Starlight (The Dragonian Series Book 5)

More pictures than anyone could ever imagine hung tall against the walls. There was even one of Arianna, or one of her ancestors who was her spitting image.

Talk about the devil and you step on her tail, I thought as she waltzed into the room. Interviews with some of the people who had returned from Etan followed during the following days. I smiled as Charles spoke to a reporter while helping out in David’s garden.

He spoke so easily about the times he’d seen my father, how Goran was trying to break his spirit, but that gleam in his eyes never faded.

It made me want to fight, even though I was shit scared.

Dean, Sammy and I were watching in our room when a knock sounded at the door and Sammy got up to open it. I would have given anything to have Becky and George come through.

Even better, Blake entered and his face lit up when he saw me.

I got up and jumped into his arms.

Our lips touched.

“When did you come back?”

“A few minutes ago,” he said with a lopsided smile.

He looked at the TV. “Why are you watching this?”

He let me go and walked to the coffee table, picked up the remote and switched it off.

“Seriously?” Sammy grunted.

“I’ve been listening to all sorts of plans about how we are going to pull this off over the past two weeks. I don’t want to listen to non-believers for the next two weeks. Thank you very much,” he teased.

Sammy rolled her eyes. “It’s still my room.”

He ignored her comment.

“So what is the plan, Blake?” I asked.

“Well, for now, I need to eat.”

I laughed.

“And then, I need you to come with me so we can convince more people to fight with us.”

I grunted. “I thought you said that you don’t care about the non-believers.”

“I don’t. They are not non-believers, they are just cut off from the press and media.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Not to Etan. I promise.” He kissed me softly on the lips. “But you really need them.”

“Not me, we. We really need them.”

“Okay, we really need them.”

I left with him to get something to eat. Many students greeted him as we walked over to the buffet area, and when we finally got something dished up, we went to sit at a table for two.

“So there is something I need to tell you,” I said.

“What is it?”

“I got the suit, and I asked to get it changed.” I put a heap of food into my mouth.

“You what?”

“The vision showed you wearing black. I changed it to white.”

“Elena,” he said and started to laugh. “That’s not how it works.”

“I don’t care.”

He touched my hand softly. “Thank you, it’s really sweet.”

“You are welcome.” I smiled and carried on eating.

“So where are George and Becky? I haven’t seen him at all.”

I shook my head.

“Elena?” he asked.

“I haven’t seen her since the interview. She said that she needed to go to her mom and that was it. She’s refused to speak to me, and she doesn’t even pick up when I call. Neither does Lucille.”

“I’ll speak to George tonight, find out if everything is okay.”

“Thank you.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Does Samantha know about the vision?”

“She found out when the suit arrived.”

“It explains the looks. I just wanted to know.”

“What looks?”

“The kind she gives when she has no idea what the future will hold.”

“Well she doesn’t; it’s not her ability.”

He smiled. “I just can’t deal with her worrying about this too.”

“She is your sister. I’m her best friend. It’s not easy, and she is going to worry whether you like it or not. It’s what people do when they love someone.”

“Okay, Freud, whatever you say.”

I laughed as I carried on eating.

“So what did you think about the suit?” Blake asked.

“It’s something else, I have to say.”

“Something else?” He frowned.

“Okay, it’s freakin’ brilliant. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“What can I say? I’m a master of many things.”

“That you are.” I laughed. “So where are we going?”

He pulled a face.

“Please tell me. I’m not good with surprises.”

“I’m scared you won’t come with if I tell you, and to be honest, two weeks away from you was really hard.”

“Stop whining. Where?”

“To Isaac’s family.”

I burst out laughing. “You are taking me to your band member’s house? That is so terrible,” I teased him.

“What can I say?”

“Should I take my axes?”

He laughed. “I would love to see the look on his face, but no, they are not a threat.”

“You said that they are secluded.”

“Not really secluded, more like… You’ll see when we get there.”

“Okay, whatever.”

