Page 8 of The Soul of the Dragon

"I thought you would be someone else is all."

"How is it—"

"What? You actually thought the king wouldn't know when someone new entered his kingdom, invited or NOT?"

An eerie shiver worked over me as I took a deep breath and sheathed my blade. If he intended me harm, I could retrieve it quick enough. For now, though, I wanted nothing more than to pry some information out of this git.

“Who did you expect?” There was no way for the king to know about me and my trip here. I had never set foot outside of our own realm. I hadn't even known all of this existed. Our parents had not been forthcoming. It wasn't until my father grew desperate that he shared, and still, he'd left out many details.

Those little evil sprite creatures, for one. It would have been nice to know they could attack me in the skies.

"Some fae make it a point to know everything. Including the details of strangers."

Since I did not like the way this conversation was going, I chose to keep quiet. I would deny everything until he offered some kind of proof. I’d been warned the fae were tricky, and couldn't be trusted not to use their knowledge to twist the facts.

"I'm pretty sure you have mistaken me for someone else. I'm a lowly guard out on his night off."

He snorted. "Those weren't your men, and you aren't one of the guards for the crown."

I frowned. “I certainly could be. You don't know me and I don't know you.”

His laugh grew louder. “I’m familiar with the entire guard regiment and you definitely aren’t one of them. So you might as well cut the bull and tell me what it is you really want here.”

My eyes narrowed on this man who’d so easily seen through my attempt to get inside the castle through the guard regiment. And had expected someone else. Who the hell was this cad? And why was he so interested in what I might want to do?

"Look, I don't know who you are, but there's no need to be so parano—"

“It’s obvious you don’t belong here so let's just cut to the chase," he interrupted. "I’ll ask again. What is it you want?”

I hated that I kind of admired his directness. Even if it was none of his business why I was here.

“I gave you my name. Isn't that enough?”

“Okay then, Isaac the dragon. Now tell me why you are here.”

I reeled back at that. “How in the hell?”

Scarface laughed a moment before a growl rolled through his chest, and his eyes changed to the slits of a dragon. I leashed my surprise as I realized I'd finally encountered the king's leader of the guard. Well, at least now I understood why he was so curious.

“I’d heard there were dragons here. Although I’d yet to see any, so I wasn’t sure."

“I’m the only one in this kingdom. Which begs the question of where you came from.”

“I’m a long way from home.”

“That’s a non-answer.”

I shrugged. “It’s the only one you’re going to get.”

His eyes narrowed. “So then I should call the guard and have you hauled off to the dungeon? That’s what we do with people who refuse to answer questions. Especially mine."

“Who the hell are—?”

“My liege,” someone from the darkness called out a moment before he appeared before them. One thing about the fae that made them difficult to be around was their ability to sneak up on someone. If I wasn’t careful one showed up at every turn.

“My liege?” I balked.

Scarface smiled and turned to the fae. “What is happening?” he asked.

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