Her head felt like it had been hit with a ton of bricks. She groaned, and opened her eyes. Immediately, the room spun and she shut her eyes again quickly.

"Oooh, look, the princess is awake!" an excited voice said, and she could hear three pairs of footsteps scramble forward.

"Princess, you hit your head," another voice informed her, sounding very sorrowful.

"Yes, a very terrible hit that was," another one said sympathetically.

Hayun's mind felt fuzzy, trying to figure out what was going on. The last thing she remembered was... violet eyes staring at her... talons coming at her... and then loosing her footing... these three men must have rescued her, she concluded.

"T-thank you," she said, voice weak. She opened her eyes again, and propped herself up on her elbow. The room swam again and she closed her eyes, but she had seen three curious faces staring at her - three men with brightly coloured hair.

"Why is the princess not opening her eyes?" one voice wondered.

"Hehe your ugly face must scare her!"

"Hush, you two. Taehyung, go fetch Namjoon, tell him the princess is awake."

"Alright, Jimin!"

Footseps ran off, and Hayun slowly, carefully opened her eyes. The room didn't spin anymore - that was a relief. She jumped at the shock of having two faces too close to her own - studying her a bit too intensely for comfort.

"Hello, princess!" The man with orange hair smiled sweetly. "I'm Jimin!"

"And I'm Jungkook!" The other man smiled brightly, and Hayun couldn't help but notice they had some kind of ethereal look about them - they were incredibly beautiful, but there was something else... something she couldn't quite put her finger on...

"Thank you for saving me," she said. "I just... really, I'm extremely grateful..."

"Thank Namjoon!" Jungkook exclaimed. "He caught you and brought you here! Though he was not able to catch you in time before you hit your head."

How did this person, Namjoon, catch her? What happened to the dragon? Had the dragon simply abandoned her when she fell?

"What happened to-" she tried to ask, but was cut off by Taehyung's sudden appearance and loud voice. "See, she is awake! I told you it would be all right!"

A tall men was closely behind Taehyung, and for some reason he seemed relieved to see Hayun awake.

"Namjoon was very worried," Jungkook informed her. "He felt terrible that he could not catch you before you hit your head. So he brought you to us, because Jimin is a healing fae."

Hayun's mind was spinning; it was like her thoughts were unravelling before her too fast for her to catch up to them. She had been brought to a healing fae? The man - Jimin- was not human? What about the others then?

"Kookie, don't overwhelm her - although I have healed her she is still very weak," Jimin gently scolded.

The tall man - Namjoon - approached the bed and looked at her so sorrowfully that it made her feel guilty for falling. "I am so sorry, Princess, that I did not catch you in time." His voice was deeper than the other's, and he had an accent - which accent, she did not know.

Princess. They thought she was a princess... although anyone would be able to tell at a glance that she was not a princess, from her mannerism and the way she spoke, these four... creatures... could not. Perhaps it would be safer to not correct them, at least until she found out a bit more.

"No, I am so sorry for troubling you," Hayun said, sitting up slowly. "I am extremely grateful to you.." Her words trailed off, as she looked into Namjoon's eyes.

Namjoon's instense, violet eyes. The same eyes that the creature on the top of the mountain had.

This man... was the dragon? How come no one had ever said anything about the fact that dragons could apparently take the form of a human as well? There was no mistaking those eyes...

Hayun cowered like a beaten dog, the same fear and adrenaline settling over her like a suffocating blanket. Of course... Fate would not be so kind as to let her escape the dragon and instead be taken in by a bunch of fairies. The fact that she had hit her head and the monster had bothered to heal her was more terrifying than simply being eaten on the spot.

"Princess, what is wrong?" The four voices asked.

"Oh, she must be hungry!" Taehyung cried.

"Right, the princess needs food!" Jungkook agreed. Their voices were too loud, too bright.

Hayun couldn't stop shaking uncontrollably, and she gave a startled cry when she felt a pair of arms pick her up. The dragon's skin was so unnaturally warm she could feel it through the several layers of fabric.

"I have intruded enough for today. Jimin, thank you for healing the princess." Namjoon's deep voice spoke above Hayun's head, and she shook even harder.