WE FLEW TO the not secluded, yet secluded spot where the shifters lived, and I felt free riding on Blake’s back.

Riding him wasn’t as difficult as I had thought he would be. Sure he was big, but I found a way to feel secure on his back.

The evening was beautiful. The stars shone brightly and I couldn’t stop thinking that in less than two weeks, I might lose it all.

If anything happened to Blake, I would never be able to fly like this with another dragon.

He started to descend, and in the distance faint lights flickered on the horizon.

It was a village with gates and walls taller than Blake standing in his dragon form.

I slid off his wing as one of the guards came out of the gatehouse and Blake shifted back, pulling his robe over his body.

“Tim.” Blake greeted him.

“Blake,” Tim returned.

“This is Elena.”

Tim stared at me as if he’d never seen me before and quickly shook my hand. “So nice to finally meet you, princess.”

“Elena is fine, and it’s nice meeting you too.”

Blake chuckled and we followed Tim into the compound, or whatever this place was.

A van was waiting for us, and Tim spoke to one of the other guards who greeted Blake.

We climbed in and drove through another gate.

I gasped when I saw how plain everything was, as if we’d jumped back in time. There was no electricity, except the gate. Every house had a lantern that shone from the porch, and no sound came from inside the houses.

Blake smiled as he saw me staring at every wooden house we passed.

“It’s a bit of a fruity community, but I respect their beliefs.”

“So they really are cut off from the world?”

“People leave them alone here. Paegeia is scared to be sucked into their world.”

Into their world? “There is nothing wrong with living like this.”

A huge smile sprawled over Blake’s face.

“True, but you have to agree, this is a bit Amish-like, don’t you think?”

“There is nothing wrong with being Amish either,” I scolded him.

He laughed at me. “Of course there isn’t. It’s just boring.”

“How does Isaac handle this lifestyle?”

He didn’t say anything, just suppressed his laughter, which told me that the poor guy was bored to death.

“All the shape shifters live like this?”

“All the band members are part of this community, yes, and they have some freaky traditions when one comes to speak to them about something. Whatever they give you to drink, just swallow,” he spoke that last part so fast that I hoped I’d heard it right.

The truck stopped in front of a wooden house. A lantern hung in the doorway.

Blake took my hand and led me toward the house after he said goodbye to Tim.

The Jeep’s door closed as we walked to the light that shone from the lantern.

“They really don’t have electricity here?”

“They do, but they don’t believe in it. Some people just love nature, and like to stay in an area where they feel safe.”

I smiled and followed him up the steps.

Blake knocked on the door and waited. Nobody came to open it and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“Nobody home?” I asked.

“No, they are here,” he said softly then turned the knob. The door opened and it was pitch black on the other side of the door.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Calm down. It’s not what it looks like. Just stay here.”

“The hell I am,” I said and I smacked his back as we entered the house.

I could make out a staircase that went up to the upper level of the wooden house.

There was a long hallway and in the one rooms a faint light shone.

For some reason my heart was bouncing.

Why the heck am I so scared of the dark?

The floor creaked softly below my feet. Blake’s didn’t even make a peep. It was as if he was gliding on air.

A huge figure smacked him down and pinned him on the floor. I only saw a tail and a long beak, as it pushed him to the ground.

The tail pushed me too and I fell backward.

Immediately, I got back up. I should’ve brought my axes, but Blake had said it wasn’t dangerous.

Laughter erupted and Isaac walked out of the room where the faint light was shining.

What the hell is this?

“You got him, Missy. Change back before you give the princess of Paegeia a heart attack. The lantern Isaac held lit up the room slightly.

Missy, or whatever this thing was, turned her eagle head around. She had a lion’s body with two eagle claws at the front and lion paws in the back.

She climbed off Blake.

“Sorry about the scare,” she said, and I was completely taken aback.

Isaac gave Blake a hand and he helped him up.

She changed back into a girl with long golden hair, who ran stark naked into another room. I stared after her like an idiot, which made Blake and Isaac laugh.

