Page 11 of The Soul of the Dragon

"Indeed," the king said, moving closer while still keeping well out of arm's reach.

"Am I missing something? Do you already know who I am?"

"Impatient, I see. Yes, I can see the Ferguson in him." The king's eyes tracked back and forth several times between me and his nephew.

To top off that confusion,Magnus and his uncle continued their conversation as if I wasn't there. It was all starting to piss me off and I struggled to contain my temper.

"You look like you have something you need to say." The king finally turned fully to me.

"I do."

"Well, go ahead then. Let's hear what Duncan has sent you for that he couldn't come and ask for himself."

I jerked at the sound of my father's name again. "So, you do know my father."

"I do. Have known him all my life actually."

I waited for more, but when the King looked expectantly at me I decided I needed to get on with this before he grew bored with me.

"We are in need of an item. An artifact with certain properties." I hesitated, not feeling comfortable at revealing every detail of what we needed and why. These two were turning out to be strange fuckers, and I didn't think I could trust either one of them. And my father's dire warnings were stuck in my head. Especially the one where I was supposed to be careful how much personal information I gave to a fae.

"That's rather vague. What kind of properties are we talking about?"

"Magical ones."

"Again, that's too little information. In this realm, most things have something magical about them." The King shifted on his feet. "Look, I'm not into guessing games. So either you tell me what you want or we're done."

Taking a deep breath and swallowing the dragon's growl, I spat it out. "I'm in need of an amulet that will break a dark magic curse. A powerful one."

His spine straightened, and I even caught Magnus's jerk to attention in my peripheral vision. Little fucker.

"Okay. I have to admit that's a tad more interesting. And why isn't Duncan here himself asking?"

"He's dead." I wasn't going to get into the details of my father's sacrifice, or the fact that it had taken that sacrifice to get me here. It was clear they knew much more about me than me them.

A look of darkness passed over the Kings face for a flash. It was so quick I almost missed it. But it was too brief for me to begin to figure out what it might have meant.

"Well, that certainly changes things. Who is his successor as the dragon king?"

"As his oldest, it is to be me. However, until I return to the human realm, it will have to be my younger twin in my stead."

"Twins, huh? Is that what he told you then? Interesting."

"What does that mean?"

The king and his nephew exchanged a knowing glance.

"Never you mind. We'll worry about that later. Tell me more about this curse that needs to be broken. I didn't think there were any in your realm who delved into dark magics. It's usually considered far too dangerous outside this realm. Even here, there are only a handful of practitioners allowed to wield it."

"It is against our laws and was used without our consent or knowledge until it was too late. That's why I'm here. So we can fix it and see to it that the witches who dared to defy us are properly taken care of."

The King's laughter rolled through the chamber. "There is always someone, isn't there? A faction of rebels just dying to break the laws and usurp power?"

I wasn't sure if he was talking about our land or his now. "Power is a seductive mistress," I agreed. "He who has it rules the world."

The King instantly sobered, his laughter dying in a flash. "And he who has it always wants more and will do anything to get it."

That sounded perilously close to a warning, and I didn't like it. I came here with the odds against me and this mission. But I wasn't about to give up because I had to face down a power hungry king. Politics was not my game, but putting an opponent in his place was.

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