The Last of the Firedrakes

by Farah Oomerbhoy

  Kalen shrugged. He was still grinning, and he seemed to find my reaction entertaining. “Rafe didn’t want you to know,” he said truthfully.

  “Why?” I asked. “Did he think it would have made a difference?”

  “I don’t know,” said Kalen. “Ask him yourself. He’s coming over here.”

  I looked up as Rafe and Uncle Gabriel came over to meet us.

  “Glad to have you back, Grandfather,” said Erien, coming over and hugging Uncle Gabriel; he looked over at Rafe. “You too, Your Highness.”

  Rafe nodded, smiling, “Erien, Kalen.”

  Uncle Gabriel gave me a short hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Is everything all right?” he asked, looking concerned.

  I nodded. I guess I must have looked so shocked that even Uncle Gabriel had noticed something was wrong. I felt like such a fool. How would I ever talk to Rafe again? How could Kalen not have told me that Rafe was actually the prince of Eldoren? I caught Rafe looking at me with that amused look on his face once again. And, for about the hundredth time, my heart took a quick somersault.

  Rafe bowed formally and planted a chaste kiss on my hand. “Princess Aurora, always a pleasure,” he said, smiling the most dazzling smile I had ever seen. I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off him, even though I was terribly embarrassed.

  “Rafe . . . I mean, Your Highness,” I said, suddenly remembering where I was.

  “I must say, you look exceptionally beautiful tonight,” he said softly, straightening, but still looking into my eyes and holding my hand. I blushed.

  He finally let go of my hand when Erien butted in. “Let’s go and find Mother,” he said quickly to me.

  Rafe scowled but didn’t say anything.

  “What’s the rush?” I asked, irritated that I had been pulled away from Rafe.

  Erien didn’t answer as he took me by the arm and led me through the crowd.

  “What was all that about?” I said, when he finally stopped with me behind a potted plant at the far end of the ballroom.

  “Rafael,” Erien said abruptly.

  “What about him?” I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

  “He’s no good for you,” said Erien sharply. “He may be a great warrior-mage, and he is the crown prince, but he is not the type to be tied down. It will only end in heartache, mainly yours.”

  I tried to look astonished, but failed miserably. Erien was right—Rafe may not be an outlaw, but he was definitely dangerous. And Kalen and his mother had warned me about that side of Rafe. Even his own father seemed to be exasperated with him.

  Then I thought back to everything Celia and Vivienne had said about the crown prince. It was a different picture from how Rafe really acted. But which one was his real self? Was he the hardened warrior who traveled the kingdom helping the poor and helpless, the outlaw who was the bane of Morgana’s guards? Or the spoiled princeling who was only interested in wine and women?

  “I know that,” I said, sighing. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to mess up my future because of some guy, even if he is a prince.” Although I wanted to mean what I said, I wasn’t sure how much truth there was in that statement.

  Erien looked relieved. “That’s good to know,” he said, becoming his usual jovial self again. “In any case, there is so much none of us knows about him. There are things about the crown prince that are a mystery to even those who know him best.”

  I nodded. I knew I had to stay as far away from Rafe as was possible. The more I saw him, the more I wanted to be with him. In hindsight, spending so much time with him training every night was probably not the smartest thing to do. I knew that, prince of Eldoren or not, Rafael Ravenswood was definitely not good for me.

  Erien walked off to mingle with the guests. I declined to go with him, as I was still anxious about slipping up and saying the wrong thing. I looked around the room, searching for Kalen. When I saw him, I waved him over. He came over by the plant where I was hiding with a big grin on his face.

  “It was kind of your uncle to permit me to stay at the palace with my mother,” Kalen said enthusiastically, looking around at the whirling dancers. It was his first time inside the Summer Palace. “I am having a marvelous time.”

  I smiled at him from behind my plant. It was so good to have Kalen to talk to again.

  “Why are you hiding behind a plant?” asked Kalen. “Let us go and meet Rafe. Don’t you want to talk to him?”

  “No!” I said, catching Kalen’s arm and pulling him back behind the plant before he could escape again. “That’s exactly who I am trying to stay away from.”

