Page 67 of Steeling Light
As soon as she steps away, I look at the Throne again and try to imagine what it will be like to talk to Sidon. I don’t get long to think about it, though. Kieran steps away from the other generals.
“King Rhion,” he says with more formality than usual.
“Kieran,” I say with a nod, acknowledging him and giving him a chance to speak freely.
He looks past me, and I turn to see who he’s looking at. Ainslee. “Sir, I’m not sure whether you’re aware of it, but you’re betrothed to my daughter.”
I blink. Kieran, my most trusted general, is Ainslee’s father? The same father that abandoned her? The one who called her a whore when she was six years old? I snap to attention, all thoughts of the Throne gone.
“I was not aware of that,” I say, not putting words to the confusion and anger that’s quickly building inside me.
He nods. “I was a younger man when she was born, and I said things that were…unacceptablefor a father to say. I’ve kept an ear out for what she’s done, but she’s lived within the Keep of Flames, and I’ve never been welcome there. Now that there’s not so much animosity between the Houses, I thought it would be nice to rebuild the relationship that I so thoroughly ruined all those years ago. I’d like to ask for her forgiveness, but I don’t know if she would allow me to speak with her. Is there any way you would help facilitate an old man asking his daughter for forgiveness?”
I don’t answer immediately as I look into his eyes. Kieran has been one of my most trusted generals for centuries. Ever since his son died to one of the Shade’s bargains, he’s been as loyal of a man as I could ever ask for. His strategies are sound. His ability to train leaders is unparalleled.
But Ainsleehatesher father more than any other person in the world. Even when we were children, she refused to talk about him. He is a memory that she doesn’t share, even with me.
Maybe he’s changed. I’m not the same man that I was even a year ago. Ainslee has as well. Maybe reconnecting with her father would help her heal the wounds he left on her soul.
“I’ll arrange a meeting,” I say. “But until then, please stay away from her. I don’t want the memories of the past to ruin anything in the future. On that note, it’s probably best that you leave.”
He takes one more look at his daughter, and I can see the pain in his eyes. It would be good for both of them to reconnect. After his son died, he was… not well.
Kieran gives me a nod and says, “Thank you, sir. I’ll take my leave now.”
Without another look, he leaves through the side door of the Throne Room that leads to the barracks.
Ainslee gets back with two cups, one for her, and the other held out to me. “Have you made your decision?” she asks.
I finish the glass of wine in a single drink and hand her the cup with a smile. “I have,” I say. “It’s time that I claimmyThrone.”
She grins and runs her hand over my forearm. “I can’t wait to hear what Sidon’s like. He’s probably the nicest dragon of them all.”
I chuckle, but I don’t say anything as I walk up the steps to the Throne that was my father’s only three days ago. A simple gray granite chair that means so much to the world and has been such an impossible goal for my entire life.
I can’t hesitate, can’t let myself give in to any of the fear that’s had me feeling paralyzed for hours. Everyone’s eyes are on me.Will he claim it? Or will he disappear and never return? Will Rhion Rahn succeed his father?
I push the doubts away, and I sit down. Power like I’ve never felt before flows through me like lightning. Not even the House relics can compare to the way it feels to even touch this piece of granite.
There’s no time to think about it, though, because I don’t see the Throne Room anymore. I don’t see my generals or the dwarves, and I certainly can’t see Ainslee.
Instead, all I can see is a strange, cottage-sized piece of stone that’s been shaped into a dragon. Made of a white quartz that reminds me of the House of Light, it’s exquisite. Every scale has been carved into it, and all of them seem like theyshouldglow, but they don’t. It’s not as big as I’d imagined a dragon to be, but it’s still huge. The mouth still looks large enough to swallow me whole, but there’s nothing ferocious about it.
Instead, it looks… peaceful, and the lines of its jaws seem to almost be grinning.
“She’s beautiful,” I whisper and run my hand over a scale. I don’t know why, but I’m sure that this stone was carved to look like a female dragon. Maybe it’s the size. Maybe it’s…
“She is Vesper,” a deep rumbling voice says from behind me. I turn to look at a mountain of silver so large I can barely see the dragon’s face as his neck arches above me. “She is my mate. My soulbound mate.”
He moves slowly, but not so slowly as to be ponderous. No, he simply moves casually, as though I am not of particular importance—as prey or as a predator. “You are mated to… astone?” I ask.
The dragon lays down in front of me, his forelegs resting on the ground, and the sinuous neck snakes its way closer to me so I can look into his eye. “My mate was killed, and when a dragon dies, its body turns to stone. It is… a remembrance. Vesper did not die here, of course, but I created this small world. Since I could not rejoin her in the void as I wished, I created a replica of her, so I could speak to her when I needed to remind myself of…my flaws.”
I blink.Thisis Sidon the Strong? The dragon most renowned for his ability to wage war? The dragon that created the House of Steel and whose power fueled my father’s madness? He seems so calm and collected.
“I have come to claim the Throne of Steel. My father died, and I was chosen to replace him as the Conduit of the House of Steel. If you will accept me.”
Sidon creates a low hum. His head moves slowly back and forth to the rhythm. He closes his eyes, and for a moment, I wonder if he’s just ignoring me.
