I flinched.
“Eliel, I was wrong. I shouldn't have said that to you, not when you're still recovering. Please forgive me. And let me assure you that if the courtiers stare at you, it's only because you're handsome, and they're curious about you. No one thinks poorly of you.”
“Several of them have already met me.” I glanced down the hall to be sure no one had returned. “Bara entertained a lot. Theyknow, Sir Vanoak.”
Sir Vanoak went still. “I see. With Bara dead and declared a traitor of the kingdom, they will be doubly curious about you.Perhaps they think you were the one who brought him to the King's notice. In which case, you're a hero.”
Hero. The word would never apply to me. The heroes had been Katai, Vasren, and Katai's team. They had freed countless captives. A shiver entered my chest as I remembered that night—escaping Bara, my chest full of terror and hope. I could still hear Katai shouting, “Fly! Go, Eliel!” The sky had been full of men and women like me—Lelurra who had been enslaved and freed that night by Katai and his gang of reformed criminals. Some of the Lelurra carried wingless freed captives. Like the Deldin woman who had been held in the arms of a Lelurra man flying right beside me. Her face had shone with a joy only those of us with her could understand. The bittersweet bliss of freedom. To fly under that moon with all of those people who felt what I felt—the terror and the joy—had been miraculous.
But those other Lelurra had flown back to the Hanhepi Forest while I had gone back to Bara. I couldn't leave Ahanu without killing him. I knew I'd never sleep again if I left that bastard alive. That was a mistake that nearly cost me my future. If not for Katai and his team, I would have gone back to being Bara's plaything, except he would have been even crueler. They saved me yet again and gave me the opportunity to take my revenge. I would never forget those real heroes. My tribe was probably writing songs about them. The other freed Lelurra would have told the story about the brave human and his team of misfit heroes.
And they would have told my parents that I was alive and well.
I made a scoffing sound about the question of my heroism. “It's more likely that the soldiers involved with the Bara investigation have spread tales, and the courtiers haveheard them. Now, they're recalling all of their visits to Bara's home and how I sat meekly as he pawed at me in front of them, showing off his prize.”
The knight flinched. “They are probably feeling guilty for not noticing that you were not there willingly. I know I would be horrified if I had dined with you and Bara and never noticed your despair.”
“I don't think they care, Sir Vanoak. If anything, they're probably mad that Bara didn't offer them ribbons so they could capture their own bed slaves.”
Sir Vanoak blinked. “Great Goddess, has he damaged you that much?”
“Excuse me?”
“Bara. Did he hurt you so much that all you see is evil in the world?”
“It's not all I see. I'm just not blind to it anymore.”
“Seeing only good in people is being blind, but so is seeing only evil. Neither is true. I understand why the bad outweighs the good for you now, but I hope when you heal, your vision will clear, and you will see that there is good and bad in everyone. Some people are out of balance, tipping toward evil, and those are the ones you have to be careful of. The rarer sort are those like our king, who leans so close to pure good that it's hard to remember how he won his throne.”
I frowned. “You mean, in a tourney?”
“Yes, in a tourney where he faced over sixty opponents and left them all crying for mercy.”
I shrugged. “No matter how kind he is, he is still a Dragon.”
“Now, I must ask you what you mean.”
“Your people rule, Sir Vanoak. You rule over all the other races. To do that, you must be savage. It is the way of things. The strong conquer.”
“Dragons rule Serai peacefully.” He made a wincing expression. “On the whole.”
“Yes, because you beat the other races so soundly that we all realized it was a choice of accepting your rule or being annihilated.”
“The beginning was rough, but now, our kings keep the world at peace.”
“I'm not trying to insult your race, Sir Vanoak. I think highly of Dragons. All I'm saying is that to rule, you must be comfortable killing. King Raventar is known to be a good man, but he wouldn't be able to hold this kingdom without also being a good killer.”
Sir Vanoak snorted. “I suppose you're right. And he will be very comfortable punishing me if I linger a moment longer with you. Shall we?”
“Yes, of course.” I motioned him on.
Sir Vanoak didn't speak to me again during our trip across the palace. Although he did look back at me a few times. Finally, he led me into the throne room.
Ancient stone pillars supported a vaulted ceiling painted to resemble the sky. Eagles flew across the expanse, their wingseternally stretched wide. All of them flew in the direction of the throne, perched on a dais at the far end. There were no windows in here. Nowhere to flee from the wrath of the King, should you be so unfortunate as to inspire it. Besides the throne, there was no furniture either. Although there were tapestries of the King, his dread in flight, and the kingdom's eagle. I glanced at a life-sized tapestry of King Raventar posing on his throne, and a shiver ran down my spine. How the artist had managed to weave his likeness so accurately was beyond me.
Massive enough to be echoing, the room wasn't even a third full. Still, there was a sizable crowd gathered before the broad stone platform and its royal occupant. Despite what that tapestry had suggested, King Raventar wasn't on his throne. He stood at the edge of the dais, arms crossed and forehead drawn down. His bright gaze was fixed on a Ricarri man who stood before him, separate from the crowd. The man was nearly as large as the King, his muscular arms bared by a sleeveless tunic. The minerals in his gray skin caught the light and glittered. A sword hung on his lean hips, the hilt matching those glints.
Sir Vanoak escorted me to the left side of the room and then up along the wall until we joined another Dragon knight on guard duty at the bottom of the dais stairs. Sir Foxren nodded at us and then returned his attention to the room, scanning it for threats. On the opposite side of the dais, Sir Devorok did the same.