  “By hiding behind a plant?” asked Kalen, looking at me as if I had lost a few brain cells along the way.

  “Sort of,” I said, biting my fingernail.

  “But why? I thought you liked Rafe,” said Kalen, again looking confused.

  “I do,” I said, now getting exasperated with Kalen. “Too much. That’s why I have to stay away from him. Don’t you see?”

  “No, I don’t see,” said Kalen, “but if you say so.”

  I rolled my eyes. Kalen could be oblivious sometimes.

  “And don’t you think you should have mentioned that the Black Wolf was really the prince of Eldoren?” I whispered.

  “Shhh,” Kalen hissed. “Be careful. If anyone overhears us, Rafe’s life will be in danger.”

  “But how could you not tell me?” I asked again, trying to keep my voice to the softest of whispers.

  “I told you when you asked me the first time—he didn’t tell you because he didn’t want you to know,” said Kalen.

  I hung my head. Rafe didn’t trust me. That hurt more than it should, and I turned away so Kalen could not see the tears that swam in my eyes and threatened to fall.

  “Oh, it will be fun to watch Rafe when he realizes his betrothed is here,” said Kalen blithely, scanning the room.

  I thought I was going to faint again.

  Betrothed!

  Rafe was engaged!

  Oh no, Leticia! How could I have forgotten?

  My eyes whipped about the room, and I spotted Rafe almost immediately, standing rather stiffly in front of Leticia. She had her back to me, and her beautiful golden hair, woven with glittering diamonds, cascaded down her back. She was dressed in a dazzling confection of baby pink and silver satin. She turned, and I noticed her icy eyes shone with anger and that she was directing that anger at Rafe.

  I wanted to find out what they were saying. “Tell me about her,” I whispered to Kalen.

  Kalen was busy looking around the room and was obviously getting bored standing with me behind the plant. I could tell by the look on his face that he was glad to spill some gossip.

  “That’s Leticia, the daughter of the Earl of Glenbarry,” said Kalen quickly.

  I nodded, urging him to go on.

  “She is his only child and will inherit everything after her father. The estates of Glenbarry are enormous. I heard some people saying that Rafe’s mother and Leticia’s mother were best friends. And, apparently,” Kalen looked around once and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Apparently, his mother made him promise on her deathbed that he wed Leticia. Rafe agreed, to please his mother, but I guess he now regrets his decision to marry that shrew.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “Isn’t she nice?” I already knew she was horrid, but I wanted to know what others thought about her.

  Kalen snorted. “Ha! Nice is the opposite of Leticia. Poor Rafe only found that out once she was officially betrothed to him. I heard from the palace servants that he keeps putting off the wedding, but I don’t know how long she is going to let him get away with that.”

  I pulled Kalen’s arm as we wove through the crowd, towards Rafe and Leticia. I kept stopping and trying to hide behind statues and people along the way so that Rafe didn’t notice me. When I finally reached eavesdropping distance, I pulled Kalen and sat down on a high-backed chair next to where Rafe and Leticia were standing. Kalen perched himself on the arm next to me. The cha
ir was turned away from the crowd, so Leticia did not see us, but I was sure Rafe had spotted us already; he never missed anything.

  “What are we doing exactly?” asked Kalen, confused again.

  I rolled my eyes for the millionth time. “Shhh,” I said, trying to listen.

  “ . . . And you just go off and leave me,” hissed Leticia quietly to Rafe.

  “Leticia,” said Rafe slowly, as if it was taking all his power to keep his anger in check. “I told you I was away. I cannot be at your beck and call all the time.”

  “But we are to be married, and I want to know where you were for so long,” she said sharply, “so you better get used to it. You gave your word to your mother, and I know even you would not go back on that promise.”

  I tried hard to hear Rafe’s reply to that, but a gaggle of chattering women had approached and were accosting the prince. I turned around. Leticia looked peeved, but Rafe seemed to be relieved and was now enjoying himself, flirting openly with all the women who were fawning over him.

