Feel the Burn (Dragon Kin #8)(6)

Kachka’s sister growled, then she swiped her hand at the board . . . which she also missed.

That’s when the entire board went flying, her sister’s bellow of rage startling the weak, delusional servants who worked for these rich, decadent royals.

Kachka sighed. “You were winning.”

“Shut up!”

Kachka leaned back in her chair. “Such whining. Like baby, you whine!”

“I am still weak!”

“You took down bear last week.”

“Took me three shots!”

“That’s not eye. That’s this life we now live.” She pointed at one of the dragons walking by. “Decadent! Like that dragon.”

The dragon stopped, placed a hand on his chest. “Me? Kachka, you love me!”

“I love your beauty. I have no use for you personally. You represent all that we hate.”

“Why do you talk to him so?” Elina asked. “He cannot help that he is beautiful but worthless.”

“I am not worthless! I am Gwenvael the—”

“We do not care, lizard!” Kachka barked.

“Do not yell at him!”

“Do not be so pathetic! So you miss eye! Get over it!”

That’s when Elina kicked Kachka under the table. So Kachka kicked her back.

“Ow!”

“Whine!”

Elina reached and grabbed Kachka by her leather buckskin shirt. That Elina could grip with no problem.

Kachka punched her sister’s arm, but that only made Elina drag Kachka out of the chair.

Kachka gripped Elina by her shoulders, shoving her back against the table.

“Stop it! Both of you!” the dragon called out. “I have enough beauty to share with everyone!”

Ignoring the beautiful but useless dragon, Kachka drew back her arm to punch her sister, but it was caught and held.

She assumed it was the dragon, but when she looked, it was the queen who held her. What worried her, though, was the look on the queen’s face. She stared at Kachka as if she’d never seen her before.

“You,” the queen said.

“What about me?”

She didn’t answer at first. Simply stared. Then, suddenly, she yanked Kachka off her sister. “Come with me,” she ordered.

“No!” Elina cried out, grabbing Kachka’s other arm. “Do not kill her!”

The queen blinked. “What?”

“It is all right, sister,” Kachka soothed. “I am ready for death.”

“What are you two—?”

“Don’t worry,” the beautiful dragon tossed in. “I’ll make sure you have a gorgeous funeral.”

“Gwenvael!” Annwyl roared.

“Why are you yelling at me? I didn’t do anything. It was the outsider!”

Annwyl yanked Kachka from her sister’s grip. “She’ll be fine,” she snapped before Elina could complain further.

“Do not worry, sister,” Kachka said as the queen dragged her off. “I will go to my death bravely!”

“It could be a trap,” Aggie warned.

“I know. But I have to chance it.”

Aggie nodded and continued to pace. She appeared worried, and he was sure that, to a degree, she was. But Gaius also knew his sister always appeared worried when she was thinking. Analyzing. She was very good at analyzing.

“Are you going to bring him back here?”

“That’s not my plan, sister.”

She stopped pacing, her grey eyes locking with his. “Good.” She began pacing again. “And what about Vateria?”

“No word on her. None. She could be dead.”

“That bitch isn’t dead, and we both know it.”

“I do know that she was wounded.”

Aggie slowed to a stop again and turned toward her brother. “Wounded?”

He shrugged. “According to General Iseabail. She wounded her spine. She could walk but never fly again.”

Aggie shook her head. “How long ago was this?”

“It’s been a few years.”

“And you never told me?”

“I don’t like to mention her to you. It upsets you.”

“No, brother. It upsets you.”

“I let her get you.”

Aggie laughed. “You didn’t let her get me. If anything I let her get me.”

“No—”

“She wanted me. She wouldn’t have stopped until she’d gotten me. But that was a long time ago, Gaius. I refuse to live in that nightmare anymore. I refuse to let the past rule me the way it once did.”

“Until Vateria’s dead, I won’t rest,” Gaius promised his sister. Again. “But until then . . . killing the rest of our cousins, loyal to her, will have to do.”

“Are you taking an army with you?”

“No. Just a few of my loyal soldiers. And I will go as a centurion, not as king.”

“Good.”

“I’ll find him. I’ll kill him. And I’ll put his head on a spike outside our palace walls.”

Aggie’s mouth curled in disgust. “What are we now? Southlanders?”

They ended up in the stables with the queen’s giant horses. Elina called them all “travel cows,” which always made Kachka laugh.