“You’re trying for me.”
He grinned. “You’re special.”
“I’m human.”
Kael tipped his eyes to my breasts, then wiggled his brows. “No. It’s because of those babies.”
“Aand we’re back to being cavemen. I guess to answer your earlier question,” I said, “about not bothering? If I, the person whom the goddess selected, let them die, then who is going to fight for them?”
He kissed me on the cheek. Pride trickled off him. Pride . . . for me? “And that is why you’re so amazing, Sera. You shine and I’m just here to bask a little bit in your warmth. You forgive and you don’t give up.”
I forgive.
Bianca’s face flashed through my mind. I hadn’t forgiven her. But that was because she hadn’t changed. She was still trying to snatch what was dear to me even after I provided so much for her. How could I forgive someone if they’d never learned from their mistakes? At least the Constanrians had stopped sending pleas asking for my death. Never mind that it was likely due to them needing me for restoring the fields.
My head hurt.
Kael sensed my turmoil. He hugged me closer to him, then told me a terrible joke so bad I had to laugh. He echoed my laughter, and the shaking of his chest rumbled through me. He landed next to the third block of the eastern wing, where he had asked Frederick to meet us.
“I don’t see anything here that explains why your panties are all tangled up” I said, looking around. This was close to where the princes’ quarters used to be.
“I don’t wear panties,” Kael said, stating the obvious. “I tear them off. And I rather enjoy doing so. Yours, particularly.”
I giggled like a barmaid, scolded him for being naughty, and smacked his bicep. He liked making me giggle, and he smirked. Kael held my hand and pulled me forward, leading me toward a large wall attached to an arch. I remembered that arch having bright blue roses growing all over it. It was now barren but clean and white, with sidings so plain they didn’t seem to fit the palace. The roses must have died off. The ash phenomenon hadn’t been merciful to most flora.
Kael lifted an arm to halt me. “Don’t let them spot you.”
“Don’t let who spot me?” I asked. He didn’t have to respond. The answer came to me a moment later in the form of Micah’s voice booming across the courtyard.
“I must insist that we carry this out.”
Kael shifted his position so that I could stand in front of him and peek over the wall. He was right behind me, his tattooed body flushed against mine, and when I took a quick glimpse of him, I saw that his eyes lit with the delight of a jester.
Next to Micah stood the stocky elder the princes and I loved to hate—Elder Salvar. He had dressed in his usual simple robes but wore a different, more concerned expression. Something about what Micah had said wiped his usual slyness away.
“My prince,” Elder Salvar said. He was cupping an apple in his hand. “Forgive me, but I highly doubt that this is unnecessary.”
“It is very necessary,” Micah said, with all the seriousness in Constanria. “How can I know to trust you if you won’t follow through with such a simple request? This, perhaps, is the best display of trust you can show me. Nothing else will do.”
“Nothing else?” Around him, I saw other elders next to Salvar, waiting for Micah’s instructions. “Oh, I’m sure that there is something else.”
“What’s he planning?” I asked Kael.
“You mean what did I plan?” Kael said.
“Yes, yes, you are very clever. Explain, please.”
“Watch and see.” He turned my head back around so I peered out at the courtyard.
Micah took the apple from Elder Salvar and distanced himself from the elder. He sat down on the grass and placed the fruit on his head.
Next to Salvar was a bow and arrow.
“Now, Salvar,” Micah said. “Take aim.”
My heart leapt. “No!”
Kael clasped his hand over my mouth and pulled me backward. I struggled against his grip, but his arm clamped over my stomach, leaving me no room for escape. “I thought he’d put it somewhere safer. Like on his knee. I didn’t think he’d put it on his head.”
My voice was muffled on Kael’s hand. “Oh, calm down. Salvar’s known to be the archery champion of his year. He won’t hurt Micah.”
I bit Kael’s hand. I had to stop this immediately. Did Kael not care that his brother would die from his ruses?
“I know what you’re thinking,” Kael said. “This is reckless. This is stupid.”
