Free Sworn To Transfer by Terah Edun

coming.”
    Ciardis blushed crimson, but before she could say anything, his wife intervened. “Ciardis Weathervane?”
    Peering over her ornamental glasses, she looked at the girl curtseying before her. As Ciardis nodded hesitantly in confirmation, the Duchess clasped her hands together in excitement.
    “I’ve been quite interested in meeting you,” she said, her blue eyes twinkling in delight under a halo of white hair. “It’s been so long since a person with your esteemed talents has graced our courts.”
    “That is true,” the duke said thoughtfully. “How are you adjusting to your new position, Mademoiselle Weathervane?”
    “Fairly well,” Ciardis said, lying through her teeth.
    He snorted. “Yes, of course. Your mother was the same way. She wouldn’t ask for any help until she was neck deep into whatever adventure she’d thrown herself into.”
    “She was adventurous, then?”
    “Oh, so adventurous,” exclaimed the duke’s wife. “I was older than her by a few years, but the stories she told of her nights out, and the escapades . Oh my word.”
    Her voice dipped into a theatrical whisper. “You know your mother was very fond of...well, dare I say... commoners .”
    Does this woman know where I come from ? Probably just doesn’t care.
    “Now, Leah, there’s nothing wrong with a dip on the other side now and then,” said the duke.
    “Oh?” said his wife, her tone noticeably cooler. From the look they exchanged, Ciardis got the feeling there might be some history between the duke and the ‘other side.’
    A short while later, Duchess Leah excused herself to grab a glass of wine, leaving Ciardis with the duke and his guest. The woman had been noticeably silent during their conversation, merely listening in.
    Turning to her courteously, Ciardis asked, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Madame. From where do you hail?”
    The woman raised a curious eyebrow and flicked an amused glance at the duke of Carne.
    He chuckled.
    “You do not recognize me?” the woman purred with a noticeably foreign accent. Ciardis glanced between the two of them, waiting to be let in on the joke. She noticed the woman’s eyes then. They weren’t a normal green – neither the color of a new spring meadow nor the dark of a deep forest. What’s more – Ciardis could swear she had flecks of brown or maybe gold in them. A brilliant and captivating mixture.
    “My dear,” the duke said gently to his guest of honor, “Your people are so rarely guests in Sandrin. Many of the young have forgotten.”
    And then the woman’s eyes flashed, and Ciardis could see the flecks of gold floating in the green. She sucked in a breath as the memory came back. The memory of speaking to the dragon on the storm-tossed ship deck just a few days ago. The woman’s voice had the same accent that had echoed in Ciardis’s head when she first met the Sahalian Ambassador.
    Feeling foolish but having to know if she was right, Ciardis tentatively said, “Ambassador Sedaris?”
    “Who else would I be?”
    “Your mother had very much the same look of stupefied surprise on her face when she met her first dragon,” said the duke of Carne.
    “So Lady Weathervane, how are you enjoying the festivities?” the dragon ambassador questioned with a hint of a hiss on the tip of her tongue.
    “It’s very well received,” said Ciardis politely as she brought her drink up to her mouth and hastily took a gulp. Very well received indeed, if you counted a dragon in human form. When had that happened? Could they all do that?
    Ciardis felt a wave of vertigo sweep over her as the dragon standing before her spoke into her mind again. “ You are an interesting child . And yes, all of my race can transform.”
    Speaking aloud, the woman smiled and said, “I admire a curious mind. Particularly by one who flatters me,” she said.
    Ciardis could hear a tone of affection in the dragon’s voice. No, affection wasn’t it...it was more of a possessive overtone?