She was bitter – she could admit that, even though it made her feel weak. She’d spent the last twenty years in an arranged mating with a male who’d only wanted a cook and a maid. Half the time he didn’t even come home, and when he did, he would stink of human females and booze. Miracle had been given no choice in the matter, however. According to dragon law, all females were required to be mated at age eighteen, but Miracle had never done anything right.
First, her parents had struggled to even have her. She hadn’t been born until they were in their fifties, and her mother nearly died during the birth. Then Miracle hadn’t shifted until she was almost eighteen, when most dragons shifted at age twelve. Her scales weren’t right – they were a deep forest green splotched with brown and black, perfect for camo in the woods, but not perfect for a group of shifters who prided themselves on having perfect, single-color scales. And her eyes, one amber and one green, had forever taunted her as she’d looked in the mirror.
To top all those physical issues, she was also barren, which made her about as desirable as a mate to male dragons as a fluffy bunny shifter would be. If there were fluffy bunny shifters.
She decided to ask Tonya.
“Are you seriously asking me if bunny shifters exist?”
Shrugging, Miracle looked at her friend. “Surely they do. And how adorable would they be?”
“They’d be super weak and easily killed in their shifted forms.”
“Yeah, but maybe their cuteness is their weapon. Like, a wolf shifter comes up to eat them, and they turn on the cute and he’s putty in their little paws.”
“Wolves don’t ask questions first; they just eat their prey.”
“Says you. I bet wolves do ask questions, and I bet that bunny shifters do exist. With little fluffy butts and everything.”
“You’re insane.”
“I’m in good company.”
Tonya stood and joined her. “The council has to let you free of the mating. You did your twenty. You’re like a human cop; twenty and done. You didn’t want the mating, but you did it anyway. He’s never been faithful or a good mate, even though you’re amazing. So what that you can’t have kids? And so fucking what if you have awesome eyes and cool scales?”
Tonya had never had children either, but that was because her mate had died before they’d conceived. She had never remated, even though she’d been pursued by a few of the unmated males.
There was a little-known clan law that stated a dragon could leave their mating after twenty years. It was meant as a safeguard in the event of an arranged mating that didn’t work out, but twenty years was still a super-long time. Maybe the writers of the law hoped that the couple would work things out if they had to wait that long. All that twenty years had done for her was cement in her mind how unfair the clan laws were. They gave with one hand and took with the other.
She’d petitioned the council to let her out of her mating a half dozen times over the years, but now the law was on her side. Her twenty years had been over a month ago, and they were now deliberating her freedom. Turning her attention to her friend, she said, “What are you sketching?”
“Topic-changer,” Tonya accused.
“I’m genuinely curious.”
Tonya turned the book that she’d been hugging to her chest to face Miracle. It was a sketch of a beautiful phoenix, wings spread high.
“Oh, that’s so lovely,” she said.
“Thanks. It’s for you.”
“You haven’t made me a picture in years.” When they were younger, Tonya used to give sketches to Miracle often.
“It’s for your tattoo.”
“I don’t have one.”
“You will. This one.”
“Um, no. Dragons can’t be tattooed. When we shift, the scales somehow dissolve the ink.”
“You can absolutely be tattooed if you mix a special ingredient with the ink.”
“That sound ominous.”
“Your tears.” Before Miracle could say anything, Tonya continued, “Specifically your dragon’s tears. You shift and ask your amazing best friend to collect your tears. Then you take the vial to the tattooer and he’ll mix it in. It’ll make the tattoo permanent.”
“How do you know?”
“My dad had a tattoo and he told me about it. Humans used to think that dragon tears were magical, remedies for different ailments, but all they’re really good for is spell-casting and permanent tattoos.”
Miracle looked at the sketch and then at Tonya. Her mind flipped to Tais, who had spent so much time making her feel worthless. A phoenix was exactly the sort of image that fit with her new life, after she’d stripped herself of the shackles that bound her.
“You’ll go with me?”
“As if I’d let you go without me.”
Miracle hugged Tonya and closed up her little studio. It sat at the back of the property, two hundred blissful feet away from the house that had always felt like a prison to her. She glanced up at the sky as they walked from the studio toward the house. It was late afternoon, and the council would bring their decision to her at nightfall. In a few hours, she could honestly and truly be free.
“If they dissolve my mating, I’ll get the tattoo.”
Tonya cheered. “They will, I can feel it. Good things are going to happen for you.”
*