AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I am going to go speak to a few people, then let’s head back to the castle, shall we? I am exhausted,” Amory said gently.
Between being the queen’s proxy for the speech and then coming here for the after party, she was likely beyond tired.
I stood and patted Malachi, also now standing, on the neck as I walked by, looking up at the night sky. The stars seemed so precariously perched up there. Take what one man, my poor excuse of a father, was able to accomplish with his greed and hunger for power. This life was fragile. Too fragile. The stars themselves could tumble into darkness if we all weren’t careful.
“You left out a part of your story.”
I turned slightly to find the queen’s brother standing there.
“Which one?”
He crossed his arms. “You were the true heir. And you abdicated to your brother. Given everything you just said, it seems that you likely wanted the throne.”
I tilted my head toward a shoulder. “I did. But a healthy and healing Wylan was more important than my selfish desires. Jorah is powerful and from the lowest level of our kingdom. She is uniting us and making us all better as our queen. With my brother as king, their soul bound pairing is an unstoppable force. They are what Wylan needs. I was merely in the way, by a whole seven minutes.”
Jagen was quiet a long time, his eyes wandering to his sister, whose attention I felt on my back. As if she was watching. “Speaking from experience, it takes a strong man to admit when he is not the best fit for the job.”
I inhaled deeply. “It does hurt like hell, doesn’t it? Having to take a good hard look at the ways in which you lack.”
Jagen gestured with his head to the queen. “She’s better too.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s keep her on that throne then.”
If he was surprised or wondered how much I knew, he didn’t show it. “Goodnight, Prince of Wylan.”
I found myself smiling, despite earlier in the evening thinking I wanted to pummel a few of the Mallick family. “Goodnight.”
Amory was already back by the queen, so I followed suit and headed that way.
I am sorry,the queen sent me.
“For your brother? Don’t be. He behaved. Your father? Not as much.”
She let out a huge sigh.No. Though I am sorry for them also. I meant that I am sorry your father turned into such a horrendous and ugly man. But thank you for helping to deliver vengeance for us all.
I looked her in a green eye as my magic burned in my palms and I allowed it to race up my arms if only to calm me. “If I could pin him down again and let you have your shot, I would. His final moments should have been looking into the eyes of a dragon queen in all her glory and knowing with his last breath how small and powerless he truly was. I would watch him burn a second time for you.”
For not the first time, I thought of what she would be like in her human form. I pictured a female version of her brother, but for some reason I thought she would also be able to swing a sword and fight well too. Regardless of what she looked like physically, this attitude and grit would remain.
I looked again to the stars as we headed back to the castle, pleading with them and any higher power listening that before they plunged us all into darkness, I would somehow be able to fix this. Not just to avoid a war, though that was of course always in the balance, but simply for these people.
For the dragon queen who deserved so much more than this fate my father forced on her.
CHAPTER16
The vials were positioned next to the map. We now had lids for them and snuck them with us into the library every day. Amory was used to John, Emric, or me using our magic constantly while near her, trying to change the others to clear. The time it’d worked the queen in her dragon form had been near, but the queen was currently out running a patrol with Malachi. Both of which were the only two Enchanted in their shifted forms we could trust to work with.
Still, we tried.
Though Emric had always been a jokester, he had been nothing but sheerly determined to change the rest of the vials once we fixed the first one. I was grateful for his presence. I was sure I would have already gotten us all killed had it not been for John and Emric.
“Do you mind?” Emric asked. Without waiting for an answer, his red magic wrapped around the chair Amory was sitting in and scooted her closer to the water vial he was working on.
“I—” Amory gave her head a shake. “The immediateness of your Enchantment is going to take some getting used to.” She watched Emric for a few beats before adding, “As a palm wielder, can you have it do whatever you’d like?”
John explained, “It is an extension of our will, so we have to will it. We use the four elements for our inspiration as to what the magic can do, such as a breeze or heat.”
She looked to John. “I cannot imagine having that much...energyrunning in my veins at all times, right at my fingertips.”