  I got up quickly from my chair, and Kalen followed. A young man, quite cute, who introduced himself as Viscount Steele, stopped me and asked me to dance. Aunt Serena had tried teaching me the intricate dance of Eldoren, which was very similar to a waltz. I was not very good at it, but I decided to give it a go.

  I took the viscount’s hand as he led me onto the dancefloor. He wasn’t a very good dancer, and I tried to follow his lead, but he made it very difficult. The musicians were playing a lively melody, and my spirits lifted with the music. It was no use feeling sorry for myself and following Rafe around like a lost puppy. I was upset that he hadn’t told me that he was engaged. He just let me fall for him without a thought as to what would happen when I found out about Leticia.

  Despite my anger, my eyes searched for Rafe, and my heart leapt when I found him. He was leaning against a far wall of the ballroom, his powerful arms crossed across his chest, watching me. Our eyes locked, but he didn’t smile.

  The viscount was still obliviously whirling me around the dancefloor and stepping on my toes while he was at it. I winced each time and finally stopped dancing. The viscount apologized profusely, but I wasn’t paying attention. I looked back to where Rafe was standing, but he was gone.

  The music stopped, and the viscount begged me for another dance. But I’d had enough and turned to leave the dancefloor, when my face collided with a rock-hard chest covered in expensive, midnight-blue fabric.

  “May I have this dance?” said the voice I had come to love and trust.

  I looked up at Rafe. His reassuring presence and piercing grey eyes were so familiar that I couldn’t help but smile.

  “But, Your Highness,” said the viscount, interrupting and standing close to me. “You never dance.”

  “I do now,” said the Prince of Eldoren, never taking his eyes off me.

  Rafe held out his hand, and I took it, just as I had dozens of times before. He led me to the center of the dancefloor, and overdressed nobles moved out of the way to let us pass. The musicians started playing a haunting melody, and Rafe swept me up in his arms, holding me close and gliding across the dancefloor. He was a wonderful dancer, and I didn’t even have to think as I followed his effortless steps.

  As we danced, Rafe said nothing, but he looked at me as if I was the only person in the room, and in that moment a flame in my heart ignited and my soul woke up, recognizing its other half for the first time. For some unexplainable reason, I knew beyond a doubt that I had finally found a permanent place for my heart.

  Everyone was watching us as we danced, but I didn’t care. I was in Rafe’s arms and that was the only place I wanted to be. The music stopped, but Rafe didn’t let go of me immediately. I knew people were staring and whispering, but I couldn’t look away.

  Erien came over and pulled me away into the crowd. “What do you think you were doing?” he chided in a whisper. “Everyone is talking about you and Rafe. He’s going to be married; you have to stop this now.”

  “You don’t think I know that?” I snapped, irritated that Erien was absolutely right. “It was nothing. We were just dancing.”

  “It didn’t look like nothing from where I was standing,” said Erien.

  “It’s my life. I’ll do what I want,” I said, turning from Erien’s angry gaze. I wanted to be alone; I had to leave the ballroom.

  But before I could disappear into the crowd, Leticia stopped me, and Rafe was too busy to notice. Leticia ignored Erien and glared at me. If looks could kill, I would have been dead a thousand times by now.

  “Calisto told me about you,” said Leticia, sniffing with her thin, pinched nose as if she smelled something horrid. “We thought you were just Silverthorne’s orphaned ward. It looks like you deceived everyone, Your Highness.”

  Leticia was quite beautiful, but as soon as she opened her mouth, all that beauty just vanished. Leticia Glenbarry had a shrill, nasal voice, and her words were acidic and deadly. She was definitely someone I wanted to stay away from.

  “You may think you can deceive everyone else, but you don’t fool me. I just thought I would inform you that Rafael and I are to be married very soon, so don’t start getting any ideas,” said Leticia snidely. “Just because you have discovered that you are a princess, doesn’t mean that the prince will leave me for you. He doesn’t care about that sort of thing. He is mine, and there is nothing you can do about that.”

  I looked down, embarrassed. Surely she couldn’t know how I felt about Rafe? No one did, or so I thought. But I guess the spectacle I had just made of myself was hard to ignore.

