The Dragons of Summer
An Uncharted Realms Novella
by
Jeffe Kennedy
As unofficial consort to the High Queen, former mercenary Harlan Konyngrr faces a challenge worse than looming war and fearsome dragons. His long-held secrets threaten what he loves most—and he must make a choice between vows to two women.
Takes place afterThe Arrows of the Heart
Chapter One
“Inspecting the defensesyet again?”
Ursula’s question startled me, as I’d been so deep in thought I’d missed her approach. From my vantage on the walls of Castle Ordnung, I’d been contemplating the lush, green, and apparently peaceful countryside. The early onset of summer seemed to please the locals. For farmers and merchants, the fair weather brought welcome warmth for crops anddry roads for trade.
For a warrior like me, dry roads meant enemy forces could reach the seat of the Thirteen Kingdoms all that much more easily—and fair weather only made it easier to pillage freely and set fire to the rest.
I didn’t let Ursula see she’d surprised me—or the dark direction of my thoughts. As High Queen of the Thirteen Kingdoms, she had enough to think about. “It pays to be thorough,”I told her, making sure I looked relaxed.
“And here you’re always nattering at me to delegate. Don’t you have lieutenants to handle this?” she asked in an arch tone, her gaze as piercing as a hawk’s. Sometimes her eyes are steely, like the sword she’d slept with when I met her, and other times they soften to gray with hints of blue, like the fog that rises out of the valleys of the Wild Landsin the mountains beyond Ordnung.
I’ve never told her that, as she’d be embarrassed—and would likely try to hide that softness from me. My Essla—as her sisters called her, an intimate nickname I loved—learned long ago to compensate for her early wounds with tensile strength and hardening her heart.
Her tough resilience only added to Ursula’s unique beauty. The rising sun set her deep auburn hairon fire, gilding her high cheekbones and that strong nose I’d set with my own hands after her father broke it. Dressed for court—though she had yet to don her crown—she wore a streamlined and high-necked gown of black velvet. A bodice of worked silver hugged her waist and flared over her elegant breasts, finishing with stylized caps at the shoulders. One of her mother’s rubies glittered at thelow dip in the center, where a pendant might rest on another woman.
Overall, the bodice gave the impression of armor, and Ursula’s sheathed sword hung from the belt incorporated into the metalwork, the ruby in its hilt a perfect match to the one at her breast. The split skirt of the gown parted to reveal narrow silver leggings and high black leather boots beneath, allowing Ursula the freedomof movement she craved, even though she’d be waging battles of wits in the day ahead, not of arms.
We’d only returned a few weeks back, to fortify Ordnung and for Ursula to direct war strategy from the seat of the High Throne. To Ursula’s vocal and caustic dismay, she had also returned to a veritably endless supply of gowns appropriate for court. The dressmaker, Denise, and her army of seamstresseshad been hard at work during our journeys, creating formal garb so well designed for Ursula that she couldn’t find fault with them, beyond that they weren’t her preferred fighting leathers. With no excuses to do otherwise, Ursula had conceded that particular battle and looked more often the High Queen these days than road-worn warrior princess.
She always looked beautiful to me, so unlike themeek, submissive, and gentle-voiced women of my homeland. In fact, in all my travels, I’d never met another woman like my Essla, another lover of the sword, and as determined as I to wield it for justice.
Just as the first time I’d laid eyes on Ursula, my heart swelled in my chest, filled with the undying love I’d sworn to her service. I’d never regret that I’d given up loyalty and all connectionto the blighted homeland of my birth when I’d sworn theElskastholrrto Ursula. That vow—which must be freely given and never requested—had become my compass and foundation.
But I did sometimes wonder how much of the love I felt for her grew from the tattered shreds of guilt and remorse where the love for my sister Jenna had once lived in my heart—and had been ripped away when she disappeared.
In countless small ways, Ursula reminded me of Jenna, whom I’d never forgotten, though I had finally stopped searching for her. I’d kept her existence and fate my personal secret all these years, locked in a box in my heart, where no one could ever open it.
Where the wounds inflicted by the cruel world had nearly killed Jenna before our insane escape attempt, they’d honed Ursula into a weapon.Jenna had possessed no fighting skills, no knowledge of the world outside the Imperial seraglio. Both princesses and heirs to powerful parents, Jenna and Ursula could not be more different.
Perhaps Jenna had survived to go on and find something of Ursula’s ferocity. Probably that was a foolish and idealistic hope. Jenna was no doubt dead. Yet I couldn’t help wishing otherwise.
“Harlan?” Ursulaasked, when I failed to reply to her question. She tipped her head, studying me with a too-knowing gaze, a wealth of other questions crowding her simple asking of my name.
I shook my head, willing the old memories, the miasma of nostalgia—and dread of the future—to go back to the shadows where they belonged. She’d asked me about delegating, a rich question coming from her, who thought she hadto handle every cursed thing herself.
“You put me in charge of Ordnung’s defenses,” I reminded her. “And I’m very good at my job. Let me decide what can be delegated and what requires direct supervision.”
She smiled slightly, more of a thin-lipped grimace than anything, as she stepped up to stare out over the walls and the road to the township along with me. “It wasn’t a criticism,” she repliedmildly. “I’ve received a message from Andi,” she said, seeming to change the subject, though I knew this must be why she’d sought the solace of the walls.
“Ah. And how is my heart-sister?” The message held bad news, no doubt, as we seemed to have only that variety of messages lately. And, as Queen of the Tala, Andi lived at the heart of the brewing storm.
Sure enough, Ursula huffed out a sharp,impatient breath, stepping away from me. “Carelessly overextending herself, as usual.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” I replied, smiling easily when she glared at me. “I have to point out that you’re supposed to be resting before court, not checking up on Ordnung’s defenses.”
She narrowed her gaze at me, eyes sharpening. “How do you know I didn’t come up here looking for you?”
