And then…
“This is Ezeru,” Aurekdel said, after all the usual pleasantries had been exchanged. “He is a rock dragon.”
“A rock dragon!” Lady Minna was hiding behind a fan. “Him? No! Oh, my goodness!”
“Not the one we’ve been hearing about?” Baron Joramu asked.
“Probably,” Aurekdel said. “Luckily, he is on our side, as you may have heard from our delightful mist dragon guest with all his screaming about liars and turncoats and other things hardly fit for anyone’s ears. I’ll tell the story during dinner, but I wonder if I could request a seat for him at the table?”
Aurekdel didn’t even blink at the shocked murmuring among the residents of the castle. “We want to keep him on our side, don’t we?” he asked. “Just wait until you actually hear about our adventure in the swamp.”
“No,” Ezeru cut in. “I’d be just as happy eating by myself…”
There was more shocked murmuring at the sound of his raspy, yet cultured, voice. I was starting to cringe for him. I gave Aurek’s sleeve the smallest tug.
“Please,” Aurek said. “I insist. You are my guest.”
“I am not a man for a court,” Ezeru said.
“You’ve never been in the court,” Aurekdel said, with a little flourish of his cane. “Now, have you?”
“That’s true,” Baron Joramu said, with a slight edge. “The traitor doesn’t have a court, because’s no king! Come on. We’ll sit you between our wives and they’ll show you which utensils to use if that comes up. You’re not scared, are you, Chu-Amu?”
My brain translated that into ‘sharp grasses’. I suppose pet names didn’t always work between languages very well.
“Scared? Never! Just surprised. But he’s handsome. I think, in fact, it’s best if we do protect him from the maids…”
Ezeru looked horrified. Almost angry. As we moved to the dining hall, he didn’t even look at me, and when we sat down, he maneuvered himself so that he ended up between Lady Minna and Seron instead of Lady Minna and me.
Why didn’t he seem to like me anymore? When he was kidnapping me and protecting me from licking snakes and tunnel weasels, he didn’t seem so bad. Something had been shifting in his attitude. Maybe I’d offended him, but skies above, with all the weird looks and vaguely insulting things other people had said to him, could I possibly be the worst?
I tried to put it out my mind. What did I care about Ezeru anyway? I didn’t need his friendship, if he was even capable of it, prickly as he was. I understood why he didn’t seem to like or trust any of us, but it still galled me.
I was at the corner of the table, between Aurekdel—sharing the head of the table with Joramu—and Lady Minna. Oszin also had a place at the table, across and down a bit, as usual. It was a huge table made of a slab of crystal that faintly glowed, with tiny candles and flowers down the entire length, and four tiny glass bubbles of mist. The footmen shattered the glass, releasing a sweet, calming mist around the room. Lady Minna used her fan to drive it into her nose but it didn’t seem that strong—just enough mist to make the atmosphere more convivial, I guess. Servers brought out dishes that looked appetizing even to me. “Ooh!” I whispered, as a fragrant dark sauce was spooned over delicate fluffy grains and grilled eel.
“Yes, my dearest, the oldest and best of farming settlements are in these parts and the food in Irandal will be better,” Aurekdel said.
The story of why Ezeru existed and how he’d ended up with us was repeated, of course, and the conversation immediately turned serious.
“If he’s that powerful, he might be toxic to keep around!” Baron Joramu said. “The Traitor isn’t letting that go easy, I bet. What if he tries attacking you while you’re at Irandal?”
“We could say the same thing any other year,” Aurekdel said. “We don’t have a choice. No other castle can accommodate the entire court and we have to leave during fog season. There’s no way around it. We’re going to have to be aggressive if he tries anything. I’m doubling patrols for our entire stay.”
“Good,” Joramu said. “I just paid a visit to Irandal’s caretakers a few weeks ago. All in good order. But when are we getting that northern gate open?”
