Sensing my bewilderment, he said, “You didn’t want her.”
“Of course not,” I said like it was obvious, but it wasn’t, and now that I’d so passionately objected, it hung awkwardly in the air. “I… uh. What I mean to say is—”
Lance stepped up and wrapped his arms around me, tears springing to his eyes. I flinched, but he hugged me. What was happening?
A heartbeat passed as I froze, in shock. Finally, I pulled my wits together and pushed him off with one straight arm held out between us.
He stumbled off the step and smiled. He wiped his tears and then stood back at attention. His face was neutral, but the corners of his mouth ticked upright. What is he doing? Why is he happy?
My cheeks seared hot with discomfort. “Which brings me to my plan to get Merlin to lower her guard,” I said, trying to snap him out of whatever mood he’d crossed into. “You will marry her.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said without hesitation, and for the first time I didn’t see love, respect, or fear in his eyes. I saw all three.
12
Charlotte
My stomach fluttered when I imagined reuniting with Minseo—his playfulness, his vibrant emotions, his smoldering gaze, and his tousled hair. How long had it been? Three months? Maybe a little more? I missed the hum of his voice, the taste of his lips. Even the thought of him made me dizzy. He was the home I was running to. Perhaps Arthur would still be my lethal shadow, but we were stronger together, maybe even strong enough to kill a king.
I had never been to Vires. A fact that became clearer to me as I attempted to navigate Garix to it, using only a vague knowledge of which direction was east. I wondered if I’d ever find it—ever make it home to him. Those were the thoughts that pushed me to keep going when I felt hungry, cold, or tired. I’d gone nearly five hours before I got the nerve to land and let Garix rest. And almost a full day of foraging for anything I could get my hands on before I got the idea to order Garix to hunt. After that, we’d settled into a nice routine. Garix would catch something, flame it for a bit, and we’d eat. We spent as much time in the air as we could and I spent every second terrified we’d be discovered and caught by Arthur and his knights.
We made sure not to pass over any cities and flew at night when we could. But sleeping during the day could be more dangerous.
No matter how much I reasoned with them, I couldn’t make my nerves settle. What had I to fear? I had Garix. What really scared me was my history. I crawled through, cowering, because I knew the more powerful something was, the harder it fell in the end. Life was one cruel lesson after another, aimed pointedly toward those with the most to lose. Now that I was free, I had a lot to lose, so I focused on my destination, desperate for a win.
The sensation of true freedom took hold as the signs of Arthur’s kingdom waned to rolling hills and empty forests. I spotted the occasional miller mulling around their business, with no need to look to the skies. I was free. No longer tied to a castle or a kingdom. It was the kind of life I’d always dreamed of, though the dragon was a surprise.
I began to wonder if Garix would ever know such freedom. He was a slave to my every whim, wasn’t he? I couldn’t remove the metallic bracelet that bound to my wrist just after he hatched, nor did it appear that he could disobey an order. During our journey, I tried to consider his feelings. I landed when he was tired and let him hunt when he was hungry, but was that really the same as being free? If I willed him to disobey, would it really be his choice? I contemplated such an existence, unsettled by the thoughts that emerged, and it didn’t feel that different from my memories of my royal upbringing.
If a dragon’s will was always tied to a human’s, it was no wonder that before Garix I’d believed them to be nothing more than a popular myth. Who could wield such a power and also protect it? Since the beginning of time, the daughter of power was corruption. I’d only had a taste of it and already betrayed Merlin.
Garix lifted me above the earth and, with my hair entwined with the clouds and my skin kissed with sunshine, I could feel my heart churning away the torrent of revenge as my thoughts released the scores I had yet to settle. Perhaps Arthur would let me go too.
Garix and I had a long rest when we met the coast of the Jin Sea, as the cobalt blue waves licked at the rocky shore. The salty air stuck to my skin and my hair thrashed in the wind like it did when Garix and I flew together. It smelled more like fish than salt, and I noted the difference between my childhood memories of the sea and what I now experienced.
