Lila stopped outside the mansion with the wrought-iron fence and checked the invitation again. She had never been to this part of Goldwater Harbor was by herself, the semi-rural city edges where the big mansions lay in acres of pristine lawn. Sometimes when she was younger, her mother would drive through the neighborhood to admire the architecture, the kind of house she could never afford. Nor would she want to, given her dedication to the Cozy Cup. 

But Lila was realizing that they'd never turned onto this street, and once again she was left to ponder the secrets her mother had kept. Did Jinn know about Lady Anagharad and her granddaughter? Was that why she never ventured here?

In the days since her birthday, Lila had thought about telling her mother everything on every single one. But she never quite gathered up the courage to do so. Every time she got close, when the silence between them was uncomfortably awkward, at least for her, she couldn't form the words, couldn't put the voice to it. Instead she'd just chicken out and her mother's secrets would continue to be her own.

Luckily, it was a Saturday that the mysterious Lady Anagharad who had raised Aideen had invited Lila and Kira to come study the ways of dragons at their home. As such, Jinn didn't question a thing when Lila left the house. She was too busy working downstairs, and was used to Lila's coming and goings to the fabric store or Sabrina's house enough not to care.

Still, coming here by herself churned Lila's stomach a little. She hated lying to her mother. It seemed that the dragons had made liars and secret-keepers out of the both of them. 

"Hey there, stranger!" 

Lila looked up from the invitation to see Kira approach. Dressed in a long black skirt, a long-sleeved striped t-shirt, a black vest and combat boots, it was a more conservative style than Lila was used to seeing from Kira—but still within her wheelhouse. A little bit rock, a little witchy, and all eccentric and distinct. Even if it wasn't Lila's personal style, she admired it. She tried to memorize the details so she could recreate it in her sketchbook later. 

"No one's here yet," Lila informed her. "I don't know if there's a doorbell or anything. . ."

Kira withdrew her own invitation from the denim purse slung across her shoulder that jingled with key-chains and enamel pins and buttons from various fandoms. "And I thought I'd be late!"

It was then that Lila saw the front door of the mansion open, and out came Aideen, running down the cobbled path to the wrought-iron gate. For a moment, Lila was afraid that Aideen might run right into the gates, but she grabbed the bars and brought herself to an abrupt but graceful halt. 

"Hey there," she said, slightly out of breath. "You're just in time!"

She pulled away from the bars and undid the latch. The gate swung open with a small creak. Aideen gestured widely. "Come on in!"

Lila was the first to step through onto the path. 

Aideen was as cheery as she'd been when she'd stepped into the Cozy Cup, practically skipping down the path as she escorted Kira and Lila in. But there was something behind her eyes, a certain hardness that was out of place against the rest of it. 

It unsettled Lila a little, to be honest. 

But maybe that was because all of this was uncomfortable. Lila felt so small, so vulnerable in front of the mansion towering over her, inside a dragon-sorceress with so much knowledge of the world that Lila was supposed to belong to. It was easy to be afraid, as she passed the hedges with the fuschia flowers and into the mansion proper.

Aideen Llewellyn's grandmother was clearly loaded.

As soon as she walked in, she saw vines with strange flowers on the ceiling entwined around bejeweled chandeliers. Mounted on the walls were wrought-iron lanterns and stained-glass pictures with the light coming from a light source that Lila couldn't see. Fountains with elaborate statuary scattered across the dark-wooden floors carpeted with lush rugs. 

Treasure and trinkets jumped out and Lila, and she couldn't help but crane her neck and try to take in all of the splendor. And Aideen just walked through it as if none of this was new or worthy of attention.

Rather, Aideen led them out to the back of the house, to a back-deck with a little koi pond set up amidst cabanas with ethereal-looking white linen embroidered with gold. It was under one with open curtains tied back that the woman Lila presumed to be Lady Anagharad lounged on a chaise. 

For a woman who was supposed to be Aideen's grandmother, Lady Anagharad could have been her college-age sister. Albeit, a college-aged sister who had come directly out of a painting of Guinevere or Elaine or any chivalric lady. 