“There is trouble on the human end,” Aurek said. “The northern gate is being held by the Elders. As I understand it, they’re a religious order of mages who don’t want peace between humans and dragons. So even if we got control of the gate on our end, we’d only invite more trouble—for now. I know you’re impatient for more trade. I am too. I’ll arrange to meet with Emperor Raio once we head back to Hemara.”
“Emperor Raio is your twin brother, isn’t he?” Lady Minna asked me.
“Yes.” It always seemed strange to hear Rin called by his proper name, the name of my father and grandfather.
“So, twins run in the family! How exciting!”
Seron glanced sideways toward me with a faint just-between-us smile. Oh, goodness. That smile. I didn’t see it often enough. If he was nervous about his royal blood, he was still overjoyed at the thought of children.
But looking at Seron also brought my eyes in contact with Ezeru again.
“Oh, dear, that’s the wrong fork,” Minna whispered to him.
He scowled. “I said I didn’t want to eat here. I’d be happy enough with a bowl of mashed ifu and a corner to eat it in.”
“That sounds awful,” Lady Minna said. “I wouldn’t even give mashed ifu to the weasels. Is that how Dvaro feeds his men?”
“It’s just food,” Ezeru said. “I don’t think about it much. The weasels would eat it, I can assure you.”
“I think you’re better than a weasel, aren’t you? Ahh…you can’t possibly be a rock dragon. What a glower. I’d be afraid to enslave a man like you.” She grinned.
“Don’t mind my wife,” Baron Jaramo said, breaking off from a conversation with Aurek about boats. “Ten years married to me and she’s still an awful flirt.” He patted her head between her horns. She giggled.
“I’m an awful flirt myself,” Aurek said.
“Well, we are third cousins!” Lady Minna replied.
Seron rubbed the bridge of his nose.
So much for amethyst dragons being sensitive, I thought.
Ezeru looked uncomfortable, but he was still eating, as if he never knew when another meal would come. Like a hungry weasel offered some mashed ifu, I guess, whatever that was. He chewed like he was punishing his salad.
“I want to make one thing clear,” he said softly.
Everyone stopped talking and looked at him with apprehension. Baron Jaramo narrowed his eyes.
“I have offered my loyalty to King Aurekdel, in order to end the cruelties of the man who has enslaved my people. But I am no one’s slave. And anyone who takes advantage of my people for their own gain will be my enemy in the future. I realize you were only making a joke, Lady Minna, but in Dvaro’s court, every joke has a sting.”
Baron Jaramo stood up. “Who are you to talk to my wife like that? Aurek, I love you, but he’s right—he is not fit for court.”
“Which is exactly what I told you,” Ezeru said softly.
“I think it’s best if you leave this table,” Baron Jaramo said.
“It’s all right, Chu-Amu,” Lady Minna said. “He’ll learn the rules.”
“I don’t care about the rules,” Ezeru said. “I’ve been sucking up all my life to protect myself and Peri. There isn’t much more I can do now. Either you find my powers useful or not, either you want to help me so Guardian Niko can see his mother, maybe you’ll kill me; I don’t care. I won’t lie anymore.”
“Sit down, Jaramo,” Aurekdel said, speaking a little more slowly and calmly than everyone else, which had a powerful effect. Jaramo huffed back into his seat. “Rock dragons—indeed no one—will be slaves in this realm again. Ezeru is my guest, court manners or not. He comes from a brutal place, where tongues are cut out for speaking against the leader. I tested him, now he’s testing us. It’s
only fair.”
“He isn’t testing you. He’s just stirring shit.”
“We’ll see.” Aurekdel sipped his wine.
“I don’t mind,” Lady Minna said. “I can handle a man of rough words, can’t I? Someone will have a good time taming him like I tamed your hot head.”
“Hrmph. We’re trading seats.” Jaramo made his wife move over so he was sitting next to Ezeru, and the meal certainly didn’t get any less awkward after that.
I’m not sure Seron and I said ten words between us the entire meal, but I never managed to feel forgotten. I wished I could. Ezeru kept looking at me, and Seron noticed Ezeru looking at me. I don’t know what it was about, but I was getting tired of it.
