"I'll challenge the Third Prince for your hand," Lorian's young and determined voice still echoed across the cramped library.
The elven girl laughed nervously, looking at him.
"You can't be serious," her eyes turned to the others with a puzzled expression.
"He can't be serious right?"
No one could answer. They just chuckled but Lorian's face seemed raw with desperation and determination. Everything that made him shy was now a thing of the past.
"You write poems," the ponytail girl said gently.
"He's a dragon. You'd die."
"I know," his hands clenched into a fist. White-hot with infatuation or was it love.
"But I'd try."
The rising laughter died down as it dawned on them. The boy was being serious.
Claudia stood slowly. "Lorian, don't be stupid, please…"
"You don't love him," Lorian's entire body trembled like a child about to watch his mother leave without giving him sweets.
"No.. But I have to marry him," Claudia's voice was firm and kind.