It was a few minutes before dawn and the water held all the darkness of night as well as the leftover glimmer of the stars which were no longer visible in the light blue sky. Each time a wave slammed down on the shore and pulled, the smooth gray stones that covered the shoreline rattled together with a sound that resembled heavy rain. It made the ocean seem less like a sleeping giant and more like a hungry predator waiting to devour its next meal. Garix didn’t seem to feel the same way as he stamped around the stones, his ears twitching at the scrape of polished rock beneath his clawed feet.
The horizon was still and empty. It promised nothing, no haven or sanctuary. There were no boats in view, no distant coast to welcome us. There was no sunrise to whisper encouragement and promise, just the blank slate of the endless unknown. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to fly across, or if Garix could make it the whole way without resting, but knowing that Vires was on the other side, knowing that my family was just one obstacle away, was enough to take the risk.
I hadn’t pushed Garix any longer than six hours at once and I figured we might be able to go seven or eight hours before we absolutely had to land. I hoped that this journey wouldn’t take longer. I was grateful that we had a clear day instead of the alternative, though when I closed my eyes, the sound of the stones deceived me to believe otherwise, especially as I drifted in and out of sleep beside Garix.
The sun was at its peak when I felt Garix was rested enough to make the attempt. I knew we were far ahead of Arthur and any attempts he could make to pursue us, but I didn’t like the idea of waiting around in the open, especially when everything I’ve ever wanted waited on the other side of this sea.
Are you ready? I thought to Garix. He let out a screech that greatly resembled the birds that drifted in the harsh winds above the sea, and without any time to second guess my decision, we ascended into the unknown, hoping the shore we believed would show itself before we fell from the sky was worth the risk.
13
Lancelot
I knew there was a reason. I knew Arthur wouldn’t marry Gwen just to prove he was king. Not even Gwen knew his true intentions. I’d spent so many months hating him that I felt a weight lift off of me. Above all, I wanted to make up for doubting him. Marry Merlin and murder her while she slept. Even if it was a risky mission, I had to try. Our wedding night might be enough to make Merlin lower her guard, but getting her to agree to marry me would be a nearly impossible task in itself. If he’d given me this task a year ago, I would have easily been able to convince her, but those days were long gone. She no longer brimmed with joy in my presence. Now, we treated each other like strangers, passing by like we hadn’t spent four years together—like we hadn’t known each other as well as lovers.
I’d made no effort to reach out to her either. Not since she abandoned me just before I’d succeeded in my knighthood quest.
If I started courting her out of the blue, she could get suspicious and use her seeing ability to figure out my motive. If that happened, she could kill us all.
But there was hope. She’d been wandering around the castle looking aimless and lost ever since Charlotte took off with the dragon.
Charlotte was a chink in her otherwise impenetrable armor.
One afternoon, I snuck down to the dungeon where Merlin practiced. On the best of days, the dungeon was a dark and foul-smelling place with creatures that skidded through the dark crevices. Devoid of windows, it invited the feeling of being buried alive, sc
arcely luring anyone from the castle to its torchlit corridors, but ever since Merlin began training there, it had become even less alluring. Smoky, hot, and blackened with soot and ash, it became synonymous with my image of hell. After five short minutes, I was sweaty and oxygen-starved. I couldn’t imagine spending days on end down there, especially of my own will.
I walked past several blackened cells before I heard the sounds of Merlin training a few cells ahead. I shuddered at the sight of the cells she’d destroyed with her new power. Fire wasn’t an element she could conjure back when I knew her well. From what I remembered, she was gifted and precise with air magic, decent with plants, and horrible with water. And then the annoying mix of air and plants that somehow came out as a sort of purple fog. Let’s not forget her random and inconvenient visions that rendered her useless in a battle.
As I neared the source of the noise, I slowed my pace, making sure to keep my footsteps and breaths as quiet as possible.