Her golden-blonde curls—the very same that were Aideen's inheritance—was twisted into an elaborate braid out of one of those paintings, dripping with jewels and silver trinkets. She wore a deep azure silk gown with princess seams that hugged her figure before flaring out in a dramatic, striking silhouette. The embroidery with bits of citrine and gold thread in the shape of lilies scattered across the gown, prominent along the neckline and the hem. Over it she wore a lace kimono with lace in the design of scales—a reminder of what Lady Anagharad truly was.

Although, with the way her gold-rimmed turquoise eyes narrowed to survey the three princesses, there was no forgetting that Aideen's grandmother was a true dragon. 

"You arrived on time. Good." Lady Anagharad rose from her chaise, drawing to her full imposing height. Lila suddenly understood how Aideen was so tall—although not quite as much as willowy Kira. "Of course a ruler may determine how timely she is—but it is best not to waste the time of your court. Which includes myself—as we have plenty of work to do before any of you will be ready to prove your worth in the Trials by Fire."

Lila looked to Aideen. Her face remained stoic, her dark brown eyes fixated on her grandmother with what seemed like reverence. 

Hadn't Aideen been training for this her whole life?

If anything, Lila thought that she and Kira would be behind.

"While many of our children in Agartha make do with what they have, the wisdom of the Progenitors states that a dragon comes into her true power when she assumes her true form." Lady Anagharad drew closer, and Lila had the distinct suspicion that she was being sized up. 

It wouldn't be hard to picture the fierce lady in front of her as a dragon, perhaps with azure and gold scales and snapping jaws. She carried herself with the same deathly elegance as Lady Absinthe.

"Now that all three of you have transformed for the first time, you have unlocked your true potential, and may begin learning the most sacred arts of our magic, as left for us in the Tomes of Fire and Rain by our Progenitors." Lady Anagharad's voice took on an air of condescension usually reserved for small children. "You poor dears wouldn't know. The Progenitors were the great dragons who created our city and the pocket of space and time in which it resides. They were the ones who discovered and went beyond the limits of all known magic—and one of them was my teacher."

Her expression softened, if only for a moment. "Adahara the Sage was the one who taught me the sum of his and his colleagues' knowledge. I was one of his last students, before he passed."

"Oh." For the first time beyond the knowledge of knowing Lady Anagharad was Aideen's grandmother, Lila wondered exactly how old this dragon was.

"With that in mind, we can—"

"I haven't transformed." Lila blurted it out—her voice small. But it still stopped Lady Anagharad in her tracks.

"What?" Her turquoise eyes flashed entirely gold.

"She was in the middle of it, Lady Grandmother—" Aideen stepped forward, putting herself between Lila and Lady Anagharad. "But we were at the school and anyone could have seen us—"

"Ah, I see." Lady Anagharad waved a dismissive, bangle-clad hand. "Then our first order of business should be the transformation."

She glanced at Kira and Aideen. "It wouldn't hurt the two of you either, to practice."

A darker expression passed over her face—envy, Lila realized. "None of you truly know how lucky you are. All of us have been cursed to remain in this form, a mere shadow of ourselves, a fraction of what we can be—and you are the only ones in the world with the ability to access all that potential."

Because the heir's line was the only one not to be cursed.

Still, the idea of practicing the transformation left Lila apprehensive. She remembered how Kira had screamed and writhed on the soccer field. A glance at Kira told her that the other girl was thinking of the same thing.

"It won't be like that." Aideen flashed an empathetic smile at the other princesses. "Lady Grandmother was able to help ease the transformation and guide me through it. Now I can slip in and out of it with no pain at all. It will be the same for the both of you, once we practice."

"And there's no one around, so we can take all the time we need." Lady Anagharad's features softened again. "Our realm was made of magic. Ananta the Pendragon was thought to be among the greatest of the Progenitors, as their leader. No dragon will take you seriously if you do not master our arts—no matter how competent a statesman you might be."

Lila bit her lip. In her eyes, that didn't sound like the recipe for a good leader—much less a great one.

But it wasn't like she really wanted to be Pendragon anyway, a little voice whispered at the back of her brain.

So what did it hurt? 

She'd do what she had to, in order to break the curse and see this done.

But Lila knew when all was said and done, Aideen would be the one sitting on that throne—or perhaps Kira. But certainly not her. 

"Alright then," she said, shoulders back. "Let's do it, then. Show me how to be a dragon."