“Missy is my younger sister,” Isaac said as he lured my attention back to him.

“What is she?”

“Never heard of a chimera before?”

I shook my head.

“Well, they are quite rare, died out some time in the sixteen hundreds if not earlier. My sister and father are some of the few chimeras we still have.”

“So I take it you are not a chimera?”

“Nope, I’m way cooler.”

Blake laughed.

“What, I am? I’m much faster than you.”

I gasped. “You are a dragon too?”

“He wishes,” Blake chirped and let out a squawking sound.

“Nope, I’m an eagle.” Isaac smiled. “Mom was the other eagle in the family, but she died a long time ago. Now it’s only me, Missy and my dad.”

I felt sorry for him. At least we had something in common about the mom-thing.

“Speaking of your dad, is he here?”

“He’s right through here. All of them are, so I hope you informed the princess about the rituals.”

“I did, don’t worry.”

I was starting to worry now about that last statement he’d spoken way too fast. He did say drink… Oh crap.

“I have no idea how tonight is going to go. My father still keeps me in the dark,” Isaac said in Latin. “But they were shocked when the news of the king came. Whatever the verdict, you know we are with you.”

“I know,” Blake smacked him on the back.

Blake smiled and walked backward a few paces before he turned forward and walked toward the room where the light shone.

It was a very old kitchen, and reminded me a lot about the kitchen in Isabel’s previous home. It had old furniture, and a huge black coal oven.

In the middle was an oak table with many men sitting around it.

Three more chairs were open and Blake took one of them.

He gestured for me to sit in the one next to him and Isaac took the one on his other side.

One of the men lit three lanterns. He wore clothes that made me think of an Indian chief.

“I heard she’s got you good this time.”

“I knew she was somewhere lurking in the dark,” Blake said.

Everyone laughed.

They were all huge, broad-shouldered men with long hair.

The guy turned around as the kitchen lit up with the other lanterns he’d just lit, and took the chair at the end.

I only now noticed the small shot glasses in front of all of us, and wished I could read Blake’s mind.

I was nervous as hell to know what these glasses contained.

The man at the end of the seat closed his eyes, and all of them started to pray.

I looked at Blake, who winked at me and lowered his head, but he didn’t close his eyes.

Then everyone picked up the shot glasses and drank.

I did the same, and saw Blake swallowing, which told me it was safe to drink it.

It was strong, but I was used to strong.

When it was over, Isaac got up and put a beer in front of us. Blake immediately took a sip of his. I did too.

The man on the end lit a pipe.

He was smoking something that looked like a peace pipe that Native Americans always smoked in the movies.

He smiled then introductions took place.

I tried to remember all of them, but my head started to spin a little.

“Yuri, I would like you to meet the princess of Paegeia,” Blake finally said, and I took a huge breath, hoping it would calm the turmoil in my head. It worked, and I shook his hand. “Just Elena.”

“Yuri,” he said with a broad grin, and took a few more drags from his pipe before he killed it and put it on the table.

“Please sit.”

I sat again and in seconds the vibe turned from friendly to not-so-friendly.

“When Isaac said you wanted to come and see us, we knew immediately why you wanted to speak to us. We got word a few hours earlier and were waiting for your request for an invitation.”

Request for an invitation?

“We are sorry to disappoint, Blake, but the shifters are not going to fight in this war.”

Blake was taken aback. He hadn’t expected it at all. To be honest, neither had I.

“What?” Isaac didn’t feel like his father did, or like any of these men.

“I’ve made up my mind.”

“All of you have decided this?” He looked at all of them. “Uncle Jedi, Pete?” Isaac asked. “Did you forget who gave us this land, who honored our beliefs when nobody else did?”

“It’s in the past, son. We fought our wars. We’ve fought plenty of wars. The king will understand.” Yuri’s expression was unreadable as he looked at Isaac.

“Father, we need to fight.”

I jumped slightly as Yuri’s fist connected with the table. “This isn’t our war, son. It’s a war between dragons and wyverns.”

