The Last Dragon King: Kings of Avalier

I lay on the small bedroll inside the cell beneath the castle. Gone were the pretty jade palace walls with gold inlay. Now I was surrounded by gray, flat, damp, rock. No more chocolate cake and fancy balls, I’d spent that last twenty-four hours relieving myself into a bedpan while wearing this ridiculous dress, which was now ruined. The blue dragon wings that had sprung from my back had sucked back in by the time the guards brought me downstairs. Regina had visited me briefly to tell me that the king was investigating me for treason.

She’d looked regretful about having to even say those words, and then she’d left. The first twelve hours, I’d cried, full of fear. Then my tears dried and made way for anger. Now I was ready to kill someone.

How. Dare. He?

I simply make an offhanded comment about him marrying too soon, then I sprout wings and suddenly I’m treasonous?

If what my mother said was true, that my magic was a threat to him, then it wasn’t my fault and there was nothing I could do. I would no longer cower and snivel before him. When he marched me into the city square for sentencing, I would not shed a tear nor bow my head.

I would not apologize for being born.

The sound of footsteps down the hall drew my attention. Another food tray delivery? Or maybe Regina here to tell me my fate?

I stood, brushing off my dusty gown, and tipped my chin up with pride.

When the king himself came into view in front of my bars, I couldn’t help the small growl that ripped from my throat.

He swallowed hard, assessing me, his eyes raking over my hair and then falling to my disheveled dress and bare feet.

“I’d like to question you. If you tell me the truth and do not lie, not even once, I will let you live.”

“Let me live?” I shouted like a feral catin. “What could I possibly have done to deserve death?”

His eyes narrowed and he assessed me more closely. Looking to his right, at someone I could not see, he nodded. “Open the doors.”

My heart hammered in my chest as Regina stepped into view and unlocked the door.

“Clean up and then meet me in my office. Remember, I require the truth from you, Arwen,” he declared, and then left, his boots clacking down the hallway as he went.

Regina was then followed by two guards, and behind them my personal maid, Narine.

I couldn’t help the tears that lined my eyes when I saw her. She rushed forward to hug me.

“I’m so sorry I got the dress dirty,” I whispered in her ear.

She pulled back and looked at me in shock. “I don’t care about the dress. Are you okay?”

“Come on, you can chat while she bathes,” Regina said, urging us along and casting a glance in the direction of the guards.

I nodded, and followed Narine through a network of stairs and corridors until we were back in my room, with the two guards posted outside. Regina stayed in the living room, and Narine and I slipped into the washroom.

The moment we were alone, I felt a cascade of emotions overwhelm me. “Is Kendal okay?”

Narine nodded. “They sent her and most of the other girls back home today with a bag of coin and extra food. She’s on a carriage to Cinder Village.”

That was a relief. “Does she know about what happened to me?”

Narine shook her head. “I was told to tell everyone you were under the weather. Another fever.”

That was good. I didn’t want her telling my mother. While Narine ran my bathwater, we both worked to undo the beautiful lattice hair design she’d done, setting the jewels on the counter to be returned to the palace jeweler.

She was silent an entire minute before finally asking, “My lady… what happened? Treason?”

Right. They hadn’t told her. Of course not.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I made a comment about marrying too soon after his wife’s death and then I took some magical test where blue dragon wings popped from my back and he imprisoned me.”

Her entire form went stock still. “You transformed?”

“I guess. Not really—just wings and not on purpose!” I promised.

She hadn’t moved. Her hands were frozen over my hair and she just looked at me with an expression of complete wonderment. “Only full-blooded royals transform.”

Full-blooded royals.

My mother had said that the woman who gave birth to me was a highborn, but she wasn’t royal, right? That would make her a queen, and at the time of my birth the only queen alive was King Valdren’s mother, who surely did not run off and have a secret child and die in childbirth.

Oh Hades, if I was King Valdren’s long-lost sister, I would vomit right now.

Narine seemed to read my thoughts by the confused look on my face. She coaxed me over to the bath and then helped me undress.

“You’ve heard of the Lost Royal, right?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Lost Royal?

I shook my head, unsure if the sudden goosebumps on my arms were from her story or my nakedness. I stepped into the warm bath, unable to truly enjoy it with my life on the line.

Narine started to wash my hair.

