The enormous princess snatched Argus back around his abdomen between her hands like a disobedient kitten and tugged him off her stomach. This time, as the dragon took a deep breath to shroud the princess’s face in fire, Narina simply fastened her slender fingers around Argus’s long neck. While she didn’t clench hard enough to choke, there was more than enough pressure to restrict the flames; humiliated again, Argus swallowed the fire in defeat, and hung limp in the manner of a game hen from Narina’s gentle fist.
“I’m always so excited to see you, puppy. You have no idea,” Narina explained. While her fist remained around Argus’s neck, keeping him docile and unable to fight back, her opposite hand began to explore his back. She caressed the intricate plating of his scaled spines, and once again massaged the leather spread of his wings, free to play and touch without reprise now that the fire was bottled.
“I will… endure… and I will… have your kingdom,” Argus gagged.
“Don’t misunderstand me, being this big and tall can be very useful! I can blow out forest fires before they get anywhere near the villages. Invading armies are too frightened of being stepped on to ever cross our borders, so no one gets hurt. And I get to watch over the whole kingdom without ever leaving home!” Narina continued, ignoring the dragon’s prattling. She carried on with tracing her fingers over his monstrous form. “But it does get a little lonely sometimes. I can’t really give anyone a hug. One of the visiting princes insisted I try, and I almost lost him down the front of my dress! That was so embarrassing.”
Grunting in protest, Argus was helpless as Narina again drew him back to her body. This time, rather than bringing him to her chest for an earth-breaking cuddle session, she instead held the defeated dragon in front of her face.
“But with you, I don’t have to be afraid of playing too hard! Your little body is all protected, so I can do whatever I want with you. And it means so much to me that you keep coming back, just to see me, and let me have some fun!” Narina explained. She batted her deep blue eyes, stifled another giggle, then puckered her lips. “C’mon, puppy! Give your favorite princess a big kiss!”
Argus resumed his violent yet fruitless escape attempts. He dug his claws at Narina’s cinched fist around his neck, unable to break the skin, and was helpless as the giant princess’s pink-puffed lips closed in on him. The dragon opened his jaws in a last desperate bid to shoot flame, but only a paltry whiff of smoke came out in response as Narina happily pressed the dragon’s tiny head against her lips. She laid a long, smacking kiss, which extended to rapidfire smooches on both sides of his head. A dab of drool inadvertently dribbled out on the final climactic kiss, and rolled humiliatingly down Argus’s back as the cheerful girl at last released him from her loving torment and wiped her mouth.
“You’re a bumpy puppy, but it’s so much fun being able to hug and kiss a little creature that won’t pop when I try to show them how cute they are!” Narina gushed. She continued petting along the scaly beast’s back, even primping his wings with her fingernails and tickling his belly.
Far down below in the field which the fortress overlooked, Argus could see a crowd had gathered. Many were villagers, but in regimented columns beside were the royal army: men he could turn to ash by the dozen with a single breath. At the front of the crowd was a single figure positioned on a purple throne. Though they were too high up for the dragon to make out distinct details, he knew it was Narina’s father the king watching. The sight of all those people comfortably witnessing the battle as if it was a spectator sport, rather than prelude to massacre, was perhaps the most damning blow to Argus’s ego all day, if not in all twelve years of his rivalry with the princess. They were so confident in Narina’s ability to protect them, and so utterly unafraid of him, that the dragon at least ceased fighting back against the princess’s clutches.
“Aw, is somebody getting tuckered out now?” Narina asked sweetly when she felt the dragon’s twitching stop. “It’s okay, puppy. I’ll keep you nice and warm and comfy if you want to take a nap! But don’t sleep too long, because I want to play with you some more.” She scooped the little beast back into the cradle of her arms, and began to rock him gently like a sleeping baby. Though Argus had clearance to fly away, or at least attempt, he finally made no effort to resist: he was too overwhelmed by the degrading of his reputation.
Sighing, the dragon felt as if his dark powers had withered to nothing. Adding insult to injury, he could hear Narina humming a lullaby to him, as she continued stroking his wings and cupping his head in her massive hand.
“You’re just so precious!” Narina cooed. She tucked her finger under the crook of Argus’s jaw, tilting his elongated face up toward her gorgeous expression on high. The princess winked again. “You better hope I don’t grow too much more for next year, puppy, or I might just have to gobble you all up!”
As a demonstration, the princess licked her lips dramatically, clacked her teeth, then mimed a heavy swallow. In the middle, she descended into giggles all over again.
“Only kidding, puppy. I could never eat you. No, I want you to stay here with me, so we can play all the time! I should make big brush and comb you all the time. I know you don’t have any hair, but it might still feel good! And whenever you want to try some scary dragon wrestling again, you can fight as hard as you want, and you don’t have to worry about hurting me! After that, we can do lots of hugging and cuddling, and I’ll give you sweet kisses on top of your funny little head. What do you say, puppy? Will you be my pet?”
Argus, despondent, surrendered to the princess’s motherly crooning, and didn’t flinch when her index finger returned to fondling his scaly skull like her personal baby lizard.
There was always next year.