Kept by the Dragon A Shapeshifter Tale

By Leda Longfellow

What does a princess do when her spoiled life of freedom is to be exchanged for a life of captivity to one of any number of wretched men? Cut out the middleman, and offer herself directly as a captive to a powerful dragon in exchange for her ability to life her life as she pleases. When her offer is accepted, she will find herself confronted with her captor's secrets and her own startling desires, and find that in some cases, a dragon is a better keeper than a man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leda Longfellow
• Release date: Dec 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463710210

Leda Longfellow

Hi! I'm Leda, a writer and dreamer. One of my favorite ways to spend an evening after a long day is relaxing in a bath with a good book. After finding that I had nearly as much fun imagining my own tales of romance and fantasy as reading others, I decided to put my pen to paper and create my own stories for reading in the bath, on the beach, or under the blankets. All my stories have an element of fantasy and escapism. The power of fiction is to take us to places and grant us experiences that we've only dreamed of. I hope to take full advantage of that.

Book preview

Kept by the Dragon

A Shapeshifter Tale

by Leda Longfellow

Copyright 2018 Leda Longfellow

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The fourth attack that month ended as the other three had: the sound of hoofbeats rapidly retreating, a warhorse galloping back towards some distant kingdom, a frightened and lightly-singed knight clinging to its back.

The lightly part was important to me. At first my requests that my captor be gentle with my pursuers was met with confusion, and then amusement, but they had always been filled. To date they had all been left to return safely, and take with them stories of their own sad defeats, each one bolstering my captor’s reputation for strength and invincibility.

The former was true, of course. The latter might as well have been. I turned from the outwards-facing window of my tower chambers to the arch that looked over the courtyard, and the floor trembled as my captor—the dragon himself—lighted to the earth below and extended his long scaled neck to rest his head pitifully on my floor. Even the puppy curled up undisturbed on a silken cushion nearby could not manage such pathetic eyes as the dragon did as he lifted one wing to show me his injury: the shaft of an arrow buried deep between the scales, a stream of blood trickling down his shoulder amidst a wisp of steam.

Poor thing, I sympathized, trying not to smile. Leaning out of the window I grabbed the arrow and pulled it free, and felt the enormous beast wince next to me. With a sound as soft as a sigh the shape of him shifted to something smaller, more manageable to fit into the room with me. Neither was his true form. Each was as truly him as the other: the enormous, roaring reptile and the scale-shouldered, strong-armed man with dark hair pulled low at the nape of his neck, his shapely jaw stubbled with what I had been trying to coax him into growing into a full beard.

He flinched as I wet a cloth in the basin I’d prepared as soon as the knight had arrived and began sponging at his shoulder. A show, I was sure, calculated to invoke my womanly pity: it would take more than an arrow to do more than inconvenience him.

Careful, he hissed, and I smiled.

Aren’t I always?

As I always did when I took care of him like this, I wondered at how far we had come from the day we’d met: how much the power between us had shifted, and how much trust. Pushing his hair away, I undid his show of grumpy strength by kissing his forehead gently, and I thought back to the day we’d met as he relaxed under my hands.

♔

The cloth-of-gold gown was, I thought, a nice touch. It rustled underneath the plain woolen cloak I’d hidden it with. I had brought offerings, of course: goblets and gems making my saddlebags heavy with a bounty that would surely have stunned any highwayman who targeted me. But I had considered the dragon’s love of gold, and I had garbed myself appropriately, and wound golden cord through the heavy braid of my auburn hair. I had even dusted