Page 16 of The Keeper of the Kingdoms

“There’s no maybe,” he assured. “You can’t deny nature’s course. The Goddess has made you to be bonded. She will come around eventually.”

“How long did it take you?” I demanded, knowing the answer. Everyone knew. I just wanted to remind him how similar our situations were on some levels.

“Touché,” he conceded. “But hey, listen, at least Kiera knows who she is, what she is, and what it means to become what she now needs to be. You’re not starting from a blank slate like I was. This is a blessing from the Goddess. However much of a shock it is to her, Kiera knows that.”

I shook my head. “Thanks, I’ll just remember to count the Goddess’ blessings every time she successfully puts off the inevitable.”

“That’s the spirit,” he grinned.

It gave me hope. His lightness was still there somewhere. It just seemed to slip deeper and deeper inside him by the day. I would have to watch closely to ensure I didn’t miss the signs it was disappearing for good.

I left him guarding the cell, pleased in the knowledge thatKiera had warded it and he couldn’t go in without her there to grant him access.

I returned to my chambers, longingly glancing at my bed before heading to bathe and ready myself for the day ahead.

Nyx had excused me from the morning briefing by telling the King I was familiarizing myself with the kingdoms in the library. But now I had to go to further meetings in his place since he’d made his own excuses about training Zaria in some more advanced maneuvers.

I had the feeling life was about to become a series of trading places with Nyx and covering each other until this foray into undead experimentation was over. I was not excited for it.

When I arrived at the meeting regarding border security for the lands bordering the Second Kingdom, I took a seat on the far side of the room. I’d taken to sitting in places where I was not in the King’s direct sight line, as it was becoming clear to me that he regarded me with growing suspicion. Though perhaps suspicion was the wrong term. Interest, maybe? Whatever the case, I could not afford to be the subject of any real level of scrutiny. My backstory was flimsy and my knowledge of the current affairs of the kingdoms was woefully inadequate, even for a fae supposedly living away from the rest of society.

I had an in-depth education on the history of the kingdoms but when it came to the present day, I was as good as clueless in many ways. I was getting by, but I did not want attention to be drawn my way if it could be helped. It raised too many questions about why Nyx thought me capable of such a high rank in the King’s army.

EIGHT

JAXUS

The room began to fill with flight leaders, strategists, and other fae who would be presenting strategic proposals to the King this morning. Few met my eye and even fewer sat near me.

I preferred to sit off to the side so that I could see both the King and the rest of the room. I was still learning the behaviors and attitudes of those on the King’s council and I preferred a good observation post over the anonymity the back of the room would have offered.

As the last few filed in and the rear door was closed, the door behind the King’s seat opened and his assistant pushed through carrying papers and scrolls, followed by the King himself.

As the assistant set out the scrolls on the desk, the King looked my way, making brief eye contact before he leaned both hands on his desk and poured over the material spread beforehim. I didn’t know how to read that. He hadn’t outwardly stated he didn’t trust me but it was implied in the glances he only seemed to give me when Nyx was absent.

Without looking at the room, he addressed us in his usual curt tone. “For those of you not able to attend this morning’s briefings,” he shot me a side-eye that I could definitely read. Disapproval, despite Nyx having explained I was carrying out a task on his orders this morning.

“You will now, I’m sure, be aware there was an ambush yesterday on the north border to the Sixth Kingdom. A group of these undead dragons and their ryders attacked the Third Flight. They were dealt with swiftly.” He tipped a nod to the Third Flight leader, a seasoned flyer named Sarkan who had yet to acknowledge me as his superior.

Things would change once I could fly alongside them. I had petitioned Nyx to give me a completely new group of flyers. I had no interest in battling with established flyers sore that they or their comrades were passed over for me to be positioned where I was. Plus, I was keen to mold an untainted group into a newer way of thinking. The establishment had serious cracks that clearly only an outsider could see and if I was staying here, I was going to make a difference. I just needed Kiera beside me in order to achieve it.

“We took no casualties. The small band of undead seemed to be acting alone. There’s no evidence more are in hiding in the region,” the King continued, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“I am eager to hear your proposals on how we move on this.” The King sat heavily in his oversized seat. Not quite a throne, but a statement nonetheless. He looked around the room, waiting for just one brave soul to take the floor.

From somewhere in the middle of the pack, a throat cleared, and then a fae stood and began reading from his notes with a nervous expression and a shaky voice about how our focus should be on increasing security on the borders.

We sat as strategist after strategist presented theories and suggestions that would inevitably not work in the field.

I was fortunate that in these meetings, the floor was open to all and not governed by the hierarchy of rank. So many of the flight leaders spoke up against suggestions they felt would be unsustainable in the field and I didn’t have to draw attention to myself by disagreeing with everything that was presented.

But this quiet, reserved leading style could not continue. I could feel I had no respect from the dragons. I was meant to be leading already and until I was flying with them, I couldn’t see a way to instill in them my loyalty and prove my abilities. So I remained reserved, but I had to get Kiera in the sky. I needed to be leading these dragons in a way that they understood.

I tuned back into the droning presentations. The meeting was getting us nowhere. Everything presented was shot down by one dragon or another, and rightly so.

Ultimately, I could not hold my tongue and found myself wading in with my own objections as the King seemed to be leaning more and more towards basically locking the doors on the Second Kingdom to prevent any more border crossings by the enemy.

The biggest sticking point for me was that in securing the borders to the Second Kingdom, were we or were we not isolating the citizens from our help? The King seemed to think that the sparse ground units they had in the Second Kingdom would be enough to protect its citizens from another attack, should one arise. But without intelligence, he felt that sending in larger-scale troops was not warranted. I’d argue that by increasing security on the borders, he was contradicting this idea, but we could not see eye to eye on the issue.

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