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clothes here? Do your women all dress in this type of clothing all the time?” she said, pointing to her bra and belt.
    “Yes, most of the time, but our women do have formal clothing for special events.”
    “Like what?”
    “Weddings and celebrations. On such occasions they wear gowns that equal the gowns the royals wear, but for daily life they’re hardly suitable.”
    “Don’t you tire of living in caves? Wouldn’t you like to live in nice homes?” She knew it was a stupid question, especially after Uleirlel had explained it to her.
    “And how could we shift and flap our huge wings? This is the best habitat for us. We have all the room we need for our dragons.”
    “Why can’t your dragons defeat the Gonks?”
    “They do, if we have enough time to shift into our dragon. Sometimes the Gonks overpower us so fast that we can’t summon the magick to shift.”
    “Oh. It’s still all a mystery to me.”
    “The meat is in the smokehouse. Anya, we need more vegetables and bread. If you go to that building over there,” Cyton pointed her toward a wooden building, “it’s our market, where you can get all we need.”
    “What do I use to buy it?”
    “Oh. Sorry,” Yerith said. He dug into a pouch and produced small pieces of gold. “Here you go. That should be plenty.”
    “What is this worth?”
    “They’ll weigh it. It’s more than enough. Believe me.”
    With her empty bags slung across her shoulders, she entered the building. Amazed at the array of flour, vegetables, grains and fruits, she bought until both her bags were filled to the brim. Yerith hadn’t been kidding when he said she had plenty of gold to pay for everything.
    “I bought a whole bunch of stuff, but now I have no empty bags for the meat. Do you guys hunt every day? And the women have to get the meat each night?”
    “Yes. That’s our custom. I’ll fly you up so you can empty your bags,” Yerith offered.
    Anya emptied her bags and turned to Yerith to fly her back down to the courtyard. She noticed his ardent gaze scanning her from head to toe. “Yerith?”
    “Anya,” he said in a deep voice. “I desire you so much.”
    “I’m flattered, but I’m betrothed,” she said softly, though at the same time she couldn’t help but admire his body and the way his loincloth tented.
    “Your betrothed is gone.”
    “You know that for sure? He didn’t live at the palace. I don’t know if he was already at the palace in the courtyard for the wedding when the attack came.”
    “Wasn’t he a royal guard?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then he would have been at the palace, and there’s not a soul left alive.”
    “He was one of my father’s guards. Maybe he hid and fled, like me.”
    “Do you love this man?”
    Anya was lost for words. Had she ever loved Sorlos? No. She barely knew the man. All she knew was that they were promised from birth. She’d met him once and had shuddered. He was a short, rather stocky, gawky, strange looking young man, with insipid eyes, mousy thin hair that hung limply down his back, a hooked nose and very thin lips. She’d questioned her father at the time and gotten into trouble.
    “Anya, do you love this man?” Yerith asked again.
    “I don’t really know him. No. He was chosen for me at birth.”
    “Were you looking forward to joining with him for life?”
    She didn’t want to lie. “No. I didn’t think he would be a good husband, but my father insisted I obey.”
    “You’ve never known love, or a man who desired you for who you are.”
    “No.”
    “I’ve fallen in love with you and I want to make you mine. I also know my longtime friend Cyton has fallen in love with you. In our culture, we can share a woman. Could you ever love both of us?”
    “Yerith, I’m flattered, but this is all so new for me. If I’m to claim the throne, how could I ever have a dragon as my consort? Let alone two dragons.”
    He took a step toward her and Anya waited, her heart fluttering wildly against her ribs. He