Lucian closed the door softly just as he turned to face Brandi and Kelly who looked as though they were ready to attack him.

"Explain! Now!" Kelly snapped.

Lucian met her gaze and settled his emotions.

"Melanie is going to become an immortal dragon of her own. It will look completely different from my form." Lucian explained.

"Dont you fucking think that is something you should've fucking brought up days ago?" Kelly snapped.

Brandi took a step backwards. She knew how Kelly felt but she also knew that they were not behind closed doors. Formality was a key principal of the kingdom and Brandi didn't want to be looped into whatever backlash the king would dole out for being mistreated by Kelly.

"I do suppose that I should have explained it further, yes. However that is between me and Melanie. It has little if nothing to do with you."

"I am practically Melanie's fucking guardian! She asked me to come and I will ensure that she isn't used and abused." Kelly replied.

Brandi took another step back when she felt a flicker of cold anger rise up from Lucian. His calm demeanor had cracked and the King that was beneath it, rose up to defend himself.

"Kelly. I think you should relax a little." Brandy whispered.

"What? No!" Kelly shouted. "He just forced Mel into becoming something she had no idea about."

"How do you know she isn't okay with it?" Brandi asked.

"I...I, it doesn't matter." Kelly replied. "Not even a King can just force people into becoming monsters."

Brandi looked from Kelly to Lucian who appeared calm, too calm. The calm that was suited for a graveyard in the still of night. Before Lucian could say a single word, a man stormed around the corner. He wore a long black robe and had long flowing black hair. He was shorter than Lucian but not by much.

He had a very similar looking face but his eyes were what really set him apart. He had bright citrine yellow and orange eyes.

"What the fuck is going on here?" The man asked angrily. He looked from the two women to Lucian.

"Brother, all is well-"

"The fuck all is well!" Lucian's half brother snapped back. "I can hear this woman-" he pointed his finger at Kelly, "-down the hall."

"We were just discussing the change that my queen will be under going. It is new for them. They need a better understanding of it is all." Lucian replied calmly.

Kelly looked up at Lucian's half brother and stared. He was shorter but slightly more muscular. It was evident, even through the robe. Though he was shorter than Lucian, the half brother was taller than her. His thick jaw and the fact that almost all of his neck was gone, engulfed by muscle, gave her a sexual chill.

Despite the fact that he was berating her as though she wasn't even there, Kelly wanted to taste him. On her hands and knees, she wanted to feel him. Kelly's dress shifted from a rose red color to a soft pink.

"You are too soft on the rules dear brother. This woman needs to be taught a lesson on obedience and servitude."

"Maalceus please-" Lucian tried to get his half brother to see reason but he knew that he wouldn't. Maalceus was the head of the justice. He was in charge of enforcing every rule. Ensuring that those who did not, were properly punished for it.

Maalceus shot out his arm sending two metal cuffs that were attached along his upper arm. An additional two shot off from his other arm. Both pairs of cuffs slapped onto Kelly's wrists and ankles. Her face was shocked and yet still aroused.

"I love you Lucian. You are an amazing ruler, however-" Maalceus raised his arm and Kelly was lifted off the ground. "-mother and father put me in charge of the justice department for a reason."

As he walked away, Kelly floated above the air trailing behind him. Brandi looked at Kelly who suddenly seemed extremely vulnerable and helpless as she was taken away.

"Why aren't you stopping him?" Brandi asked.

Lucian didn't respond for a long moment until he looked her straight in the eyes with a gaze that she had not seen from him before.

"There are rules, laws and formalities to follow here. I might not enjoy them but I must uphold them." Lucian explained. "I, Lynx and even you, warned her to settle down and calm herself. She didn't."

He looked toward the hall and saw that both his half brother and Kelly were gone.

"This is the price she will have to pay for not following the order of formality."

Brandi swallowed hard. She understood just how critical it was to follow the rules or else be punished. Granted those rules were simple but still, not following them meant punishment that she didn't know.

"What will happen to Kelly, my lord?" Brandi asked softly.

"That will be up to my brother. The longer Kelly resists him, the longer her punishment will be." Lucian turned and walked away, but stopped at the end of the hall and glanced back.

"Behind closed doors Brandi." He said.

Brandi swallowed hard and nodded.

"Yes my lord." She replied, a phrase she would have to get far more accustomed to saying.

*****

Melanie sat up in bed and looked around her room. It was dark. The walls were nearly nonexistent in the darkness. She waved her arms to trigger the crystal orbs but nothing happened. She pulled away the covers and then she heard it. The sound of clacking on the stone floor. The footsteps were too quick to be two but too clustered to be more than one person.

She could hear the sound of something being dragged on the ground along the wall. Then all went silent. From the darkness beyond the foot of her bed, a pair of bright blue eyes blazed from the darkness. Without warning, a mass of scales, teeth and fury lunged out at her.

Melanie sprang awake and looked around. The crystal lights glowed to life illuminating the room. She could see the walls and the closet. She could see the window and then she remembered. 'A dragon? I am going to become a dragon?' She rolled that thought around in her head for awhile before another thought hit her.

'Lucian! He's going off to war!' She threw off the covers and ran down the hall.

"King Drakkon?" She asked a servant who was pushing a cart down the hall.

The middle aged woman bowed and shook her head. Melanie nodded in thanks and continued down the hall until she reached the library where she found Brandi.

"Brandi!" Melanie shouted.

"Oh! Shit!" Brandi exclaimed, startled and surprise. "What's wrong?"

"Where is Lucian?"

"I believe he is at the southern border. The Vikara are here."

"Dammit. I wanted to catch him before he left."

"Sorry my lady." Brandi replied as she got up and hugged Melanie. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm still just...a little surprised by everything that is going on." Melanie sighed. "I just don't know how to feel about all of this. I came here thinking I was just going to be a toy."

"Don't you like the idea of being Queen?" Brandi asked.

"I mean, I do but still...I-" Melanie paused trying to collect her jumbled thoughts, "-it is just more than what I was anticipating."

Melanie sighed and sat down feeling a heavy weight of emotions crash down on her. She was happy but scared. Anxious and yet excited. She had dreamt of a day when she would be a fully owned slave and now, she was just that.

However, she was more than that too. A queen was not something she had thought of being. However, it was what she had become and now she was going to become something more than human. That thought alone was more than she had expected to have to handle. Melanie looked over at Brandi who had a sympthatic expression on her face.

It was clear that she was dealing with something of her own. Then she noticed something else.

"Brandi? Where is Kelly?" Melanie asked.

Brandi swallowed hard and sighed.