The fae all spoke, their sentences running over each other, too fast and too excited, and then the dragon - because that's what the tall man was - started walking away from the fae and through a dark passage lit with a few flickering torches.

"We are going to my home," he said. "I have prepared a room for you, and put a lot of light in it - I was not sure if you would enjoy darkness."

Hayun finally could control her limbs, and she thrashed and pushed against him and struggled to get out of his grasp, panicking when she realized that he was just too strong to push away in her weak state - and anyway, even if she did manage to get away from his grasp, it was not like she would get very far. Why, oh why had she not been eaten on the spot? There was probably something much worse coming... A tear forced its way out of her eyes.

Hayun took a shaky breath, and when she realized it was hard to breathe - that there was this enormous lump in , the tears refused to be blinked back and all dignity was thrown out the window as she sobbed, panic and exhaustion and her aching head getting the best of her.

Too caught up in the racing, terrifying thoughts in her mind, Hayun didn't noticed when they entered a very brightly lit room. She was placed on the bed carefully. Soft fur greeted her palms.

"Why are you crying?" the dragon asked softly.

"P-please just kill me! Please, have mercy on me and kill me fast!"

"Why is death mercy?" The dragon sounded bewildered.

"Please kill me quickly - please please please, I-

"Why should I kill you quickly?"

"Because you're going to eat me, and I-"

"I will not eat you - I do not even wish to eat you." The dragon scoffed, as though she had said something ridiculous.

Hayun hiccuped. What kind of trick was this? Dragons were liars and tricksters, she heard. This dragon was playing some kind of cruel trick on her....

Or... or he had entirely different plans. Worse plans.

The dragon sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand. His violet eyes traced over her face, no doubt a terrible wreck due to the makeup that got messy from her tears. He doesn't exactly smile, but the corners of his lips turned up a slight bit. With something close to a mix of reverance and greed, he turned up her palms, and slowly removed the rings on her fingers. He took her other hand and did the same, placing the jewelry on the bed next to him.

Of course, the dragon would remove his jewels before eating her - or worse. Tears rolled down her face again, even though she tried to stop them - tried to keep what little dignity she had and not show how afraid she was.

The dragon removed the gold necklaces and bracelets as well, his eyes glimmering. He shifted, sitting back to remove her anklets, her foot propped up on his thigh. He turned his attention to the intricate patterns on her robes, and the precious stones adorning them. A hand ran across the hem of her robe, across the emeralds, pearls, and gold lace.

Heart beating so hard it hurt, Hayun was frozen as he reached forward and undid the front of her robe. She shut her eyes tightly, terrified out of her wits as she felt him slowly pull off her robes. "P-please just kill me," she begged, covering her now bare chest with her arms in a pathetic attempt to shield herself from him. "I-I don't... I can't-"

"I brought you warmer clothes," the dragon cut in. "See."

Hayun opened her eyes, vision blurred from tears. What was this creature's plan? He was holding a small pile of clothes; he tried to tug one of her hands away and she struggled to keep it in it's place, shielding her chest. He gave up and pulled a soft white shirt over her head, and then took her hand again and pulled it through one of the sleeves and did the same with the other one, as though she were a child.

"The pants are here, you can put them on when you feel ready to go outside. The fireplace is going strong and the fur blanket will be enough to keep you warm."

Hayun didn't answer, and pulled the soft fur blanket over herself, extremely suspicious.

He saw her expression. "I said I will not eat you. I do not even desire to do so." His violet eyes rested on her face, and softened just a bit. "I knew the princess would be beautiful, but I did not expect someone this beautiful."

Hayun's jaw fell open, staring at the dragon in utter disbelief - at the fact that no one in their right mind would call her beautiful, at the shyness in his voice. She would ignore him... she would not give him the satisfaction to think she was falling for whatever trick he was pulling.

"However, I would like to clean your face." He rose and went across the room, and returned with a towel in hand. The mattress dipped under his weight as he sat down again.

Namjoon held her face still and wipd her eyes, cheeks, and mouth - the towel was damp and warm. He frowned. "This paint is not coming off properly. Why have you painted your face?"

He frowned more as she continued to shake and avoid his gaze.

"I do not like that you are afraid."

"S-sorry," she stammered.

"Are you afraid of me?"

