“Know this, above all, dragons are arrogant and hedonistic in their lusts for power and pleasure. They enthrall their prey into complacency with an enchantment that blinds all rational thought. Their cleverness can twist the truth to send even the strongest will into despair.” King Ellinduil in Tales of Eldelórne: Book One by Karleigh Bon.
When the dragon, turned edhel, is found half-drown on the beach in Eldelórne he had no other perspective but that of dragon. He is the crowned prince of a great kingdom. He is confused, injured and angry. I imagined his sanity careening over the brink, thinking his sister dead, and trying to sort out what had just happened to him.
When you realize he is so clever as to mimic the edhel, to gain their trust and slide carefully into their midst, the thought is repulsive. Everything we know about dragons and their manipulating mind abilities keeps us untrusting. It seems this one is biding his time until he can figure out how to get his dragon body back. A dragon would certainly destroy Eldelórne and all of Thendiel’s clan unless, he learns something.
I think the turning point in this story thread is when Dhruhindel discovers what had happened to him on that day when his mother accused him of being cursed, his body transformed and his brother tried to kill him. He learned this from his dying sister’s point of view. He then realizes there is nothing he can go back to with his brother, the usurper, acting as though he is in charge.
In the hours that follows we see this dragon prince drop his facade and his true heart surfaces. Naalin and Roevash in those moments recognize that and see Dhruhindel for what he truly is, a lost and vulnerable youth, the same as themselves. They choose to try and build trust on that, despite what Dhruhindel’s brother, Valgarois, did to them in book one.
This dragon seems to have a keen curiosity. When Dhru turned his mind to the exotic culture that he was thrown into he finds he is not alone.
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