Page 51 of The Dragon King
It’s not a matter of strength but endurance—and you weigh a great deal. You said yourself that you’d gotten fat.I hoped the tease would lift his mood, lure him away from the subject I wanted to avoid.
If I need to rest, I can float.
You don’t know what lurks under the surface.
I’m an enormous dragon. I’ll take my chances.
“You’re a sailor.”
I pulled my eyes away from Khazmuda when I recognized the queen’s voice. I turned around to face her directly.
“My men told me you gave a hand on our departure.”
“It’s a beautiful ship. A type of craftmanship I’ve never seen.” The ships I’d sailed had been well made and withstood thestorms, but the attention to detail didn’t compare to the one built by the elves. “It makes the water feel still.”
“The ocean has a spirit just like all the flowers in our forest. And she shared her secrets with us.”
I’d touched the spirit of the ocean myself and felt her salty tears heal my wounds. I didn’t expect to share that belief with someone like Queen Eldinar.
She stared at the side of my face. “Do you enjoy being back at sea?”
“I do.” The smell of the salt. The spray of the ocean. The way the light danced off the surface in the distance. It was a moment of respite I desperately needed.
She looked ahead once more, no longer in her armor but in a white gown with long sleeves. She appreciated the sunrise in silence, standing a foot away from me as the breeze blew her hair over one shoulder past her face. “Calista is in your chambers?”
“Yes. She needed sleep.” Because she’d been awake for an entire day, worried for my well-being. Once we’d set sail, she’d climbed into bed and immediately knocked out.
Queen Eldinar pivoted her body to face me. “Then perhaps it’s a good time for us to speak.”
I didn’t face her right away, knowing exactly what she wished to discuss. “I’d like to watch the sunrise first, if that’s alright, Your Majesty.” I knew my sunrises and sunsets were limited. This might be one of the final few I’d ever see …if not the last.
She pivoted her body back to the ocean and watched the sun reflect off the surface of the water. “Of course. Let’s watch it together.”
She had the biggest accommodations on the ship, a full dining table where she could confer with her general and her soldiers. She sat at the head of the table with a glass of wine before her, surrounded by the glow of the candlelight.
I’d already had a glass of wine in the silence, and I helped myself to another. General Ezra was absent, and I was grateful for it.
With her hands together on the table, she stared at me, her eyes as blue as Bahamut’s.
It made me grateful Calista had eyes green like emeralds…that I could stare at endlessly.
“You know what answers I seek, Death King.”
I held her gaze, my fingers resting around the stem of my glass.
“I would rather you share this story with me as a friend. I respect you too much to interrogate you.”
I’d hated this woman when I met her, felt rage any time I looked at her. But now, I felt affection for her. I’d saved her life for Calista, but at this point, I would save her life because I wanted to.
“Not a single one of my men saw you leave or come back. And these aren’t ordinary men. These are soldiers and warriors who survived the great battle, the best, those who are entrusted with my protection. I’ve lived over a thousand years and have seen magic and found many secrets in this world, but I’ve never watched someone disappear into thin air.”
I wouldn’t be able to deflect her with a poor lie. Wouldn’t be able to ask her to pardon her curiosity. “I will speak to you as a friend. But will you guard my secret as a friend?”
Her intelligent eyes absorbed my words without reaction.
“Will you take this secret to your grave, Queen Eldinar?”
She continued to sit in silence as she considered the question.