  “I saw you and Rafael dancing,” said Leticia. “It is quite plain to see that you want him. If you don’t stay away, you will be sorry.”

  Kalen pulled my arm, but I didn’t budge. Who did this woman think she was, talking to me like that?

  “I have no interest in the prince,” I said, trying to sound all grown up. “He is close to my granduncle, that’s all. And for your information, Rafe knew who I really was months ago.”

  Leticia’s mouth fell open.

  Let her chew on that, I thought to myself, as I turned on my heel and walked away quickly. My heart was beating heavily, and I felt like crying. I had intended to stay away from Rafe anyway, and now that I knew he was to be married, I thanked my lucky stars that I did not get any more involved with him earlier or tell him how I felt. I would have looked like such a fool. Even if he did have any interest in me, it was just the way he was with any woman. He was gallant and kind and every bit a prince, and the more I thought about him, the more I wanted him. But it could not be, and I was definitely not the type to go after someone else’s fiancée. That dance was the last one we would ever have.

  I was feeling claustrophobic. There were too many people chattering around me and to me. I didn’t even bother listening to what they were saying as I wound my way through the crowd. I had to get out of that room. It was too stuffy. I walked out onto the balcony and leaned against the marble balustrade. I gazed out at the now brightly lit gardens of the Summer Palace, took a deep breath of the fresh night air, and immediately relaxed.

  I could think properly out here.

  I walked down the wide steps leading to the garden. I just wanted to be alone. A few minutes of walking quietly would make me feel better, then I would just unobtrusively slip in one of the side doors and go up to my room, and no one would even notice.

  In a few days we would leave for Elfi, and I would never have to see Rafe again. My heart ached with the loss of my first love, but I knew now that it was not meant to be. He was getting married to someone else, and anyway he had never even said that he liked me. I was just imagining that he did because that was what I wanted. I realized that now.

  I looked out at the beautiful, moonlit gardens. There was no use in thinking about Rafe.

  “Why are you out here alone, Aurora?” said an extremely familiar voice behind me.

  Talk of the devil. I whirled around so quickly that my
foot got stuck in the irritatingly billowing skirt of my Lady Charlotte creation. I could feel myself falling, but there was nothing I could do about it.

  Suddenly, strong hands gripped my arms and prevented me from making a complete fool of myself. When I looked up, I was staring into the beautiful grey eyes of the Prince of Eldoren himself, and, to make matters worse, he was laughing at me.

  I gathered myself and stood up shakily. Rafe was still holding me by my arms in case I stupidly fell down again, I supposed. He was looking at me intently, and I quickly brushed away a few stray tears that had unexpectedly stained my cheeks.

  “You have been crying,” said Rafe. He looked angry.

  I shook my head. What could I say? That I cried every time someone was rude to me? Rafe would really think I was a useless idiot.

  “Did someone hurt you?” he asked again, more gently this time.

  I shook my head again. I didn’t even look up into his eyes, as I was afraid of what he would see in them. According to Leticia, it was obvious to everyone around me, and she was right. In only a few short months, I had fallen completely in love with Rafe. It was useless denying it to myself, and as much as I tried to stay away from him, it made no difference; he was always on my mind. But he was betrothed and lost to me forever. My only hope now was to forget about him and hope that I succeeded.

  I steeled myself, looked up at Rafe, and smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing,” I said, trying hard to sound flippant. “I just got some dirt in my eye, that’s all.”

  “Oh!” said Rafe, coming closer. “Let’s see.”

  I could only stand still and watch, spellbound, as Rafe brought his face so close to mine that our noses were almost touching. Looking straight into my eyes, he smoothed a stray lock of hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear. Rafe entwined his fingers through mine, brought them up to his mouth, and brushed his lips over my fingertips in the lightest of kisses.

  “Why did you lie to me about who you really are?” I asked softly, looking up at him.

  Rafe looked to the side and avoided my eyes but didn’t let go of his hold on me. “I guess I just wanted you to like me for me.”