“Guess you could say that.” Braith cleared her throat, studied her claws against the stone ground, and wondered when this nightmare of awkwardness would end.
“Oy! Addolgar!” his sister called out, now that she had Bercelak in a headlock.
“Looks like I’ve gotta go,” Addolgar said.
“Of course.”
“It was nice seeing you again, Lady Braith.”
“You, too.”
He walked around her and Braith let out a breath, grateful that was over. She hated that she seemed to be such a ridiculous mess around that dragon.
“You. Girl,” her father’s cold voice snapped at her from one of the chambers.
Braith turned toward her father. Perhaps if she could get this over with quickly, she could head home to her quiet, hidden cave with some cattle she could steal from the local farmers.
“Father,” she said as coldly as he’d called to her. “You summoned me?”
Chapter 2
“You didn’t torment her, did you?”
Addolgar stared down at his sister while they waited in the crowded hall for their turn to speak with the Queen. “Torment who?”
“Braith.”
“Torment her? No.” He liked that big-boned dragoness. She seemed sweet, if a little shy.
“She’s not bad-looking.”
Addolgar shrugged and answered honestly, “I wouldn’t know. She never looks at me.”
“Do you have any idea why?” Ghleanna asked.
He grinned. “No. Why?”
Ghleanna sighed and looked away. “Pathetic.”
“Who me?”
“I don’t like her,” Bercelak complained.
“I think the feeling is mutual, little brother,” Ghleanna replied. “She looked like she was seconds from tearing your eyes out.”
“I don’t know why,” Bercelak replied. “I’m known throughout the land to be so friendly.”
Addolgar and Ghleanna faced their younger brother . . . and stared at him.
“What?” he asked drily. “Everyone knows I’m like happy puppies in a meadow on a sunny day.”
There was a long pause after that proclamation and then both Addolgar and Ghleanna exploded into laughter, Bercelak almost cracking a smile.
Braith’s father led her to a quiet alcove. When he finally stopped and faced her, it was like he looked right through her. “The Queen,” he said, “will request that you be the companion to Lady Katarina when she’s returned to her home in the west.”
“Me?” Braith asked, shocked. No one had ever asked her to be anyone’s companion. A royal she might be, but she wasn’t charming or elegant or schooled in any of the finer arts. In fact, royal dragons mostly found her uninteresting and she prided herself on that. Because it wasn’t easy to do as little as possible to elicit as little interest as possible.
“Yes, you. And you’ll accept the offer.”
“But—”
“There is no arguing here. Do as you’re told.”
“I guess I’m just surprised that the Queen—”
“Yes. She’s your queen and you’ll follow her directive without question. Understand?”
She wanted to punch her father in his snout, but she wouldn’t. He was her father after all. True, a father whose funeral rite she planned to dance at and toast with ale, but her father just the same.
“Yes. I understand.”
“Good. Now go to the throne room. She’s requested your presence there.”
Her father walked off, his tail following behind him. She was so tempted to step on it, just to see him yank back or fall on his face. Either would make her feel better.
“Hello, hello,” Addolgar growled. “Who’s that then?”
Ghleanna looked around him and rolled her eyes. “So typical.”
“What?”
“A royal. You’re as bad as the idiot over here.”
Bercelak blinked, looked away from the Queen as she spoke to her Dragon’s Maids. “Do you mean me?”
“Yes. You. Both of you. Always going for these simpering weak royals. Where did you get that from anyway?”
“Dad?” Addolgar asked.
“Don’t insult our mother. She may be a royal, but she’s hardly weak and she definitely doesn’t simper.”
“Who says this one simpers?” Addolgar studied the royal She-dragon speaking to the Queen. A pretty, gold dragoness with long, luxurious hair and light gold eyes. “Her legs are sturdy enough.”
“Bloody twigs, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t ask you. I just wanted to know who she is.”
“She’s Lady Katarina from the Western Mountain territories. Her father is Lord Berg.”
“Addiena hates Berg,” Bercelak reminded them.
Addolgar felt a quick bolt of panic. “Gods, we don’t have to kill her, do we?”
“No.”
“Good. ’Cause she’s cute.”
Ghleanna sighed. “Idiots.”
“Why am I an idiot?” Bercelak wanted to know.
“Let me count the ways,” a voice muttered from behind them.
Surprised at that retort coming from Braith, Addolgar and Ghleanna laughed, but Bercelak turned around, faced the Elder’s daughter.
Braith blinked and asked, “Did I say that out loud?”
“You did,” Bercelak growled.
She gave a small shrug of good-sized shoulders for such a supposedly weak royal female. “Sorry.”
“Lady Braith!” Queen Addiena called out from her throne. “Perfect timing, my dear! Come forward. Come forward. I have someone for you to meet.”
“Yes, my Queen,” Braith said.
And that’s when Addolgar noticed something. The few times Addolgar had met Braith, the royal had never looked him in the eye, but she didn’t seem to have that same problem with Bercelak. In fact, as she walked around him, she held Bercelak’s gaze, almost challenging him. Perhaps she had more bite with those fangs than any of them had realized.
“What are you smirking at?” Bercelak barked at him.
“I didn’t know I was,” Addolgar replied.
“Well, you were.”
The brothers were silent for nearly a minute until Addolgar noted, “You’re awfully tense.”
“Shut up.”
“Braith, I don’t think you’ve met Lady Katarina. Lord Berg’s daughter.”
Braith nodded at the fellow royal.
“Now,” the Queen went on, “I thought you would be perfect to travel with Lady Katarina on her way back to the Western Mountains.”
Braith and Katarina locked gazes, and Braith knew in that moment that she was not alone in not wanting to go on this trip.... Katarina didn’t want her to go either. Braith had no idea why Katarina felt that, nor did she care to know since, in the end, they both had the same desire.
The problem was Addiena. How to handle her?
“Your Majesty,” Braith tried, “I truly appreciate this honor, but I’m not sure I’m the best one for such a role.”
“And I’m sure you are. Your father suggested you himself.”
Braith tried not to frown, but it was hard. “My father suggested me for this? Really? My father.”
The Queen laughed. “Oh, Lady Braith. You’re so adorable. See, Lady Katarina? You’ll be entertained by Lady Braith’s humor all the way home. Won’t that be fun?”
Katarina gave a reluctant nod. “Of course, Your Majesty. She seems quite entertaining.”
“Now I’m sure you have,” Addiena sneered, “very important things to do, Lady Braith. We all know how busy you are.” And no, her sarcasm wasn’t lost on Braith or anyone else standing within a twenty-league radius. “But I’d really like Lady Katarina to have a female companion along for this trip. She’ll be simply surrounded by males and you know how those Western Mountain dragons are about their females.” Did she mean the Western Mountain dragons that were, in fact, Southland dragons? Then yes, Braith knew the Western Mountain dragons because they were just like every other bloody fire-breathing dragon in the Southlands.