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Dragon Queen. 17
Mare's footsteps faltered as she approached the village. The sun was high in the sky and she was sweating under the weight of the cloak yet on the fields were Baryns working endlessly under the unyielding sun.Sweat dripped from their bodies soaking their tunica until they clung to their bodies. The people who were not cultivating the fields were guiding sheep, goats, pigs and birds into pens to feed. Those who did neither of those two works worked in shacks and shops with metal. They beat metals into weapons and tools. Or gold into pieces of jewelry for the Arlankis. All of this was nothing unusual but what was unusual was the increased number of Arlankis soldiers moving among the people with leather whips ready to mark the backs of the Baryns.Beneath the protection of the hood of her cloak Mare watched with despair as the soldiers raised their hands with the whips in them and brought them cracking down on the backs of Baryns who slacked off in their works. All around her were cries
Dragon Queen. 18
His voice was hard and Mare noted with a hint of disappointment that he was very angry too. She dipped into a curtsey.Perci’s brows shot up against his will. He was immensely surprised at her servitude and was almost tempted to laugh but this wasn’t a time to laugh, especially not when he just risked his neck for a common Baryn. If he had been a second late the soldier might have beheaded him and he would have lost his life for nothing but foolishness.To think that a soldier of the king's army had drawn a sword at him for rescuing a slave burned him deeply. But if he had not come riding through the village in disguise like he always did those men would have raped her and probably killed her and that would have served her right because the girl was dense in the head. Yet he couldn’t have left her at the mercies of those lecherous men starved for the drunkenness only a woman’s body could offer. He was next in line for the throne therefore hated though the Baryns may be, he still had a
Dragon Queen. 19
He had come in fear that she would reveal her secret to her servant. A slave like her would need a witness. But her regret surprised him. So she was capable of reason, that was good to know.He straightened from the door just in time to see a guard dressed in armor with a chainmail peeking under it approached him. He assumed his full regal height.“My lord,” the guard bowed. “My king requests your presence in the throne room.”“Are you to come with me?”“Yes, my lord.”Perci moved past him with the slightest nod, walking down the stone hall decorated with red and purple tapestries. The heavy doors of the throne room were pushed open by the guards stationed in front of it. They bowed their heads as he moved past them.“My lord.”The throne room, large and brightened by the lights streaming in from the open windows was empty save the king seated in his huge gilded chair dressed in his royal robes with his left hand adorned with the royal signet ring bearing the royal dragon insignia. Th
Dragon Queen. 20
Mare stared at her reflection in the mirror. Dragon descendants.She was of dragon birth. All Baryns were of dragon birth yet the men of Kronos claimed the same. What kind of test would the king put them through to reveal the truth or lies of their words?Hegi’s hand came to rest on her slim shoulders, a proud smile on his face at his handiwork. He had rubbed scented oil into her skin to smoothen it and the result was a bright glow. Her hair had been oiled and allowed to fall loose down her back. But even her long tresses did nothing to hide her back exposed by the shimmering white gown. It was long and flowy with exposed sides held together by thin gold chains. The straps of the gown were twisted with gold threads.“You look beautiful, my lady.”She could not disagree with him. Her eyelids had been darkened and the edges pulled to enhance her feline eyes. Her lips had been painted a dark red making her full lips tempting to whoever gazed at them.Hegi gasped lightly and drew the stri
Dragon Queen. 21
His feet were heavy in her lap, black nails with jagged and sharp edged. She struggled not to shove it off or retch in disgust. Mare shivered, not from the cold but from the eyes poring into her skin. The king’s whore among noble blood. What an honor.She dared to look up in the direction of one of the stares.The princess was in the company of her friends. She was beautifully dressed in her blue silk with her blonde hair braided down her back. Her neck was adorned with a heavy silver necklace encrusted with diamonds. Despite her young beauty, her face held a scowl. Her friends were staring and they whispered something to her to which she responded tight-lipped.Mare blinked and looked away. Let them talk. The pain of their gossip was nothing compared to the pain of her people’s rejection. Or the throbbing that would come later tonight if the king ordered her ass into his bed.Her gaze fell on Perci. She paused.He was staring but unlike Serywithe his gaze was unreadable. Those icy b
Dragon Queen. 22
Mare was struck by the presence of the beast and started to rise when Vallezarii returned his feet to her lap, heavily.She blinked and dared to look up at him. He was calling for more wine. “Poor idiots will die out there,” he laughed to Yner head of house Gyras.Mare turned her attention back to the opening. The dragon, ferocious marvelous beast that it was, was a lot larger than she had dreamed, looking fierce and angry as its slit-shaped eyes, bright and amber, reflecting the glow of the fires, searched the arena. A snort escaped its nostrils and smoke followed, dark and swirling. Its huge scaly head turned and its right eye stared in Mare’s direction.She caught her breath, heart thundering in her chest at the fierce eye surrounded by tough scales. That eye was fearsome with hunger in it yet she felt as though if she stepped forward she could dive through the slit, burrow through waters and find a locked hidden treasure. The dragon breathed slowly, releasing hot breath and each e
Dragon Queen. 23
Veren could not understand his master. For months since his coming to Dymas castle, he couldn’t understand the way things were done. He had servants but none of them served him, none of them was allowed into his chambers. Unlike the other noblemen, he did not have soldiers at his command to guard his home. His servants whispered and avoided their lord at all costs.Veren spent the nights in his room in the servant's quarters wondering what his duties were. Why did the mighty warrior of Arlankis choose him? The other servants would not speak to him, they barely even spoke to one another unless they whispered and he found it odd. Weren’t servants supposed to be the worst of gossip? Yet, here he was in a castle of silence.The cold night air drifted in through the bare window. The servants were not provided curtains. In fact, the entire walls of Dymas’s castle lacked curtains and tapestries. If people didn’t know better they would say that Dymas lacked loyalty to the king for his lack of
Dragon Queen. 24
“Lock her up!”Mare stopped fighting as the men dragged her like a sack of grain into her room, bolted it, locked it, and even stood guard at the door. Two men had been stationed in her room. She approached the bed with Hegi behind her feeling elated despite her imprisonment in her chambers.She ordered a dragon. Her voice and words brought a mighty beast of the old world under her command!But where had those words come from? She wondered.“What you did…” Hegi was breathless.She turned with a smile on her face, her face bright with excitement. “Do you believe now?” she asked in an awed whisper.“Ssh,” Hegi cautioned her, his eyes darting to the men in the room. They stood stiff as statues but he knew that word carried and everything they talked about would be reported to the king.Mare discarded his concern. “I have dragon blood in me. I commanded the dragon.”“And what good do you think that will do you? The king will label you a traitor and have you killed.” He did not say what h
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