The stew was wonderful but I couldn’t really enjoy it. Not fully. Not while the entire time I could feel the man in the hood’s eyes on me with every bite I took. The Drayken drank and ate and talked boisterously, while Kendal and I kept quiet and to ourselves. Regina had to shush them several times when their stories became “unappetizing for a lady’s company.” In truth, I didn’t mind the gory hunting stories or recalling attacks from times past, but Kendal did. She grabbed her stomach and winced as if it made her ill.
“So your father carries dragon magic, Kendal?” the king asked her from behind his hood. She was starting to watch him with a quizzical eye, no doubt wondering why he didn’t even take his hood down to eat.
“Yes. He can create a small fireball at will, and works with the Cinder Village Reserve Army to fight the raiders in the springtime,” she said proudly. Her soup had gotten cold a moment ago, and she’d used her one trick of being able to conjure flame from her palm to warm it and look cool.
I couldn’t even do that.
Her father was arguably the most magically powerful person in our village, aside from Mr. Korban, who was a quarter elf and had some healing abilities. Kendal’s father could create and throw fireballs, which had saved us from bad raider attacks in the past—he was also a horrible drunk. No man was of any use passed out on the floor of the tavern, no matter how powerful he was. But I wouldn’t say that. This was Kendal’s moment to brag about her influential family lineage, and I would allow her to have it.
Meanwhile, I was the magical dud who ate cold stew.
“That’s wonderful,” the king said, as if pleased that she was powerful enough to possibly give him a child.
He then looked at me. “And which side of the family does your magic come from?”
I paled, every muscle in my body going stiff. I obviously couldn’t tell him that the woman who birthed me was a pure-blooded dragon highborn.
“My father,” I croaked. “Barely a quarter I’m afraid.” I wanted to throw him off my trail, get him more interested in Kendal or this powerful girl from Grim Hollow. I knew he could smell a lie, but to be honest I still hadn’t fully processed what my mother had told me, and my father was still my father. So it didn’t feel like a lie. The longer I was away from my mother, the less scary her story felt, but I still wanted to have my guard up.
I wished I could see the king’s face. Was he scowling at me right now? Or merely observing me quizzically?
“The sniffer said she had more power than Kendal,” Regina offered slyly, cutting right through my plan of staying under the radar. “She must not know her complete family history.”
I glanced at her with annoyance, but she was looking at the king.
Kendal shifted uncomfortably beside me. “I’ve never been to Jade City. Is it true there is a college there with a focus in clothes-making?”
Saved by Kendal. I owed her one for that.
“There is,” the king said coolly, and I felt like he was still watching me. It was starting to annoy me that I couldn’t see his face.
“Aren’t you warm with that hood up? Surely you can take it down for dinner?” Kendal said.
Kendal might be simple, but she wasn’t stupid. The hood all through dinner was weird and she was starting to direct all of her questions at him, like she knew he was a man of importance.
The men at the table quieted and cast wary glances from her to their king.
“Kendal, he has a horrible facial disfigurement,” I said suddenly, and a few men at the table snickered.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Kendal said, ever the proper lady.
The eyes that I had suspected were glaring at me the entire dinner suddenly turned yellow, and black smoke began to leak from the mouth of the hood.
I froze.
Regina stood so fast her chair skidded backwards. “Alright. Dinner was great. I’m going to get these ladies to bed. Long day of travel in the morning.”
Kendal stood as well, alarm registering on her face, and she curtsied to the men. “Thank you for dinner.”
I got up last, glaring at the two yellow eyes inside of the hood, which stared right back at me. “Goodnight,” I managed to say, and then turned to follow Regina and Kendal out of the dining hall.
I didn’t know if I was trying to make the king hate me so that he wouldn’t pick me as a wife, or if I truly disliked him. Maybe a little of both.
SIX
After settling into our joined room, I cleaned up in the washroom, pleased to find it had hot running water like Naomie’s bathhouse, and then went right off to sleep. I’d been sleeping on hard dirt or in caves the past week. This was my first real time in a soft bed, so when my head hit the pillow I was out.