Page 129 of Enchanted Shadows
“Kess?” I asked. “Do you agree with leaving tonight?”
She sent me a look like she wanted to kill me. As if she wasconveying in a mere glance how angry she was that I was being communicative now, a little too late. “Yes.”
I gestured with my head to Keir and Zaire waiting for us. “They’ll fly us to the docks,” I told them. “So I will give you a moment together as a family.”
The man who raised Kessara, a daughter who was not his own, reached out and gripped my arm before I left. He leaned in and hugged me, one slap on the back. “You are a good man, Commander Raikes.”
I smiled. “I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong and find that about you as well.”
“Not all kings are tyrants,” he joked.
“I’ve made sure all the ones who were are nowdeadtyrants,” I agreed. I was fairly certain he knew I was implying that should Damek ever find himself on a throne, he would find himself in a similar fashion.
The queen whispered, “Zara, is he always this—” she circled her hand at me, unable to find words for it.
“Handsome?” I provided.
“Valiant?” the king offered.
Kessara looked at me but only briefly. “Annoying?”
The queen laughed, though it was short. I supposed it was hard to laugh on a day you arrested your own flesh and blood. “I was going to sayhonorable.”
“Well yes,” Kessara said, a smirk of a smile playing on her lips. “He is always annoyingly honorable.”
“Good thing I am also valiantly handsome then,” I deadpanned.
Kessara squinted at me while her father laughed heartily.
With one last goodbye to the queen and king, I headed over to wait with Zaire and Keir.
“How’s it going?” Keir asked. “It seems everything has gone according to plan.”
“Other than my wife is currently plotting my death, all is well.The bigger crisis is averted. Do you mind dropping us a little ways off from the ship? I would like a moment to smooth things over before there isn’t a quiet moment without the team.” It was a selfish move, but I wanted to make things right. Now. Not in two days.
Zaire back in his human form snorted a laugh. “I think we can do that.”
Keir just stated, “Good thing the sword fight was earlier rather than later then. Would hate to see you shishkabobbed by my sister.”
“I’m not sure that’s a verb,” I told him.
“It should be,” he grinned.
Only ten minutes later, Kessara was heading over to us, as I heard the queen say to her, “You may be Wylan’s sister, but to us, you will always be Agria’s princess. You are always welcome here.”
I thought I saw Kessara’s emotion in her eyes, but she didn’t allow a single tear to fall.
Keir headed for the same balcony they’d entered in, just hours earlier. “Your chariot awaits.”
“People from Agria do not ride dragons,” she whispered. To whom I wasn’t sure. Because she sure as hell wasn’t talking to me. Or even looking at me.
“People from Wylan do,” Keir reminded her.
“I promise I won’t bite,” Zaire tossed over his shoulder just before shifting into his dragon form.
“I make no such promises,” I called after him.
Keir stilled from where he was about to take off.
