Page 58 of Scalebound

I blushed, feeling the gold shimmer on my cheeks, and smiled, looking down into my lap shyly. “It was my dream to travel with my best friend, Cora. We wanted to come to the water. To splash and play in it and soak in the sun. Even if our skin burnt, we didn’t care. She has often come this way and experienced much of the land.” I paused, thinking of Cora and how badly I missed her. “I was jealous. It’s silly, but I was jealous of how my father treated her. He treated her as his own. My mother, too. As if she would be heir one day. He has her travel as the face of the kingdom to create relationships with each kingdom and city.”

Damian was intently listening and rowing as I talked.

“I’m sorry,” he responded with true empathy in the dimples on his tan skin. His facial hair had grown even more, covering his mouth and lower cheeks, but the dimple still shone through. I glanced away to make sure that I wasn’t blushing again. “How does your tower tie into the story?”

“Well, as you know, my parents lied and said that I was dead at a young age. This was to protect me. However, the older I get, I wonder if they are actually trying to protect me, or if they never knew what to do with me. I think that there’s some sort of fear they have with me.

“Ever since I was little, my mother had never been able to look me in the eye. She never spent time with me alone. I knew that it hurt her to not have a child that she could raise on her own, but it hurt our relationship with how she treated me during thelittle time we spent together.” I thought of the last time I saw her, with bruised, inky splotches displayed on her body. I winced, wondering what had happened to her, and cringed thinking that my father may be hurting her.

“My father allowed me to go to their dinners each night. However, that was the only thing that he did for me.

“All I had ever wanted was for him and my mother to tell me that I was enough. That I was good enough. It felt like I was never worthy of being queen in their eyes. That’s why this quest is so important to me. To prove that I am good enough for them.” Damian was silent, nodding as he listened.

I didn’t expect him to say anything, so it was a shock when he spoke. “Aurelia,” he said, using my real name, “You are always worthy, and you are always good enough. If anyone tells you otherwise, I will kill them myself. You hear me?” His gaze bore into mine, sending a jolt of tension coursing through me. My chest tightened, and I found myself holding my breath, unable to draw in even the slightest gulp of air.

I blinked back tears, knowing that was the acceptance I needed–that I wanted to hear from my father. But Damian was right. I didn’t need my parent’s approval. I was good enough. Maybe this whole time I was doing this quest to prove to myself what I was capable of.

“I thought you only killed bad guys?” I asked jokingly, allowing my emotions to lower.

“Anyone that would think that you’re not worthy is a good enough reason to be a bad guy,” he said as I blushed.

“What were your parents like?” I asked, thinking of his past.

“They…” he paused. “They expected a lot from me. They wanted me to become exactly like them—to follow their footsteps.”

“How so?”

“My parents were both scholars, and had the highest education that you can have in my town. My father was a doctor and my mother was a teacher. They wanted me to follow after them, to go to school and to get a similar education. They had the funds to pay for it, but that didn’t mean that was what I wanted.” His eyes glanced off to the shimmery water, watching as the sea wood and the foam passed by us, attaching themselves to the small boat that we were rowing.

“What did you want, then?”

“I wanted to craft knives and swords specifically. To me, it’s not about shaping metal, but creating something so deadly that others couldn’t. Each sword and knife tells its own story.” He grabbed out the same knife he had used multiple times on our journey, placing the paddle back into the inside of the boat. The blood-stained hilt looked dull and rusted over. There were gems on it placed up the hilt, glimmering shades of blue and red. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the hilt had an embedded design carved inside of it, tracing swirls throughout the grip.

“You made this?” I asked, never thinking that he was the one that actually crafted it. He nodded, a smile of passion slowly curving upward. “Well, Damian, you have certainly surprised me,” I said, taking the handle of his dagger from his hands.

I admired where the blade met the handle and watched as the intricate lines bled into patterns through the hilt. The blade wasn’t too heavy, easily held in my hand. It was remarkable. Damian was talented. It proved that he had the heart I knew he had.

With a mischievous gleam in my eye, I raised my arm, letting the hilt dance lightly between my fingertips, teasingly hovering over the water's surface. A grin spread across my face as I turned to him.

“Hey, be careful with that!” he called jokingly. I held it up higher in the air, ready to stand in the boat to make it furtherfrom his reach. “Don’t make me force it from you,” he said, slowly moving in my direction.

Our eyes widened as the small boat rocked more aggressively back and forth from our movements. I narrowed my eyes at him, accepting the challenge. Without making small movements, he lunged, the front of the boat beginning to tip upward, the back of it lowering more into the water. The shock of it made me almost drop the dagger into the ocean.

“You better give it back to me before this gets deadly,” he said, his body up against my own, his face breathing next to mine. His breaths warm against my skin, sending chills down my spine.

Time seemed to stop as his eyes were peering into my own, my hand almost going weak, almost dropping his special dagger yet again.

“What if I like it deadly?” I snapped, not taking my eyes away from his, my eyebrow raising.

With a cruel grin, he said, "Well, in that case, how about we find a compromise? I'll let you keep it... if you promise to make it worth my while."

“You like to bargain,” I said as a statement. My mind raced back to the recent night in the forest, when he had the exact dagger I held in my fingertips against my neck.

“If I remember clearly, you were the one to strike the deal first,” he said. I scrunched my nose in response. “What about this?” He stepped backwards on the boat, bringing the weight back to normal. A small wobble shook from the shift. “I’ll let you keep that knife if you teach meSatas Lerma.” My eyes wandered to his other boot, forgetting that he had a second knife. I smirked, looking down, smiling slightly.

“And why would you care to do that?”

He paused. “Because maybe, I am realizing that dragons aren’t as evil as I originally had thought they were.” His head tilted to the side, his eyebrows raising. “Happy?”

---