Page 49 of The Forbidden Dragon King
I settle more comfortably on the stool in front of the feast, which is laid out on the oak table in the large, rectangular tent.
Bread, a platter of cheeses, wheat pancakes with dates,olives, and a pitcher of wine.
I’ve never drunk wine before. I shouldn’t be drinking it now. But I have the chance to eat and drink like royalty; I probably never will again.
Who said that I don’t know how to seize the day?
Plus, the wine is amber colored and reminds me of Aurelius’ eyes.
It’s morning, but little light filters through the thick linen of the tent walls, which are further obscured by the fierce Golden Dragon banner, which shimmers with protective magic.
Beeswax candles cast light and shadows across the table and the shrine that stands beside the bed.
Rain pelts against the tent like a continuous battle drumbeat. It started, along with the roar of thunder and sudden bursts of lightning, on the night that Aurelius led his army to capture Daire.
The rain hasn’t let up since, weeping from the sky.
My heart aches.
What does it mean?
Truly ancient fae can control the elements. Has my lavender eyed Raven King been slain or survived the battle?
On the Shadow Gods, let him be alive.
Daire feels like he’s mine in the same bewildering and overwhelming way that Aurelius does.
For days and nights, I’ve rolled around in the velvet blankets, hugging to my nose the Golden Dragon’s leather armor that he used to line it. His smoky scent has calmed my fear.
Was Aurelius wounded?
Who won?
Anxiety has been eating through me in a way that I never thought it could for someone else.
Sometimes, in the Moon Court, I would fear for Bard, especially when King Ulf was in one of his rages. Then Bard would have the skin stripped from his back for the smallest mistake in his training with his unit, the heathen wolves. Whichever of the heathen Betas were unlucky enough to be with Bard at the time had a chance of ending up dead.
Yet I didn’t feel likethis.
As if the survival of the two Alphas who are trying to kill each tonight to prove the size of their knots, means as much as my own.
I spin the golden scale bracelet that hangs around my wrist.
Is it possible to miss someone you barely know? Miss someone you haven’t even met yet?Miss them both?
“May the trolls take all Alphas.” I snatch up my goblet of wine, taking a furious swig of the alcohol.
The liquid is honeyed and spicy with a note of sweet apricot underneath.
I lick my lips.
I should have run by now.
I investigated the tent, finding a weak spot yesterday at the back. I’ve been working on it since, pulling up the flap. Now, I have a way to escape that the guards, who are posted at the front, won’t see.
The thunderstorm is too heavy, however, for me to getfar without needing to take shelter. Plus, my traitorous heart is holding me hostage.
How can I leave without knowing…?
