I nodded, and an awkward silence fell between us, charged with anticipation and uncertainty.
"Please," Kailin motioned at the neatly made bed. "Make yourself comfortable."
"Thank you." I sat down and leaned my backpack against the bed frame.
She sat down on her bed across the room. "So, which subject do you want to start with? Flight mechanics, aerodynamics, the biology of dragons? I was just going over the atmospheric pressure variations at different altitudes and how they affect dragon flight patterns. We can start with that."
"Whatever you like. We can also just talk."
"About what?"
We were both nervous, but for different reasons. On my part, I just wanted to make it less awkward for her, and I wondered ifpulling her up to her feet and kissing her breathless would do the trick.
I'd never been with someone so inexperienced. In fact, I was starting to suspect that Kailin had never done this before, and I was going to be her first.
Introducing a novice to carnal pleasures was one hell of a responsibility, but I was confident in my ability to please her beyond anything she'd imagined.
It wasn't boasting.
I'd been coached by the best.
First, though, I had to make her relax a bit.
"You can tell me more about the village you grew up in," I suggested. "What was it like?"
Her expression softened. "Riverstone is a small place. And everyone is in everyone else's business, which can be stifling at times, but there's also a real sense of community. When someone needs help, for whatever reason, the entire village steps up."
She went on to describe moving to Skywatcher's Point after the attack and apprenticing with her grandmother in the apothecary, and how Shovia had befriended her, helping her emerge from the abyss of despair she'd sunk into, showing me a side of her friend that I hadn't seen before.
I was captivated. Not just by her words, but her animated expressions, the way her hands moved as she talked, the fondness in her voice for the place and people who had welcomed her and her family and made them feel at home.
"Now it's your turn," she said when she was done. "Tell me about growing up in a palace. I'm sure that it was much more interesting than my early years in a small village and later in a small city."
I knew instinctively that she was not interested in the political intrigues or my scant royal duties. Kailin was all aboutthe human element. She would want to hear about the fun stuff, like me and Codric sneaking into the palace kitchens to steal cookies, the vast royal library that had become my sanctuary during my turbulent adolescence, riding through the countryside with my brothers when I was older, and a few of the tamer shenanigans Codric and I had gotten into in recent years.
At some point, I got up and sat beside Kailin on her bed, leaving a few inches between us so as not to overwhelm her, and slowly the initial awkwardness melted away, but the tension remained, with both of us pretending that it wasn't there.
"I can't imagine growing up with four older brothers," Kailin said. "Having one was more than enough. Dylon was always so bossy with me."
I laughed. "I was the baby, so I was spoiled but also ignored. I wasn't even important enough to boss around. Don't get me wrong. I love my brothers, and I would lay my life down for them, but none of them is easy to get along with. Arlen, the eldest, is preparing to be king someday, so you can imagine what he is like. The twins, Aric and Aden, are the troublemakers, and they can get mean sometimes. Avren is the one most like me, though he'd never admit it. He's stubborn, principled, and too serious for his own good."
She leaned back, propping herself on her elbows, which pushed her breasts out in a most enticing way. "All your names start with an A. Is there a reason for that?"
"Yes. My father wanted all of his sons to be first in everything. His name starts with an A as well."
"That's right. You are Alaranthus the Fifth, and he is the Fourth. Isn't it odd that he didn't call his firstborn Alaranthus but chose to give his name to his fifth son?"
I smiled. "Our father didn't plan on continuing the naming tradition, but when I was born, and instead of the daughter heand my mother wanted, they got a fifth son, he thought it would be appropriate to call me Alaranthus the Fifth."
"Or maybe, he saw in you something that made him think you were more deserving than your brothers to carry on the name." She reached out to touch my face, her fingers tracing the line of my jaw with feather-light pressure. "Maybe he saw in you what I see."
"And what's that?"
"A natural leader."
66
KAILIN