“A few centuries ago, there were two royal dragon families. Embergate was also broken up into two territories, with each royal family encompassing one part of it. Grim Hollow and Jade City used to be home of the Dark Night Dragon clan, which is what King Valdren is. And Gypsy Rock and Cinder Mountain were the Eclipse Dragon clan.”

Eclipse Dragon clan?

Why had I never heard this story? Probably because it was something from some fancy history book that we didn’t get in Cinder Village. But still, you would think it would be told verbally. “I’ve never heard this,” I informed her.

She nodded. “It’s forbidden to speak about. My mother told me when I was a young child.”

Forbidden to speak of a story? That didn’t sound right.

“What happened to the other royal family?” I really, really, didn’t want to know the answer to that question, but I asked it anyway.

She looked at the door, the one that Regina sat on the other side of. “The queen of the Eclipse Dragons went to war with the Dark Night Dragon clan and slaughtered nearly all of them. For what reason, I don’t know.”

I could physically feel the blood draining from my face. “Eclipse Dragon queen?”

She nodded. “The queen of Cinder Mountain. She had a special type of magic. They called her the king killer. She could steal other dragon-folks’ magic and merge it with hers, making her all-powerful.”

My heart must have stopped, because I didn’t feel it anymore. I just felt… numb… and in shock. So very much in shock that I forgot to breathe for a moment.

No. Make it not true. Make it a lie, I prayed.

Narine went on, speaking barely above a whisper. “When the Eclipse Dragon queen tried to kill the Dark Night Dragon king, who at the time was King Valdren’s great-great grandfather, she lost. But it’s said her daughter went into hiding in the cliffs above Gypsy Rock with her husband and that the royal line lived on.”

My heart hammered in my chest. “What are you saying?”

Narine chewed her bottom lip and faced me. “I’m saying, my lady, that I think you are the lost queen of the Eclipse Dragon clan.”

My heart fell into my stomach and I couldn’t speak. How? It wasn’t possible. A queen? That was a joke.

I shook my head and laughed nervously. “A good children’s story surely,” I murmured. “Besides, I only transformed my wings.”

Her eyes cast downward to the floor. “This time,” she mumbled.

What did that mean? That next time I would fully transform? I couldn’t handle this anymore. In an effort to escape the conversation, I slid down and dunked my soapy head underwater.

The memory of the blue wings hanging off my back came to my mind and I considered Narine’s story. It sort of lined up with my mother’s. That the woman who gave birth to me had fled a battle, covered in blood, and said that her entire family had been killed, right? Maybe eighteen winters ago, when I was born, the dragon king at the time had found her in hiding and killed them all. I tried to remember every word my mother had said, but I’d been under stress and the exact wording of the story failed me.

Two things I did remember…

The woman who birthed me had said her family was killed because of a magic they carried.

And she’d said I would be killed if that magic were revealed in me.

I would need air soon, but I didn’t want to leave the water and the safety of its embrace. I lingered another moment, then I broke the top of the water and gasped, relieved to see that Narine had left me to myself. Clean clothes lay folded on the chair in front of the window.

This might be the last bath I ever took. King Valdren did me a small kindness in letting me clean up before my interrogation, but I knew what I was about to walk into. The king could smell a lie, and so this interrogation was going to be a truth bomb of epic proportions that would no doubt get me killed.

I only had one thing he desired, and that was my womb, so I needed to hope like Hades that he really wanted an heir that badly, and promote my child-rearing powers lest my life end today.

It was time to take my mother’s advice and make him fall in love with me. Whether it was possible or not.

WHEN I STEPPED out of the washroom, Narine looked right at my unbuttoned tunic and a slight smirk graced her lips. I’d left it open just enough to give a hint of my cleavage. I also kept my hair down in loose waves, as I had heard men at the tavern say they liked that once. I wasn’t proud of what I was doing, but I was desperate enough to do it. I needed the king to see me as more than a threat, which was all I was to him now.

A king killer.

Especially after hearing Narine’s story. If that was true, and my great-great grandmother nearly killed off all of his clan, then I was in grave danger.

I waved goodbye to Narine and she gave me an anxious smile of encouragement. Regina stood, her face devoid of all emotion as she gestured for me to walk with her. I needed allies if I was going to save my life, and Regina had been kind to me before.

“Treason for having wings? How is that possible? I didn’t even know I could do that until he put me through that test,” I told her as we left my rooms.

She kept her head forward and said nothing.

“Did he tell you what I did at Gypsy Rock? That I rode on his back and killed a warrior from Nightfall? I protected him!” I yelled.

