Page 46 of The Last Dragon King
He squeezed the bridge of his nose. “Good day, Arwen.” He dismissed me.
I huffed, but before I could retort, Regina opened the door. “Let me escort you to your room, my lady.”
Did he call her in?
As I passed him, I looked over at him, hoping to convey how I was feeling with a look. But I wasn’t sure how I was feeling. I wanted to kiss him again. But then also smack him for being an idiot and jailing me and interrogating me. Whatever he saw on my face couldn’t have been good, because his jaw clenched.
Oops.
Regina and I walked in silence back to the room, and when I reached the door she faced me. “I told you he was a just king.”
She’d been right. I had expected him to half torture and then kill me, and all we’d done was yell at each other for half an hour and then kiss.
“Thank you,” I murmured. I couldn’t believe I’d spent the last few days with my idol and she’d seen all of these embarrassing things.
“Good day, my lady.” She curtsied and then left me at the door to my quarters.
When I stepped into the room, Narine was waiting, wringing her fingers together anxiously.
“You’re alive!” she exclaimed.
I nodded. “I’m free to roam but not leave the city,” I told her.
My gaze fell to the damp emerald-green dress on the floor by her feet, and the bowl of dirty water with a scrub brush that lay beside it. It was horribly stained with dirt and splotches that weren’t coming out.
“I’m so sorry.”
She waved me off. “I’ll figure it out. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
That was a nice thing to say but it was total crap. “How? How will you figure it out?”
This dress wouldn’t sell, and no more dresses would be coming in. She wouldn’t be able to pay for her sister’s wedding.
She chewed the inside of her lip, almost brought to tears. “I’ll manage, alright? Do you mind if I leave you early today so that I can talk to the buyer and figure this out?”
She gestured to the dress.
I nodded, guilt washing over me. “Of course.”
With a shy smile, she scooped the beautiful emerald-green dress up into her arms and left the apartment.
Leaving me alone to my tumultuous thoughts was abadidea. My mind chewed on a hundred different things. Narine’s sister’s wedding wouldn’t happen because I ruined the dress. The king was possibly still thinking about killing me. Kendal was sent home. Joslyn and some of the other girls were still here competing for the king’s hand, a hand in marriage that I would be lying if I said I didn’t now want. That kiss—oh Maker that kiss—had confused the Hades out of me! And I was some lost queen? It was too much.
I needed to go for a walk.
Leaving my room, I exited the dormitory wing and headed in search of the library. Maybe I could find something about the Lost Royal or Eclipse Dragons there. I was sure it was this way, just beyond the kitchen, but when I reached it I realized it was a dead end.I turned, remembering that the library was in fact in the opposite direction.
I passed a room with the door cracked open. King Valdren’s voice filtered out into the hallway.
“Which one of them has the best chance of giving me a healthy child?” he asked someone.
“Technically, Arwen has the most magic.” It was Dr. Elsie who answered, and upon hearing my own name, I froze. “But we have no idea what an Eclipse royal and a Dark Night royal would breed. The magic created could be… incredibly powerfulorcatastrophic.”
No one said anything for a full minute, and I should have walked away… but I couldn’t. I wanted to hear his response. This involved me after all.
“Joslyn is yoursafestchoice, my lord,” Dr. Elsie said.
“But Arwen is a choice I could also make?” The hope in the king’s tone made butterflies flutter in my stomach.