“What about King Albert?”

“I knew the king well, and I can promise you one thing, he doesn’t want this. He doesn’t want to fight either. He would never have wanted those Creepers destroyed. His biggest concern was always for his people, and that is something I do share with the king, Isaac.”

He had known my father, and well too. My father had made me promise not to free Etan.

“They need our help,” Isaac said.

“I’m sorry Isaac. I can’t.”

“Well.” Isaac’s lips thinned out. “If you won’t, I will.”

“Isaac,” both Blake and I said at the same time.

“I forbid you.”

“I’m next in line for chief,” Isaac said. “I’m not going to be a coward.”

“We are not cowards,” One of the other men said, his lips thin. “Have you even considered if Blake and Elena, if all of them, don’t succeed? What will become of Paegeia? You don’t know of that time, Isaac, when the war broke out in Etan, when the Creepers consumed Etan. I lost many shifter friends and family that night. Goran is just too powerful, and rumor has it that he has conjured the Saadedine. Do you know what the Saadedine is like when he is evil?”

“I don’t care! We should fight!” Isaac yelled at whoever the guy was.

“You will die!” Yuri said. “You are the last of the Soverheight Eagles, Isaac.”

“Then they will sing songs about my bravery, Father, but I am no coward. I will fight. The band will fight too.” He looked at Blake. “We will never abandon you, Blake. Never.”

“Isaac, so help…”

“Stop!” I yelled, and all of them looked at me. “We are not going to win this war fighting each other. We can only win by forming an alliance.” I took a deep breath. “Isaac, I get why your father doesn’t want to fight, and he is right. He knows the king pretty well, and believe me there isn’t a person in this room that wants to free him more than I do, but it can’t come from forcing people to fight. I agree with your father.” My words flowed freely. They were straight from my heart. I loved this. “You are the last of your kind, and hopefully one day you can show me what is so magical about the Soverheight eagles. I, for one refuse to learn what they used to be through songs. Killing the Saadedine will be a miracle in itself, and your father is right. If by any chance we don’t make it, or kill it, someone strong needs to be on this side to fight for the others…”

“Elena, this is not what my father meant.”

“You don’t know what your father means. I won’t force anyone to fight for my cause.”

“Our cause,” Blake interrupted.

“Sorry.” I smiled. “Our cause.”

Blake frowned at me.

I looked at Yuri, and although I felt pretty disappointed that tonight was a huge failure, I smiled. “Thank you for your time.” I looked at all of them. “For all of your time. It was really nice meeting you.”

They were all quiet, just staring at me. No one said a word.

“You are a lot like your mother,” the guy opposite me said. “Just know it was extremely difficult to make this decision.”

“Not so difficult. I was once where you are, and then someone finally got through to me about why we had to do this, or die trying.”

“Elena,” Isaac said.

“Don’t, Isaac. It’s my decision, and it’s Blake’s too. You can fight another day.”

I looked at Blake, and he got up.

“Thank you for seeing us. It was a pleasure, like always. Sorry we can’t stay longer. Maybe next time.” He looked at all of them.

Yuri nodded, his smile broken.

We walked toward the door and down the hallway through which we’d come. Isaac didn’t say anything, just goodbye as he led us out.

I strode back to the truck that still waited for us outside and opened the door.

“Everything okay?” Tim sounded surprised, probably that it had happened so quickly.

“Yeah.” Blake sounded confused. “What the hell was that about?” He stared at me. “I could’ve changed his mind.”

I took a huge breath and smiled at him. “I know you could’ve, but –” I shook my head. “I might not be the right kind of princess, or excel at this job description, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from Queen Margerite, it is never force your people to do something they don’t want. It’s not monarchy code. The loyal will prove themselves loyal in the time of need. We just need to have faith.” I didn’t even sound like me. I didn’t feel like me either. I touched my face.

Blake stared at me then burst out laughing. “Please don’t tell me you swallowed that shot.”

“Of course I did?”

“Why do you think Isaac gave you the beer? You were supposed to spit it into the beer.”

