“Miss White Dragon, want to guess what my ability is?” Nidhogg straddled Lilith, night pressing down on fresh snow, and pinned the Little White Dragon beneath her.

The Black Dragon girl caught Lilith’s wrists with ease, like plucking reeds. She hauled them over Lilith’s head and held them there.

The Little White Dragon tried to break Nidhogg’s hold. Disgust burned in her chest, but her body lagged like it caught a virus, strings cut on a puppet. She could only stare, blank and helpless, as Nidhogg arranged her.

Panic first, then breath. Lilith forced her scrambled mind to settle, embers under ash. She was a Hero who had survived death matches.

Since turning into a dragon, her guard had dulled, worn down by quiet days. Even so, she wouldn’t panic like a green girl just for being pinned.

Okay, fine. She was a green girl who’d stayed single for twenty years. Being controlled by a mature big sister wasn’t a problem blood and steel could solve.

Worse, Nidhogg carried a power Lilith couldn’t name. Her will felt like a leaf in a current, while Nidhogg was the river.

Fluster rose like boiling water. Lilith clung to one thought: figure out Nidhogg’s ability. Don’t look at the absurdity right in front of her.

If she remembered right, she’d seen a setup like this on some shady sites. The heroine got flashed in the eyes and became a wind-up doll. Do whatever you’re told. Hypnosis?

Images rushed in, noisy as sparrows. Her cheeks popped into tomato red, and words jammed in her throat.

“What did you just think of?” Nidhogg’s eyes went round with curiosity. She watched Lilith’s face steam red, then poked her like testing mochi. “Black Dragon magic is noble and pure, you lewd White Dragon.”

“Lewd? What are you even saying? I—I wouldn’t think that stuff. No way, no way. You’re joking! Right, a joke. I thought nothing. I know Black Dragons are elegant. So elegant—haa—elegant…” Lilith’s eyes went swirly. The Little White Dragon reddened to the ears and made strangled noises on the bed. If her hands were free, she’d dive under the quilt like an ostrich.

“As expected. So you do have that attribute.” Nidhogg slid off her, dragged a chair over, and sat. “Please, Miss Lilith, keep that pose. Don’t move.”

“Ugh! What did you do to me? Why can’t I move at all, nia!” Lilith thrashed at once, but her body gave her nothing. The soft quilt kissed her skin, all sensation and no control.

She squealed, small and sharp, and it snagged Nidhogg’s attention.

“Nia? So you make that cute sound when you panic?” Interest lit Nidhogg’s gaze, a crescent smile on her lips. “How amusing. Then, Miss Lilith, sit.”

“Eh?” Lilith sat up against her will. The small White Dragon perched obediently on the soft mattress. She spread her legs to either side without thinking, hands folded before her. Her slim tail swayed behind her, like a curious kitten looking up at its owner.

“Tsk. Not a shred of draconic bearing. Because you were human before?” Nidhogg’s comment drew a puzzled head tilt from Lilith. The girl had no idea how lethal her look was; she had just sold a bit of cute without trying.

“Mm… those horns don’t suit you either. Honestly, there’s nothing draconic on you. Except… here.”

Nidhogg tapped just below Lilith’s navel. The touch rippled through her soft belly, and Lilith shivered. She shot the Black Dragon a wounded glare, yet her mind kept chewing on the words.

What part of her was dragon-like? She’d pointed at her tummy—was she mocking her appetite?

“I didn’t eat that much. What’s that got to do with gluttony?” Lilith puffed up. In both lives she hadn’t been a foodie. Even as a dragon, she kept to human portions. As a Hero she’d often gone hungry. After changing, she almost never ate her fill. Why say she ate too much?

So mean. Deploy the death glare!

(｡ì _ í｡)

“Idiot. Truly a stupid, lewd White Dragon.” Nidhogg poked her belly harder. Tingles rose from deep inside like ants of lightning, and Lilith trembled.

She wanted to curl up like a pill bug, but Nidhogg’s hold forbade it. She could only sit and endure the raid.

“Well, at least that reaction hints at a dragon. Not that it’s worth bragging about.”

“Little White Dragon, do you know why the previous White Dragon left the flock?” Nidhogg withdrew her finger, sat by the bed, and asked.

“Why?” Lilith blinked, puzzled. Tartarus had told her some White Dragon stories, but not why the last one left.

“Orella left very suddenly. Everyone wondered why such a gifted White Dragon would leave the Dragon Territory and travel alone.”

“I was one of the few who knew the truth. Orella was a shut-in among shut-ins. Only one thing could force her to leave.”

The Black Dragon rose, leaned in until their faces were a finger-width apart, and watched Lilith like a hawk over snow.

“She was dodging courtship from more than ten dragons in the clan. To keep from being dragged home to make babies, she fled the Territory first.”

“Huh?!” Lilith yelped. She’d wondered why the other White Dragons weren’t here, but this reason was absurd. Wait—didn’t that mean she was in danger?

“Collar.”

Nidhogg’s toneless word brushed her ear like a cold breeze. A delicate silver-white collar bloomed on Lilith’s neck. A jet-black gem hung by her pale collarbone, a drop of night on winter skin.

“Don’t worry. Before they can fight over you, I’ll leave my mark, cute Little White Dragon.”

Lilith stared at the Black Dragon in horror. No, wait, big sis, weren’t you the cool, aloof type? Why the sudden switch to the possessive route? And what’s with the collar?

“Don’t be afraid, Little White Dragon. Give me a call.” Nidhogg spoke as calmly as a greeting.

Lilith’s hands flew to her throat, trying to press the sound back into her flat chest. No matter how she fought, her voice obeyed the command.

“Meow.”