If that is my real parents’ home, I'd like to see it," I say. I still don't believe any of this, but getting out of the castle sounds like a good idea to me.

"It is far too dangerous," Trav says, crossing his arms.

"Look, if you let me go with you, I might just be that much closer to letting you make hilock with me," I say, batting my eyelashes. I'm sick of being locked in my bedroom.

He lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. "Fine. Go prepare yourself," he says. "We leave within the hour."

I head upstairs, and Trav walks beside me. "I will escort you to your rooms, lady," he says, putting out his elbow for me to take. I shrug and take his arm. He gallantly walks me to my room, and the door slides open.

"Hey, wait," I say. "Could you unlock the door for me?" I ask.

"This door is not locked," he says, frowning. "It doesn't recognize your form. I will have it replaced while we are gone.” He bows his head slightly before he turns to go.

I hurry to the bathroom to find a tub already prepared for me. I sink into the warm water and wash my hair. When I get out, Uria is waiting for me in my bedroom with an outfit prepared for the journey. "This is a good traveling dress," she says. It has a mid-calf length skirt in a deep burgundy. The outfit includes a fitted tunic, a pair of thick tights that go under the skirt, and knee-high leather boots. It looks more practical than the gown I wore the night before. Uria helps me dress and does my hair and face just before Trav appears at my door.

"Come," he says. I whistle for Clancy.

"What are you doing?" he asks. "That creature cannot come with us."

"He's coming," I say.

"Fine, just hurry." He takes my arm and escorts me quickly downstairs.

Outside, I see what looks like a carriage with no wheels and a giant handle on top, sitting on a stone slab. For some reason, I was expecting horses. I shrug and let Trav lead me into the carriage. Clancy hesitates at the ramp, but I tug his leash and he finally follows in.

I sit on a soft cushioned seat and look around nervously. What is the giant handle on the roof for? I don’t think I want to know. Trav puts Clancy into a cargo hold that looks comfortable enough. Trav inspects me before bounding down the ramp. Gizmel, Uria and a few other servants join me in the carriage as I watch Trav checking the exterior. Finally, he closes the entrance ramp.

I’m not ready for what I see next. Trav suddenly transforms into a giant red dragon and pumps his wings, launching into the air. The carriage shakes as the massive beast grips the handle with his claws.

A moment later, the carriage lifts off the ground. I let out a small cry, gripping my seat, and Clancy whines from his crate. I can see the castle out the window as we rise into the air. The landscape below becomes smaller and smaller as we fly. Clouds pass out the window as I sink back in my chair, stunned I’m riding in a dragon drawn carriage.

After what feels like about an hour of this, the craft stops and slowly sinks to the ground. Trav sets us down and descends outside the carriage, shifting as he lands.

Taking my hand, Trav leads me toward a hillside. As I walk, my leather boots sink slightly into the soft ground. Clancy bounds ahead over the hill. As we hurry after him, a castle comes into view.

I'm awestruck for a moment at the overwhelming beauty of it. While Trav's castle looks like a medieval fortress, this castle seems to be straight out of nineteenth century Germany or some Disney fairy tale. Towers spiral up to the sky and end in points where tattered flags wave in the slight breeze.

"No one has been here for twenty-eight years?" I ask, gripping Trav's arm more tightly.

"There is a caretaker who is loyal to your family, and a small guard to keep looters away, all awaiting your return."

"This place belongs to me? I mean…the lost dragon born princess?"

"Yes, lady. This is your rightful estate. Come."

Our group walks down the grassy hillside and past small grazing deer-like animals that have thick woolly coats. The animals move in a herd as we walk between them, braying as they scatter away. Clancy wants to chase after them, but I grab his leash and hold it until we get inside the front gate of the castle.

I look around my palace. That's the only word I can use to describe it. The twenty-foot tall front doors open. A bent, little man emerges, wearing navy blue knee length pants, a matching waistcoat, and white tights. His long black hair is pulled back in a low ponytail. Gizmel hurries up to him and the two walk toward Trav and me.

"This is the lady I told you about, Hammon," Gizmel says. "This is Rona's daughter."

The little man, Hammon, looks me up and down and frowns. "Is she deformed?" he asks in a breathless, scratchy voice. He seems like he’s a hundred years old. He has the same pointed ears and sharp canines that most of the people in Endor seem to have, but he's short and lacks glowing eyes. Apparently, he isn't a dragon.

"She is enchanted, Hammon.” Gizmel gives me an apologetic look.

"I am your prince, and this is the Princess of Skyland," Trav announces. "We have been traveling. Now invite us inside."

Hammon twitches and shakes as if he's forgotten his baby in a hot car and then waves for us to follow him inside.

We pass through the massive front doors into an equally tall entry hall. The ceiling is fifty feet high with lighting that seems to drip in glass beads from above. Light plays prismatically across the frescoed walls and ceiling. Murals of dragons flying dramatically across the sky swirl around me.

The taller elves lead armies of the smaller ones over hillsides covered in broken bodies and blood. On another wall, the scene drips with flowers and waterfalls as two dragons are entwined in what appears to be an embrace.

Below them are the figures of a man who looks like a dragon born and a woman of similar stature. She is curvaceous and beautiful, with long golden hair and tanned skin.

I walk to the painting and trace my fingers over the woman's likeness. Hammon approaches me and stands beside me with a long sigh. "The lady Rona Skyland, the last of the dragon born princesses."

I look up at him to see a tear trickle down his cheek. His lips quiver, and I can tell that even after all this time he's broken up about it.

"What happened to all the women?" I ask.

"The last time the Org emerged from their vile womb, deep in the mountain, their leader sent a plague on the dragon born. Each year, less females were born. After a thousand years, only one lived. Rona. She had a daughter they called Dolomane. The Skylands knew of the curse and hid the baby so that no Orgs could ever find her."

"Do you think I'm her?" I whisper. Suddenly I feel more sympathetic to the cause, hearing Hammon speak of his late mistress and her child. 

"I don't know, lady, you look nothing like a dragon born. You don't even look Endorian. Gizmel says the child was enchanted, but I don't know about such things."

"Come," Trav says, taking my arm. "We are going to the old wizard’s laboratory."

Just as he turns me to go, a group of men walks through the front door. I blink as the sunlight glints in my eyes. When the figures move farther into the shade of the room, I realize it's Conyac and his men.

"What are you doing here, Blackwell?" Trav growls.