She stopped, turning to face me, and my heart hammered in my throat.

“I’ve fought beside the king in many battles. He is a just man who does not make irrational decisions. I trust that he has his reasons for your… treatment.” She then resumed walking.

Okay, that wasn’t exactly a declaration of becoming my ally, but I would take it.

It was a long walk to the torture room or whatever place they were taking me. We passed a library, kitchens, two training rooms, and finally made it to a set of double doors.

I released a shaky breath as Regina reached out and knocked.

I turned to her, suddenly desperate. “If he kills me, tell my mother and Adaline that I love them.”

She looked stricken, as if the idea that the king would kill me was preposterous. But I was just imprisoned for the last twenty-four hours and now I was being questioned for treason, so she nodded, and then the door opened.

The king stood there in full battle armor, his jaw clenched. “Thank you, Regina. You may wait out here.”

She nodded. “Yes, my lord.”

He opened the door wide. Behind him, I saw a single chair sitting in the middle of the room. A small whimper escaped me and I swallowed it down, stepping inside. The door closed behind me and I peered around wildly. There were no windows, only four sconces on the walls that burned with orange dragon fire.

“Sit,” he commanded, and I swallowed hard, taking my seat.

I looked up to face him and he walked towards me, his face bathed in the orange glow of the flames. He didn’t look as mad as I expected, more curious.

When his eyes fell to my open tunic, I couldn’t help but feel a small internal victory. Stepping right up to me, he reached out and I stilled. Grasping my tunic, he began to button it up.

“Nice try, but it will take more than a beautiful woman to distract me,” he said, and then dropped the shirt back down to my chest.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. He knew what my plan was?

Did he just call me beautiful?

“Let’s get this over with. I’ve done nothing wrong.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. I would never forget that he’d made me use a bed pan over the last twenty-four hours like a sick patient!

He stood before me, towering over me.

“I’ll determine that.” His eyes flashed yellow. “Now, tell me everything you know about your power, and if you do not lie I may be able to repair my broken trust with you.”

Broken trust? I barely knew him.

I scowled at him. “Why don’t you tell me all of your hidden secrets as well, so that you can earn my trust.”

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t need your trust.”

I tipped my head back and laughed. “You do if you want to put a child in my belly.” I grabbed my womb and his eyes flared like the sun, a slight pink going to his cheeks.

He cleared his throat and a small part of me felt triumph for making him blush.

“How long have you known you can transform into a dragon?” he asked, ignoring everything I’d said.

I rolled my eyes. “Last night was the first time.”

His eyes narrowed as if trying to sense a lie.

“Truth,” I said smugly.

That made his nostrils flare.

“Are you an assassin here to kill me?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but laugh. The look on his face wiped the smile from mine.

“No,” I told him honestly.

He frowned, as if frustrated I was telling the truth.

“Is the woman who raised you your real mother?” he suddenly said, and my heart stopped beating for a moment.

He’d gone right for the kill and my lips turned into a frown. My real mother. What the Hades did that mean? I knew what he meant, but to me she was my real mother. I knew I couldn’t lie to him anymore or he would kill me, but out of respect for my mother I would speak my truth.

“Yes, she will always be my real mother, but… she did not give birth to me.” I tipped my chin high, cursing the stupid tear that rolled down my cheek.

He looked conflicted, no doubt weighing my answer. “How long have you known?”

“She just told me the day you came to take Kendal and I away,” I said flatly.

His face softened with each truth I divulged and I realized then that I did need to earn his trust. What life would I have if my own king didn’t trust me?

“Did she tell you what you are?” he asked, and there was a hint of compassion in his voice.

What did that mean?

“What am I?” I asked, suddenly scared of what that answer would be.

His stern look was back. “What did your mother tell you on the day that I came to get you?”

I chewed the inside of my lip. My mother said not to trust him, but my cover was blown so now it was Plan B: make him fall in love with me, which was going amazingly.

Not.

I was on to Plan C, which was: Don’t get killed.

I released the air I was holding. “First, tell me something to help me trust you. I can’t smell a lie, but I do wonder why you are so desperate for an heir when you just barely lost your beloved wife.”

His face took on a pained expression and he rubbed the side of his jaw, assessing me. “My magic is linked to the dragon-folk people,” he said, and I nodded. This was well known. “With each passing day that I do not produce an heir to strengthen and double the magic, our people get weaker, and I get weaker.”

I gasped.

