The Last Dragon King (Kings of Avalier #1)(34)

She’d looked regretful about having to even say those words, and then she’d left. The first twelve hours, I’d cried, full of fear. Then my tears dried and made way for anger. Now I was ready to kill someone.

How. Dare. He?

I simply make an offhanded comment about him marrying too soon, then I sprout wings and suddenly I’m treasonous?

If what my mother said was true, that my magic was a threat to him, then it wasn’t my fault and there was nothing I could do. I would no longer cower and snivel before him. When he marched me into the city square for sentencing, I would not shed a tear nor bow my head.

I would not apologize for being born.

The sound of footsteps down the hall drew my attention. Another food tray delivery? Or maybe Regina here to tell me my fate?

I stood, brushing off my dusty gown, and tipped my chin up with pride.

When the king himself came into view in front of my bars, I couldn’t help the small growl that ripped from my throat.

He swallowed hard, assessing me, his eyes raking over my hair and then falling to my disheveled dress and bare feet.

“I’d like to question you. If you tell me the truth and do not lie, not even once, I will let you live.”

“Let me live?” I shouted like a feral catin. “What could I possibly have done to deserve death?”

His eyes narrowed and he assessed me more closely. Looking to his right, at someone I could not see, he nodded. “Open the doors.”

My heart hammered in my chest as Regina stepped into view and unlocked the door.

“Clean up and then meet me in my office. Remember, I require the truth from you, Arwen,” he declared, and then left, his boots clacking down the hallway as he went.

Regina was then followed by two guards, and behind them my personal maid, Narine.

I couldn’t help the tears that lined my eyes when I saw her. She rushed forward to hug me.

“I’m so sorry I got the dress dirty,” I whispered in her ear.

She pulled back and looked at me in shock. “I don’t care about the dress. Are you okay?”

“Come on, you can chat while she bathes,” Regina said, urging us along and casting a glance in the direction of the guards.

I nodded, and followed Narine through a network of stairs and corridors until we were back in my room, with the two guards posted outside. Regina stayed in the living room, and Narine and I slipped into the washroom.

The moment we were alone, I felt a cascade of emotions overwhelm me. “Is Kendal okay?”

Narine nodded. “They sent her and most of the other girls back home today with a bag of coin and extra food. She’s on a carriage to Cinder Village.”

That was a relief. “Does she know about what happened to me?”

Narine shook her head. “I was told to tell everyone you were under the weather. Another fever.”

That was good. I didn’t want her telling my mother. While Narine ran my bathwater, we both worked to undo the beautiful lattice hair design she’d done, setting the jewels on the counter to be returned to the palace jeweler.

She was silent an entire minute before finally asking, “My lady… what happened? Treason?”

Right. They hadn’t told her. Of course not.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I made a comment about marrying too soon after his wife’s death and then I took some magical test where blue dragon wings popped from my back and he imprisoned me.”

Her entire form went stock still. “You transformed?”

“I guess. Not really—just wings and not on purpose!” I promised.

She hadn’t moved. Her hands were frozen over my hair and she just looked at me with an expression of complete wonderment. “Only full-blooded royals transform.”

Full-blooded royals.

My mother had said that the woman who gave birth to me was a highborn, but she wasn’t royal, right? That would make her a queen, and at the time of my birth the only queen alive was King Valdren’s mother, who surely did not run off and have a secret child and die in childbirth.

Oh Hades, if I was King Valdren’s long-lost sister, I would vomit right now.

Narine seemed to read my thoughts by the confused look on my face. She coaxed me over to the bath and then helped me undress.

“You’ve heard of the Lost Royal, right?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Lost Royal?

I shook my head, unsure if the sudden goosebumps on my arms were from her story or my nakedness. I stepped into the warm bath, unable to truly enjoy it with my life on the line.

Narine started to wash my hair.

“A few centuries ago, there were two royal dragon families. Embergate was also broken up into two territories, with each royal family encompassing one part of it. Grim Hollow and Jade City used to be home of the Dark Night Dragon clan, which is what King Valdren is. And Gypsy Rock and Cinder Mountain were the Eclipse Dragon clan.”

Eclipse Dragon clan?

Why had I never heard this story? Probably because it was something from some fancy history book that we didn’t get in Cinder Village. But still, you would think it would be told verbally. “I’ve never heard this,” I informed her.

She nodded. “It’s forbidden to speak about. My mother told me when I was a young child.”

Forbidden to speak of a story? That didn’t sound right.