“What?” I squeaked and started to laugh hysterically. “What is going on?” I sounded even more funny, as if I’d swallowed a canister of helium and laughed once more.

“Sorry about this, Tim. This one is about to go on the trip of a lifetime.

Everything swirled, and I laughed more. My head felt heavy, and I honestly have no idea how what followed happened.

For some bizarre reason I felt like a dragon again, soaring through the sky, feeling the wind beneath my wings. The world looked weird, like a huge puzzle, or perhaps I was just small, tiny like a fly.

It was freaky.

I couldn’t make out what the puzzle was about, but I swore it belonged to giants.

Nothing made sense. Giants were building a puzzle, and for some odd reason one of them sounded like Herbert.

Then everything twirled again, and when I opened my eyes I saw a unicorn. I closed them fast and opened them again. The unicorn spoke, but what it said didn’t make any sense. Oh man, this was definitely a trip I was never going to forget.

BLAKE

ELENA WAS ALL over the place. She wasn’t able to stay on my back, because she was laughing hysterically. I flew with her to the manor. My mom was the nearest Swallow Annex and would know what to do. I phoned Master Longwei and told him what had happened.

I had to carry her in my paw, and she kept laughing hysterically, screaming how good it felt to be a dragon again.

Giants and puzzles made me laugh. What the hell is she experiencing?

I felt bad because in some way this was all my fault.

I landed on my clearing and put her over my shoulder just as she started speaking about unicorns.

“Mom!” I yelled. “Come quick.”

She was still mumbling something about a horsey, and I don’t know what else when my mom ran into my room.

She looked concerned, and when she saw Elena laughing hysterically, her concern became a terrifying glare.

“Please don’t tell me that she drank –”

“She swallowed it by mistake,” I said and watched her lying on my bed. Her body was limp but words kept pouring out of her mouth. She was having a hefty conversation with someone or something. “Please tell me she will be okay?”

Elena looked at my mom and started to laugh hysterically calling her the frog queen.

We both started to laugh.

“Well,” Mom said looking at her. “At least it’s fairytale creatures and not demons. I’ll go make the antidote.”

“Yuri is just scared, Blake.”

“We are all scared, Mom.”

“I know, but he’s forgotten what bravery meant, just like your father had for many years.”

“I don’t know. I feel as if I betrayed Isaac tonight.”

“Ow, my head, what the hell happened?” Elena finally came into the kitchen.

I looked at my mother, and we both started to laugh. She got up from the table and touched Elena’s face. “I bet you have one hell of a headache.”

Elena sulked and nodded as my mother touched her temples softly and I could see Elena melting in her palms.

“That feels so good,” she croaked.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes. “How is that, better?”

“Much.” Elena smiled. “So glad to know I am never going to have to take another Advil again.”

My mother laughed as I smiled, sipping on my coffee. She came to sit at the table. “So what the hell happened last night? I don’t even remember getting here.”

“How was fairyland?”

“Urgh, what did I do?”

I laughed.

My mom hit me with her cloth. “It’s not nice to laugh, Blake.”

“Unicorns and frog queens.”

“Don’t,” Elena touched her face and rubbed it. “What was that? And you said whatever they offer me I should drink.”

“No, I said you shouldn’t drink. Tim was in the van last night. I couldn’t spell it out for you.”

“Oh, and you couldn’t tell me before we got there?”

I smiled. “Sorry, I forgot about that, to be honest. I had to make Tim forget that I told you that you should’ve spat it out. If he told Yuri that I don’t drink it anymore, he would never sit with me again.”

“Next time just make sure I know what it is you are saying, please. That was horrible in a very nice way.” She started to laugh.

I pulled her closer to me and kissed her on the head. “Sorry about that, I felt awful afterward and had to get you to my mom as soon as I could.”

ELENA

I still struggled to get over the fact that I had been drugged out of my mind last night. The things I’d experienced were out of this world. Blake wasn’t far from it when he said that I took a stroll through fairyland. I had seen all sorts of creatures that didn’t belong to this world, at least the parts I had seen.

