The Dragon of Two Hearts
Answering a call of distress, the knight Michael finds the king of Gladur Nock surprisingly reluctant to be rid of the shadow of fear the dragon casts over his land. Then the knight meets Princess Aina, a warrior maiden who first imprisons men and then trains them to do battle against the dragon. With whom should he align himself? The king is ambitious and cruel. The princess is secretive. And if he goes and fights, what chance does he stand against a ruthless and remorseless dragon? Has all his training with a Luck Dragon prepared him well enough for this moment?
The dragon approached the line of trees which marked the barrier between his devastation and the lands beyond. He stopped in the open, away from all shadows, allowing the harsh light of the moon to shine ghostlike upon the massive length of his body. He lifted his long snout to the air and sniffed. The burned earth did not dull his sharp sense of smell. He detected that there was someone watching him from the cover of the trees. He recognized her scent. She had come before, and something in him was confident this would not be the last time.
The dragon raised himself up to his full height, as if to show off his glory in the moonlight. He flexed his horns and spikes and thrashed his long tail. It would be a simple matter to pounce on her and add her bones to the pile in his lair, yet he did not. He would let her come as often as she needed. He raise his head to the moon and bellowed. He could smell her fear. He smelled her agitation and anger. But most of all, he sensed her irrational attraction to him. He bellowed again.
