The icy floor and the stench of filthy air sunk deep into my lungs as the hunger pangs cramped in my stomach. My skin tightened around the one side of my face and reality rushed back.
The bars on the gate of my prison welcomed me home, but I held on tight to Elena’s ascension. A tired laugh escaped through my lips before they wobbled. Never in a million years could I imagine seeing her. It felt so real.
“How is she?” Catherine asked.
“Beautiful, just like her mother,” I whispered, and turned around. My bride sat against the wall. I stared at her with all the longing I possessed.
Kate huffed as her lips quirked. It wasn’t long lived. “Did you tell her?”
“She discovered it. I didn’t say a thing.”
“Al,” Beaumond said. He must have crawled closer to the beams when he heard me sob. “You okay?”
Kate disappeared into a billow of smoke.
I sniffed. “Help is coming soon.”
“Would you stop with that? There is no way through the creepers. Help isn’t coming. This is our lot.”
“It’s not. I know it’s coming.”
I didn’t tell anyone about Elena. Afraid that Goran might hear. I could only imagine what he would tell his wyverns. Her life would be in danger. At least she had the Rubicon to protect her. That he had submitted, showed her mercy, brought another smile to my lips. Catherine was so wrong about the boy. He was totally under her spell. I was under her spell. The daughter I’d only held a few times as a baby. What could I possibly offer her?
ELENA
The queen took a deep breath, staring at the wall with her hand fanned open over her breastbone.
The mountains covered in snow stared back at us. On top of the mountains, the trees looked real, but my imperfections still slipped through. The orange and pink sky with the sun on the horizon gave the artwork a glow. Dragons fought in the sky. Some had fire, others had ice. On the ground, soldiers fought, they looked like knights and I had used the McKenzie’s emblem design for the bottom.
“I have no words, sweetheart. It’s simply… breathtaking.”
Heat spread to my cheeks. I’d never done great with compliments with my art, but I knew I had talent. She gushed about Mom’s dad again, my grandfather. I loved her stories, but I still struggled with the timeline. It was over 200 years ago.
Footsteps rushing into the room reached my ears and King Helmut whistled. “Jako, she sure has talent.”
“I’m afraid she doesn’t get it from me.” That caused some laughter, as he wasn’t my real dad, but he was my father. “Elena, you need to get ready for the interview. Blake said he would meet us there.”
“He told you and not me?”
“Check your Cammy. He was quite grumpy, mumbling something about not reaching you,” Dad said as he exited the room.
Crap! I picked up my Cammy and there were like 5 messages. The silent button flashed in the screen’s corner. I opened his first message, relaying what Dad had told me, and typed my text fast.
Sorry, was busy with the wall. It’s finally done now, yay.
He’d sent nothing back, and I hated that he was grumpy because of me. His emotions usually transferred, and I didn’t know yet if it was a dragon thing or a bond thing.
An irritating introduction tune played while we hid backstage. I hated the sweating palms and galloping heart. Dad sat in the audience and I thanked my lucky stars that Blake was going to do this interview with me.
The crowd cheered as I wiped my palms on my trousers.
Queen Maggie’s scolding tone droned in my mind to not get the suit pants dirty and my eyes searched for any dirty marks. It was my first formal introduction to Paegeia.
A hand rubbed my shoulder, and the tension in my muscles eased. There was something about Blake’s touches that calmed my soul.
I couldn’t stop thinking about the ancients and the new bogus they had come up with. Well, not all of them. Papi was the only one not agreeing, but to keep our relationship a secret, he didn’t object this time like he had that first time, either.
“Blake Leaf and King Albert and Queen Catherine’s lost daughter, Princess Elena Malone.”
Blake took my hand and led me onto the stage. He lifted his hand to the audience and a smidge of a smile dangled at the corner of his lips when he shook the host, Kevin’s, hand.