Her refusal to answer was taken as a confirmation. He sighed. "I will leave you alone then. Jimin will bring you food." The dragon got up, and frowned again. "I wish you were not afraid of me." He hesitated. "My name is Namjoon. If you need me, simply call my name."

It was a relief when he finally left, and she curled herself into a tiny ball, trying to gather her thoughts, and calm her heart still pumping with fear and suspicion.

Hayun jumped in shock when the door creaked open after a while, but no one came in.

"Who's there?" she calld out, trying not to let her voice shake. "Show yourself!"

"See, I told you this was a bad idea!" someone hissed. Someone sniffed an apology, and the three fae sheepishly came in.

"Sorry, Princess, we wanted to make sure you were awake, we did not mean to scare you," Jungkook said.

Taehyung held a wooden tray with a large cup on it, and a thick slice of bread with a generous coat of jam. "Here is your meal! Namjoon asked us to feed you because you are scared and crying because of him."

"I'm not-" she tried to defend herself, mortified that the dragon told them, but Jimin pushed the mug in her hands and told her to drink it.

"It's berries," he explained, when she looked at it suspiciously. "Berries, yak milk, and honey. It will get your strength back up."

"This doesn't have some kind of charm, does it?" she asked, still not trusting it, though her stomach begged for her to drink it and eat the bread.

"A charm?" Jungook sounded confused.

"What do you fear so much that you do not drink it?" Jimin asked.

Hayun didn't answer right away. "I.. I fear it will poison me. Or make me do things I do not want to do."

The three fae's mouths fell open in shock.

"We do not need to bewitch food! We can bewith you directly!" Jungkook was offended.

"I promise this is untouched by magic," Jimin said softly. "We had you in our home for many hours, and only used magic to heal you. Namjoon was right, you have a very doubting soul."

Hayun gulped. Jimin had a point. And anyway, she was entirely at their mercy; she really could not figure out a way of escape for now, especially since she was still so weak her limbs felt like lead and her head was still fuzzy.

So she drank the sweet mixture, and ate the bread - the lightest and fluffiest bread she had ever tasted, as the fae chatted fast and energetically, not seeming to mind that she could not keep up with them.

When she finished, Jimin took a small silver box from his pocket, and told her to lie down. "This is to help you sleep. Your body still needs a lot of healing - healing that my magic cannot do. This will help you sleep and heal."

Feeling sleepy from the food, and the fact that the adrenaline was wearing off, she barely struggled when Jimin took a pinch of whatever powder was in the box and sprinkled it in , wiping the excess on her lips. "Sleep, and heal, Princess," he said softly, and the room started to fade and eventually went black.


***

Everything was pitch black. Was she dead? Was this the afterlife? If she went forward, would she reach paradise, hell, or her next life? Hayun ran her hands along the soft, fuzzy surface - it was fur, she realized. This was not the afterlife... it was still the dragon's lair. She stood on unsteady feet, and slightly swayed on the spot. Her head no longer felt fuzzy and painful, but her entire body felt exhausted.

Arms held in front of her, she took a few steps forward. The smooth, stone surface was cool on her bare feet. She went forward until her hands hit a hard surface. Moving carefully, she followed the walls with her hands, trying to find an exit. After what seemed like a very long time, her hands found an even smoother surface, and a cool, brass-like handle that had to be a door handle. Holding her breath, she turned it, and to her relief the door opened and she stepped out into a passageway.

The ground and walls seemed rougher here, as though they had been carved from the belly of a deep cave. Fire from the very few torched flickered now and then, and Hayun looked first to the right, then to the left.

Which way was the exit? Although it was reckless, no one was around now and if she ran fast enough, she could find her way down a mountain and make up some kind of story in the first village she found. It would be fine, she told herself.

At first, she headed to the left, but after a few hesitant steps, she changed her mind and headed right. She again changed her mind and went back in the left direction. As she went forward, the torches were more rare, some stretches of the passageway nearly pitch black and Hayun walked again with her arms stretched forward to make sure she didn't bump into anything.

Suddenly, her hands ran into something warm and solid and softer than anything else they had run into this particular day. Hayun gulped, and stared into violet eyes glowing like hot coals on a dark winter's night. How had she not seen them before?

"Where are you going, Princess?" the dragon asked.

"I...I..."

