His nonchalant tone and lack of help, even now, sparked my own fire once more.
"Yeah, I was!" I yelled back through the howling wind as I attempted to push myself up to sit. Blinding rage flashed through my mind as he continued to simply stare. "You refused to let me prepare for this trip and had no supplies to help me during it! I'm freezing to fucking death over here and youstillrefuse to help me! What a generous king you are. Your people are so lucky to have you."
I practically spat that last part at him, feeling venomous in mood.
Rolling onto my knees, I pushed from my hunching position, placing one foot on the ground at a time as I attempted to find my balance. My body shook, and I wasn't sure if it was from the fall or the hypothermia likely setting in.
"I never claimed to be your knight in shining armor," he seethed, and it was clear I'd struck a nerve. "You are here to fill a role, and that is all. I don't need you or my people to like me, I just need you to obey."
We just needed to obey.
That statement told me everything I needed to know about King Takkar. His people didn’t like him. I wasn’t shocked, considering all I’d seen and heard today, but as a royal member of my own land, I couldn’t imagine being so hateful to my people. Why was it so hard for him to show compassion or empathy?
The gentle brush of my horses' nose against my back comforted me as tears began to well in my eyes. I was thankful he couldn't see them in the dark, because I'd be damned if he saw how empty I felt right now.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, warming the skin they passed over on their way to my jaw, before the wind chilled it again. "You're a horrible person," I murmured, letting the wind carry my words away before turning to my horse and limping over to her side.
As I lifted my foot into the stirrup, his soft response had me stilling, the brokenness in his words shocking me more than the weather ever could.
"Yeah, maybe I am, but no one stops to wonder what made me this way."
The snap of his reins sounded and his horse took off, making me jolt out of my momentary stupor. Climbing into the saddle to the best of my ability, my horse pranced beneath me, clearly wanting to rush after them. Once settled, she took off with nocommand from me, allowing me to do nothing but focus on staying in my seat.
I squinted through the snow, glad it seemed my horse knew exactly where to go as we settled into a gallop, because I would have absolutely steered us in the wrong direction in this white-out.
Time passed by and I felt myself lulled into a pondering state of mind to try to distract myself from the harsh conditions around us. I couldn’t allow myself to consider the way my teeth chattered so hard I felt like I was going to chip them.
Was there any excuse for the person he was?
Did it matter what was in his past that could have made him this way?
I wasn’t sure how long I ruminated on those two questions, but eventually, my mind grew empty. My horse slowed suddenly as we exited the forest, and I slumped forward onto her neck at the sudden change in pace and inability to control my pain-filled body well. The only sound I could hear, alerting me to a stream or river closer by.
Water.
Wrapping my arms around her neck to keep me in the saddle, I turned my cheek to rest against her, finding some comfort in her warmth. What I saw would have taken my breath away if there wasn’t already a rattle in my chest as I felt my lungs struggling to expand and fill with air.
A glistening castle came into view just beyond a stretch of snow-covered ground before us. It stood tall, its stone walls blending into the white mountainside. The soft glow of moonlight reflected off the white walls and silver-framed windows, creating an ethereal ambiance. Each tower I could see jutting high through the air had some kind of large platform attached to it. After a too-long moment, it clicked.
So dragons could land there,
The whole scene had a dreamlike quality to it, like it was a moment frozen in time, serene and magical, as if the castle and the mountains were the only things in the world.
That’s when I began to realize I was in truly bad shape—my vision starting to go dark and fuzzy at the edges.
“Please hurry,” I whispered to my horse, but from the way her own ribs were expanding and collapsing rapidly beneath my legs, I could surmise that she was completely spent from the rough ride and weather as well.
Regret flowed through me as I realized it was my fault we’d been stuck out in these conditions longer than necessary.
My eyes fluttered shut as my fingers ran through her mane slowly. “I’m sorry.”
Everything began to dull around me. The wind’s howling quieted, the biting cold turned to blissful numbness, and my breathing slowed. My body began to tilt and I didn’t have it in me to grasp onto anything to keep me straight. Gravity took me into its grasp, and this time when I fell, there was no pain, just mounds of soft snow to cradle me. I swore I saw flickering lights in the distance, but perhaps it was just wishful thinking.
Just as I felt my consciousness slipping away, something large clasped around my body, lifting me from the ground. My head fell back as my limbs dangled, and it took every ounce of energy I could muster to force my eyes open.
I had to be unconscious and dreaming, because there was no way a large, glistening, silver dragon claw was wrapped around me and carrying me through the sky toward the castle.
Right?
