? Canes? Whips? I saw a documentary once, after the murder one, about people who like that kind of thing and I was impressed by the array of tools and toys they had at their disposal.
The only satisfaction I can see in my future is telling him that the dragon clearly has no intention of eating me or seeing me harmed in any way. It rescued me, and that means he can stop worrying about it so much. Maybe he should stop assuming the dragon has ill-intent, just because he’s a terrifying beast the size of a jumbo jet.
I have a feeling that’s not a perspective King Charming is going to be open to hearing. I have a feeling I am in deeper trouble than I have ever been in my whole entire life. An adult kind of trouble, the kind that glowers muscularly and insists on getting his way.
Before I get to the bridge, I hear hoofbeats. At first they are distant, but they soon grow quite a lot louder, steel flashing on cobblestones, sending sparks with every galloping step. Charming is coming for me, riding on a gleaming white steed, a beautiful creature with a long iridescent horn extending from its forelock. He is riding a unicorn. Of course he is. What else would he ride?
“Princess Emmaline!”
He calls my name. It does not matter the circumstances, I am certain I will never tire of hearing him call me in that incomparable voice of his. It’s just so damn deep and authoritative. I had a brief notion about running away, but once I hear his voice, the thought flees my mind.
He dismounts the unicorn while the beast is still in motion, running toward me in a way that makes the unicorn seem redundant except perhaps for style points.
“Emmaline!” he gasps my name. “Are you alright? Tell me you are not hurt!”
“I’m fine,” I assure him. “The dragon was very gentle with me.”
“I will not be,” he growls, his mood turning immediately the moment he is assured that I am not hurt. “What you just did was reckless and… I don’t even have words for it. It was so incredibly thoughtless, so utterly…”