Isabel put a plate of food in front of me, and although I didn’t felt like eating, I was starving.

They spoke about last night, how it had gone from introductions to horribly wrong in a few minutes.

“Missy’s gotten really big.”

“She has?” Isabel loved the change in topic. She smiled. “I remember when she first transformed. Yuri wanted it to be another Soverheight eagle and was so disappointed when he discovered another chimera.” She laughed. “He got horribly drunk and your father had to get him out of a tree he’d somehow gotten himself stuck in.”

We all laughed as she tried to explain how the chimera’s wing had gotten caught in a hook of two branches and he had hung like a rag doll, cussing the night away, or rather slurring the night away. I knew it hadn’t been that funny at that precise moment. It couldn’t have been fun, but the way Isabel laughed out of her stomach when she told us the story was addictive, and we couldn’t help but laugh with her.

Isabel spoke about all the shifters she used to know. They sounded like an amazing breed and I wondered how Nora had gotten mixed up with wyverns.

King Helmut had gotten his revenge, and it was a story I hoped I would never hear. It would haunt me forever.

“What time is your meeting with King Caleb?”

“We need to get ready soon,” Blake downed his entire cup of coffee. “I just hope that it would be enough for him to fight.”

“Of course it would be enough. King Caleb turned out to be many things, but he was always loyal to the king.” Isabel sounded so sure of herself, and of King Caleb.

“Yeah, I will believe that when I see it, Mother.”

“You’ll see. It’s going to be much more satisfying than last night.”

The two of them laughed again, and I shook my head with a hint of a smile.

“I’m never going to forget about this, am I?”

“Not for a long time,” Blake peeped.

I got up and went to my room to take a shower and get ready for a meeting I didn’t even know we had today.

When it was time to leave, I had to admit it was hard to say goodbye to Isabel.

I should have come to visit her more often.

Blake decided we should fly to Areeth together, to show the people that we were finally together, just like the statue inside the Museum of Etan showcased us. That we were strong and would do everything in our power to make sure the Saadedine would die.

“So, what if this doesn’t work?”

“It has to work. It just has to. We need Areeth.”

I didn’t question that, or doubt his ability to get Areeth to stand with our cause.

A crowd of protestors was in front of the castle where Blake was going to try talk some sense into King Caleb for the last time.

If this didn’t work, then nothing would.

The minute we landed, a woman spat in front of us.

“You don’t fool any of us,” she said in Latin. “We know the two of you will never stand together, will never be brave enough to lead this world to victory. Making up your father being alive is the lowest low you could ever go, Elena.”

“Just ignore her,” Blake said as I slid off his other wing away from the crowd.

The big doors of King Caleb’s castle opened. I’d never been inside his dwelling, and to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. A few torture rooms, gargoyles guarding the roof tops, but nothing like what was hiding behind those two gates was what I’d thought.

It was the most beautiful courtyard I’d ever seen, covered with many statues, at least ten standing in at least fifteen patches of gardens.

Lampposts stood tall in between these gardens, and intersections with cobblestone paths led all the way to a majestic castle, as big as the one in Tith.

Blake changed back into his human form then reached me in no time wearing his robe.

Two men stood guard in front of the castle’s doors and opened them for us to enter a lobby.

It was nothing fancy. The McKenzies had taken the fancy-shock away from me, but it sure was filled with light, tall windows and drapes hanging from the walls.

“I thought I saw you landing,” she said as she reached us and kissed Blake on both his cheeks.

“Elena, welcome to mi casa.”

I squinted and just laughed.

Blake frowned at me then looked at Arianna.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just never imagined those words leaving your mouth, ever.”

She stared at me and Blake laughed. “You have to forgive her. She drank some of the shifters’ juice last night so there is no filter for the next twelve hours.”

“What?” both of us asked. I was sure Arianna meant another type of what.

“You drank it?” she asked me.

