Page 7 of King of Fire and Scales

The king paused to spoon food into his mouth. Thalia glanced at her father who had forgotten all about his food and was staring open-mouthed at the king.

“But then, they pinpointed the location of this sorceress to this town. Which led us to you. We had to locate you right away because a woman, a being, with your power and magical ability would need to be protected.”

When Thalia and Evanth both continued looking at King Drake blankly, he quickly finished the last of the food in his bowl and then continued.

“A Creation Sorceress is a being of ultimate power. She has the ‘Essence of Creation’ which allows her to create or manipulate matter at a molecular level. I take it that those gardens of yours had a bit of help?” King Drake smiled knowingly, and Thalia's skin went cold, the hair on the back of her neck rising.

“Your power would be a great help to the Dragon Kingdom. You could heal the land, create powerful defenses, and enhance my own powers. The Creation Sorceress also plays an important role in our ancient rituals.”

Thalia glanced at her father, whose face was shining.

They both knew she had magical abilities. But what King Drake had just said was beyond anything Thalia could ever imagine.

She plastered a smile on her face and looked directly at the king as she lifted the empty bowl from in front of him.

Thalia turned to the pot and filled the bowl up again, placed it in front of him, and then spoke.

“You are welcome to enjoy more food, Your Majesty. But I am afraid that the woman you seek, this Creation Sorceress, is not in this house and never has been.”

FOUR

DRAKE

The moment the king walked into the tiny village hut, he was enchanted. Not simply because he knew within his bones that he was speaking to the Creation Sorceress they were seeking, but because an entirely other, foreign sensation crept through his skin.

Thalia was bent over the table, serving her guest and her ailing father what smelled like a rather herbaceous stew with a long, wooden ladle. It was clear to Drake that she had done it a thousand times. He could smell it on her, along with the rich fragrance of earth and a bountiful, healthy spirit.

Her smile was demur, but earnest. It made the sweet honey hazel of her eyes sparkle, and the king felt a coiling in his stomach every time they hovered toward him.

The curtain of her chestnut brown hair was styled practically, as was the modest tunic she wore, hanging loose and scuffed up from hard work around the cuffs and neckline. It embraced the firm curves of her petite frame well.

Thalia’s skin was that of a pale rose, likely from a long day of arduous labor. But it stole nothing from her hospitality or sweet presence.

Drake had been smitten before as a boy, but this wasn’t merely infatuation with a gorgeous woman. This was fate.

The king’s dragon roared. He stared down at the utensils, trying to silence the inner voice that insisted she was his.

Drake caught Thalia’s eye just as she sat before him on the bench next to her father. There were certainly gold trimmings around her hazel eyes, and for a moment he was taken by them.

He may have even thought, for one harrowing moment, that she was also a telepathic witch.

“Did you want a fork instead of a spoon?”

Her question bobbed up from the fog of his daze, and the king blinked once, twice, then cleared his throat.

“No, a spoon will suffice, thank you. I apologize for my countenance. It was a long journey.”

She smiled at him as she picked up her spoon. “No need to apologize. I merely hope the stew is capable of reaching the high standards of a royal kitchen.”

Her father chuckled softly, scarfing his meal down sloppily.

Drake’s dragon paced inside him with impatience. He shoved it aside and returned to the topic at hand. He stirred the stew, scooping a chunk into the utensil before speaking.

"I want to address your statement about the Creation Sorceress,” he said, switching his gaze between the two peasant folks. “As the Dragon King of the Mountains, I possess my own power. One that is capable of observing the power of others. I have no doubts that I am in the presence of something… magnificent.”

He stuffed the stew in his mouth and chewed slowly. Thalia’s father continued his love affair with the meal, staring down into the bowl as if hypnotized.

Thalia, however, seemed intrigued by the king. It was a hesitant kind of intrigue, but he could work with that.

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