Page 119 of Knightfall
At first, the Sedarian ambassador refused to disclose how to work the elven chain. He said it was a betrayal of Sedarian state secrets.
But Quinn was not my spy master for nothing. He was eventually able to persuade the ambassador that disclosing that information was in Meeker’s best interests.
Though I had defeated the dragon and was able to stop using my powers, I wasn’t able to climb off the balcony until Meeker provided the counter spell. So when I came down, it was on shaky limbs.
I collapsed into Connor’s arms.
Ryan personally drug Abbas into our deepest dungeon and chained him there.
Declan went to find our beast master, to see what might be done about a dragon who’d collapsed in the courtyard and was snoring peacefully.
Jorad and Avia made an appearance to check on me.
Neither were very impressed by the state of my clothes, the state of the balcony, or the state of the courtyard. I didn’t get a single clap for defeating the dragon.
Instead, Jorad’s lips thinned as he surveyed all the damage he’d need to get repaired, the blood stains he’d need to get out of the stone, and the awful state of his queen and her knights. The ledger-keeper in him was tallying up the expenses of my first day as monarch. Watching that almost made me laugh.
He stiffly reported that the citizens had been calmed but would expect a speech from their ruler. I nodded and waved him off.
“In a moment.”
He gave a curt bow before going back to do … whatever he needed to do.
That’s when Avia launched into me.
“You idiotic strumpet! You got engaged to that lunatic? And then, sent me below like some, like some—” she collapsed into dramatic teenage tears.
“I needed Abbas to feel in control.”
“He had a sarding dragon! He was in control!”
“Well, yeah. We didn’t know it was that close.”
Avia smacked me. Hard. “Don’t you ever do that again!”
“I’m your queen. I’m allowed to do that.”
“You’re my sister and you’re never allowed to do that! And that’s final!”
I bit my lip to hide my smile. “Well if you say so—”
“I do say so. You big stupid shite!”
“Oh, stop squacking,” I pulled her into a hug.
When I released her, I turned to Connor. “Do you mind doing most of the talking? You’re better at not being offensive than I am.”
Connor gave me a tired half-smile and nodded. He grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. “Of course, Bloss Boss.”
We made the announcements to a stunned crowd and then put Jorad in charge of answering questions and politely kicking everyone out of the castle.
The dragon woke before Jase and Declan could figure out how to wrangle him. The beast took off and was followed by Ryan’s guards as he headed north.
I doubted we’d seen the last of him. But, at least now, we knew we stood a chance. We knew we could fight him, so long as we fought together.
“What do you think of a moat permanently filled with blood? It could be kind of neat.” I joked.
“I nearly puked from the smell alone,” Declan responded.