White pants and cardigan hugged an enormous figure. His brown hair was in a comb over and there was something eerie to his smile, like it was fake, or it had an agenda behind it. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
Blake plopped on the white sofa, and I sat down beside him. Kevin sat on a white leather chair close to us. Three mugs sat on top of the round marble coffee table in front of us.
“Welcome to both of you. I’m sure getting used to Paegeia and getting a dragon for your sixteenth birthday wasn’t something that you planned on, Princess.”
“Elena is fine,” I said, clearing my throat.
Kevin nodded with a smile on his face. My gaze head jumped over the crowd, hoping I would see Dad.
“No, it was definitely not her sixteenth birthday wish,” Blake answered and my gaze flickered back to Kevin, completely forgetting to answer the question.
“So what do you think about Paegeia, Elena?”
“Plenty of dragons.” My heart stammered as Blake’s lips quirked, eliciting a chuckle from the audience.
“She’s nervous,” Blake said, as he leaned more back into the couch and pulled me back with him to become more comfortable.
“So tell us about the other side, Blake?”
“It’s very primitive compared to Paegeia, but blending in wasn’t as hard as I originally thought it would be.”
“Did you know who Elena was the second you saw her?”
The second he saw me? My mind went back to that day in the school cafeteria. He looked at me for longer than I wanted to as Blake answered yes to Kevin’s comment.
My gaze flickered to Blake and then to Kevin again as Blake told him the story of how they had to get me back safely to Paegeia.
A part of me felt naked as everyone kept staring at me. I wished I was great at this the way Blake was, but I sucked at public speaking.
“So what happened in the ring, Blake? We all thought that we were going to get the claiming of a lifetime, and then you just submitted.”
“It’s harder to submit than to give into my true nature, Kevin.” It came out as a warning.
“I don’t doubt that for a second. But why with Elena?”
“She was ready, but I didn’t need to fight. I knew who she was, and with the rough start she had, not only finding out that magic and dragons were real, but getting her back to Paegeia, and what followed, she never got a break. If I can’t give her one, then no one would be able to.”
The crowd melted at his words as my lips curved into a smile. That was why he submitted.
“Are the ancients taking it as a legit claim?”
“They try their best to annul it, but it’s something I doubt even the ancients can void. Elena is what she is to me. Their decision won’t change anything.”
“So, is the verdict out yet?”
“No, they are still deciding on that part.”
I wanted to reclaim him, but Blake said we had to stand our ground, as that decision for him to submit was the hardest thing he had to do. He was proud of it and he wouldn’t change anything if they put me in that ring with him again. He would keep on submitting.
“Elena, tell us about your ascension?”
“Nerve-racking and strange.” The words slipped through my lips before I could stop them, and it elicited a couple of laughs. “Sorry, I meant to say, it was the opposite of what logic tells me is real. Time froze, everything came to a standstill. At first I was alone, staring at something that resembled a paused scene.
“Everyone in the crowd was stuck with confused expressions on their faces. I did not know what was going on, and then movement caught my eyes. It was so fast that I doubted anyone could have seen it. Eventually, a person wearing a cloak appeared inside the ring. It reminded me of Death with the scythe, but there wasn’t one visible.
“Then he removed the hood and the man that I only saw in pictures and in recordings stood in front of me. He was extremely kind, and it felt as if I’d known him all my life. It was hard to say goodbye.”
“King Albert had that tendency to make you feel really special when he was alive.”
“That he did,” Blake said. “Well, he used to give me a couple of warning glares among the smiles, but now we know why.”
His answer brought on more laughter.
“How many of your foretellings have changed, Blake?”
“Kevin, I hadn’t had a break to go find out. It’s weird when you go through this process. It’s like the things that you once deemed top priority seem so small now. But thanks for reminding me, it might be time to take Elena to the museum so she can learn more about her world and her place inside of it.”
Kevin asked a couple of tedious questions about the weekend he protected me at the palace that Blake answered, and then the interview was finally over. He ended off with kind wishes with the ancients and that their decision would fall in our favor.
