Book 3 - Ravlyr

av watched her walk across the ballroom, no he corrected himself, she didn't walk, she floated across the floor. Her hair was so black it seemed to have blue highlights, she wore it in a braid wrapped around her head several times, giving him an idea at its length. she was a tall woman, he guessed she must be at least 5'9". She stood out among the days popular petite blondes, with their ringlets and elaborate hairdo's. Her skin was alabaster, like the fine porcelain of a china doll, her dress was black like her hair, tapered tightly down to her waist, then flaring out over her hips. He wondered if she was in mourning or just defying convention that called for young girls to be dressed in pastel colors these days. He wondered what color her eye's were, but had no doubt he would find out soon enough. She was accompanied by a rather short stout lady, wearing an outrageous turban with feathers in it. The older lady was chattering away, the vision in black smiling and nodding as the older woman stopped from time to time to speak with a friend or an acquaintance. Carington, one of Rav's friends had also noticed the vision in black and commented "they say she is destitute, her uncle having gambled away the family fortune, now the aunt is trying to marry her off to anything with a title and money." Medfort standing next to Carington laughed "a lot of good that will do a man, all that beauty and as cold and frigid as they come, they have started calling her the Snow Queen." Carington seeing the look on Rav's face chuckled, "planning on trying to thaw her out are you? Rav." Rav merely smiled and turned the conversation to another topic. Natalie knew what they were all whispering behind their fans about, once one entered London society it seemed as if every prying gossip had to say something rude and uncalled for, usually lies that only fueled the gossip and rumors. She stiffened her back and kept a smile on her face no matter how much she wanted to scream at them and run back home. The worst were the leering, speculating men, looking at her as if she were on a slave block. Which to her way of thinking was pretty appropriate, she was up for sale to the highest bidder, she knew she had no choice. Her uncle had drunk and gambled away everything, the only thing left was the property entailed to her younger brother, but they were heavily taxed and falling into ruin, once again thanks to her uncle. Laughing bitterly, she knew they called her the Snow Queen, she had even heard them taking bets about who would actually pay her families outrageous debts simply for the honor of having her, cold or not. Natalie was 19 but she felt all of 90. Natalie had seen the extremely tall handsome man talking with his friends watching her. As she had walked into the room, a shiver of awareness ran up her back and she had turned and seen the man looking at her, he had watched her as she crossed the room with her Aunt, no matter how many times she told herself not too, again and again she found herself glancing in his direction. Telling herself he was more then likely a poor younger son, and she couldn't even afford to give him a thought, she put him out of her mind. Over the next few weeks, Rav found out everything he could about the Lady Natalie, where she lived, her bank account, the properties held for her younger brother Henry, called Hank by his family. Henry was only 10 and wouldn't come into his majority for another 11 years. It was also said that the boy was a cripple and was rarely seen in public. He found out about the uncle who had drowned about 8 months ago, some say he was tossed into the river because he could no longer pay his gambling debts. Jacquilt watched Rav staring pensively out the window, and waited patiently, as usual Rav would say what was on his mind in his own way and in his own time. Rav had grown into a fine figure of a man, well over 6'4", muscular, he wore his black hair long and tied back, his dark green eyes compelling, he loved physical activity and was always riding, practicing his sword play with his father, walking for miles in the forest when he was with his cousins, Chadrey and Kimberly. The growing up years had not been easy for Rav, at times fighting the human in him and remaining the dragon for weeks at a time, then rebelling against the dragon and remaining human for weeks. The dragon Rav had grown and matured faster then the human Rav, causing emotional conflicts that at times was almost painful to watch. The teenage years were the hardest of all, as hormones between human and dragon became confused and caused Rav endless misery. During those years it was often that the forest folk would hear the roar of a dragon raging at the skies.