Ero’s mind reverberated with what Ana had unveiled to him. So many questions rose up in his head, but all he could say was, “What — how — why — ”

Just then, a heavy crash resounded outside the barn, and a second later, there was a furious knocking on their door. “Ero, Ana, come out. It isn’t safe here anymore.” It was Mildred’s voice.

Anastasia cursed when another crash sounded. “Come on,” ze muttered, pushing off of the straw floor to get to the door. As ze did so, zir form morphed, and much faster this time. Ana was an amber-red dragon again by the time ze reached the entrance of the barn and kicked the door open.

For a moment, Mildred stood there, still in human form, her normally cheery face streaked with tears. Ero met his cousin’s eyes, and he wondered how much of her aunt’s backstory she knew.

But there was no time to ask.

Out on the farm, two large craters destroyed what used to be gorgeous fields of cabbages. And circling in the sky above, were two familiar blue dragons.

When Ero emerged with Ana from the barn, the smaller of the blue dragons laughed loudly. “There he is. The little one, in human form too. And of course, our darling Anastasia.”

The red dragon hissed and called out, “Lance, what on earth are you and your brother doing? First, some of you rained pesticides on an innocent family’s farm. Now, you’re playing meteor shower?”

Ero glanced into the craters and indeed, each crater was made by a huge rock. They weren’t necessarily meteorites, though.

The larger blue dragon, Demiel, sneered. “The pesticide spray wasn’t from us. And this farm is already done for, anyway.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can drop rocks on us!” Lucille shouted. Her dark hair billowed with her fury.

Demiel ignored her and said, “You don’t need your farm. You’re all coming with us to the palace.” He darted his gaze to Mildred. “Including you and your incompetent uncle.”

Ero bristled at Demiel’s casual insult of his cousin and father — stepfather. Ero normally wouldn’t want to cross a dangerous predator, let alone a dragon. But Ana’s presence and Ero’s shock at his parentage made him bolder than usual. He hollered, “What if we don’t want to go with you?”

The blue dragons exchanged a glance and guffawed.

“That’s so cute,” Lance said. “He actually thinks he has a choice. Whatcha gonna do? Let Ana defend you? Have your parents and cousin protect you? Ha! We could burn your whole family to a crisp!”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Ero said in indignation, though he was also bluffing.

Thankfully, Ana spoke up. “They really wouldn’t dare. We are Her Majesty’s daughter, grandchildren, as well as her son-in-law and his niece.”

It felt strange to hear Ana refer to him and zir as someone’s “grandchildren.” And it would take some time for Ero to get used to seeing the beautiful dragon as his cousin, even if they weren’t biologically related.

Demiel and Lance still had those smug smiles on their faces, but it was clear that, in spite of everything, Anastasia had the advantage. Ero guessed that the blue dragons were guards, at most, while Ana was royalty.

Anastasia might be much smaller than them, but ze stood with dignity and grace. The red dragon stared unflinchingly at the brothers above them.

After a moment of this staring contest, Mateo cried out, his arms waving with frenetic energy, “All of you, just stop. What does Her Majesty Freya wish us to go to the palace for?”

Ah, his father, always the peacekeeper. The last thing Ero wanted to do was to make peace with these jerks. But he still respected his dad, for the most part. So he waited to see how the dragons would respond.

Demiel and Lance looked sombre now. Demiel said, “Her Majesty has — something she needs you all for. And there’s no time to waste.” He growled. “Quit stalling and just come with us. You too, Ana.”

Anastasia snarled. “That’s not an answer.” Zir tail whipped to and fro like a weapon at the ready. Ero leaned closer to Ana, as though ze could protect him from anything, even if he understood that his hero — his cousin on his mom’s side — was not omnipotent.

Speaking of cousins, Mildred remarked, “What’s the point in asking them? They’re clearly both dolts whom the queen didn’t even bother to confide in.” She put her hands on her hips. Though a cow-shifter was no match for two dragons, Ero still felt proud of her for standing up to them.

Lance and Demiel fumed, as tendrils of smoke curled from their nostrils. They wouldn’t dare breathe fire and risk killing them, right? “Believe what you want, milkmaid,” Lance spat out. “And oh. This is yours.” He hurled something small and shiny towards Mildred.

Ana flew up and caught it between zir claws. Ero was not surprised to see that it was the milk bottle. He recalled his brave words yesterday that no dragons were after them, and Ana had agreed. They were too naive.

Anastasia was still in the air above, hovering like a red phoenix. Ero hung his head. He felt a little crestfallen despite his faith in his dragon cousin.

But Anastasia chose to land next to him, not Mildred. The dragon’s gaze on him was both kind and intense. Ze whispered, “We’re not giving up.” Ze extended zir claw to let Mildred retrieve her bottle of milk. The cow-shifter didn’t seem thrilled to get her milk bottle back. Ero didn’t blame her.

Lucille flounced over to them and said, in her usual authoritarian voice, “This is going nowhere. The dragons wouldn’t dare to harm us, but they could certainly wreck the rest of our farm, not that we can live in a pesticide-infested place anyway. And they’re so tight-lipped or they simply don’t know what’s going on. I’d rather just go see the queen and get it over with.”