She shouted a fearsome battle cry and the hallway flushed with heat, a blue glow emanating from her practice cell. I ducked around the corner to compose myself before approaching. I visualized greeting her but each mental attempt felt less genuine than the last.
She shouted again, flooding the hallway with a blue glow.
Okay Lance, let’s go. I hesitated. What was I afraid of?
I crept into the hallway, but before I could step into her cell, I heard a sound that stopped me in my tracks. A sniffle and a sob. My body tensed. Was she hurt? She must’ve been. Merlin didn’t cry over emotional things, did she?
I stood frozen just outside of her view and listened. My stomach tightened as I heard the smallest wisp of words as she mumbled them through sobs. “Why am I always alone?”
14
Minseo
“Your Majesty!” a husky voice bellowed in the throne room. Though he addressed my father, the suddenness of the intrusion pushed Young and me instinctively to our feet. The man ran through the large hall toward us. I recognized him as Jay Hyun, a loyal soldier who helped me find Charlotte in Camelot. His expression of bewilderment sent my thoughts to months ago when Merlin, the enchantress who once shook my understanding of reality, had put that same disoriented gaze on my face.
“We’re under attack. At the edge of the city,” he said, his voice wavering. My father stood. My heart leapt into my throat as the impossibility of the situation sunk in. If Arthur was attacking, we would have known he was coming the moment he started loading troops onto ships at the Jin Sea. We had soldiers posted everywhere and a very efficient warning system. We also lived in a mountainous region that would make marching troops to Vires extremely unwise and dangerous. But the look in Jay’s eyes left no doubt that this was Merlin, this was magic. Had she somehow cloaked their arrival?
My body surged with energy laced with nostalgia. I’d felt it before, the mixture of hopelessness, uncertainty, and survival that had come alive within me just before Besmium fell. I’d been pushing for war and training legions of soldiers, but we were out of position. The enemy was here.
“How many soldiers?” my father said, the sweat on his brow betraying his calm exterior.
“It’s...” Jay swallowed a mouthful of doubt before he tried again. “It’s a dragon. No soldiers. Just a dragon.”
I chewed my bottom lip to stop from laughing. What a day this was turning out to be. My father sat back on his throne, his shoulders sagging with relief. Young’s gaze moved to me, unlocking the last bit of self-control I’d mustered. I threw my head back in a stomach-tightening laugh that filled every crevice of the throne room. Young smiled, his gaze locked on me as I drowned in one fit of laughter after the next. Young turned to Jay Hyun. “Are you okay?” he said.
A second soldier ran into the throne room. “Dragon!” he screamed. “Rally the troops!”
Stunned, my laughter faded rapidly into concern. One overworked soldier spouting nonsense was hilarious, two were improbable. Was there really a dragon? Before logic could take hold of me, I was halfway down the stairs from the platform.
My heartbeat thrummed as my body swelled with so much excitement that it had no room for any other emotion. Magic? Dragons? This was a world I wanted to belong to and I didn’t care one bit about the consequences.
“Wait,” Young called from behind me. I froze. Ah, there was a consequence I couldn’t bear. I turned to see him beaming, the thrill of such an outlandish threat not lost on him. My gaze skipped past Young to my father. As if we were linked, I recognized what I felt in the solemn gaze and haunting glisten of his eyes. I took a deep breath, knowing this would drive a bigger wedge between Young and me, but before I got the words out, my father took them from me.
“Young,” he said. “I need you to stay here and look after Sumin.”
Young recoiled like he’d been struck. “N-no. I’m going.”
“You will not,” my father said. Recognizing that our father had ended the conversation, he turned to me, his eyes lit with hope.
I turned my face away.
“Minseo!” he yelled, so forcefully it startled me. “Tell him to let me go.”
I looked at him, the boy with a face I once knew. The boy I’d never recovered from losing. My father and I shared that and, now that he was home safe, we intended to keep him that way. As his brother, I knew it would surely kill him in another way, but I’d rather have him upset and alive than happy and dead.
