Even the bowls they ate out of were gold. Everything was gold. Kaden’s rough hands snagged against his outfit again. The king had them outfitted and dressed in obnoxious clothing. He put them in colors that were associated with their countries.
Sayori was shifting awkwardly in her own silk dress. It clung to her in ways that made Kaden blush. She was a beautiful woman and it was hard for him to ignore it when the fabric was clinging to well to her curves.
Movement caught his eye. Evonne was desperately trying to hide her arms. They had put her in a sleeveless gown, ordered her to wear it. He had heard her meek protests when they delivered the clothing. She had come out of the dressing room under Sayori’s arms, her cheeks wet with tears. He didn’t know what could have caused such a reaction until he had seen her arms.
Up and down them were scars puckered and thick. Both of them had seen horrors. It was as if she had stuck her arms into a flame, let them lick and devour them before yanking them out. The scarring went up further on her body, into the dress. He wondered how much of her body was covered and why her face was spared such horrors.
He thought she had been modest this whole time with covering herself. Now he knew instead that it was to hide herself. His heart broke for her as she had to sit there showing off the scars she had hid from them for so long.
Reese, on the other hand, was rolling his shoulders, enjoying the silky fabric on his skin. This whole experience in the castle seemed like it didn’t bother him. He wondered how the elite were in his country. Fancy clothes and glittering plates must not be entirely new to him.
The door burst open again and there the King was, with his entourage. His hips swayed back and forth down the hall toward them. A woman who was dressed just as extravagantly as he was walking beside him. Gold paint was covering her hands, brushed up her arms before fading away around her biceps. Her dress flowed like water behind her as she walked.
More skin was shown than Kaden felt comfortable seeing. It made him blush just witnessing it. He wasn’t used to people being so open with their clothing. The fashion of the castle was going to take him longer than he had to get used to.
“Meet my wife!” The king demanded. “Queen Isabelle. She is—“
He reeled backward as he saw Evonne, letting out a disgusted gag while doing so. Sayori instinctively pulled her behind herself and Kaden stepped next to her, giving Evonne more of a block from their prying eyes.
He waved his hand behind him and a man in a sheer golden robe stepped forward. He whispered to them, and they peeled their robe off and skittered forward. The man held it out to Sayori, and all she did was glare at them. Kaden took it and bowed his head. Turning around to face Evonne.
She looked at him with wet eyes and a trembling lip. He held it open for her to slide her arms into the sleeves. The robe was still slightly see through, but it was still enough to disguise her scars. She slipped one arm through, her arms shaking all the way into the sleeve. His heart ached for her. It was a horrible situation all because he wanted them to look a way they weren’t used to.
Once she was covered, they turned back to the king. Kaden wasn’t sure if he could hide the upset from his face. The king gave them a pitiful smile and said, “the Queen will be dining with us tonight. I want you to tell her your tale.”
“You want us to tell her everything?” Sayori asked with an irritated tone.
He looked around nervously, understanding they meant in regards to the ambassador. “Well, about how you saved the citadel, anyway! They are heroes, honey, truly!”
She gave a weak smile that looked more like it was disgusted by their presence than pleased. With a sultry voice, she said, “I look forward to it.”
The king clapped and said, “then let’s get to it!”
Spinning around, the crowd went back in the direction they came and walked away from them, standing there in the hallway. Sayori turned back to Evonne and wiped away her tears. Reese crossed his arms as he gave a disappointed huff.
“We best be following the crowd. We can’t ignore a direct invitation like that.”
“Do I have to go?” Evonne cried.
Reese’s shoulders dropped, and he took her hand. “We just have to get through this meal. I’m sure now that he knows of your situation, he’s not going to order you into more outfits like this.”
“He’s making us look like fools.” Sayori bit back.
“Of course, he’s a king. That’s what they do.”
Kaden put his hand on Sayori’s shoulder and nodded. “Let’s just get through this and then we can go back to the pilgrimage.”
She looked down her nose at him. “Your king is the worst.”
He tried his best to cover her mouth. “This is his castle. Watch what you say. There could be eyes and ears everywhere.”
