“Really?” I chuckled. “I heard Princess Sagan made the call because she went to school with one of the cousins. She informed them and invited thempersonally. They accepted.”
“Bold,” the sensible one muttered. “I like it. She kept with tradition—everything was just like when Rhys’s father died. But she’s also carrying on his mission for peace. Smart lass.”
“Impressive given her age and what she’s been through,” my barber agreed. “Poor thing. I can’t even imagine—people are so cruel. Calling her cold and soulless because she wasn’t crying. They’d have judged her as weak if she did.”
I snorted. “She would have been regal and dignified if she’d been a man.” I met the codger’s gaze in the mirror. “People will find any reason to tear into her to hide their sexism.”
He chuffed a few times. “I don’t have to like her if I don’t want to and I don’t have to explain myself.”
“No, but maybe try to be a bit less petty than she might get lost in the castle and have some damn compassion for someone who just lost her parents,” I threw right back. “She’s not even taken the job yet and you’re writing her off as a failure and spouting bile. She’s been through a lot, so maybe wait a few months before doing that, yeah?”
I felt better when a few others in different chairs snickered or snorted, clearly agreeing with me.
“What else you heard, kid?” the reasonable older man asked me.
I bounced my head back and forth as if debating what to tell them knowing full well I would never say a word to betray Sagan. “Enough to know I would bet on her.” I met his gaze in the mirror. “That she’s sacrificed things and been put through her paces and she’ll be an amazing queen if she’s given the right support.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You don’t say?”
“King Rhys and Queen Amelia were loving and kind but alsosmart. There was a reason they didn’t raise her at court and with the normal influences. I think there was a real reason they let people run their mouths.”
“Interesting,” he muttered as he studied me. “You find out a lot about people when they underestimate you, look down on you. You think they set up the snakes to fall into the needed traps.”
Oh, he was a smart one because I hadn’t said that much. I pretended to think it over and gave a slight nod. “I think you’re onto something there. I don’t know. I just know I was a professorwhen Princess Sagan gave a lecture while an undergraduate and no one should ever dismiss her. She’s—I know dragons hundreds of years old that couldn’t grasp what she does.”
“Well, I hope you’re right, kid. I do. It benefits all of us if she’s got the smarts and can make Thovudin better. I’m rooting for her.”
I felt better when that seemed the consensus besides that one codger, and fuck him.
I sighed when the barber was done and showed me in the mirror. “There I am.”
He chuckled. “Quite the transition.” That was an understatement. I was now clean-shaven with my longer quiff that had a dramatic fade instead of a mangy beard and manbun… Thing.
The nice older guy whistled. “Handsome, lad. Wow, you must beat them off with a stick.”
I chuckled as I stood once the cape was off. I pulled out my wallet and gave the barber the fee with a large tip. I winked at the older dragon. “Naw, I could never disrespect a woman. Plus, my personality sucks.”
Several people chuckled and they said they hoped I came back since I was fun. Apparently, it was a hangout spot for some locals, not just a shop.
Maybe just to check in on the gossip on Sagan. It honestly wasn’t a bad idea.
I returned to the castle just before lunch… And just in time to see Kole roughly grab Sagan’s arm, anger in his eyes.
I moved in a flash and crushed his wrist, twisting his arm behind him when he let her go. I shoved him into the wall and roared in his ear. “Do not touch her in anger again or I will end you, Kole. I warned you.”
“All right, I get it,” he bit out. “You broke my wrist.”
I shoved him again before backing off. I bowed to Sagan and went to apologize.
“You,” she gasped, blinking at me in a way that I didn’t understand. “It’s you.”
“Yeah, my uncle,” Kole chuffed as he fixed himself.
“Uncle,” Sagan murmured, glancing between us.
Kole looked at her like she was dense. “Yeah, my Uncle Onyx? Yesterday you were—”
“He had a ton of facial hair and didn’t look likethis,” she threw right back and gestured to me. Then she studied me and motioned like she was touching an imaginary beard of her own.
