Page 27 of Earth Dragon
“Why?” Shannon asked.
“I do not know,” he admitted. “Perhaps she liked the anticipation in the waiting.”
“And what do you wait for?” Shannon asked.
“Oh, I dislike anticipation,” he shrugged. “I like to have everything planned and plotted so there’s no need to fret, no need for concern.”
“And that’s what you have?” she asked. “Everything, down to the last detail, carved and chipped?”
He smiled. He couldn’t help himself. She thought she knew him, but she did not. Sometimes he felt he barely knew himself. There was the crown, and there was the carpentry, and he lived somewhere in the impossible in between.
“I would hope so,” he said simply.
“And what about Rogoros?” she asked. “Is it that easy to guide an entire people away from what they’ve always known?”
“It isn’t away. It’s a deepening of our traditions, that is all. Keeping them here, where they belong, will strengthen us all. It will add, not take away.”
“I know speeches like these,” she said. “I’ve heard them before from men in my closer vicinity. Do you listen to your own words, because you may fool yourself into believing them, but trust me… If you threaten the freedom of the people, sooner or later, they will turn on you. And it might take generations, but it will happen.”
“I’m not—”
She held up a hand, shaking her head a little.
“I wasn’t going to say anything,” she said. “But I’ve been around tyrants. I’ve watched them eat, heard them converse. Do you know what the common denominator is for all of them?”
“What?”
“They were afraid.”
“I’m not,” he said. “This has nothing to do with fear.”
“Why are there guards at every door?” she demanded.
He was shocked at how brazen she was being. What had gotten into her?
“Please, do not forget your place,” he said.
“If this is to be my place, I am going to question you as much as you deem fit to question me,” she stated. “I’ve never been much of the quiet type.”
“I am not asking you to be quiet.”
“No, you’re asking me to hold my tongue, and while I agree it’s two different concepts the outcome remains the same, does it not?”
“I do not, and I will not answer to you, my lady,” he replied, hearing how tight his voice sounded. He was getting defensive and fast. He didn’t want to lose control, but he was. He wanted to storm away, slam the door, underline what he had just said. But he remained, waiting to hear her response.
“Do you follow the grains, then?”
“I believe so.”
“But you don’t know so.”
“I see a clear path ahead,” he replied. “I am not lost or walking unknown roads. I am where I belong, and I know exactly how to achieve what I need to get done. I would say there’s little resistance to that outlook.”
She nodded slowly, and he began to get the feeling that she had some reason to be asking him all of these things now. It was as though she was trying to make her mind up. He suddenly felt his hearts drop at the thought that she might choose to pull out of their agreement, and he took a step forward, knowing his expression had grown pleading and caring little. This was more important than putting on a prideful exterior.
“Are you having second thoughts?” he asked.
Suddenly the sound of approaching voices made him look to the door, where Petrus and Eric were standing sentinel. Ewan knew those voices—it was his father and Lord Taggart. They were slowly nearing the doorway, surely out searching for him to pull him into some conversation about the affairs of state. Or of the upcoming celebrations.