Kael knew me too well. That was exactly what I was thinking!
“Don’t worry. Micah is a hidrae, and we’re gifted. He can suffer an arrow through his head.” Kael finally let go of my mouth, noticing I had calmed.
I glanced at at him. “Really? That’s unbelievable.”
“We heal quickly. Even so, Salvar has perfect aim. Did you see him during the championships? He was shooting arrow after arrow, splitting the stem of the last one like a pro. He would never miss.”
“Are you sure he’d heal? Accidents happen. If something happens to Micah, you’re the one going to have your stem split.”
“Ouch,” Kael said, wincing.
Salvar had already nocked his arrow into his bow and pulled it taut. My instinct was to dart out and push Salvar down, but that would ruin their plan entirely. But shouldn’t Micah’s safety be more important compared to some foolish scheme to expose the rebels? What if—
Snap!
I’d spent too long getting muddled in my thoughts. I didn’t even have time to react when Salvar loosed the arrow from his bow, and it shot straight toward Micah. Time suspended as I watched it fly through the air. And then the apple fell apart, cut into two halves by the arrow head.
Salvar was shaking. “That was . . . Aereala’s babies. They would have hung me for treason if you got injured.”
Micah grinned. Here I was, quivering like Salvar, but the princes thought nothing of what just happened.
“I lied,” Kael said, keeping me pressed against him. “I don’t think Micah would have survived if an arrow went through.”
I muttered an ice spell, wasting a tiny bit of precious souls, and stung Kael on the thigh.
“Ow!” Kael whisper-yelled. “What was that for?”
“You deserved it,” I said. “You’re lucky I’m generous enough to not aim for your balls.”
Salvar quickly set the weapon down on the marble table next to him. “Why did you make me do that?”
Micah plucked the apple from the ground, cleaned it on his pants, and ate it. None of the other princes would enjoy apples, but Micah, strangely, liked eating sweet food. He stood up in a smooth motion and answered, “Now you know that I’m willing to place my life in your hands, and that you’re willing to risk yours. You said so yourself. The wrong aim would have resulted in your own condemnation. That is the purpose of this exercise.”
“You came up with this?” I asked Kael.
“Brilliant, isn’t it?” he said.
“Did Rylan help you with it?”
“Absolutely not.” He seemed offended I would suggest it.
Kael was a master strategist when it came to war. He spent his free time pouring through books related to the subject. He acted like his opinions didn’t matter. Being the third son made it seem like it didn’t, but if he tried, he could make a huge difference to matters relating to the state.
He wasn’t even trying now and he was winning Salvar to our side.
“A good demonstration,” a woman said. Her voice rang through the corridors but came from the other side. Tindyll showed up, dressed in her classy robes and with spectacles over her eyes. She’d replaced the monocles for glasses she didn’t need, still following the trends of the capital. Was it a trend for people to secretly dissent Rylan, then? That was a cause for concern. Tindyll clapped her hands together. “You’ve proven yourself to us, Micah, and you’re making me eager to begin our discus
sions.”
Micah tutted. I was troubled by Tindyll’s sudden appearance. Micah picked an apple and tossed it to the head council member, who caught it with her fast reflexes. She was a draerin, albeit an old one, which gave her better dexterity and eyesight than most other dragon-kind. She looked down at the apple and raised a brow. “What is this supposed to mean?”
“I sense that my demonstration was too one-sided,” Micah said, pulling a fresh arrow from a quiver. “Perhaps we can turn the tables around. Would you put the same amount of faith in me?”
“Have them in your court,” Kael muttered. His breath tickled my ear. “Then make sure you assert your dominance. The musings of the rebel conquerer of far Englari, King Dormitus the Second.”
I scowled. “Don’t King Dormitus me. You just want to watch Micah shoot arrows at the elders,” I said, spinning my gaze up to the white-haired jester.
Kael flashed me an impish smirk. “That, too.”
Micah stretched. The bright sun glittered off his crimson hair. “Now, the five of you, line up in front of me.” He referred to Salvar, Tindyll, and the three other elders with them.