Ero and Ana shot her a shocked glance. His mother was the last person Ero would expect to give in without a fight. But what choice did they have? Demiel and Lance would just harass them until they truly had nowhere left to live.

***

Anastasia felt some remorse for letting Ero believe that the dragons didn’t care about zir. Most of the Valve dragons may not have cared about zir as a person, but because of Ana’s connection to royalty, they would never leave zir alone entirely.

But Ero was so young and innocent. Ana wanted him to hang on to some hope. The Valve dragons typically didn’t get into palace affairs, so ze thought that they could get lucky. But of course they didn’t.

Lance and Demiel really were grunts, though, despite their bigger size and swagger.

Ana didn’t like the idea of listening to the blue dragon brothers, but ze was also curious, and worried, about what was happening at zir grandma’s. Maybe something had befallen Leyla or Teefa, and ze had not visited them in a while.

Now they were in the sky, with Ana carrying Ero, Lance taking Mildred and Lucille, and Demiel transporting Mateo. Night was fast approaching, and the sun sank lower and lower beneath the horizon.

Ero’s little voice broke through Ana’s reveries. He whispered, “Do you really trust them?”

Ana and the dragon brothers flew at a safe distance apart, so Lance and Demiel wouldn’t overhear their conversation.

Ana grunted. “I don’t like them, but they’re not the worst. They are cruel and petty, but they want to save their own hides, so they won’t do anything that could endanger them in the future.”

“Are you talking about them not daring to hurt you — and my mother — as members of the royalty?” Ero asked.

The amber-red dragon winced. “You say that like I enjoy the power and benefits of being royalty.”

The calf-shifter quipped, “But it is beneficial. It’s a great protection against bullies like Lance and Demiel.”

Anastasia had to smirk. “Yes, but if I were a commoner, these bullies would leave me alone.” Besides, given what Ana had witnessed among the dragons, Lance and Demiel were small fry and wouldn’t even qualify for the title of “bully.” But Ana wanted to spare him those stories. The dragon had already told him a lot more than ze had been comfortable sharing.

“Hmmm,” said little Ero, “as a commoner myself, I would say that we’re not safe from bully attacks. Plenty of predators, fellow herbivores, as well as humans and other species, have invaded and ambushed us many times, for reasons unrelated to my mom’s princess status, which I didn’t even know about until today.”

Ana was silent for a while, letting that accusation sink in. Ze said, “I’m sorry. I never wanted you to know this much. Yes, I get that it’s annoying that I keep a lot of secrets from you, and I apologize. But I also don’t like the idea that you now have to live with the burden of that knowledge.”

“Knowledge isn’t a burden,” Ero protested.

Just then, they heard Mildred yell out, “Hey, stop, stop, let me down!”

Ana turned zir head sharply, ready to intervene, even to fight Lance if necessary. Ze flew closer to them, and saw Mildred with a puffy, livid face. Lucille had her lips pressed into a firm line, though she wasn’t stopping anyone, either.

Lance snorted. “Lady, you’re crazy. I could drop you as you wish, but I’m afraid you won’t even survive to tell the tale.”

Lucille responded in a surprisingly calm voice, “Stop goading her, you scum. Just leave us alone and keep flying. And Mildred, vent all you want, but don’t make threats when you’re riding on a dragon’s back high up in the sky.”

Mildred looked incensed. “Auntie!”

Out of sheer impatience, Ana cut in, “What happened?”

Mildred widened her eyes a little, though she didn’t seem cowed. “Huh. Lance here was just being a jerk, saying that my milk wasn’t good at all, that it was thin and stale, so no wonder the Valve dragons wanted Lucille’s much higher quality milk.”

No wonder Lucille didn’t care to defend her niece. Lucille was too selfish to care about someone else if she herself was still benefiting.

But Mildred wasn’t finished. “He said that my calf must be suffering, from how poor and paltry my milk is, and that my husband must be some weak sod, since I’m clearly a fit and strong young thing, so how else could my milk be awful?”

Lucille interjected, “Just ignore him. He’s a dragon who knows nothing about cow biology.”

Mildred still looked furious. “Even if you dragons didn’t appreciate my milk, you still didn’t have to spout such mean venom at me. Nor did you have to insult my husband, whom you’ve never even met.”

Lance chuckled derisively. “Oh, and how does your husband look like?”

The young woman pursed her lips and grew sullen, but otherwise did not respond.

Anastasia was about to ask another question when Ero whispered into zir ear, “Mildred and her husband have problems. They’ve been unhappy for a while.”

“What kind of problems?” Ana whispered back.

Ero was about to reply when Demiel cried out, “There’s the palace. Let’s go!” He dove down like a missile and his brother followed a second later.

For a moment, Ero and Ana were alone together in the dimming sky. Ana was curious about Mildred’s problems, but ze didn’t want to be way behind, especially as ze prided zirself on being much faster than Lance and Demiel. Besides, Ana thought that now wasn’t the best time for such deep disclosures.

So ze said, “We can talk more later.” And ze blitzed down from the sky towards the bright and shimmering palace.