“Please,” he whispered, and I felt my resolve crack.
“I’m sorry,” I said as I turned and hurried toward the door, but nothing could convince me to risk losing you again.
“I’m not some fragile child! You don’t have to protect me,” he called as the door closed between us.
I’d make it up to him, somehow.
I waited at the gate to the dusky city with the two soldiers at my side. As soon as we mounted our horses and headed through the heart of Vires, we passed small groups of soldiers headed to the outskirts as well. All it took was a rumor of a dragon and the calvary came running. Like me, I knew it was mostly for curiosity and not heroics. Ten, fourteen, eighteen, twenty-five. By the time we reached the edge of the city, more than fifty soldiers were huddled together.
It took nearly a half-hour to reach the spot. There was only a sliver of light left on the horizon that set behind the silhouette of a hideous monster.
Our horses thrashed with defiance as we stepped forward until it was clear we would not be able to coax them closer. The dragon was eerily still and gargoyle-like. I would have thought it was some kind of prank if not for the obvious rise and fall of its shoulders as it breathed.
Unbelievable. Mesmerized, I moved closer with no regard for my well being. Chances were if that monstrous creature wanted to burn Vires to the ground, and me along with it, there would be little we could do about it. From the size alone, I doubted my sword could injure it. I needed a closer look. I wanted to see more than a darkened silhouette.
On foot, I walked closer, motioning to the other soldiers to stay back. The dragon seemed relatively still and I didn’t want to risk startling it. It was starting to get dark, so it was possible it couldn’t see me moving closer. I considered sneaking up on it, but it seemed to be positioned in my direction and I had the feeling it was watching me. Slowly, I made my way to the beast, hearing the nervous chatter of the crowd behind me give way to the suck and blow of air through the giant lungs of the beast.
For the first time, the immensity of its large frame, the size of a small home, corroded at my nerves and I wondered what compelled me to continue to close the gap between us. A flash of movement shot my hand to my sword. My body surged with intensity as the question arose. Run or fight? Then I heard a voice that stopped my heart. “Minseo?” she said. And the sword slid from my grip.
15
Charlotte
“Minseo?” I said, the word involuntarily slipping from my lips. I slid off Garix, my body aching from prolonged time spent in one position, but it didn’t matt
er. Through the darkness walked the figure I’d journeyed so far to see. “Minseo!” I shouted as the last of the sun’s rays brushed his stunned cheeks. I ran to him and threw myself into his chest. He wrapped me so tightly in his arms that the breath left me, and I didn’t care. I buried my face in his neck. I felt my eyes prick but my heart beat too fast and too joyously to cry. That was until I felt the wet of Minseo’s tears on my shoulder. I pulled back a bit so I could see his face and cupped it in my hands. His eyes were dark, even with the glint of his tears glossing them over. His hair had grown a bit. The sharp lines of his cheekbones glistened with tears and I wiped them with my thumbs.
He laughed, though fresh tears still fell. “Why do you have a dragon?” he said, half laughing. “Did you,” his gaze moved to Garix, “ride it here?”
“Oh. That’s a long story.”
“Is he going to eat us?” he said, pushing my curls out of my face.
“Probably not.”
He held me and drank me in, his gaze reflecting all the love I felt. Then his eyes dropped down to my lips, and my face seared with heat. My heart thudded into my chest. A tear, either from him or me, dropped down like ice on my burning collarbone as my breaths became labored. I’d seen that look before, the one that whispered, I’ll devour you. A haze dropped over me as I leaned into him. He snapped his eyes shut like he’d been struck, clenched his jaw, and turned away, dropping his arms from me. His brow pushed together and he brought a hand to cover his face.
Stunned, I reached out. “Minseo, what’s wrong?”
His hesitation combined with the heave of his chest as it rose and fell in the darkness unnerved me. “What’s wrong?” I asked again, but the fear that tore through me was so intense it came out as barely a whisper.
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