She laughed, pressing her head against my shoulder. “Fret not. Dragons don’t make a habit of eating people.”
“How reassuring,” I muttered, eyes flicking to the massive fangs peeking from soft, leathery lips.
“She’s strange,” Nienna said with a sigh. “Those raised in Draconia respect humans. Those without bonds fly south; the islands are too small for them. They bicker and fight for territory, but there’s none to spare, so Argos chases them off. Tsunami stayed of her own accord.”
She shifted, weight curling over her feet. “No dragon has ever flown to the continent willingly. They fear the waters. She had to have followed us.”
“She didn’t follow you before. What changed?”
“You.”
My eye twitched. I frowned at the sleeping creature. “I feel no different. No change in thought, no voices in my mind–”
“She’s not bonded to you,” Nienna cut in, sliding a hand over my chest, peering up at me. “I’d know. And so would you. Perhaps she sees something in you—something that calls to her.”
I smirked. “The dragons say I smell different.”
“Like dirt.” She laughed. “Tsunami’s never noticed Radaanian ambassadors before, but maybe your arrival was too new, too exciting. She latched on, like a cat toying with a feather.”
She really did act like an overgrown barn cat.
“So, in essence, her being here is my fault—and she’s harmless.”
“I didn’t say that.”
I raised a brow. “You’d do well to assure me I don’t need to ask your brother to chase her back across the sea.”
The setting sun caught the flicker in her ocean eyes, dark and infinite as the waters themselves.
“Dragons aren’tsafe,” she said, choosing her words with care. “But I think she’ll follow Gyrak. If she harms anyone, he’s big enough to correct her. My bigger concern is her roaming Radaan—causing mischief. Right now, we need to focus on Lon andReem. Not a wandering dragon stealing cattle or chipping away at the fragile trust your people have granted me.”
Pride warmed my heart. She’d already sensed their lingering stares, measured their thin loyalty. Soldiers respected her because of their devotion to me and the visible blessing of Elohios.
But the nobles? The high court?
I needed them to see she was favored by gods and dragons alike. And to prove that, I needed these beasts to reclaim Reem—not harass my men.
“You worry about your dragons,” I said, tightening my hold. “I’ll worry about our people.”
Chapter Ten
Nienna
“Kai’lon is fickle with his loyalty and always has been.” Fallione scowled at the papers in front of him as if they might strike.
“He would be prone to support Tallon.” Kallias’ eye twitched before he masked it with a blink. “He’s younger. Never fought beside me. I let him remain in his city to produce heirs while I ended the war.”
“Then we should expect little welcome.” I tested the thought aloud.
Lanternlight wavered across the table, shadows crawling up the walls.
We had arrived in the dead of night, our numbers swallowing the sleepy town of Valley Down before dawn could warn it. Tsunami and Gyrak lingered in the surrounding fields, cloaked by distance and darkness, waiting for sunrise.
Waiting for me to decide when to use them.
Kallias shook his head, his tanned features drawn tight with conflict. “He may support Tallon, but his men won’t standunited. Not when there are those who fought with me. They’ll fracture. Loyalty to country versus loyalty to king.”
He swallowed. We all heard the flaw in that logic. Loyalty to king and country should be the same.
