Page 86 of The Dragon King
Why do you assume I did anything?
Because if she was the one to blame, you would be angry. But you aren’t angry. You’re depressed.
Being bonded with someone like Khazmuda felt like a gift most days. But sometimes, like today, it felt like a curse.I said I don’t want to talk about it.
Then I’ll speak to Calista?—
“Just leave it alone,” I snapped. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready to tell you.”
Khazmuda dipped his head farther to regard me.I’m here for you, Talon Rothschild. Always.
The words burned like scotch on a cut. They hurt because I needed him, and it hurt to know I wouldn’t always have him. We would be savagely yanked apart. I would reach out to my mind to him, and he wouldn’t be there. “Thank you, Khazmuda.”
He dipped his head and touched his snout to my shoulder.
A painful smile moved into my lips, and I rubbed his soft surface with my palm, appreciating the tiny specks of shine in his black scales, the shine that was only visible on a bright day like this.
I continued to rub his scales, comforted by his presence. No one else in the world could cure my blues the way he could. It was a connection that had built over decades. A connection that was as pure as the ocean and the sky.
“Death King.”
Khazmuda pulled away.
I turned to face General Ezra.
Judging by the look on his face, this would not be a pleasant conversation.
“What can I do for you, General?” I assumed he’d come to yell at me for hurting his niece. If only he knew the full story. At least I knew Queen Eldinar kept my secret, even from her own husband.
He stepped forward. “I’m tired of these clandestine meetings you have with my wife.”
That was not what I expected him to say.
“Speaking to her in secret. These private conversations in her cabin, on the deck, in her chambers, at the edge of the campsite—I’m tired of it. Just because you’re a king who commands the dead doesn’t make you worthy of her love. Continue to pursue her, and your army of the dead won’t be enough to stop my blade from piercing your heart.”
I blinked at least three times in complete shock. “General, I do not desire Queen Eldinar?—”
“I’ve grown suspicious of your conversations but told myself I was just a jealous husband. But now that you and Calista have separated, I’m more convinced of your ambitions to pursue my wife.”
It was so ridiculous I could barely find the words to respond. I’d been broken since Calista had left my side, thinking about the one person I wanted most but couldn’t have. “Calista andI aren’t separated. We’re just…having an issue.” I assumed she hadn’t shared the details of our conversation with her uncle. They weren’t close enough for that kind of heart-to-heart. I’d shared it with Queen Eldinar because she was the only person besides Bahamut who knew what would happen to me when this was done. “And whether we’re together or not, all I desire from Queen Eldinar is her friendship.”
General Ezra’s anger was still rampant, his eyes shifting back and forth between mine. “I’m no idiot. My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, and you’re a very pretty man. Youth frozen in time with magic and powers that can’t be rivaled…a man my wife calls a hero. Once you defeat the Southern Isles and claim my wife as your own, you will literally rule the world.”
His assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth. It almost made me laugh. “If I were to survive this war, there’s only one woman I would marry. And it’s not your wife. I won’t deny that Queen Eldinar has the beauty of a flower frozen in bloom, but my heart belongs to someone else.”
He continued to look angry, like he wouldn’t believe me, regardless of what I said.
“I understand your insecurity. Your life will feel long and full, but to Queen Eldinar, it’ll feel like a mere moment. She will remarry and have children with someone of her own race. Everyone seems like a threat to you because you feel like a pawn until she finds her king. But for what it’s worth, I do believe that her love for you is true. I believe she’ll be devastated for a long time once you’re gone.”
His anger gradually started to fade, his breaths coming out slower as he processed my words.
“I speak to Queen Eldinar in private because there are things I can tell her and no one else. I have very few friends. In fact, I have one, and that’s Khazmuda. Queen Eldinar is the only monarch I’ve met besides Constantine whom I actually respect. I didn’t expect to form a friendship, but that friendship has become a lifeline to me.”
His eyes dropped like the anger had passed and he felt foolish.
“Don’t worry, this can stay between us.”
He lifted his gaze and looked at me again. “Calista didn’t share your troubles, but I know sorrow is heavy in her heart.”