“Pretty soon, I won’t be able to transform at all, and the people connected to me will lose their magic.”

His truth hit me like a ton of bricks. Dragon-folk without their magic died. There was a well-known story about one dragon-folk woman who had her magic sucked away by the fae king, and instead of just becoming human, she shriveled into a husk of death. We were nothing without our magic… it kept our entire human form alive. Even as a hybrid one could not just live with their human half.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say.

“Your turn.” He assessed me with those cool green eyes and I nodded. He’d shared something with me, something very personal, now it was my turn.

“The woman who gave birth to me was passing through town. My mother said she arrived heavily pregnant, a highborn, covered in blood, and spoke of a battle where her entire family was slaughtered for a magic they held.”

He frowned. “Eighteen winters ago? There were no Eclipse Dragons left then, unless…” Something dawned on his face and he fell against the wall, his back hitting it hard. “My grandfather died eighteen winters ago. Fighting a threat to the crown, my father said.”

A silence descended over the both of us. Was he saying that his grandfather killed my birth mother’s entire family and made her go into early labor with me?

So Narine’s story was true? The Eclipse Dragons? The Lost Royal?

I cleared my throat. “The woman told my mother that her family was murdered for the magic they held, and that if anyone ever detected this magic in her child… in me, that I would be killed. Then she died of blood loss.”

He inhaled my truth, then let out a long suffering sigh, watching me closely.

“She was right. I should kill you.”

I wasn’t prepared for his words, for his truth, and it caused a ripple of shock to run up my body.

I gasped. “Why? I’ve done nothing wrong to you!” My gaze flicked to the exit as I dreamed of escaping, but there was no way I could get past him, and if I did, Regina would be waiting for me just outside the door.

He shook his head. “You truly don’t know what you are? What your magic can do to me? To any dragon-folk?”

“Obviously not! I just found out I had wings yesterday. And then I was thrown in jail! I’ve had no time to run to the library and research!”

He shot me a glare that warned me that my attitude was not welcome.

This man is infuriating!

He stepped closer and then leaned forward, placing his hands on either side of my chair so that his face was inches from mine. Being this close to him robbed me of oxygen and filled my body with a pulsing heat I wasn’t prepared for. My mind went fuzzy, and as I stared into his ember gaze I wondered if he was going to kiss me.

“Arwen Novakson, you are the lost queen of the Eclipse Dragon clan, and your magic is so powerful that it can devour mine, killing me and all of the dragon-folk people that are connected to me. You, Arwen, are the king killer.”

I went stock still, not even daring to breathe. Pain, shame and fear rushed through my system in equal measure. Unshed tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision. Narine was right.

“No,” I finally managed, and he pushed off the chair and started to pace the room.

“Yes. Your kin made an agreement with the Nightfall queen centuries ago to kill my father and drain our people of magic, fulfilling the Nightfall queen’s dream of a human utopia devoid of magic.”

“No,” I argued, though I didn’t even know anything about my kin to know if it was true or not.

“Yes,” he growled, black curls of smoke coming out his nose. “We have detailed records. Spies that my great-great grandfather sent who witnessed meetings between the Nightfall queen and the Eclipse Dragon queen.”

My heart hammered in my chest at his words. “So your great-great grandfather killed the Eclipse clan queen?”

“Kill or be killed.” He crossed his arms and stared me down.

“But the people tied to her…”

“Eclipse Dragon magic is not tied to a people like mine is. Their queens do not need heirs for power. They are unique in that way.” He sounded absolutely pissed off about that.

I frowned. “Then where are the Eclipse Dragon folk today, the ones with blue magic like me? If not tied to her, they wouldn’t have died with her.”

He sighed. “The Eclipse clan queen killed nearly all of them. She wanted her family to be the last dragons left in the realm. She absorbed their power, making herself virtually immortal.”

Immortal.

A person with at least a quarter dragon-folk magic lived about a hundred years, a full-blooded royal about a hundred and fifty. If she consumed magic from hundreds of dragon-folk… I shook my head, trying to process it all.

“But the Eclipse clan people… she killed them? Wouldn’t it be in our history books?”

A realization hit me.

“The Plague… it wasn’t a plague, was it?” I thought of the stories of people shriveling up and dying, being found in their tents dry as a husk. It was about two centuries ago… probably right when all of this happened.

He shook his head. “It wasn’t a plague. That was a cover story to keep the people from panicking. The king killer can take magic from any dragon-folk, absorbing it and leaving them to ashes, making herself more powerful.”

