by Sera Trevor
“What happened to Gileon?” Jasen interrupted.
That stopped Rilvor short. It took him several moments to reply. “I asked him to return to his home kingdom.”
“Because you blamed him for Quendra’s death?”
“No. Because I blamed myself.”
“But you still couldn’t bring yourself to look at him any more, could you? How would it be different between us if our marriage causes a crisis in the Allied Realms?”
They lapsed into silence. Outside, the sun was setting, and the cottage grew dimmer and dimmer. At last, Rilvor heaved a great sigh and drew Jasen into his arms again. “Your caution speaks well of your character. I agree that there may be some difficulty with Court at first, but I also think that the scandal will pass. You are more popular than you realize. I am willing to take the risk—but it is unfair of me to ask you to do the same, if you feel you cannot bear it. Will you at least give the matter some more thought before you give me your final answer?”
“All right,” Jase said quietly.
“Very well. I think you should return to Grumhul with your father. I can give you a month to decide, but no longer.”
“I understand.”
Rilvor kissed him. “Then let us speak no more of it tonight, and try to get some rest.”
Before long, Rilvor’s breath steadied as he slipped into sleep. Jasen clung to consciousness a little longer, wanting to savor every moment in Rilvor’s arms. He had a feeling these moments might be their last.
Chapter 16
Jasen woke up alone. Dawn had only just broken, and he was cold. He tried to remember where he left his clothes—were they still outside? Just as he was contemplating how he was going to retrieve them without freezing, he saw that they’d been folded neatly on the edge of the mattress. Shivering, he pulled them on and went to find Rilvor.
It didn’t take long. He was sitting in the middle of the field of flowers, wearing the Drae’s cloak. Jasen sat down beside him. Rilvor’s eyes were shut, and he didn’t acknowledge him. “So you’re calling the dragons,” Jasen said, not sure of what else to say.
“Yes. There’s not much sense in staying longer.”
Jasen winced. He sounded so cold, but he supposed he couldn’t blame him. “Are you angry with me?” He was embarrassed at how pitiful he sounded.
Rilvor turned to him at last. “I’m disappointed, but I cannot blame you for your doubts. It is not a small thing to marry a monarch.” He smiled sadly. “That you take it so seriously is yet another reason why I want you by my side.”
Jasen looked down. “I’m sorry.”
Rilvor put a finger on his chin and tilted his face upward until their gazes met. “Do not be sorry for listening to your heart.” He sighed. “I am the one who should apologize—I’m acting like a spoiled child who didn’t get his way.”
“No, don’t—I let you believe that I would say yes and sprung it on you out of nowhere. It’s my fault.”
Rilvor put his arm over Jasen’s shoulders and squeezed. “Clearly, we are both have many flaws. Maybe neither of us should sit on the throne.”
Jasen smiled a little. “You should just abdicate. Then we can move here. Surely the dragons will understand.”
“And leave my poor son to take over the kingdom?”
“Of course not—the children will live here too.”
“The cottage is rather small for six people. And Brother Vyncis will want it back.”
“We’ll build a new one, just for us.”
Rilvor kissed Jasen’s cheek. “If only we could.”
Before Rilvor could turn away, Jasen captured his lips in a gentle kiss. When it was over, Rilvor rested his forehead against Jasen’s. “The decision is yours to make, but know that I am willing to fight for you, come what may.”
“I know,” Jasen said quietly.
Rilvor put his arms around Jasen from behind and encouraged him to lean back. Jasen breathed in the smell of him, trying to memorize it. He savored the feel of Rilvor’s embrace, so strong and yet so gentle. Would he be able to remember this years from now, or would it fade? Would the hurt of losing him ever heal? He didn’t know.
They sat there, entwined and silent, until two shadows passed overhead—the dragons had arrived. Since they had brought nothing with them, there was nothing to carry away. It seemed wrong somehow, leaving empty-handed, as if they had never even been there. Jasen climbed on Tasenred’s back and held on tight as the dragons took off again, and then they were soaring through the sky, and soon put Rakon far behind them.