Tindyll gaped at the prince. “You don’t really expect us to—”
“Tit for tat. Is this alliance not a fair exchange?” Micah asked. “If you want me to be your future king, then you must be ready to fulfill my orders. Do you want my help, or do you not?”
Tindyll wrung her fingers together. She worked her jaw as she glared at Micah, sucking in a deep breath, as if questioning the prince’s audacity. Then she ambled away from Micah. At first, I thought she might leave the courtyard, but instead, she went to where Micah stood and placed the apple on her head. Salvar did a terrible job of hiding his grievances from his expression. He situated himself next to his colleague and did the same with another apple.
Tindyll said, “This wasn’t what I had in mind when we decided to appoint you as—”
In fluid motions, so swift I couldn’t follow, Micah nocked arrows in string repeatedly. In less than a few seconds, all the apples had split into two. Their split forms lay on the ground of the courtyard, next to the elders who shivered with fear.
An elder fainted, and Tindyll was so terrified her face whitened. Salvar made a religious gesture and prayed to the sky.
A wide smile split Kael’s cheeks.
“You didn’t mention Micah winning any archery competitions,” I said to Kael.
“It comes with his being a savant,” Kael replied. “Makes him good with angles and helps him with accuracy.”
“I’m here!”
I spun around, wondering why Frederick suddenly showed, then remembered we’d left him behind.
He was sweating all over and needed a moment to catch his breath. I worried his shouting startled the elders, but none of them had heard him, too caught up in their trembling.
Frederick swept his hand over his brow. “What did I miss?”
“Everything,” I said.
He frowned and squinted in thought. “Well I missed work, too. So that’s okay.”
Chapter Fifteen
I wasn’t certain if the second part of Kael’s plan, with Micah shooting the apples off the elders’ heads, was entirely necessary.
“It is,” Kael explained when we strode back to the Intelligence Council. “It puts them in the mindset of following orders, so when the time comes and Micah makes them reveal themselves, they won’t question it and will jump at the opportunity to serve.”
I still thought all Kael really wanted was to see Tindyll shitting her pants. Gaius might’ve made friends with Julius, the princes’ personal head chef, and some of the maids talked about him being nice despite his grumpy face, but the princes liked to bully, even though lots of it was harmless fun. They teased me all the time so I should know better than anyone else.
Speaking of Julius, he had a new invention he wanted me to pass to Micah. He called it a lolly? Sugar on a stick.
I fiddled with the stick of the lolly as I strode toward the throne room. The princes were busy planning their next course of action, so they didn’t have time to bring me around today. I enjoyed my lonely time, walking by myself. I hadn’t realized how it’d disappeared so quickly after meeting four hidrae princes.
Rylan called for another throne room meeting with the two councils. They had a plan to banish the rebels, to make sure all were removed, so the opening of the portal to Gaia, the hidden land of the humans, would be smooth going.
“They are too prejudiced to let me rule through love,” Rylan told me earlier. “So I have to rule through fear instead.”
I agreed with him, and his brothers did, too, even though having to go this route made me uneasy. I, like most people, wanted to do the right thing. But sometimes the right thing wasn’t necessarily the best course of action to take. It felt easy, but easy often didn’t get people anywhere.
We needed to go to Gaia, and if we went with what the people wanted, that unexplored territory would forever be foreign to us.
Our decision made sense. There was food behind that portal, and what if the crops failed even before Aereala came? There were instances of grains turning to ash even after a harvest, and my powers didn’t work all the time. A devastating famine could happen and we needed a back-up plan.
I was doing an awfully good job of justifying my actions to myself.
I rounded a corner that led to the throne room.
And there, I saw Tindyll.
She carried a child in her arms—a young, freckled-faced girl with ginger hair who wouldn’t stop crying.
“Oh,” Tindyll said. She bobbed the girl up and down, trying to calm her. “Will you please? There’s no need to cry.”