I jumped to my feet, startling him.

“All of those children,” I sobbed, suddenly feeling sick, remembering the stories of the little children who died in the “plague.”

“The queen of the Eclipse Dragons killed them. They all died.” His tone was resolute.

An immense sadness smacked into me, taking my breath away and causing my knees to go weak. I fell to the ground as a sob ripped from my throat.

I couldn’t stop thinking of the little children that the plague took… but it wasn’t a plague. It was my great-great grandmother. I didn’t have anything to do with that genocide, and yet it stained my soul, seeped into the very core of my being, and I accepted that I had a role in it even if just by birthright.

Anger rushed through my veins. I had more questions than answers, and everyone in my line was dead, so I would never get those answers. I was so mad my skin felt hot.

“Your nose is smoking,” he told me.

I looked down. A small tendril of white smoke drifted to the ceiling. A shriek escaped my throat and I stumbled backwards, hoping to get away from it.

“Calm down.” The king held out his hands. “Your dragon fire might come out.”

I pinned him with a glare. “I can’t help it.”

He ignored me. “Take a deep breath and calm down.”

Stupid male! I hated nothing more than being told to calm down when I was mad. The smoke was thicker now and I was fully freaking out.

Would I really breathe fire? If I did, it might burn the king, and then he would really have reason to kill me.

I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly; the char of smoke splashed across my tongue for a second and then I breathed out.

My eyes opened and he was inches from my face.

“I’m calm. No need to kill me,” I said with as much sarcasm as I could manage.

“I’ll decide that.” His tone held more seriousness than I would have liked.

I could feel the blood flee from my face. “My king, I would never drain your power and kill your people.”

There was surprise in his eyes. Maybe it was because I’d called him my king, or maybe it was because he’d heard the truth in my statement.

“If I kill you, I kill my very own sister. Use your head, you idiot!” I snapped, irritated with him.

“I am an idiot. I’m an idiot for liking you!” he yelled back at me, and then looked up at me with a vulnerability I wasn’t prepared for.

His jaw clamped down, but I didn’t regret calling him an idiot. I’d been truthful with him this whole time and he knew it. He stepped closer to me, not backing away, and my body wanted to inch closer to his. Even now, knowing that he decided my fate, I wanted to feel his arms around me.

“I liked you back, dammit!” I screamed, and then before I knew what was happening I rushed forward and pressed my lips to his mouth.

His inhale of surprise sucked my breath into his mouth and made me second-guess what the Hades I was doing. Before I could retreat and chide myself for making a move on him, his hands came around my waist and crushed me flat against his body. I swiped my tongue across his and an angry moan ripped from his throat as he consumed me. Being this close to him, pressed against him, actually made something deep inside of me ache. I ached to be even closer, I ached to be one with him. His tongue swiped across mine again and a shock of energy passed between us. Much like that day in the kissing tent.

It was him.

I pulled backwards in surprise, my hands flung to my mouth.

The king’s chest heaved as he stared at me with glowing yellow eyes as he no doubt wrestled with my fate. Did I imagine the small shock just now? Did I imagine that this kiss was so similar to the one in the kissing tent? It couldn’t have been him? He’d been outside the walls waiting, right? My mind spun with this new revelation.

After what seemed like forever he sighed, looking tired. “I’ve found you innocent of treason and will allow you to roam the castle freely, but do not leave Jade City until I can find out what I’m going to do with you. Okay?”

I sagged in relief at the announcement that my impending death had been canceled. I hoped he didn’t think that my kissing him was to try to change that, but after I had walked in here with an unbuttoned tunic, I feared that was exactly what he did think. I guessed we were just going to ignore the fact that the kiss had ever happened.

Fine by me. I was way too freaked out about it being just like the kissing tent kiss to even fathom it.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘What you’re going to do with me?’” He wasn’t still thinking of killing me, was he?

He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Good day, Arwen.” He dismissed me.

I huffed, but before I could retort, Regina opened the door. “Let me escort you to your room, my lady.”

Did he call her in?

As I passed him, I looked over at him, hoping to convey how I was feeling with a look. But I wasn’t sure how I was feeling. I wanted to kiss him again. But then also smack him for being an idiot and jailing me and interrogating me. Whatever he saw on my face couldn’t have been good, because his jaw clenched.

Oops.