“Yes, ’cause Plucky forgot to tell me to spit it out.”

Arianna laughed. “Was your trip at least a good one?”

“You could say that.”

Blake was too busy suppressing his laughter to say anything.

“Still welcome, and you don’t have to tell me what a bitch I was. I know I was mean to you.”

“Is that love talking?” Blake teased.

“Ha-ha, Heico sure puts some light into this place.”

“C’mon, I’m sure that’s not all he lights up.”

She smacked him with the back of her hand. “I’m still a princess. Not the princess, but a princess.” She winked at me.

“So how is home schooling?” he asked.

She looked back at him with a raised eyebrow-type of thing. “I’m suffocating inside these walls.”

“You are still a spoiled brat.”

She laughed and shook her head as she led us into a room where her father was having a conversation with a man with the Areeth emblem on his uniform.

They both looked up as we entered.

“That will be all, Rupert.” King Caleb waved his hand, and the man stood straight, rolled up something that both of them had been staring at, and strode out.

King Caleb walked out from behind his desk and came to stand still in front of it.

He then gracefully planted his butt on the table and started to chuckle.

I didn’t like it, and by the way Blake’s posture changed, neither did he.

“You really believe that Elena’s little stunt with Just Kev is going to change my mind?”

“It’s not a stunt. You can ask any of the people we brought out –” I started but Blake covered my mouth gently with his hand.

King Caleb just stared at me.

“Like Elena said, you can verify with the one hundred and fifty, or just watch their interviews. We weren’t lying.”

“I’ve seen all the footage, especially the one where they said they haven’t seen proof of life for the past six months.”

“Goran would never kill him, he is –”

“You don’t know Goran as well as I do. He would do anything to humiliate Albert.”

“Yes, humiliate. He won’t be able to do that if he’s dead. He’s still alive. I know it.”

“You know nothing. Never fought a war in your entire life.”

“Yes, I’m very lucky.” Blake sounded sarcastic.

“I won’t fight.” King Caleb had that final tone in his voice. “Neither will anyone that lives in Are –”

“Speak for yourself, Father,” Arianna interrupted him. “What will you do if they are telling the truth? If King Albert is still alive? Will you be able to bow in front of him, be able to look into his eyes and what? What reason will you give your best friend for not being a part of this?”

“Arianna, stay out of this, it’s a tactic.”

“I don’t believe that. Elena wouldn’t say something like that just to get people to fight with her. She might be a pain in my ass, and a thorn in your boot, as you’ve said so many times.”

Blake and I shifted our attention back to King Caleb as Arianna said those words. Blake’s hand pressed my mouth a little more, as I really wanted to tell him what I thought about him.

“But she is not capable of lying like that.” She walked slowly over to her father. “I’ve humored you for the past nine months. You took me out of the Academy, the only place that didn’t treat me like a princess. You took me away from my friends. You shoved so many negative things down my throat, and you never approve of my decisions. If you are not proud of me the way I am, well, I guess it’s time to stop trying to make you proud of me because you will never be. I will fight, with Heico, whether you like him or not. He is my choice, and you can go to hell for all I care. I’ve never been more disappointed in my father than I am today. I don’t know who you are anymore.”

She snarled at him, turned around and walked out of his office.

Blake was speechless, and so was I, to be honest. I had always thought she was a daddy’s girl, his princess, but I’d just gotten a rude awakening that their relationship was the exact opposite.

“Well, I guess that is it then.” Blake spoke first. “Thank you for seeing us, your Majesty.” The way he said your Majesty made it sound like it wasn’t a good word at all.

King Caleb didn’t say anything. It seemed he was still shocked by Arianna’s words.

We both turned around and left.

“I am a thorn in his boot!” I said the minute he lifted his hand from my mouth.

“Don’t let his words fester inside of you. My mother was so wrong about him. I was a fool to think she might be right. It’s very disappointing.”

“It is, but Arianna’s got one thing right.”

“And what is that?”

“I can’t wait to see the day he has to give my father an explanation.”