“No!” the child exclaimed. “No, no, no, no! I want Mommy!” Her wailing made my eardrums uncomfortable.
The child couldn’t be older than two. A toddler. She wore her hair in pigtails and was dressed in a miniature version of the pretty gowns I often saw the noble girls wear.
I wanted to walk straight past her, but the girl pointed at me. Her crying stopped, only for a, “I want that.”
“That?” I asked. Then I looked in my hand. I held Julius’s new invention. The lolly.
Tindyll tried to avoid my gaze, but when our eyes met, I saw the desperation hiding behind her pupils. I lifted the lolly up and wiggled it at the girl. “This?” I asked. “You can have it.” I was certain Julius would have more, and sacrificing a trinket like this to cheer a small kid didn’t seem too bad.
I’d managed to stop the girl from crying. Tindyll plucked the candy from my hand, acting like I was poison even though I had my gloves on. She shot me a dirty look as she passed the lolly to the toddler.
And then the girl threw the candy to the ground.
Tindyll scowled and picked it up to pass it to the girl again. The head of the council looked at me, as if wondering why I still stood there. I wondered, too, and then I realized I enjoyed gloating at her misery. Tindyll needed me, as much as she hated to admit it.
“I thought I’d let her visit the throne room,” Tindyll said, “since her mother needed a break today. She won’t be with me during the meeting, of course. I’ll leave her with one of the servants. She’s destined to serve as a scholar in the future, you know? Best for her to look at where she belongs. At least, I want her to live a life in comfort and she’s a brilliant child.”
“She’s your granddaughter?” I asked. The girl was cute, with full cheeks and lips. She could whine as well as Tindyll did, however.
“Yes,” Tindyll replied.
The girl sucked on the wrapper of the lolly, then threw it back to the ground once more.
Tindyll groaned. She bent down to pick up the candy. “Well, thanks anyway.”
I snapped my mouth tight because if I didn’t my jaw would have smacked against the marble of the ground. “What did you say?”
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing,” I said, looking at the candy.
“Not f
or that,” Tindyll said. “I mean . . . what you’ve been doing with the fields. I wanted you gone because I thought you’d put us all at risk, but apparently, you’re here to save us. I don’t agree with Rylan’s expedition to Gaia. He’s blind as a king. But I can’t say that you’re entirely terrible, not like the way I thought you’d be. So, thank you, for making sure my daughter and granddaughter haven’t gone hungry.”
What was she trying to play at? She wanted to overthrow Rylan, for Aereala’s sakes. Did she know we’d found out she was part of all this? Was this her way of trying to lessen my grievances against her?
“Rylan isn’t blind,” I said. “He rules with a level head.”
“Does he? You’re letting your love for him foil your judgment. His Majesty rules with authority and fear but that can’t last for long, especially not with dragon-kind. The reason why Gisiroth lasted so long was because he could listen. Real listening. He put the words of his people in high regard.”
“Rylan makes sure everybody is cared for.”
Tindyll pursed her lips. Her granddaughter threw the lolly on the ground again but she ignored it this time. “He might very well be doing that, but nobody believes the king loves them. They are his subjects, which isn’t false, but they shouldn’t view themselves that way. They should be feeling like they’re his children. A nation for him to father. A revolt will happen if this keeps up. Rylan ignores too many pleas. The majority refuses to see this trip to Gaia, but—”
“It’s for the good of the people.”
“Is it?”
I nodded slowly.
“What of the dangers the spell warned about?”
“Rylan didn’t announce that.”
“The servants overheard and word travels faster than a dragon’s wings.”
“Rylan loves Constanria!”
“He’s yet to prove it. He’s breeding too much bad blood in court. It will bite him eventually. It will bite him soon.” A smug expression flittered across Tindyll’s face. Micah must have told her something about what was going to happen in the throne room today. If I understood the princes correctly, the princes were going to make the rebels expose themselves, which would give Rylan a proper reason to call for her punishment.”
Fall of Dragons (Sera's Curse Book 3) Page 13