Blake got up as the audience applauded and shook Kevin’s hand. He reached out for mine next. Kevin brought my hand closer to his lips and kissed the top of my hand.
A deep growl escaped Blake’s lips, which sounded like rumble over the microphone the staff had attached to his shirt and elicited a couple of laughs at the speed Kevin dropped my hand.
“Very possessive, that one.”
The audience chuckled, and we walked off the podium, clipping the microphones from our clothes.
“Seriously?”
“I’m a dragon.”
“You don’t have to act like one all the time. It was innocent.”
“Oh, please, nothing with Kevin is innocent.”
We reached backstage and found Emanual waiting for us. “Great growl.”
“Shut up. I’m so glad that this interview is over,” Blake said as we walked with Emanual to the exit.
“There are reporters waiting outside, so how do you want to address them?”
“Fuck.” Blake combed his fingers through his hair.
“You know it’s bound to happen. It’s the first time that Elena’s actually showing her face. They are curious about her.”
Blake’s gaze flickered to mine. “Are you up for more questions or are we going to slip out the back?”
“I’m sure there are reporters staking out every corner of this place.” My heart pounded again as heat waves rolled off my body.
“It’s up to you, Elena.”
“Just give them what they want, get it over with.” I took a deep breath to calm my heart.
“That is the problem. They will never get enough of you.”
“You should growl again. Maybe they will back off,” Emanual said.
“I’ll rip them to pieces if I have my way.” Blake grabbed my hand tighter. “Let’s just get this over with. Which exit has the least cockroaches?”
“I’m afraid they will come running like patsies no matter which exit you choose.”
I remembered how Dad had yelled at the football players playing like patsies. “Patsies are something on this side?”
They both nodded.
“What is it?”
“How do you know about patsies but not about dragons?” Blake asked.
“Because my dad kept yelling at football players at what patsies they were.”
Blake thought it was funny. “Yeah, they kind of are. I’ll show you later.”
We followed Emanual to one of the side entrances. The door opened and flashes bounced off my face.
Blake wrapped his arm around my body and pulled me tighter into him as we walked.
Questions came from around us. Some shouted about the ancient’s verdict, others carried the word submit in them, which could only be about the claiming or what was supposed to be a claiming. My mom’s and dad’s names popped in between them, too.
My gaze stared at the ground as guards of King Helmut’s court led us to the SUV that Emanual always seemed to drive. Blake nudged me inside and then slipped in behind me. He shut the door. The flashing of cameras didn’t stop, and neither did their questions. The thumping on the windows made my heart gallop in quick beats.
“I give you ten pagoleans for every cockroach you hit,” the guy next to Emanual said. He had a neat beard and was a kind of big like Emanual and Blake.
“Don’t tempt me, Raymond.” Emanual maneuvered his way out of the sea of reporters.
“Is it always going to be like this?”
“I wish I could say it would die out after a while, but you are Malone, Elena. It was like this for your parents, too. Your father and mother only had a keen ability to force order when there were none. They were masters with the media.” Emanual press the horn. “Come on!”
“Something I’m not.”
“You have me. You don’t need to be a master at this. When the time comes, you’ll learn how to deal with them, too.”
I knew Blake referred to after we rescued my father, when that was going to be. I did not know.
We still lived with the royals of Tith. The king and queen were so accommodating, even if Dad ached to get a small place of our own.
King Helmut advised against that, as the reporters would never leave us alone and it would lead to putting my life in potential danger that might make the Rubicon act in ways the king didn’t want to clean up or explain.
I sometimes felt as if I were Blake’s property now. Not that he treated me like that. It came from everyone around us. When I was with him, he treated me with kindness and respect.
“So, how was Just Kev?” Lucian asked when we stepped into the foyer.
“The same old. He insinuated a lot, but I’d set him straight a few times.”
“Wouldn’t be Kev if there weren’t assumptions.”
