A couple of months ago, before Vorik had crossed paths with—no, had orders to seduce and question—then-princess-and-now-queen Syla Moonmark, he had been indifferent to the Kingdom. Countless times over the years, following orders from above, he’d battled their soldiers as they sailed between their islands. He’d never minded, since the goal had been to obtain food from their bounteous lands, food that could sustain his people during the harsh winters and storm seasons. But now… he cared deeply about at leastonegardener, as his people called the agricultural people, and that made him want to find a peaceful way forward, or at least one that wouldn’t result in eternal hostilities and war. He also didn’t think his freedom-loving people should enslave others, as Chief Tenilor had suggested. That wasn’thonorable.
“Captain Vorik.” Jhiton, who’d seen him coming, inclined his head toward him instead of shooing him away. He’d smoothed his frown, his expression now neutral, his scarred face and green eyes hard to read, as usual.
Also nodding at Vorik, General Amalia seemed receptive of him joining the meeting. Shi’s gaze was less welcoming, her eyesslitting slightly as she regarded him, and her thin lips pinching together.
“Evening, generals and chieftess,” Vorik drawled. “It’s a fine night to pack one’s loincloths, sword oil, and dragon bribes, isn’t it?”
Shi mouthedloinclothsas she retied a thong binding back her graying brown hair.
The ever-deadpan Jhiton, who, when they were in public, never responded in kind to Vorik’s jokes, gazed impassively at him.
Amalia, a handsome woman despite weathered brown skin and close-shorn gray hair, had a touch more humor in her dark eyes as she mouthed, “Dragon bribes?”
“I’ve smoked up some salmon for Agrevlari,” Vorik said. “He performs best if I feed him delicacies while singing ballads pronouncing the magnificence of dragons.”
“Did you give him salmon before he attacked Ozlemar above a whaling ship full of enemies?” Jhiton asked.
“No, I didn’t, and I think that’s why his behavior was substandard. That and his perennial aching and pining for the beauteous wild dragon Wreylith.”
“My teenage daughters would assure you that salmon can’t cure aching and pining,” Amalia said.
“That dragon isn’twildanymore, is she?” Shi asked without humor. “She has a rider.”
“Ah.” When all three gazes fixated on him—accusinglyfixated?—Vorik didn’t know what to say. “I do believe she’s decided to allow the Garden Kingdom queen to ride her.”
Sayingthe queeninstead of mentioning Syla by name, probably while showing aching and pining in his own eyes, seemed wise when dealing with the chieftess. With anyone who might be concerned about Vorik’s allegiance these days. To remind them he always did his duty and was loyal to the tribe, hewaved toward another nook in the back of the cave. It contained the three magical components that he and Wise had stolen from Syla’s team. He hadn’t admitted to anyone that the ignoble act had bothered him or that, more than once, he’d thought about slipping out of camp with the components and taking them to Syla while imagining how delighted and grateful she would be. He’d acquired them. That ought to be all that mattered.
“There are rumors that the new queen now has a dragon tattoo,” Shi said, “and is bonded with Wreylith. Do you know anything about that, Captain Vorik?”
“I wasn’t there to witness that, no.” Vorik pulled his gaze from the components in time to see Shi frowning at him. With suspicion? “I came over here because I’d like to know what our people plan for the Garden Kingdom. What’s being done to the subjects who live on Harvest Island? Will they be kicked out to find homes in the rest of the Kingdom, or will they be forced to work to feed our people? And what of the subjects on future islands we may capture?”
Jhiton raised his eyebrows, probably surprised that Vorik was asking and not simply waiting for someone to give him orders.
“I assume we’re still planning to capture more islands,” Vorik added.
“We are.” Jhiton looked to Shi, as if to say she could answer the rest.
Capturing as many of the islands as possible had always been his goal, so Vorik wondered what he’d been disagreeing with her about.
“Why do you want that information, Captain?” Shi asked softly, her eyes locked on Vorik. Was that suspicion again? What, did she think he would turn traitor and report everything he learned to the Kingdom? ToSyla?
Vorik lifted his chin. “For my own edification. I don’t believe we should include enslaving people as part of our plans, and I understand that’s been discussed. The tribes aren’t united enough to rule over a nation. We don’t even officially have ourownnation. Even if we were and we did, we don’t have a large enough population to keep the gardeners under our thumbs. It would be dangerous in the long term. Besides, it’s not honorable to enslave other human beings. We should take the islands, drive the subjects away to whatever others the Kingdom will retain, and gather and hunt food there ourselves. The islands can be our new homes and headquarters so we don’t have to spend time scurrying from temporary camp to camp while always living in dark, dank caves to avoid aerial predators.”
“Nobody has said anything of enslaving anyone,” Shi said.
Jhiton’s eyelids flickered, but he didn’t contradict her. Vorik believed Wise had accurately relayed what he’d heard the chiefs speaking about; he’d had no reason to lie about that.
“That’s good then.” Vorik opted out of calling Shi a liar. Instead, he smiled and bowed. “After all, if you put a leash on something, the other end attaches to you, and you’re as bound as your captive.”
“You will have a new mission soon, Captain,” Shi said. “I suggest you focus on it and leave the leadership and command of the tribes to others who are more dedicated and capable.”
Vorik’s jaw tightened. Just because he’d never butted into meetings before didn’t mean he wasn’t dedicated to serving his people. It certainly didn’t mean he wasn’tcapable.
Shi stepped closer and gazed into his eyes. She was a couple of inches shorter than he, but she, like most of the tribal leaders, was bound to a dragon and radiated power granted to her via their magical link. Though she was twenty years older than Vorik, he wouldn’t assume that he could defeat her without trouble in a battle. It hadn’t been that many years since she’dwon her place as chieftess by defeating the previous tribal leader in a duel.
“Your interest in the queen makes your motivations suspect,” Shi said softly, “and you’re not acting like your usual self, Captain. These aren’t the kinds of questions you typically ask.”
Vorik didn’t back up or look away. “In the past, I haven’t had reason for concern over the choices being made. We should be careful about the future we’re trying to create. We all know we need to do something new to survive the changing climate and scarcity of food it’s bringing, but if we stray too far from our origins, we may lose our way and become something we don’t wish.”