They landed in the draemir not far from the inn. Once they had dismounted from the dragons, Jasen and Rilvor just stood there, staring at each other. Jasen didn’t want to say goodbye; it seemed Rilvor felt much the same way.
Rilvor reached into a small purse that was tied on his belt and removed a few coins. “For your carriage home,” he said, handing them to Jasen. “In case your father misplaced some of the money I gave him earlier.”
Jasen snorted. “That is a possibility. Thank you.”
Rilvor took off the Drae’s cloak and draped it over Jasen’s shoulders. “Take this as well. It is for you to keep, no matter your answer.”
Jasen touched the jewel clasp. “Thank you.”
He kissed Jasen’s hand. “Good-bye, my love.”
Jasen fought back tears. “Good-bye.”
Rilvor climbed onto Woria again, and then they were off. But Tasenred didn’t follow. He flared his nostrils and stomped his feet.
“I can’t go with you right now,” Jasen said.
Tasenred made a strange, keening sound and stomped his feet again.
“It’s complicated. I’m sorry.”
The dragon brought his face close to Jasen and regarded him with one giant eye. He made the sound again.
Jasen put his hand on Tasenred’s cheek. “I’ll call for you, I promise. I just have human things I need to work out first.”
Tasenred snorted again, clearly annoyed, but it seemed Jasen’s answer was good enough. He took off, soon catching up to Woria.
Jasen took a moment to collect himself before beginning the long trek back to the inn. When he arrived, his dad was not there. The innkeeper mentioned something about him going to the city. Jasen arranged for a carriage to take them the border of the Draelands. After that, they would be forced to find different transportation. A carriage was nice, but only on the better maintained roads.
With that settled, Jasen bought a light breakfast, although his appetite was poor. Once he’d eaten, he went up to their room. It was just as well that his dad wasn’t there—he still hadn’t decided what he was going to tell him. Besides, he was tired. He curled up on the bed and fell asleep.
He was awoken some time later when his dad burst into the room. “The innkeeper said you had returned—I wasn’t expecting you for several more days!” He didn’t sound particularly worried—in fact, he was very cheerful.
Jasen sat up and rubbed his face, still groggy from his nap. His dad sat down beside him. “Had a nap, did you? The king tire you out, eh?” He elbowed him in the ribs.
Jasen couldn’t even muster up the energy to be annoyed. His father continued on, oblivious as usual. “A fellow traveler gave me a ride into the city. What a marvelous place it is—the shops alone are like nothing I’ve ever seen!” He fumbled under his cloak and pulled out a small box. “Now I really ought to keep this a secret since it’s a gift and all, but I’m too excited! Just don’t tell Rilvor.”
He held out the box, clearly expecting Jasen to take it, but Jasen just stared at it dully. His father, never one to pick up easily on cues, opened it himself instead. “Look! Dragon necklaces!” He took the necklaces out of the box. “You see, if you hold them together, they look like they’re dancing. You each can wear one—what do you think?”
He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out. Instead, to Jasen’s horror, he started to cry.
His father dropped the necklaces on the bed. “O my s
on! What’s happened?”
Jasen still couldn’t say anything, so he just shook his head. His dad put his big arms around him and held him close. “Has he cast you off? Done something to you? Blast him! I never liked him—from the moment I saw him, I knew he was no good! He thinks because he’s king, he can treat the rest of us however he pleases?”
“No,” Jasen said, finally finding his voice. He pulled back and wiped the tears from his eyes. “It’s nothing like that.” And then the whole story came tumbling out of him.
When he was finished, his dad pulled him into another hug. “We’ll just go home. Back to Grumhul, where life is honest.”
“What about the money? We’re still broke.”
“Never you mind about the money. What do I care about money when I can have my only son back home where he belongs!”
Jasen smiled a little. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Of course, the king did make certain promises, which I think is only fair that he honor, given the circumstances.”