She glared at him as his hand covered her mouth. Prying it away, she turned and marched off behind the crowd, following them down into another wing. With his arm around Evonne, Reese shrugged toward Kaden and they went along as well.
There weren’t as many people as Kaden had thought at the dinner. The king and queen were there, Lord Cronley looking sullen in his own awkward silk attire, and a handful of other important looking people. The food was amazing, though. It was some of the most delicious blend of spices and seasonings he had ever had on anything. If he could just eat the food at the palace and not have to deal with everything else, he’d be happy.
They had to recant their story again to the queen and others there, leaving out the mention of the ambassador. The king was already interjecting his own flourishes on the tale, as they told it. He invented parts where Kaden was doing some flips and jumps in battle. They gave far more detail of the action than they had with the king originally, making it seem more heroic.
In the end, he was satisfied. They ended the night with deep bows and pleasantries. Lord Cronley was waiting for them as they were escorted out of the room and into a large hall. A few more people were milling around, socializing about this and that.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
He motioned for them to join him. “Good job on making that story even more engaging. It’s all he wants to talk about. You gave him even more to work with. We won’t be bothered with his anger at the investigation and how long it’s taking to find results.”
“Why is it taking a while?” Kaden had wondered why they hadn’t found anything concrete. “Do you all truly believe it was the House of the Serpent, or did they just take the opportunity to attack?”
There was still the question of the runes being from Loratyk’s house. How did the serpent order get his runes? Kaden wondered if they originated there. Why would they capture dragons when at the citadel they were dropping them right out of the air?
“Some of my cohorts want to point to them directly. It would be easier considering everything they’ve done.”
Sayori slid in next to them. “But you haven’t found anything directly connecting them to the rune traps.”
He shifted uneasily. It wasn’t something other countries were supposed to know. Sayori being so intimate with the details, must have given Lord Cronley a moment of pause. Considering what the four of them had already had to deal with that was so secretive, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they knew of the investigation in full from Kaden either.
“Yes,” he said to her slowly. “We best not discuss that here, lest we want to get ourselves tossed in a dungeon.”
“For just mentioning the investigation?”
His eyes cut around at the groups around them. “I’d be careful with everything you say here. There are eyes and ears everywhere. Even when you think you’re in private, you’re not.”
He shook Kaden’s hand and kissed the back of Sayori’s before bidding them a farewell. Sayori gave Kaden an annoyed look before turning away and rejoining Evonne. They didn’t last there much longer before they all left for their assigned rooms.
Sayori joined Evonne in her personal room and Reese brushed him off, leaving for his own personal room. He opened the door and was greeted again by the lavish lifestyle of the castle. Everything looked soft and draped in silks. Giant pillows were even on the ground to lounge on. It was such a strange way of living. He was in his own country, but felt like he was in an entirely new world.
Laying down on the far too soft bedding, he tried his best to close his eyes and shut off his brain. It didn’t work. Tossing and turning, he tried his best to get comfortable, but he felt like he was swallowed by the cushions.
Being in the world that was so different from his, so different from he had even grown up with, was utterly wild to him. Even the white city wasn’t this lavish and ostentatious. It was no wonder that there were people out there attacking the mages. They must see them as a representation of that society, even though he himself wasn’t part of it.
His whole life did change for the better, and his families, when he was blessed. It would have never happened to them normally had he not happened upon Zuma trapped in the forest. They would never have been able to ever meet with a matriarch and never would have been blessed.
For a magic that is supposed to be built on compassion, their country didn’t have much of it for the lower class. He wondered if he had walked up to a temple, would they have let him in to meet a matriarch or would he have been turned away, never earning the chance to speak, be judged. Where would they all be if he hadn’t lucked out?
Thinking of Zuma, he pushed his will out, trying to feel them from the distance they were. He felt a soft push back. It was that of comfort. He pictured Zuma rolling on over-sized fluffy pillows, enjoying their time in the royal dragon stables. He couldn’t help but chuckle as he finally drifted off to sleep.
A heavy knock shook him out of his stupor and he groggily pulled on a robe that had been draped over a chair. He didn’t know where it came from or how it got there. It made him a bit uncomfortable to know someone had been in his room while he slumbered and he didn’t even know it.
