Page 45 of In the Embrace of Dragons

The next day, the king is quiet all morning. It’s one of the few days he takes mostly away from his work, usually to catch up on his own physical training, but this time he spends a good amount of it writing a letter. There’s something contemplative about him as he seals it up and sends it off with a courier. He doesn’t bark orders or make demands, like he is lost in his own thoughts.

It’s nice to see him settling down, but it makes me wonder what’s on his mind.

Around lunchtime, Vizarios abruptly asks me, “Where does the queen take her meals?”

I think it’s the most he’s spoken all day. I startle.

“In the kitchen, at the breakfast table,” I tell him.

He nods and rises. “Let’s go see if she’s there.”

“What is your plan, Your Majesty?” I keep pace with him as he turns and heads down a hall toward the kitchens.

“I don’t know. But it’s like you said—there’s only one way to solve this problem. If she will not be bound by honor, I must find some other way to convince her.”

My heart falls. He still thinks of her as only a tool, and is scheming how to get what he wants from her.

“I don’t think you can ‘convince’ her,” I say as we walk. “She will see through you after your unfortunate meeting yesterday.”

Vizarios watches me from the corner of his eye. “Then what do you suggest?”

“I suggest that you actually try. Honestly and truly. Get to know her. Learn what she likes?—”

He waves a hand at me. “I just have to figure out what it is she wants and then give it to her. Dragons and humans alike are simple in that way.”

Sometimes he is infuriating.

“What she wants,” I manage to say in a calm voice, “is your company, Your Majesty. She is looking for a friend.”

“And you know this because of yourtraining sessions?” His tone is dripping with disapproval.

“It is why I do them with her.”

“I don’t know why you care so much.” Vizarios sniffs. “She’s not your charge.”

“She is my queen. I was entrusted with her care the moment that became true.”

“Doesn’t it upset you?” Vizarios asks. “That I want to fuck her?”

We both stop in the middle of the hallway as a servant scurries past us. I can hear his voice still echoing around us.

I turn to him. “Why would it upset me?”

“Because... don’t you want me for yourself?” he asks, rather pitifully.

It’s such a vulnerable question that I have to breathe out slowly so I don’t say what I think first.It does the opposite of upset me, I want to say.I would love to stand there and watch as you do it.In fact, I get hard just thinking about it.

“I do want you,” I say in a low, quiet voice. “You know that. But I want what’s best for you, too. And being with the queen—that is what’s right for you. No matter what, you will always have me.”

Vizarios’s yellow eyes bore into me, searching me for what it is I’m not saying. “You would let me walk away?”

“That’s up to you. Perhaps you should discuss it with the queen herself.”

For once, it looks like I might have gotten through to him. We turn around and continue down the hall, and Vizarios is silent. He is still thinking, still puzzling, but not reacting with his gut. That is a good sign.

When we reach the kitchens, a bright yip echoes off the stone walls. We enter the dining area and find three of the cooks crouched down, playing with the queen’s puppy, who she told me she named Daina.

When we enter, the puppy rushes toward me, and I crouch down to catch her in my arms. She licks my face all over, and I hear Nissia’s accompanying laugh.