Jasen rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t bring himself to be too annoyed. His dad was his dad—he couldn’t really be anyone else. Strangely enough, the thought was comforting. “Let’s go home, then.”
Jasen’s appetite had recovered, so they went downstairs and had a hearty meal. The carriage wouldn’t depart until tomorrow, so they had another night to rest at the inn. Jasen fell asleep easily, even with his father’s snoring. He was still miserable, but there was something very freeing about being away from Court. He didn’t have to worry about people finding him out. For the first time in months, he felt like himself.
They set off early the next morning. Jasen wasn’t feeling quite as bleak as he had yesterday—he still didn’t know what he planned to do, but a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast made his problems seem more surmountable. Besides, a part of him was happy to be going back to Grumhul. It was funny to think of how eager he had been to leave just a few months earlier. He wondered if he would change his mind yet again once he got there.
They traveled for a little while. Jasen almost dozed off, enjoying the feel of the sun on his face. But that warmth vanished suddenly. Jasen frowned. The sky had been almost free of clouds.
But it wasn’t a cloud, which was made abundantly clear when the ground shook as something very large landed in front of them. The carriage stopped dead in its tracks as the horses reared up, neighing wildly. The coachman let out a string of curses as he tried to get them back under control.
“What in the blazes is going on?” his dad bellowed, sticking his head out of the window.
Jasen didn’t reply, because he already knew what had happened. A dragon had arrived.
It was Tasenred, to be specific. Jasen lept out of the carriage and approached him. The dragon flicked his enormous tail when he saw Jasen. It was always hard to tell with dragons, but he seemed pretty pleased with himself.
“I’m not going back!” Jasen shouted at him. “I told you I have human things to take care of.”
Tasenred roared—a heart-stopping sound. The horses panicked further, and the coachman seemed on the edge of panic himself. “I can’t control them!” the coachman called out. “Ask the dragon to leave, please!”
His father stumbled out of the carriage, looking up wide-eyed at Tasenred. “I will never get used to how big they are,” he said in awe. Tasenred let out a smaller roar in reply.
The horses seemed to have had enough. The coachman pulled the reins and turned them around, and the carriage was tearing off down the road before either Jasen or his father could say a word. He wasn’t too upset about losing their trunk, but how were they supposed to get to Grumhul now?
As if reading his mind (which he might very well have been), Tasenred stooped down in clear invitation.
“I told you, I’m not returning to Strengsend!”
A picture of Grumhul flashed through his mind—specifically, that of Castle Gumptar, where Queen Urga resided.
“You want to take us there?” Jasen frowned. “Can’t you just take us home?”
Tasenred let out a huge stream of steam from his nose. His father jumped backward.
“I think we better do what he wants,” his dad said. “What if he decides to toast us?”
“He’s not going to toast us.” He rubbed his temple. What if Tasenred was trying to trick him? But he didn’t think that dragons had the same impulse to lie as people did. And it wasn’t as if they had much of a choice, now that their carriage was gone.
He took his father’s hand and gave it a tug. “Come on, then.”
They climbed onto Tasenred’s back, and soon they were soaring through the air—in the direction of Grumhul, thankfully. It was only a matter of hours before they reached Queen Urga’s castle. Tasenred circled around it several times, as if looking for a place to land. But the castle was precariously situated on an island in the middle of a swamp, with nothing like the fields of a draemir anywhere near it.
Jasen tried to communicate to Tasenred that they should search for a landing place further out—generally, Castle Gumptar was reached by boat. But Jasen did not have a lot of experience communing with dragons, and Tasenred did not appear to get the message. He touched down in a huge splash that left Jasen and his father completely soaked. As Jasen and his dad tried to get themselves together, Tasenred let out a rather undignified squawk. It seemed as though he was stuck.
“What do we do?” his dad asked.
Jasen slid off Tasenred’s back, directly into the swamp. The water came up to his thighs. He waded around until he was in front of Tasenred. “Are you all right?”
