Page 48 of Empire of Death
“If you choose to withdraw your allyship from the Southern Isles, then I can only classify you as an enemy to my kingdom. Is that what you want, King Ithaca?”
“You misunderstand me, Queen Rothschild?—”
“I don’t think I do,” I snapped. “If you can’t convey your thoughts articulately, then perhaps someone else should rule your kingdom. Perhaps a queen who commands an army of dragons, men, and the dead.”
Hawk eyed me but didn’t dare interrupt.
“What I mean to say is, this is a war that you attracted with your participation in Riviana Star.”
“Now I understand why this is so hard for you to grasp, King Ithaca. Because you don’t honor your alliances. If we hadn’t come to their aid, they would have been conquered. And once their kingdom fell, the Barbarians would have come for us and probably you. An alliance is bigger than yourself, designed for the preservation of peace and autonomy for your kingdom as well as your neighbors. But if that’s not important to you, then perhaps you aren’t an ally that the Southern Isles wants anyway.”
Hawk looked at me again, like I needed to tone it down, but he continued his commitment to silence.
“Queen Rothschild, you must admit that you have an upper hand in these battles because of the powerful dragons in your arsenal. All I humbly ask is that you share your wealth with your allies, the ones you ask to answer your call for aid. Perhaps I would have relayed that better if you hadn’t interrupted me with your hostility.”
“Oh, I’m the hostile one…” I gave a slow nod. “The dragons of the Southern Isles are not crates of gold and jewels or ships full of soldiers. They’re sentient, autonomous creatures who serve no one. You ask me to share them with you, but they aren’t mine to share.”
“Yet, you ride them across the world like they’re flying horses and depend on their fires and talons for battle. They grant you the gift of immortality, and excuse me for my callousness, but if you’re truly our ally, why wouldn’t you want to share those gifts? Why do only the Rothschilds and those nearest and dearest to them receive the blessing of immortal life? While I grow deeper into old age and feel the frailty in my joints increase with every winter? Your allies in Riviana Star are also blessed with this gift. We seem to be the only ones excluded from this opportunity.”
“The cost of his alliance is immortality.” Callum spoke from beside me, out of my sight unless I turned my head to look directly at him. “And probably the immortality of his immediate family. It is an ambush—but not a physical one.”
“Are you truly an ally to the Empire Colonies?” King Ithaca asked. “If so, here’s your opportunity to prove it. And I, in turn, will prove it as well.”
Would he have ever demanded the same from my father? Did he ask me because I was a woman? Because he wanted to take advantage of my vulnerability? “I assume that you understand immortality is granted when a dragon fuses with a rider. It’s a magical connection that the dragon has to give willingly. When the Southern Isles fell to a coup organized by my disgraced uncle, they found the magical ability to force that bond through an alliance with dark foes that have since been eradicated from this world. I can’t force a dragon to fuse with you or anyone you love, King Ithaca. Even my brother and I are not fused with dragons.”
“You aren’t?” he immediately asked.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have shared that piece of information. “My father said we’re too young to be physically frozen in time at thisage. And when we do fuse, it’ll be with dragons we’ve known our entire lives, who want to fuse with us because of the bond forged over a lifetime. Every Rothschild who’s fused with a dragon has had that bond for decades. All the other dragons in the Southern Isles are free and unbonded, with a few rare exceptions.”
“But they’re loyal to your father, and therefore loyal to you,” he said. “All you have to do is ask for a dragon to fuse with me, and I’m sure one of them will honor it.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“You aren’t forcing them. You’re asking them.”
“But that wouldn’t be their own free choice. They would feel pressured to do it because I asked.”
“If you want my alliance in this great war, you’ll honor that request,” he said simply. “You expect your allies to trade with you, to fight for you, but if you refuse to share your greatest commodity, then you’re a dictator.”
“A dictator?—”
“No king or queen should live forever, but the same Rothschilds will rule the Southern Isles for all eternity. By definition, that makes youalldictators.” His angry eyes flicked back and forth between mine, and the deeper he went into his speech, the more spittle started to fly. “Why shouldn’t I have the same opportunity? Why are you given the ultimate blessing, while the rest of us are subjugated to the horrors of aging? To watch your features slowly change until you don’t recognize yourself. It’s unfair, and I will not fight for the immortality of a Rothschild unless we’re equal. Only in equality can we truly be allies. That is my price, Queen Rothschild.”
16
LILY
We mounted our dragons then left the Empire Colonies. Halfway to the Southern Isles and just before it got dark, we landed in a location close to our original camp. Wordlessly, the dragons hunted for dinner while Hawk prepared the tents and I built the fire. I’d told King Ithaca I would consider his words and send a reply shortly.
Hawk and I hadn’t discussed it yet. We both seemed to be deep in thought as we considered it. Zehemoth returned with the elk he caught in the forest, and after Hawk cleaned the animal and we took our small portion to cook over the fire, Zehemoth ate the rest. Movack caught a bear and ate that entirely on her own.
The meat roasted over the fire, and I sometimes turned it on the spick to make sure it was thoroughly cooked on all sides. Juices dripped into the flames and made them sizzle and rise as they hissed.
Hawk sat on the log across from me and stared at me through the flames. “So?”
“No.”
He gave a slight nod in agreement.