“True.” Blake’s stomach growled. He was always hungry.
“I’m just glad it’s over,” I said.
“Over? Your crap just started. If I were you, I would’ve kept hiding under the rock, aka the palace, as long as I can.”
“Lucian!” Queen Maggie sauntered into the foyer and wrapped her arms around me. “The media are not that bad. Elena will learn to deal with them too, just like you.”
“Mom, I was born in front of cameras.”
“Oh, you can be so dramatic. You weren’t born in front of the cameras.”
“Fine, a few hours old then.”
“You are the prince of Tith. What did you want me to do? Hide you up in a tower like Rapunzel?”
Laughter filled the foyer at that analogy.
“How was the interview?” She looked at both of us.
“I did most of the talking, but she was her gracious self when asked questions. The public loves her.”
“She is a Malone, of course they will. They serve lunch on the patio,” Lucian said.
“Awesome, I’m starving.” Blake walked to the patio with huge strides.
“We should really give him a room, Mom.”
“Over my dead body.”
“Apart from Elena’s. Jeez, woman.”
“He is a Dent, sweetheart. Dents don’t think about anything else but their riders.”
Lucian rolled his eyes as he walked through the door leading to the patio.
Blake had a plate in his hand, already scooping heaps of food onto it as my father and King Helmut huddled together to discuss something..
“You are back already?”
“I didn’t have an ocean of people to get through, Bear. It was in and out.”
“It’s so wrong.” I gave Dad a hug from behind.
“I was just watching your interview you had with Just Kev,” the king said. “Next time, give her more time to speak, Blake.”
Blake’s eyebrow raised. “With that weasel, heck no.”
I plopped on the chair next to Dad, opposite Blake.
“Which reminds me, we really need to take Elena to the museum of Etan.” Blake reached out for a freshly baked roll.
“It’s already arranged. They need all three of you there tomorrow morning for measurements,” the king said.
Blake grunted and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. “Why, just so they can mess it up again? Maybe they should give the artistic part to Elena. I’m sure she would do a twenty times greater job than their artist.”
“What are you talking about? They get everything perfect.”
“No offense, Queen Maggie, you have human eyes. Everything looks perfect through a pair of human eyes.”
After lunch, we took a stroll to the royal zoo and slipped into the monkey’s cage. Peanut made the most horrible screeching sounds, jumping up and down on a branch and swung from branch to branch until he landed on Blake’s shoulder. The monkey wrapped his tiny arms around Blake’s neck and pressed his entire body against the side of his face.
“Hey, Peanut. Did you miss me that much?”
The monkey made the weirdest sounds as Lucian smiled at it.
“Okay, now you make me feel like shit. Sorry, bud,” Blake cooed.
He melted my heart the way he spoke to Peanut.
“How does Peanut even know you?” I asked.
“I told you Blake is my blood brother. I tried to claim him twice. Believe me, he put up quite a fight with me in the ring.”
“Yeah, you weren’t the royal they prophesied about.”
“I was a royal. It would’ve been for your own good.”
“Ru-bi-con, not any of the other lame metallic ones out there.”
“Don’t let your sister hear you say that,” Lucian said.
Blake rubbed his nose against Peanut’s fur as I stared at them.
We spent the entire afternoon with the monkeys. There were a couple of babies as two of the mommies had given birth during the time I stayed here. The babies were so cute, but the moms were extremely protective and only let Lucian near them.
After spending some time with all the animals, we went to the lake and laid on the grass. They still teased me about how I did not know Blake was the Rubicon. I was so over it, but something told me I would never hear the end of this one. How was I supposed to know he was a friggin dragon?
Around nine in the evening, Blake said goodbye. It was the hardest part of my day, but I knew he would be back tomorrow for our trip to the museum.
The way they spoke about a book that carried foretellings inside piqued my interest the most. I couldn’t wait to visit this museum that carried my entire ancestors.