Hugging it to himself tightly, he pulled the door open and was greeted by a grumpy Iratoi. He slowly blinked away his confusion as he tried to process his former mentor in front of him. Iratoi Cronley, daughter of Lord Cronley. He had forgotten she was ordered to the ceremony as well.
Pushing him into the room, she grumbled several words he couldn’t make out. She walked around the edges of the room, tapping at the walls in seemingly random spots. He heard her whispering a few words before moving to another spot. Once she made her way around the entire room, she closed her eyes and clapped her hands. A light sparked before fading away.
“Okay, the sounding runes should be muted for a bit.”
“Sounding runes?”
“They listen to everything said here. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them.” She threw herself onto a large cushion, sinking into it. “You need to tell me what the hell has happened and you need to tell me now.”
There was the first person who trusted him, saved him from the mediocrity that he existed in. He had no reason not to trust her, even though she was the daughter of a lord. She and Eloise had saved him from the darkness several times. She wasn’t about to go about spilling his secrets.
So he told her, he told her all of it. He told her about the visions, about the dragons at the citadel. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. She was the only one who he felt he could trust fully outside of those who were there to witness the acts. He spilled all the details, even about the Lord Commander.
She sat there in silence, studying his face when he finished. Anxiety ate at him as he waited for her to say something, anything. Finally, she let out a sharp huff of a laugh before taking a deep breath in.
She shook her head and said, “I owe Tranley 50 gold pieces.”
“I’m sorry?”
“He said you’d get more visions when you saw more matriarchs. I said no, you only got them from the wild matriarch. We bet on it.”
He couldn’t help but laugh that in the whole mash up of a tale he spun. That’s where her mind went. She rubbed her face before falling back into the padded chair, groaning as she did so.
“You are trouble,” she grumbled. “So much trouble. Ever since you got blessed, it’s been one thing after another. Couldn’t you just have gone on your vacation to the other countries and ate some new food? Did you have to involve yourself in an uprising and give dark omens like candy?”
He stuttered before he cracked a smile. “I guess my life was just a little too dull on the farm.”
She laughed and said, “yeah your family is here. The king ordered his people to dress them better before they could come in. I hope your mom was okay with that. She was terrified on the ride over.”
“The ride over? You were with them?”
“Oh, yeah, Vixenta and a few of her riders picked us up. We flew in a tram the dragons carried.” She flipped her hand dismissively. “It’s no wonder she was terrified. Those contraptions are ridiculous. There were just too many of us to go on dragon back with the size of dragons sent. It wasn’t like that Lord Commander of yours that could carry an army.”
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Were they okay with the king’s orders of clothing?”
She fumbled with the chiffon of her own dress between her fingers. He had been so shocked to see her; he hadn’t even realized she was so pleasantly dressed. She was the daughter of a lord, so he wasn’t surprised.
“Oh yeah, your family is thrilled to be here on personal invitation to the king. I advise not to tell them everything you told me though,” she winked. “Your mom is my best friend now, I think. Or at least, I’d hope so after how tightly she was clinging to me all afternoon. At least they’ll be sent back in carriages instead. They won’t be frightened that way. Lovely people.”
“I can’t believe they brought you all so quickly.”
She pulled herself back up from the fluffy chair. “You will learn fairly quickly if you’re making a name for yourself like this with the nobility, things happen as quick as they want them to.”
“So it seems,” he said as he helped her out of the chair.
“Get dressed. I’ll bring them by here soon to see you.” She smiled at him as she reached the door. “I thought you’d do big things, but I hadn’t realized it would be this big.”
He let out an audible sigh.
“I don’t like these visions you’re having, but I’m not surprised. We will talk more about all of this when we have more time and aren’t surrounded by ears. Your sounding runes should be working again soon, so watch your mouth. Did you tell the king of the visions?”
“Your father told me not to.”
She let out a surprised laugh. “Of course he did. He’s a wise man, heed his knowledge.”
She winked before closing the door behind her. He was relieved to have another friendly face, but was not thrilled at having to explain things to his family. His eyes widened as he realized they’d be there soon.