Page 95 of Blood of Dragons
Commander Luxe escorted me to the royal palace because my uncle had asked for me. I hadn’t seen him since General Titan had slammed the hilt of his blade into his skull and he passed out.
Instead of moving to the throne room, Commander Luxe guided me to a dining hall, a large white table carved out of marble in the sunlight from the open windows, a tall vase of long white flowers taking up the entire center of the table.
Ezra sat there, wearing his uniform and armor even though he still looked weak.
Commander Luxe silently excused himself.
My uncle’s eyes lit up when he saw me. “I’m so glad you’re alright.” He rose to his feet slowly, showing a slight grimace in his movements.
I stepped over to him and hugged him hard.
His arms circled me, and he returned the affection with the same enthusiasm.
“How are you feeling?” I asked as I pulled away.
“Still a bit out of it.” He slowly lowered himself back to the chair.
When he sat down, I could see that part of his head had been shaved, and now he had stitches keeping the skin of his skull together. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Calista.” He tapped the table with his palm to ask me to sit down.
I took a seat, seeing how pale his skin was.
“I’ll be fine, so don’t worry about me. The forest prevailed, just as I knew she would.”
My eyes dropped down to my hands on the table, the guilt too heavy.
“We lost a lot of people,” he said quietly. “But I know they would do it again to defend this forest.”
I had the distinct impression that he had no clue what had happened on the border after he passed out. He didn’t know why the enemy marched here. He didn’t know the Death King raised the fallen to fight for him. He didn’t know that Talon had come here for me…because we were more than I said we were.
“Don’t despair, Calista. Peace is a state of impermanence.”
“Have…you spent time with Queen Eldinar?” Perhaps she hadn’t returned home because she was busy overseeing the forest.
“Yes. She checks in with me throughout the day and is home every evening. Why?”
I wondered why she hadn’t told him. Maybe she wanted him to hear it from me, that it was a mistake to ever defend me. “The reason the Behemoths came to the forest is…because of me.”
“What do you mean, Calista?”
My eyes traveled elsewhere because I preferred to spare him these details. “General Titan was my captor at the Arid Sands. When the Death King took me away, the general decided to pursue me. He somehow followed me over the mountains…and traced me to this forest. He captured me in battle and pulled me away, but then the Death King arrived and slayed him in front of me.”
Ezra sat back in his chair and regarded me with eyes that didn’t blink, shocked by the tale. He said nothing, like he needed more than a few seconds to process what I’d said.
“I had no idea he was coming for me. I would have left if I’d known.”
Ezra dropped his gaze to the table, probably because my words were just too hard to accept. “Why did the Death King come to your aid?”
“Because…” I didn’t know how to describe the relationship. We weren’t friends. We weren’t lovers. We weren’t…anything that I could really explain. “It’s one of those situations where, you know, it’s complicated.”
His eyes lifted to look at me. “A man takes up his sword in battle for those he loves. His land and his people. Neither of those apply to him—so that only leaves you.”
I looked at the table again, a surge of emotion in my heart.
“Do you reciprocate those feelings?”
“I—I don’t know. It’s complicated…”