The Adopted Princess

“N-not to.” The last thing I remember before blacking out is his disgusted face.

“Sweety.” A soft voice called to me. It sounded like a woman. “Sweety? Are you waking up?”

I tried opening my eyes. When I did I found an old woman hovering over me. “Wh-who are you? You don’t look like one of Daddy’s friends.”

She looked amused. “No. Your ‘daddy’ isn’t here. He won’t ever come back.” My eyes widened in terror. He’s gonna be so mad when he finds me. Seeing this she continued, “I’m the queen of Terrinus. I assure you. Your father will never find you.”

“Q-queen? H-how’d I end up h-here?” I was disbelieving but if she really was the queen...

“I saw you’re father throwing out a large bag. It moved more than it should. I had my men investigate and they found you. I had them arrest your father. He’s been sentenced to... well I won’t tell you that just yet. I’ve had my doctors look at you. They say you’ll be fine.”

“Wh-where am I gonna go?” Please don’t say orphanage. Please don’t say orphanage...

"Go? Where ever you please." I gave her a confused look. "I've adopted you, sweety. It means I'm now your mother." She gave me a warm smile.

I felt tears spring to my eyes but I held them back. "So... am I a..?"

"Princess? Yes. And next week, since your the only child I've ever had, I'm going to sign some papers that say you will be queen."

"Crown Princess," I said it to my self in disbelief. With a wild smile, I asked, "Does that mean I get to stay here?"

"Yes. And as a welcome home gift, tell me what you'd want." She was smiling too.

"A dragon egg!" It burst out of my mouth. But before she could speak, I added, "And your name."

"I'm Maria Silvina. Your last name will be Silvina." She laughed. It was so pretty! "But, sweety, what is your name?"

"Ill-Asia." I pronounced each syllable clearly.

"Ellasa. Now, your Ellasa Silvina."

"Miss Silvina!" my professor snapped me out of my memory. It was the last day of my home-school year. Next year I'd be in an academy with hundreds of other princes and princesses.

"Yeah?" I asked the now irate tutor.

"Have you been paying attention?" He asked.

My newest tutor was tall and thin. He had short grey hair and a temper hotter than the Shera Dessert. And the Shera desert is hot. He himself, however, wasn't.

"Just go. It's not like I'll be able to teach you anything."

"Thank you so much!" I yelled back at him as I raced out of the study.

Don't get me wrong. Learning is awesome. However the ways these tutors do it isn't the same as the way mom had. She had given me a book about a topic, told me to read it, then gave me a quiz the next day. I liked it that way

Mom had died almost a year ago. Being sixteen at the time, I couldn't become queen unless I married. And as much as I wanted to be queen, I was not getting married. So Robert Chagri, or as I call him, the Evil Chancellor, took over. Though he can't make an executive decision without my signature.

"Oan!" I yelled as I catapulted out of the back servant's door.

That door was often used when I wanted to leave and leave quickly. It opened into a large courtyard that was big enough for Oan to land in.

"Oh- ann!" I yelled again. Normally he came the first time I called him.

"Sweety. Remember when I asked you what you wanted for a welcome home present?" My mother came into my room. I had books stacked up to my waist everywhere. Ever since she'd taught me, I'd fallen in love with books.

"Yeah. That was a few months ago right?" In that time I'd crammed everything I'd missed out on learning in the first ten years of my life. "You said that we'd have to find an abandoned dragon nest and that that doesn't happen often."

"Yes. But guess what?" She asked as she pulled out a basket. She pulled back the cloth that was covering it to reveal a scally, green and black egg with brown accents. "It's said that dragon's egg color will tell you what color the dragon will be."

I gasped when my mind registered the fact that I now had a dragon egg in my room. "Is... is it mine?"

"Of course! But you'll have to take care of it. Keep it really warm at all times. If you talk to it, it will surely learn to understand you before it even hatches!"

Since then I had spoken to it. Singing it my favorite songs and rhymes. I always had a blanket around it and kept it near the fireplace. A few months later I heard a crack while reading.

"Momma! It's happening! The egg is hatching!"

After a few moments, a scally forest green head with shimmering willow bark-brown eyes burst through. Feet soon followed. Its claws and underbelly were black. Last was the tail, shaking off the eggshell as it went. Now that I saw it fully it was the size of small dog. Its wings were green with a black membrane. Starting in between the ears, there were small spikes like pirana's teeth all the way down to the tip of the tail. The tail ended in a large boulder like bone.

"What shall you name him?" My mother walked up behind me.

"How do you know it's a boy?" I asked her, not taking my eyes off the dragon.

"Female dragons don't have a boulder tail." She replied and repeated, "What shall you name him?"

"Oan."

"Finally! Where were you Oan?" I ran up to the dragon that had just landed. I patted his head and moved to get behind his neck. He growled at me. Because of being with him his whole life we understood each other's language. "I was thinking about when you hatched. Now you wanna go scope out the academy we'll be attending in a few months?"

I hated not knowing where I was going. I liked to be familiar with a place a quickly as possible. And not when it's full of rude, snotty, stuck up royals. I myself try not to be that way. I always hated the royals before mother found me.

He growled in response. "Alrighty then. Let's go."