Page 87 of The Crown's Shadow
When she looked over her shoulder, Rian was already walking away with Laurince beside him and hushed words passing between them.
Kallie sank back against the railing. The gold ring pressed into her finger as she tightened her grip around the banister.
Chapter29
GRAESON
“War is coming,”Graeson whispered as the fire popped.
A breeze brushed by, and glowing sparks twisted up into the air. The scent of pine needles and burned lumber tickled Graeson’s nose.
The days that followed freeing the animal (now permanently deemed the dragon-puppy by all but Graeson) were filled with speculation and trepidation. Everyone had their own theory about what they saw and why they saw it. At first, those who had stayed back were reluctant to believe Graeson and the others, skeptical of their eyesight and sanity. The only one who seemed unfazed was Emmett, but that was most likely a result of the liquor he had been suckling on from a flask he kept hidden in his sleeve. Still, whether they believed it entirely or not, one thing was clear: the Frenzians were preparing for a war.
They had all been tiptoeing around it as they made the last trek across Frenzia. Graeson had learned early on what could happen when people were too afraid to speak the truth. So, finally, as they sat around their last fire before arriving at the castle’s doorstep tomorrow, he said the three words on everyone’s mind:War is coming.
And a cold silence met him.
For weeks, they had said it in passing, but now it finally felt real. The truth was always hard to hear, but avoiding it wouldn’t help anyone.
“I just . . . I don’t understand,” Medenia whispered, hugging her shawl tighter around her shoulders.
Summer was in full swing, yet the Frenzian air was cool on their skin as they sat huddled around the fire. Ophelia added another log to the fire and sat closer to the princess on their shared log.
“Why else would they have a creature like that, though?” Dani asked. “They’re preparing for something—something big.”
“Princess, you didn’t see the beast. It was . . .” Moris’ gaze dropped to the fire, a long, unfocused look spreading across his face. “It was otherworldly. That creature should not exist.”
“Whether the animal should exist is not up for you to decide,” Ellie said over the fire, her features masked in shadows as the flames flickered. “That is up to the goddess.”
“And which goddess would that be?” Armen asked, his elbow digging into his knee as he leaned forward. “Misanthia or Ryla? Because either way, neither the goddess of war nor the goddess of fate has ever created something for the betterment of humanity.”
“Has any god?”
“Pontanius has,” Armen said.
Ellie spat into the fire. “Impudent man. The gods do not care whether we live or die—”
Medenia raised a hand, and Ellie sat back down, snapping her mouth shut with a sneer in Armen’s direction.
“It is not that I do not believe you all. I do,” Medenia said. “What I do not understand ishowit is possible. I realize we have been down this road already, but it still does not sit right with me. The dragons have not walked this earth for centuries. Since the gods themselves disappeared.”
Ellie mumbled something unintelligible, and Armen’s brows quivered, snarling. Graeson ignored them.
Graeson had thought about the dragon’s disappearance. He knew the stories and myths that swept over Vaneria. He also knew that not everything was always as it seemed.
“Maybe . . . maybe this is the reason,” Armen said under his breath.
“The reason for what?” Dani asked.
“Kallie marrying the Frenzian king was not some chance event,” Armen explained.
“What do you mean?” Ophelia asked, leaning forward.
“I was stationed in Ardentol for over five years. You can learn a lot when you listen.”
“Care to elaborate?” Ellie asked with an impatient lilt in her voice.
A cocky smirk pushed at the corner of Armen’s lip as he leaned onto his arm, getting closer to the fire. Armen was purposely dragging this out, for the man liked the attention the Tetrian women gave him. He liked feeling like he had knowledge that the others did not.