Page 32 of The Dragon King

It was easy to forget the destruction and devastation when I was in my lover’s arms, but now, I could feel the sadness in my bones.

We arrived at the royal palace and were escorted inside.

Queen Eldinar was upon her throne, but she wasn’t quite the same. Her skin was paler than before, and the usual silent hostility in her eyes was nonexistent. Despite the fact that she held her head high, she wore a look of defeat. She wore a look of permanent weariness.

Uncle Ezra sat at her side in an ordinary chair, her hand enclosed in his, his eyes on the side of her face.

Talon stopped beside me and gazed upon her with a hard face. He didn’t speak.

I felt invisible, so I tried to stay invisible.

Uncle Ezra continued to gaze at his wife.

Queen Eldinar stared at Talon before her, her eyes shifting back and forth slightly as she took in his appearance for what seemed like the first time. She usually regarded him with palpable rage, but the daggers were gone from her eyes. “I’m glad to see thatyou’re well, Your Majesty.” There wasn’t a tongue of sarcasm in her words. Only a quiet genuineness.

Talon absorbed those words for a long time before he responded. “You as well, Your Majesty.”

I stared back and forth between them, knowing they’d never been so kind to each other.

“Many blades pierced your armor,” he said. “I feared that would be the end of your reign, Queen Eldinar.”

“I feared the same, Death King. If you’d arrived just a moment later, I would have fought among the dead you called to battle. My husband would have been a widower far too young and died of a broken heart. But you did more than save me. You saved my people—and you saved what we hold most dear.” Her eyes were locked on his as she spoke, regarding him with a look of admiration and respect. She was beautiful under any circumstances, but when her mouth wasn’t hard in a scowl and her eyes were kind, she was even more exceptional. She started to push against the armrests to lift herself up, but she struggled in her weakness.

Uncle Ezra immediately rose to assist her. “Fleur Nia?—”

“I can manage.” She brushed away his hold and stood upright, straightening her spine and standing still in case she swayed. Then she stepped forward, wearing a white gown and barefoot as she approached the stairs.

Uncle Ezra came to her side and extended his arm to her.

She refused to take it, descending the stairs on her own, but taking it one step at a time. “I wish to address the Death King as my equal.” She stopped when she reached the bottom, pausingfor a moment before she finished the last steps and met Talon face-to-face. “Because he has proven himself an ally to Riviana Star—and a friend.”

Any remnant of hostility had faded from his gaze.

Queen Eldinar stared at him for a long moment before she slowly bowed to him.

A subtle look of surprise moved into his face—and a drop of emotion.

She righted herself once more and regarded him, almost at equal heights because she was an exceptionally tall woman. “We’ve lost many of our kin. Trees that have stood here for thousands of years have perished. Our forest will be forever scarred by the blood that has spilled into the soil—from both friend and foe. But the Great Tree still stands tall because you risked your life to defend it. You betrayed your god to serve another. With full humility, I will admit how deeply I misjudged your character, Death King. And for that, you have my deepest apologies. I hope you accept my gratitude as well as my remorse.”

He continued to regard her with a hard stare, as if he was doing his best to fight the tendrils of emotion that slowly tightened around him. There were lapses in his determination, shifts in his eyes, moments of uncertainty in his gaze. “All is forgiven if you give me what I seek, Your Majesty.”

A small smile moved over her lips. “No amount of bloodshed or fatigue will deter your mission.”

His stare hardened. “No.”

“If you succeed, will it bring you peace?”

His stare endured for several long seconds, his thoughts hidden behind the vault. “No.”

“The King of the Southern Isles is more powerful than any monarch in this land. He will betray the laws of nature to subjugate creatures that are meant to brighten our skies with the reflection of their mighty scales. He is empty of empathy and kindness, but full of cruelty and callousness. You’re a man who fights with honor, but he fights with none. I fear that this is a battle you cannot win, even with the aid of the dragons—and it will claim your life.” Her eyes shifted back and forth between his as she regarded him. “You have the devotion of a woman who saw your true character before anyone else. You have the love of a mighty dragon who has chosen to share his gift of immortality. If victory will not bring you peace, then perhaps this is a battle that shouldn’t be fought.”

“After everything I’ve done for Riviana Star, you still deny me what was promised?” He didn’t raise his voice, didn’t seem angry, only broken.

“You misunderstand my words, Death King,” she said gently. “Not only will I share the location of the dragons, but I will personally escort you there—without a blindfold. You’ve proven you’re an ally to these magnificent creatures and you take up your sword in their defense as you did with my kin. There is only one reason I try to deter you, and that’s because I care for you.”

His lone reaction was a slight increase in his breathing. His eyes lost their hardness as they shifted back and forth between hers. “My family is dead because of my foolishness. I knew something was amiss, and I should have tried harder to convince my father of the treason that lurked right below his nose. But I didn’t try hard enough…and I don’t deserve peace. I do it for them, not for myself. I do it for Khazmuda—because those he loves still live.You’re right to assume that battle will claim my life, because it will. But that does not deter me in the slightest because I should have died alongside them a long time ago.”

Pain gripped my heart the way a soldier gripped the pommel of his sword. The self-loathing in his words was physical. For decades, he’d carried his pain, and it’d only grown worse over time.

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