“Or my brother. He is?—”
“We’re veering off track,” I said and sighed. “I’m not wedding any of your sons, brothers, uncles, neighbors or friends.”
“You must pick someone,” Ansel insisted.
“Nein, I mustn’t,” I pointed out as calmly and coolly as I could manage. I wouldn’t be with a man who wasn’t my firebrand, so I wouldn’t be with a man, period. The risk of disaster was too great.
Bauer raised sad eyes. “You are losing our elite soldiers, one after the other, Olyssa, and not a soul understands how or why.”
I barely hid my wince. Now wasn’t the time to mention the death of Matthias. As for the other missing, I knew who to blame. If Locke had snuck into my realm, stole my things and challenged my men, of course he’d abducted soldiers, too.
“We aren’t questioning you, my queen,” Roland said,his voice tight. “We are questioning how long the realm can endure the growing uncertainty.”
“I see.” I weighed my options. The Council couldn’t be relieved of duty by a royal. I could kill them, as previously considered, but citizens might revolt. An inconvenience I couldn’t afford at this time.
So what to do, what to do?
The throbbing in my neck flared anew, and my thoughts immediately returned to Taron. Longing stirred, and I swallowed a groan, running my fingers along the healed wound. Heat radiated as if the dagger cut had left some kind of invisible seal.
Guess I wasn’t free of the bond after all.
“Your Majesty?” Bauer prompted, snapping me back into focus. Every member of the council eyed me with interest. Even my sister had stopped doomscrolling on her phone. “Do you have a solution, if not marriage?”
“Ashmorra might not survive another crisis. I cannot sit and do nothing. Not again.” Roland never met my eyes.
Grr. Here I was wanting to stoke my anger with him, and he had to go and put our realm first.
Miracle of miracles, I rallied my strength and stayed put, glaring at the people seated at my table. “I do have a solution. I advise you to stop betting against me,” I stated with enough frost to freeze the room. “Even when my defeat looks sure, I always come out on top. Just ask my father, theformerking.”
They shifted in their seats, suddenly uneasy.
Good. I wasn’t done. “Here’s what is going to happen. You will leave and do your jobs. What the people voted for you to do. Search our annals for prophecy, strategy and means of destroying someone who refuses to stay dead—someone who isn’t our phoenix. And a word of warning toanyone thinking of betraying me,” I said, standing. “You will find yourself imprisoned with my father.” Head high, I exited with Adelaide at my back.
I glided from the meeting room as if I hadn’t a care. But the urge to see Taron bombarded me, as powerful as a berserker in full fury.
I wouldn’t visit him.
I absolutely, positively would not.
Chapter
Four
An irritating human? Flame-test first, ask questions later.
-Humaning for Beginners: A Dragon’s Tale of Human Management
So, I visited Taron.
In my defense, he was to blame. Mostly. Kind of. Though I did manage to resist the urge to see him for two days.
The first morning started like any other. I awoke far too early, having failed miserably at the noble art of slumbering. Normally, my insomnia centered on a parade of political chaos through my head. Border disputes, minor rebellions, possible cracks in my defenses. The usual.
This time, it was all Taron, all night, with his brooding face, chain-summoning charisma and shockingly intriguing rage. My dragon frothed, balanced at the precarious edge of violence, while I tossed and turned. I even composed a speech in my head explaining why keeping the Locke alive might not be the worst idea I’d ever had. Then Icontemplated chainingmyself. Nothing helped. My brain still ran full steam toward him.
I dragged myself to the private gym attached to my royal bedroom suite and got busy sprinting on the treadmill. Halfway through my planned twenty-mile run, Adelaide breezed through the doorway carrying a teacup on a saucer.
She stopped at my side, sipped from the glass, and glanced at the machine’s display screen. “You’ll never work out your frustrations at such a slow speed.”