"I told you to call me if you need anything. You should not go wandering about alone before I have had time to show you everything - you could easily get lost, or fall down. This mountain is steep and tricky. I do not want you to fall and get hurt again."

And so are you! she wanted to say. Trying to lull her into a false sense of safety by pretending to be nice... she would not fall for his trick! She flinched when she felt that unnataurally hot hand take hers firmly.

"Come, let us return to your room and I will bring you something to eat. I hunted a pig. Do you like pig meat?" he asked conversationally as they walked along the passage, faster than when she had come alone.

"Pork," Hayun whispered.

"What did you say?"

"It's not called pig meat, it's pork," she said, louder. She was probably being stupid over a ridiculously tiny detail that didn't even matter,but somehow it felt good.

"Why do you call it pork and not pig meat?"

"Thats just the way the language is," she said. It was incredible how this extremely small thing was slowly building some confidence in her.

"Human language is confusing," he mused. "How is your head? You slept for two days. Healing takes a lot of enegry, so you should eat a lot of... pork."

She had been passed out for two days? No wonder she felt so exhausted and weak... she was hungry. By then, they had reached the room she had been in. The dragon let go of her hand to take one of the flickering torches on the wall, and he stepped in the room and used it to light the fireplace, and the torches that had gone out. Slowly, the room lit up, and he went to put the torch back on the wall in the passageway.

The dragon frowned. "Why did you put paint on your face? I had to use oil to clean it off."

Hayun's hands flew to her face, as though checking it was still intact after this... this creature claimed to have cleaned it. There was not a scratch. "I, um... I didn't paint it..." she said. "Someone else did. And it's not called paint, it's makeup."

"Makeup? What is that?"

"It's these... um.. these paints and powders people put on their faces to look beautiful," she explained.

"Oh. We do not have that," the dragon said. "Why did they paint you? You are more beautiful without it."

Hayun glared at him darkly - this creature was blatantly flattering her, part of his trick into lulling her. Too bad for him she had no delusions about her appearance. Perhaps his flattery would have worked on someone else, but she knew she was not beautiful.

"I'm not," she said, anger bubbling to the surface. "You can keep your lies."

"Lies?"

"I know I am not beautiful so you can stop trying to flatter me with your lies!"

He frowned. "But you are beautiful. You are the most beautiful human I have ever seen."

"You must not have seen many humans then."

"I have!" he said indignantly. "More than... more than fifty!"

"That is nothing," she said dismissively, and was suddenly hit with the realization that she was wearing robes - not the shirt she had been dressed in before falling asleep. "W-why am I wearing different clothes?" she demanded.

"You were sweating from a high fever," the dragon explained. "So I changed you."

Hayun started to shake again, but this time it was more out of anger than out of fear. How dare this beast undress her while she was sleeping...

"You look displeased."

"Do not undress me ever again," she ordered, fists balled up in rage.

"But you were sweating..."

"I do not care if I was sweating or soaked in mud, do not ever undress me again!" Truth be told, she was shocked at how firm and loud her voice was; it was such a difference from the other time when she had been sobbing and cowering in fear.

The dragon looked genuinely bewildered. "But, Princess-"

"And I'm not a princess!" she cut in.

He looked even more confused now. "You are not a princess?"

"No, I'm not." Hayun regretted it already. She had blown her cover. God knows what will happen to her... but she refused to cower again and give this creature the satisfaction of knowning just how afraid she was. "Anyway, what do you even do to princesses?"

"What do I... do to them?" He seemed so lost it grated on her nerves - he was trying to play innocent.

"Why do you want a princess?" she demanded.

"Because that is what is sent," he said, as though he were stating a very obvious fact.

"Don't lie!"

"If you are not a princess, then who are you? Why are you here?"

"I am a peasant and I was taken from my home to be sent to you." Hayun grew even angrier at the memory. "Just kill me already and get it over with. That's why I was sent to you so stop with your pretending and let's end this."

"Why do you say you were sent to be killed? Would that not be a very cruel thing for people to do?"

Hayun laughed bitterly. "I do not think they sent me to be killed - I know they did. A princess's life is sacred, but not mine. I have no delusions, so just kill me."

The dragon's eyes darkened, and a storm of fury filled those violet eyes. "How dare they..."