Regina and I walked in silence back to the room, and when I reached the door she faced me. “I told you he was a just king.”

She’d been right. I had expected him to half torture and then kill me, and all we’d done was yell at each other for half an hour and then kiss.

“Thank you,” I murmured. I couldn’t believe I’d spent the last few days with my idol and she’d seen all of these embarrassing things.

“Good day, my lady.” She curtsied and then left me at the door to my quarters.

When I stepped into the room, Narine was waiting, wringing her fingers together anxiously.

“You’re alive!” she exclaimed.

I nodded. “I’m free to roam but not leave the city,” I told her.

My gaze fell to the damp emerald-green dress on the floor by her feet, and the bowl of dirty water with a scrub brush that lay beside it. It was horribly stained with dirt and splotches that weren’t coming out.

“I’m so sorry.”

She waved me off. “I’ll figure it out. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

That was a nice thing to say but it was total crap. “How? How will you figure it out?”

This dress wouldn’t sell, and no more dresses would be coming in. She wouldn’t be able to pay for her sister’s wedding.

She chewed the inside of her lip, almost brought to tears. “I’ll manage, alright? Do you mind if I leave you early today so that I can talk to the buyer and figure this out?”

She gestured to the dress.

I nodded, guilt washing over me. “Of course.”

With a shy smile, she scooped the beautiful emerald-green dress up into her arms and left the apartment.

Leaving me alone to my tumultuous thoughts was a bad idea. My mind chewed on a hundred different things. Narine’s sister’s wedding wouldn’t happen because I ruined the dress. The king was possibly still thinking about killing me. Kendal was sent home. Joslyn and some of the other girls were still here competing for the king’s hand, a hand in marriage that I would be lying if I said I didn’t now want. That kiss—oh Maker that kiss—had confused the Hades out of me! And I was some lost queen? It was too much.

I needed to go for a walk.

Leaving my room, I exited the dormitory wing and headed in search of the library. Maybe I could find something about the Lost Royal or Eclipse Dragons there. I was sure it was this way, just beyond the kitchen, but when I reached it I realized it was a dead end. I turned, remembering that the library was in fact in the opposite direction.

I passed a room with the door cracked open. King Valdren’s voice filtered out into the hallway.

“Which one of them has the best chance of giving me a healthy child?” he asked someone.

“Technically, Arwen has the most magic.” It was Dr. Elsie who answered, and upon hearing my own name, I froze. “But we have no idea what an Eclipse royal and a Dark Night royal would breed. The magic created could be… incredibly powerful or catastrophic.”

No one said anything for a full minute, and I should have walked away… but I couldn’t. I wanted to hear his response. This involved me after all.

“Joslyn is your safest choice, my lord,” Dr. Elsie said.

“But Arwen is a choice I could also make?” The hope in the king’s tone made butterflies flutter in my stomach.

“I’m afraid I have to advise against that, my lord,” a male voice said. I recognized it as the old man with the leather-bound tome from the testing room. He must be a top advisor.

“She is a king killer. A queen of the Eclipse Dragons. She carries the power to completely annihilate you and your entire clan. You must never forget that.”

“I haven’t,” the king growled. “But I have interrogated her and she is blameless. She had no idea of her heritage.”

He stuck up for me! My body was glued to the wall in anticipation of how the conversation would end.

“And yet now that she knows the power she wields, the lands she could lay claim to, what will she do with that information?”

Lands to lay claim to? Did they think I wanted a palace and throne at Cinder Mountain? That was ridiculous.

“It is my advice that you take her out before she does the same to you,” the man said, and I froze in fear.

“Master Augustson!” Dr. Elsie scolded.

King Valdren’s voice was so gritty it could cut glass: “Is that what you advised my grandfather eighteen winters ago? Advice that got him killed and thrust my father into power?”

I wished to peer into the room and see the look on everyone’s faces. I wanted to know for certain if that was how my birth mother’s family died? If Drae’s grandfather killed them, causing my mother to flee to Cinder Village and gave birth to me.

“Joslyn is a fine choice, my lord,” the man concluded, not answering the question.

“I agree. She has more magic than Queen Amelia did. Not much, but slightly more,” Dr. Elsie said.

Silence. The longest stretch of silence I’d ever had to endure.

“Alright, if that is your assessment, I agree. Tell Joslyn I’ve chosen her and start tracking her monthly cycles. We can be married in a moon’s time. I’ll deal with Arwen.” His words simultaneously broke my heart and sent a chill down my spine.

