Page 52 of Rapunzel's Gambit (All That Glitters)

I clung to Pollox, my tears pouring down my face and soaking his chest as my sobs deepened. The grief engulfing my body was all-consuming, and if Pollox hadn’t supported the majority of my weight as he kept his arms firmly wrapped around my waist, I would have collapsed. He didn’t say a word, just continued to hold me and rub my back.

Eventually, we sank down to huddle on the stone floor of the balcony, my head resting on Pollox’s chest. My emotional bank was depleted, but the extended crying seemed to have purged my mind of the immediate shock, leaving a residual sorrow in its wake.

“What do you want to do?” Pollox asked after I’d cried out all my tears.

“I don’t know. I can’t leave the kingdom without a ruler. They need me.”

Pollox continued to hold me. “I think it’s time you escaped for good.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

He cupped my face in his hands. I’d never been so grateful for the comforting heat that soaked into my skin from where he touched me, bolstering my confidence. “You’re still a part of my hoard, even if you go somewhere else. This isn’t goodbye. But if what you need is to go back, I’ll do everything in my power to make that happen.”

I sank against him with a sigh. Already, the weight of ruling a kingdom was settling back onto my shoulders. For all the dislike that poured in on me and my father, I still cared. I would be able to implement new policies that would help the citizens, not hurt them. I could be like Pollox, always caring for my hoard to the best of my ability.

“I’ll take you back to where we first met,” Pollox told me. “You can go back and reclaim your throne.”

“You don’t want to talk me out of it? It could be dangerous.”

“A dragon would never abandon its hoard. I think it is the right thing to do to go back and care for them. Now that your father passed away, his hoard belongs to you.”

“They usually call it a kingdom, not a hoard. What about you? What will you do?”

He shifted his position, arms still wrapped around me. “I’ll come by in a few days. Maybe I’ll pass myself off as a dragon tamer and say that I tamed the mighty Pollox and that now, he only does my bidding.”

I let out a choked laugh. “That would be very handy to have a dragon readily available. I just don’t know how I’m going to turn the kingdom around. Father did a lot of damage with his greed.”

Pollox paused. “May I ask you something?”

“Always.”

“Were your father’s parents greedy as well?”

“Yes. I suppose it’s a learned behavior when people are in power. It seems that every ruler nearby is affected by it now.”

“By George,” Pollox swore quietly. “He was telling the truth.”

“Who was?”

He let out a long sigh. “I told you I had an ancestor who was able to curse human bloodlines. There is a story that was passed down through the generations about my great grandfather, who fell in love with a human. She rejected his feelings, and he cursed her bloodline that any ruler would have a dragon’s greed until the bloodline died out or until reparations were made.”

The story of the long-ago princess’s kidnapping came rushing back. “What was her name?”

“I can’t recall. Something like Sariah or…”

“Sabra?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Do you know the story?”

Not even Pollox’s warmth could combat the chill that overtook me. “I hadn’t heard it exactly like that before, but yes. Sabra was my great-grandmother. We were told the dragon kidnapped her.”

Pollox let out a noise similar to his thrumming when he was a dragon, but it sounded far less frightening when issuing from human-sized lungs. “No, she pretended to have feelings for Falkor and promised that if he helped her, she would marry him. Once he gave his help, she rejected him and married a man. For a time, I wondered if you would do the same thing to me. Did your father seem different before he took the throne?”

“Yes,” I breathed. “He used to care so much more, but that means”—I buried my face in my hands—“that means I’ll be affected by the same greed that my father had now that the kingdom is passing to me. My ancestors married royalty from other kingdoms; no wonder all the rulers have become progressively more greedy, and it’s all the people who are suffering.” I assessed my emotions. Was it already taking place? Had I already become uncaring and selfish now that Father had died? When had it happened?

Pollox gently pulled my hands down. “You are not affected the same because you’ve made the reparations. You treated me as an equal, as a friend. And now, I hold that oath fulfilled. You and your descendants won’t be plagued by that greed any longer.”

“You can do that?”

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