After dinner, the groups started breaking off into smaller social circles, in dim, smoky rooms with musicians and card games and drink. Aurek was drinking too much again, but I’d have to trust him. Seron was already watching him. Ezeru slipped out almost immediately without asking anyone for permission. I imagined him finding some cold corner of a forgotten room, and going to sleep right on the stone floor.
I went out after him.
“Ezeru!”
“Stay away from me,” he said.
“But—we want to help you. I mean—I don’t know. I’m not sure why you’re avoiding me. I’m sure it must have been very hard in Dvaro’s court, and the things that were done to you…”
“I don’t need the pity of a queen. I came here with a job to do. Peri safe, Dvaro and Izeria, dead. That’s why I’ve done everything I’ve done, and it’s all I care about now. I don’t care if the feelings of some royals are bruised. Not that I am particularly trying to make trouble, but your husband insisted I attend this dinner. I’m not here to make friends.”
“But that’s how you get things done! By making friends!”
“Friends?” He scoffed. “That’s one way, I guess. And if I opened up to you, then what? Sounds like you have enough to worry about already with three men around. I don’t know that much about it, but most men don’t appreciate another man befriending their lady, whatever King Aurekdel claims.”
“I can be friends with a man without—”
“No,” he said. “I’m dangerous to you. There is still too much animal in me…” He looked at me with his shadowed eyes. I didn’t think he could look any more intense than he already did, but when he met my eyes for a moment I saw something bestial that terrified me.
“You weren’t like this in the tunnels,” I whispered.
“It started in the tunnels,” he said. Then he snapped, “Stay. Away. I must control my mind.” He whirled off down the corner. My heart was pounding.
‘It’ started in the tunnels?
I must control my mind?
“Moth?” Oszin stepped into the hall. “Were you just taking to Ezeru alone?”
“Yes…scold me if you like, but I don’t think he’s dangerous.”
Why do I care? Why do I keep worrying over him? He doesn’t need my friendship. He can take care of himself.
“I wouldn’t scold you,” Oszin said. “Obviously, I heard what Lady Minna said. I get why he was upset. The maids are whispering about him, too. He’s not accepted here, but he is getting ogled. I guess some girls are into the brooding type…”
“Yeah…some girls are.”
“I should brood more.”
“Do you need more girls?”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind the maids whispering about me. I wouldn’t do anything with them, but you’d be a little jealous and I like your jealous face.”
“I’m not sure I like where your mind is going.”
His hand moved to his pocket. “I wonder if he can read.”
I brightened at the thought of Oszin making friends with Ezeru in my place. “That’s a great idea! You should go ask him. Tell him that stuff you’ve been reading. I think he just needs a friend.”
Oszin made a face at me. “That easy? What happened to my cynical Moth? You finally get your curse-breaking mojo and suddenly you think a lifetime of trauma can be fixed by the power of friendship?”
“Ack! No. I’m not a sunshine and roses princess!”
“You’re a sunshine and roses queen.”
“Nooooo…” I clutched his shirt. “I know I can’t really fix anything. It just seems like it would be an accomplishment to see him smile.”
“I’m glad,” he said softly. “I’m glad you’re a softie inside. That was my biggest fear, when you were taken from me. That something would break you.” He gave me a gentle caress. “Your father was a kind ruler. I am eternally grateful for that.”
“I wish he was here.” I leaned into Oszin, and he held me for a moment, allowing me one of my rare moments to grieve. “Oszin…are there things you think about that you hide from me?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I…I don’t know. It was something about Ezeru’s eyes, I guess, that reminded me of you, even though you’re nothing alike. It made me think I don’t really know much abut what it’s like to be ruled over.”
“You couldn’t know. I don’t blame you for that.”
“Aurek told me that Seron was always the one person he could cry to. That makes me think of you, too. I never hid anything from you until I had to get married, and even then, it didn’t last long. But I think Seron hides things that he feels from Aurek…so you probably do hide things from me, I think. We lean on you, but can you trust me the same way?”
