“No!” The king reached out, blocking Dr. Elsie, and then looked at his guards. “Seize her,” he said.
What?
“My lord?” Regina sounded confused, and her guards hesitated.
“SEIZE HER!” King Valdren bellowed, and smoke curled from his nostrils.
The betrayal and shock of what he said sliced through my heart.
Two guards rushed forward, hooking arms under my armpits as I continued to sob and shake in fear.
What was happening? How were there wings on my back? Why was my fire blue and not orange like all of the other dragon-folk?
“My lord, she’s scared. She doesn’t know what this means,” Dr. Elsie pleaded with him.
I peered up at him, begging for mercy with my gaze, but he just glared at me. “The first thing she ever told me was a lie. I can’t trust her now.”
I’d been kidding myself until now that my lunch date with him might have made him go easy on me. He looked like he wanted to burn me alive.
The guards dragged me away and I didn’t bother correcting him. He was right.
TWELVE
I lay on the small bedroll inside the cell beneath the castle. Gone were the pretty jade palace walls with gold inlay. Now I was surrounded by gray, flat, damp, rock. No more chocolate cake and fancy balls, I’d spent that last twenty-four hours relieving myself into a bedpan while wearing this ridiculous dress, which was now ruined. The blue dragon wings that had sprung from my back had sucked back in by the time the guards brought me downstairs. Regina had visited me briefly to tell me that the king was investigating me for treason.
She’d looked regretful about having to even say those words, and then she’d left. The first twelve hours, I’d cried, full of fear. Then my tears dried and made way for anger. Now I was ready to kill someone.
How. Dare. He?
I simply make an offhanded comment about him marrying too soon, then I sprout wings and suddenly I’m treasonous?
If what my mother said was true, that my magic was a threat to him, then it wasn’t my fault and there was nothing I could do. I would no longer cower and snivel before him. When he marched me into the city square for sentencing, I would not shed a tear nor bow my head.
I would not apologize for being born.
The sound of footsteps down the hall drew my attention. Another food tray delivery? Or maybe Regina here to tell me my fate?
I stood, brushing off my dusty gown, and tipped my chin up with pride.
When the king himself came into view in front of my bars, I couldn’t help the small growl that ripped from my throat.
He swallowed hard, assessing me, his eyes raking over my hair and then falling to my disheveled dress and bare feet.
“I’d like to question you. If you tell me the truth and do not lie, not even once, I will let you live.”
“Let me live?” I shouted like a feral catin. “What could I possibly have done to deserve death?”
His eyes narrowed and he assessed me more closely. Looking to his right, at someone I could not see, he nodded. “Open the doors.”
My heart hammered in my chest as Regina stepped into view and unlocked the door.
“Clean up and then meet me in my office. Remember, I require the truth from you, Arwen,” he declared, and then left, his boots clacking down the hallway as he went.
Regina was then followed by two guards, and behind them my personal maid, Narine.
I couldn’t help the tears that lined my eyes when I saw her. She rushed forward to hug me.
“I’m so sorry I got the dress dirty,” I whispered in her ear.
She pulled back and looked at me in shock. “I don’t care about the dress. Are you okay?”
“Come on, you can chat while she bathes,” Regina said, urging us along and casting a glance in the direction of the guards.
I nodded, and followed Narine through a network of stairs and corridors until we were back in my room, with the two guards posted outside. Regina stayed in the living room, and Narine and I slipped into the washroom.
The moment we were alone, I felt a cascade of emotions overwhelm me. “Is Kendal okay?”
Narine nodded. “They sent her and most of the other girls back home today with a bag of coin and extra food. She’s on a carriage to Cinder Village.”
That was a relief. “Does she know about what happened to me?”
Narine shook her head. “I was told to tell everyone you were under the weather. Another fever.”
That was good. I didn’t want her telling my mother. While Narine ran my bathwater, we both worked to undo the beautiful lattice hair design she’d done, setting the jewels on the counter to be returned to the palace jeweler.