another week later

It was another week before the Prince arrived. He wore fancy clothes and an even fancier hat. His robes were long and the hat tall and stiff. Most hats at the time ware simple floppy buts of fabric. Some of the fancier ones had brims, fur or feathers on them. This one looked different showing the prince to be a man of spectacular wealth and fashion.

When he asked for the princess, he was told she had been confined to her room as to insure she would not go missing again. When the prince heard this he briefly lost his temper. Shouting at the king and queen about how a lady needed good exercise and fresh air to stay healthy. He was led to her room and asked to be left alone with her for a moment to get acquainted.

“My lord, it is quite improper for a lady to be alone with a man she is not married to. You may be betrothed but you are not married yet.” The Queen protested.

“Fine I will have her maid sit with us.” The Prince responded. However, when he saw Sophie he objected. “This is not the Princess’ maid, she does not follow her mistress’ commands. I guess her loyalties lie elsewhere. If Your daughter is to be my bride she will need the assistance of a lady in waiting who is loyal and trusted. Send for one at once.” The Prince demanded.

In all this time Milly had not spoken she just looked forlorn out of her window. However, at the mention of replacing Sophie she spoke up. “Send for Hattie, she is loyal to me.”

“No send for Laura.” The Queen objected.

“No send for Hattie, I would rather take the word of my bride to be over a mother who would lock away her own daughter.” The Prince demanded.

“Err, Your majesty…” The guard looked at the Queen confused.

“Uh, very well send for Hattie.” The queen responded. There was an awkward silence in the room while Hattie was fetched. (The queen’s torturer had been cleaver to not leave marks that were visible on the girl when clothed or damage her in ways that would prevent her serving.) Still her face looked grim until she saw the princess.

The Prince asked the Queen to leave the room and when she did he spoke to Milly. “I am sorry I took so long.” He stated.

Milly looked at him confused then gasped as he lifted his hat just slightly. Below the stiffened fabric was a pair of familiar yellow horns. The life flooded back into Milly’s face as a smile formed.

“What happened to the real prince?” Milly whispered.

“He went to bed.” Henry, for it was Henry replied with a wink.

“You mean…” Milly gasped

“Yes, but keep it quiet, the guards are just outside.” Henry replied.

Arrangements were made and by the next day Milly and Hattie were on their way to the Prince’s kingdom. Henry kept up the illusion the whole way but did manage to let Milly sleep in his belly one time on the road. It was a tight fit and Hattie could not join her. The magic made it so all of him fit in the space a human took up. He could still do all the dragony stuff like breath fire and swallow people just not as well.

Once back it was not long before the kingdom’s current king befell a tragic accident while out hunting. He had begun to suspect his son was not his son.

Harry remained in disguise for most of his time as king. Reverting only in private. He had his castle converted to be able to house his full size in a bedchamber him and Milly would share.

“She eventually had a half-dragon baby like yourself and he was kept hidden until he could disguise himself just like you must do.” George’s mother informed her son. “Once Princess Matilda died Henry faked his death leaving the throne to his son. He married a dragoness and they became other royals many years later. Few of the humans found out and started to rebel. The hunted Dragons of all kinds and even took their anger out on the other non-human people of the land. News spread to the other countries but by then most of the royal families had been infiltrated by your relatives. Your Grandfather kept some of the human royal around as they were happy to keep his secret. They saw having dragon blood in their line as a way of strengthening their bloodline. I am descended from those human royals. Only one human royal family did not see it that way, The Hapsburgs they decided to keep their bloodline pure. The human peasants made things so bad for non-human people that they took after their king and used magic to hide. Your farther when he was much younger devised a plan. He lead a band of mainly humans in a war against his farther and the remaining non-human who had not gone into hiding against the rest. His farther and most of the non-humans were in on it however. They lost on purpose, many sacrificing their lives to make the humans think that dragons and non-humans had been wiped out for good. Your father’s historians even removed mentions of the non-humans from the official records causing them to become myths and legends. Today this war is called The War of the Roses. You will learn about that in history.” George’s mother stopped. Her son had closed his eyes and probably fallen asleep about the time that she had mentioned the Hapsburgs, but she continued just to make sure.

His mother then tucked him into bed and left the room. Despite not telling her son the whole story, it was still in her head and made her hot just thinking about it. She needed to find somewhere private and safe to “Cool off” like the belly of her husband.