I moved quickly out of the hallway and back toward my rooms.

He’s going to marry Joslyn.

The safe bet.

I should be happy for her, for him, for my sister and all of the dragon-folk who would be saved by the heir they would create, but I was also angry. He didn’t love Joslyn. He wanted a child and was just marrying her out of duty in order to protect her purity and image. I guess she should be grateful he wasn’t just taking her as some mistress whore. For some reason, hearing them speak of Joslyn and I in terms of magical rank really rubbed me wrong.

But could I blame him? His people, all of the dragon-folk, depended on him to have an heir. Would I do the same in his position? Probably. But for a moment it had sounded like he’d wanted to pick me, and that had made me excited. Sure we screamed at each other, and he’d imprisoned me, but… there was something there with him. A deep connection I couldn’t explain, something I never experienced before.

Forgetting my earlier desire to go to the library, I went into my room and curled under the covers of my bed instead. Any minute now someone was going to come tell me I was going home or going to be hung, I was sure of it.

Now I knew what the king had meant when he’d said he’d deal with me. He was thinking on whether he should marry me for my magical dragon womb or kill me because I had the power to kill him.

I’ll deal with Arwen. His words haunted me. What did that mean? He wouldn’t really take the advice of that man, would he?

I threw the covers off of my head and burst to my feet.

He was going to kill me. He was totally going to kill me. Just one more dragon to take out like his grandfather had, and then he’d have no more problems.

I raced across the room, searching the drawers for my hunter’s outfit that my mother and Kendal had made me. I found it in the bottom drawer of the dresser scrubbed mostly clean, with my hunting blade on top.

Thank you, Narine.

I grabbed it, shoving it into an empty shoulder bag, and then tucked the knife into my waistband. Running to the small kitchen off my living room, I threw some dried fruits and cheeses into the bag as well, and filled my canteen. Maybe if I could steal a horse I could make it out of the main gates before they realized I was gone and sounded the alarm.

Slipping out of the door to my living quarters, I hurried down the hall, trying not to look like a fugitive fleeing.

When I passed Annabeth, the lead housemaid, I gave her a wave. “Good day for a stroll,” I said.

She smiled and nodded. “The gardens are beautiful this time of year.”

Yep, going to the gardens, nothing suspicious about me. When I reached the end of the hallway that led to the outside, I pushed the doors wide and broke into a run.

I was a bit discombobulated at first. I’d only been out here a few times and it took me a moment to get my bearings. The stables and horse barns were to the right, so I aimed that way just before I heard a shout behind me.

“Arwen, stop!” the king commanded.

Pure terror ripped through me as I ran past a stable maid and then veered to the left, spotting a labyrinth of high hedges I could get lost in. I sprinted across the yard and burst into the protection of the tall hedge, but the sound of the footsteps behind me was too close.

Reaching behind me, I grasped for my hunting knife just as a body slammed into me. I tripped over my own feet, spinning in midair as King Valdren’s arms came around my shoulders. My butt hit the ground first, and then my back, and finally the thud of my skull. Luckily, it was soft grass, but that did not save me from the giant man who landed on top of me, making a whoosh of air leave me in a rush.

His thighs pinned my hips to the spot, and I hated the heat that crept up my body at his touch.

“Were you about to pull a knife on me?” He looked down at me incredulously, his eyes wild and dark hair strewn about.

Our bodies were smashed together, pressed fully against each other, and I could feel my cheeks redden from the close contact. I’d never been like this with a man…

He seemed to pick up on my dumbfounded loss of speech, and rolled off of me, taking my hunting knife with him.

With the absence of his body, I could breathe and think. “I will defend my life if attacked, yes,” I told him, and sat up, looking up at his giant form, which now blotted out the sun.

He reached out a hand to me and I raised one eyebrow, staring at him skeptically.

“I won’t bite,” he said, and I took the offered hand, allowing him to pull me up.

When I was finally facing him, or more accurately craning my neck to look up at him, I steeled myself.

“I am marrying Joslyn.”

I didn’t expect the pang of hurt to slice into my chest, especially because I’d just heard him tell his advisors that.

I nodded. “Congratulations.”

Why did I sound bitter?

“My advisors say that I cannot allow you to go home, where you could plot to take over my kingdom—”

I barked out in laughter at such a preposterous thing, but his glare shut me up.

