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Grasp… Perhaps late, but Naia understood it in a second. Apparently what his sister had just done was huge, and Naia had dismissed it. She smiled at Anelise. “I appreciate it, and appreciate your love for your brother.”
Anelise nodded.
River put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “We’re leaving. I’m sure the Ancients will be in good hands with you.” He then lowered his voice. “When this is over, we’ll solve this whole king… thing.” It was pretty obvious that he hated what he had done to his father, hated the way he had ascended to the throne, but it was true that this was not the time to fix it.
“Don’t worry about it,” Anelise said. “And remember you can count on me.” River squeezed his sister’s shoulder, visibly moved, and she added, “You should go. Don’t lose the scrying mirror this time.”
At least they’d be able to connect with her. Naia wished she had given a communication mirror to her brother, or that she hadn’t lost the one he’d given to her, thinking it didn’t work.
River took Naia’s hand and then they were encompassed in darkness, until they stepped into a brilliant circle and were in the woods by the fort, a faint light from the sunrise filtered by the trees. Everything seemed quiet.
Too quiet, like the calm before a storm.
“What does your sister’s gratitude binding mean?” Naia asked.
“Basically you can ask anything of her. At any time. Without a deal and without asking for anything in return.”
“That is…” Naia couldn’t even grasp what it meant for an Ancient. “Huge.”
“Unheard of. Of course, while you’re queen, she will be bound to you, but it’s different, and I don’t know for how long…” He inhaled, as if trying to find the words.
“I know you don’t like being king. I know you regret it. The only reason I didn’t abdicate was because the alternative was givinghimall the power over your people.”
“I know.” He had a bitter chuckle. “I make mistakes, but try to fix them.”
“It was not your fault. And you did your best.”
“Did I?” He raised an eyebrow. “I’d like to hope I could do better than that if such a horrific situation ever presented itself.”
“From the vantage point of looking back, already knowing the result, it all seems simpler than when we’re in the midst of it. I also didn’t notice anything strange.”
“You must have thought I was an asshole.”
Indeed. She gave him a smile. “A redeemable asshole, though.”
They arrived at the side door of the fort and Naia knocked. She hoped that nobody had attacked this place in her absence, that everything would be the way she had left it, but wasn’t sure. And Fel, where was he? Was he truly dead? The thought was a dagger in her heart, and hurt too much for her to even entertain it.
The guard who opened the door was a blond young fellow whose name Naia didn’t recall.
“Princess.” He bowed slightly. “There are visitors. Waiting for the prince or the king, but I assume…”
“I’ll see them.” They were probably emissaries from another kingdom. She hoped it wasn’t King Sebastian, even if she knew he could be a key ally. In fact, she didn’t even know if they had escaped the attack in their castle.
The young man took her to the refectory, where a man and a woman were having soup, two other guards watching them. The woman had light blond hair, still darker than most Ancients, and the man had black hair and brown skin. They were dressed not like nobles or emissaries, but rather like warriors. Naia could not identify where they were from, as there was something different about them and their clothes.
The woman looked at Naia and opened her mouth in surprise. Could they be dragons? Fel had mentioned Tzaria, who was blonde. The man… Naia wasn’t sure. Her uncle? That other exiled dragon?
But she preferred not to ask leading questions, not to give an intruder an excuse to lie. “I’m Princess Irinaia Umbraar. How may I help you?”
“So there are two of you,” the woman said. “I’m Tzaria, from Fernick. This is Ekateni.”
“My uncle.” These words were barely audible, as she looked at him, a piece of a lost past, lost history.
He nodded.
There were a million questions she wanted to ask, but all she did was lead them to her father’s office, River beside her, glamoured to look human.
When the door was properly locked, Naia turned to them. “A dragon, can they survive after their dragon form dies?”