“It’s not that I try to hide things,” he said. “I truly am grateful to serve you. I wouldn’t want any other life than this.”
“But you worry about your family, too. You worked hard to make sure you could take care of them. And I guess in some way they must seem beneath my concern. I wanted you to come with me and leave them behind.”
“Well,” he said. “That’s the way of the world.”
“I feel bad that you ever had to worry about that…in my father’s kingdom…” I hardly knew what I was saying. “I guess I never had to be responsible before. I never thought I would be a queen.”
“You have a good heart,” Oszin said. “But you don’t have to take on everything at once. My parents loved your father, because they knew he was trying to make everyone’s life better. He allowed me to be your guard. I think you should try to relax tonight. There’s still a long day of travel ahead to Irandal.”
“I don’t need too much rest now.”
“You’ll still need rest. Aurek and Seron are probably wondering where you went. I’m surprised no one’s come looking for you.”
“It’s because they know I’m with you! You’re a part of things, Oszin.”
“Well, I’m going to stick to my post for now. I can still hear the music but I don’t have to talk to anyone.”
“I’ll let it pass for now.” I squeezed his chest one more time before rejoining the evening festivities.
Chapter Seven
Oszin
What is the deal with Ezeru?
The way he spoke to royalty…
I would never admit to Himika, my own beloved royal girl…but it was thrilling to see someone put them all in their places like that. They were so nervous around him. They needed him and his powers, too. They couldn’t get rid of him even if he was blunt.
Maybe I should check on him. I certainly didn’t want him getting close to Himika anymore, but I’d also seen him glaring at her. That wouldn’t do either.
I poked around the castle. The castle staff was numerous and seemed to be having their own party downstairs, now that the feast was over. This castle had wide, elegant halls and bright crystal lighting everywhere.
A fire dragon girl in a skimpy outfit—hardly more than a covering for the most necessary bits and some laced leather boots—came stalking by, arms swinging as if annoyed, and then stopped to look at me.
“I don’t suppose you’re looking for a good time tonight?” Then she frowned. “Oh—you’re the queen’s champion. Never mind.”
“I’m look
ing for the rock dragon.”
“Well, he’s in a bad mood. Down there. He’s sitting in a closet.”
“Were you—”
She put her hands on her hips. “Is there a problem, human?” She spread her hands on my chest. “They said humans were prudes. I bet I could beat that right out of you, once and for all.”
“I’m not a prude.”
She snickered, grabbing the waistband of my trousers and giving them a tug toward her, and my cock seemed to like bold women more than my mind did. “If you weren’t a prude, you would have a better response than that.”
“I’m—loyal to the queen,” I said, as her eyes moved over me.
I heard a throat clear down the hallway. Ezeru walked out of the dark hallway. “You were looking for me, sir?”
“Yes.”
Ezeru waved the girl off. “I told you, I’m not interested. He’s clearly not either. Go away.”
“Wow,” she said, throwing up a hand at us and then stalking off, tail swishing. I hadn’t even noticed she had her dragon tail going. I guess that showed I was getting used to this place. Sort of.
“The women here are very saucy,” Ezeru said, crossing his arms. He turned to me, his expression somewhat indifferent. “What did you want, Guard Oszin? I’m not interested in company.”
I had to wonder why any castle courtesan would head straight for this guy. Is he really that handsome? Plus, he’s so serious, and rude to his superiors. I must be missing something. To me, he seemed dangerous and a little sickly. He wasn’t Himika’s type, anyway. Thank the gods.
Keep kidding yourself, Osz. Why are you here?
Men like this were my heroes. Men who just said and did whatever the hell like they weren’t afraid to die. Like they weren’t afraid to hurt the girl they loved, or disappoint the parents who depended on them.
All right. Maybe I do see why they think he’s handsome.
“I was just curious about something,” I said.
“What is that?”
“Can you read? I know you can’t read my own language, but—” I took the papers from my pocket.
His eyes widened. “Paper… So much of it.”
The Kingdoms of Sky and Shadow Box Set: A Fantasy Romance Page 31