“So you have to kill me.” I eyed the hunting blade in his hand. Would he kill me with my own blade? Right here in the privacy of the labyrinth hedge? Panic invaded my entire body.

I’m too young to die.

He looked hurt at my accusation, peering deeply into my eyes. “I could never kill you, Arwen.” He sounded upset at that declaration, and somehow those words sounded romantic coming from him. I relaxed a little and he stepped closer.

“I came to ask you if you wanted to join my Royal Guard,” he said. “You seemed excited about the prospect the day that I mentioned it, and so… there is a spot for you, if you want.”

My mouth popped open in shock. I tried to speak but couldn’t find the words. Was he ill? He found out I was able to siphon his power and kill everyone and now he wanted me as one of his protectors?

He gazed at me expectantly, as if waiting for an answer. He was serious. Laughter bubbled up inside of me and a lightness pulled at my limbs. “Be a member of the Royal Guard, are you kidding? That’s my dream!”

I got taken with the moment and threw myself into his arms, hugging him. His body stiffened and I pulled back, reprimanding myself for how inappropriate that was.

“Sorry. I got excited.” I stepped away from him, painfully aware that I had no highborn manners and had probably broken a million rules with this man. This king.

He nodded. “You have little fear of danger, which is what I look for in a Royal Guardsman-woman. The way you behaved that day with the attack on Gypsy Rock was admirable. I’ll train you to control your dragon powers, and Regina will train you in combat. I think you will be a great asset to my kingdom.”

I did a curtsy, bowing my head as well for good measure. “I accept your gracious offer.”

He frowned, looking a bit disturbed with my eagerness. “You do realize that you are a queen by birthright and I will be relegating you to my service for the rest of your life?”

I nodded eagerly. “I’m no queen. I’m just a hunter who wants to take care of my family. I’ll follow you wherever you lead, Your Highness.”

His face went slack, his breathing slowing. Something I said had struck a chord with him. I didn’t say anything bad, so I wasn’t sure if I should apologize or not. He looked deeply into my eyes and it felt like the air had magnetized around us. It was thick with something tangible. I had the strongest urge to reach out and touch him, to stroke his neck like I’d stroked his dragon that day.

That brought my thoughts back to our kiss. Had it also been him in the May Day tent? That was crazy, right?

His gaze fell to my lips as if he too were thinking about the kiss, and I swallowed hard. “Can I have my knife back?” I asked, reaching out and hoping to break whatever spell had been thrown over me that was causing me to want to touch him constantly.

He cleared his throat and handed it to me, but not before he looked my body up and down. “It’s a fine hunting knife, but you’ll need a proper sword soon. A bow and arrow too.”

The joy of getting new weapons must have been evident on my face, because the corners of his lips turned up slightly.

“I hope this new arrangement suits the both of us. Good day, Arwen.” He tipped his head.

“Good day, my lord,” I said, feeling giddy with the prospect of joining the Royal Guard.

“You may call me Drae,” he said, and then walked away.

First name basis with the king? This couldn’t have gone better. Not only was he not going to kill me, I was going to be joining his Royal Guard!

Narine’s sister’s wedding floated into my mind then and I called after him. “Wait!”

He stopped, looking over his shoulder at me.

“Is there a salary for the position in your army?”

He appraised me. “Of course. One hundred jade coins per moon.”

That was exactly how much Narine needed!

“But I’ll be able to stay in the castle and eat for free?” I questioned.

He nodded. “You will.”

“Can I possibly have an advance on my first moon’s payment? There is something really important I need to buy. It cannot delay.” I swallowed hard. Asking a man for money never felt good. Asking the king for an advance on a job I hadn’t started felt awful. But I wanted to surprise Narine with the payment for her sister’s wedding in full.

His brows drew together. “Do you have a gambling problem I don’t know about?”

I laughed. “No, and in the spirit of no more lying… it’s for my maid’s little sister’s wedding.”

He stared at me for a moment, maybe reading into my answers, and then his brows drew together to form a knot in his head. “You would pay an entire month’s salary to a maid you’ve known less than a moon?”

I nodded, hoping he wouldn’t say no or tell Annabeth.

“Very well. See the castle merchant tomorrow,” he said. “I will clear it.”

When he finally left, I couldn’t believe how much my luck had changed. I’d be able to send most of the money home every month to my mother and sister, and I’d have the job of my dreams. The king would get his heir with Joslyn and everything was going to work out…

Then why did it feel like someone had carved a hole in my chest with a knife?