Page 11 of The Forgotten Throne

“Do you still doubt her, you fool?” Eleazar muttered, glaring at Naytan. “How many more of the signs do you need her to fulfill right in front of you or from her own lips?”

Naytan didn’t answer, but he did look even more uncomfortable with the situation he was in.

Feeling just the slightest amount of pity towards this man, I raised a brow at him as I caught his eyes when he glanced at me. “You’re still here? Does that mean I can expect you and your dragon to be ready with the others?”

Zan snorted but tried to cover it up with a cough. Naytan didn’t seem to like my question all that much either and took this moment to walk out of the room. Guess we’ll just have to see what he decides, won’t we?

“I will get the men ready, and we will await your signal. Zan knows what it is. Our roost is built into the mountains. It’s not obvious how many of them we have on call to us. Not that all of them live here. Many fly free until they are called by their partner,” Alsten shared.

“There seems to be a lot I need to learn about this place, but let’s get the rest of our people to their new home first,” I said with a smile.

Alsten gave a quick bow and left to get the dragon riders ready.

Chapter Seven

By Dragon or By Land

True to his word, Alsten had the riders ready when we took off. Ifra shot out a ball of flame as the signal in the night sky. It was colder flying back without the warmth of the sun, but Abbott’s warm body kept me from getting too cold. He felt me shiver as the winds picked up, so he wrapped his arms tightly around my waist, pulling me into the shelter of his broad body. This had me thinking back to what the viceroy had asked about who my consorts were. I had no idea there was another mark that they got when that happened. Was it given by magic like the guardian symbol or did I provide that proof? Either way, after reading the coronation rules, I would have to announce at least one of them. No king or queen is allowed to hold the throne without the chance of continuing the line.

It would seem they followed the rule that offspring of the king or queen would rule if there wasn’t another black dragon to make a different choice. So like a normal royal situation, I would have to prove to my people I was making an effort to provide for their needs with a child. Did I want kids? Now that I had the choice in the matter, I found I wasn’t sure what answer I would give. All my life it had been assumed. I was a woman, therefore I had children. What other purpose could I possibly have? Did the men in my life want kids? Do I ask them that before I make my choice? How many do I want to pick? Can I choose some and see how it goes and add more later? No. That would be cruel and unkind to those I didn’t pick right away.

“Cass, you are going to make your brain burst, thinking that hard. Trust your heart. You know these men were handpicked for you by the power inside of you. The gods would not have chosen poorly for their favored child, the Dragon Queen.”

“What does that mean? Have you known all along that I was this person?”

“Of course.”

“So you just didn’t bother to tell me that I was some prophesied queen who was going to change the world?”

“Cass, if I did that then you wouldn’t have become who you are today. Just like there is a reason you needed to lead the life you did and go through those hardships before coming to this point.”

“The viceroy mentioned gods earlier too. Why don’t others speak of them in Norden?”

“They once did, but like all things, if you lose faith in something and choose to cut it out of your life, it fades out of existence. Now that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still exist in the world because you choose not to believe it. This is the case of the gods that the people of Sheca speak of. All of this will be explained once we get you and our people settled.”

“How is it that so much has been forgotten?”

“It is human nature to wipe out all that it fails at or chooses not to accept. It’s easier to pretend it never happened than to face what you’ve abandoned.”

As much as I wanted to deny what Vasin was saying, I knew it was true. My own family did it as they tried to hide the fact that we were once mercenaries. They refused to acknowledge that part of our family because they were ashamed of what others thought of it. Now, here I was, queen of the whole lot of them, but with the advantage of knowing both sides of things. Just in our short visit, I could tell there was much for me to learn from the people of Sheca.

The night around me was quiet and even though there was a strong wind, the sky was clear, making this an easy journey home.

“Vasin, have the dragons find places to land in the area around the fortress since they won’t all fit on the ledge. We will have them come four at a time to be loaded up, starting with the dragons outfitted for packing supplies,” I instructed as we landed just as the sun was starting to warm the night sky.

“It is done.”

Scouts shouted our arrival and soon I was faced with Becka holding out a mug of some steaming liquid. Her red hair was bright in the early morning glow, making her easy to spot, but I never feared she wouldn’t be somewhere close by. After being my handmaid for most of my life as well as my best friend, I knew she was one person who would always have my back no matter what happened. “Here, this should warm you up and keep you awake.”

“Bless you. I didn’t really consider the fact that I’m not going to be getting sleep doing this,” I mumbled as I lifted the cup and took a tentative taste.

The beverage was bursting with flavor, and I registered it was the same thing Alto had given me after my hangover. I gulped it down greedily, not caring that it scalded my tongue, knowing it would fuel me for another few hours. “Where is everyone?” I asked as we headed inside.

“Ballard, Cole, and Sal are working with a group to gather the supplies we can’t leave behind or have land in the enemy’s hands. Dayson and May are dealing with the horses and getting them ready to head out while Jade and Paxton are checking to make sure that people are only taking what they can carry,” Becka reported.

My brows shot up at how things seemed to be going in a quick and orderly fashion. “Seems like you have a handle on things. Where do you need help?” I asked as Abbott, Izel, and Zan joined me.

“Zan, are you sure there can be no wagons?” Becka pleaded. “We have far fewer horses than we originally thought since some of the clans don’t keep as many of them.”