The dragon dipped his head and made a pitiful sound.
Jasen laid his forehead against Tasenred’s snout. “It would have been easier if you let us take our carriage,” he murmured. He still didn’t understand why Tasenred had come for them, but dragons were often inscrutable, as he was learning.
“Well?” his dad called out. “What are we doing?”
Jasen looked to the castle. It wasn’t that far off. “I suppose we’re going for help.”
His dad slid off the dragon and landed with a splash. Jasen gave Tasenred an encouraging stroke, trying to communicate that they would be back.
They waded through the swamp. Fortunately, they didn’t have to make it all the way to the castle—a group of guards were waiting for them on solid land. They must have seen the dragon and come to investigate. Standing at the head of them was Queen Urga herself.
The last time Jasen had seen the queen was after his mother’s death, but she was exactly as he remembered her: a stout woman with stringy red hair. Her olive green dress was well-made but rather plain. Just from her attire, it would have been difficult to tell that she was royalty. However, once she opened her mouth, there was no question who she was. She was a queen, and she would be obeyed.
She seemed none too pleased with them, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed into a glare. “Lord Draul. Dare I ask why you’ve brought a damned dragon into my kingdom?”
His dad took off a boot and dumped the water out of it. “Well, Your Majesty, I’d say that it’s more the dragon that brought us!”
The queen rolled her eyes. She signaled to her guards. “What are you waiting for? Help the poor beast! And to be clear, I mean the dragon. I don’t think there’s much helping this one,” she said with a nod to Jasen’s dad. The guards saluted and head off to the dock that was not far away, where a longboat was waiting for them.
“It’s not his fault, Your Majesty,” Jasen said. “The dragon came for me.”
The queen narrowed her eyes again, although it was more of a squint than a glare. “Little Lord Jasen? Is that you?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Come closer, my boy—my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.”
Jasen obeyed. She looked him up and down with seeming satisfaction. “You’ve grown. You look so much like your mother.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said with a bow.
She snorted. “I had heard you’d gone off to Court in the Draelands. Your manners certainly are fine.” She reached up to wipe some mud off his face. “But you’re back in Grumhul now, so why don’t you give your old Urga a hug?”
He did as he was told. With her arms around him, he felt like a child again. A memory surfaced of her holding him after his mother’s funeral. “It’s good to see you again.”
“I am glad to see you too, although I am less than pleased at your choice of transportation. What in blazes are you doing with a dragon?”
“It’s a long story.” Jasen looked back to Tasenred. The guards had reached him and were trying to get a rope around his neck. Tasenred, for his part, seemed like he was cooperating, but the rope kept falling back into the swamp.
“What are they doing?” Jasen asked.
“They’re going to try to haul him out. It’s been awhile, but it’s not the first time a dragon has gotten stuck in our swamp. You’d think the beasts would learn.”
At last, the rope was secured. The guards rowed with vigor, with Tasenred straining along with them. Slowly, he extracted himself, moving his legs one by one as he made his way to the shore. When he lumbered up onto the bank, he shook like a wet dog, spraying water everywhere.
Urga waged a finger at him. “Don’t think we’ll come to your rescue a second time, you wretched beast! Swamps are no place for dragons!”
It was shocking to see someone talk to a dragon that way, but Tasenred didn’t seem to take offense. In fact, he caught Jasen’s eye and winked. Or perhaps Jasen was imagining it. Tasenred ran along the bank, picking up speed, until he was in the air again.
They all watched until Tasenred disappeared over the horizon. Urga huffed. “That’s one thing taken care of. Let’s get the two of you dried out, and then you can tell me your long story.”
Within the hour, Jasen and his father were clean and dry. Queen Urga saw to it that they were well-fed as well. His father retired to the room Urga had given them, claiming exhaustion, although Jasen suspected that he wanted to avoid Queen Urga. Jasen couldn’t entirely blame him—the queen made no secret of how much she disliked him. It was the reason Jasen hadn’t been back to the castle since his mother’s death.