Page 7 of The Final Battle

“You’re right Cole, it’s not fair for me to be upset when you’re doing exactly what you should be doing,“ I apologized. “Clearly, what happened last night has shaken me up more than I thought it did.“

“If we could push off this coronation we would, but this needs to happen so that in the eyes of the world you have full power as the Dragon Queen. The stories might have been suppressed, but the people who fear it coming to pass are well aware of what today means,“ May explained.

Seems everyone was feeling the need to give me some tough love today. Picking up my bowl, I slurped the rest of it down, wiped my mouth, and stood squaring my shoulders. “Am I allowed to check in with what’s happening in the castle or do you have other plans for me?“

Dayson snorted at my comment but he looked over at May for the answer. Seems they’d put her in charge of me today, knowing I wouldn’t ever be able to say no or talk my way out of things.

“I think it would be good for you to check in with the Creisal royalty. After the events of last night they might have reconsidered their position on an alliance,“ May said with a smirk. “Gavin might have also mentioned that they sent one of their guards back with one of our dragon riders to ensure their army was on alert.“

My brows shot up at this. “Seems they weren’t just listening to the sound of their own voices. Come on, let’s deal with them first then we can attend to the things that really matter.“

Cole and Izel shoved back their chairs as they finished up their breakfast, following us as we left our chambers to head down to the third floor. I opened my mouth to comment on them joining us but one look from May had me shutting it, accepting that she asked them to join us. It seems Jade wasn’t the only one up at the crack of dawn making plans for my day. All of them seemed far too prepared to manage me for them to have just woken when I did.

I picked up my pace when I heard raised voices coming from one of the sitting rooms. Arriving, I hurried through the door that was ajar to find Gavin red faced, glaring down at shattered dishes on the ground next to where his aunt was sitting.

“There was absolutely no need for you to act like a child if what they brought you didn’t appear to be appetizing to you,“ Gavin bit out through a clenched jaw. “All you had to do was tell me and I would have had them make you something different.“

Queen Catharine sniffed at him. “They served me porridge like a commoner. It’s an insult and I will not be treated this way after all that’s happened to us here. We came in good faith that your alliance with this whore was something we should support. Now I see that she is nothing but trouble and chooses to slight us at every turn.“

So much for May’s assessment of them changing their minds on the alliance.

“Catharine, enough!“ King Thomas barked, glaring at his wife. “We are guests in this palace and I would warn you against speaking ill of Queen Cassarah, especially when she is standing in the room.“

Catharine’s head snapped to the doorway where I still stood, trying to figure out the best way to handle her. Clearly, the king and queen were not in agreement on how they wanted to handle their next move. My guess was King Thomas was seeing the error of his ways, while Queen Catharine was far from agreeing with him. Clasping my hands behind my back, I walked up to stand beside Gavin, letting my shoulder brush against his in solidarity.

“Good morning, I hope you both were able to get some rest last night after everything that happened?“ I inquired, keeping my face neutral as I spoke.

Catharine scoffed and started to speak but King Thomas cut her off. “You are kind to ask after us, but we weren’t the ones who were tossed off a cliff by a dragon. We are overjoyed to see that you are well. It’s a miracle to see you completely unscathed. Your dragon, he fought gallantly, tell me is he alright?“

“It is thanks to my dragon and my consorts that everyone was able to make it out alive and mostly unharmed. My pair-bond didn’t fare as well as I did, but the healers tell me he will recover in a few days,“ I shared, giving him a smile, pleased that he asked after Vasin. Turning to the queen, I looked down at the mess on the floor. “Did you not find the food to your liking? I myself, just finished a bowl of our porridge and found it quite tasty. You’ll have to forgive the simple meal but since we have the feast and other coronation preparations today, I didn’t want them to do anything too lavish. They have so many other more important things to do that having a normal everyday bowl of porridge isn’t a hardship. As queens, it’s our duty to look after those under our care in the castle don’t you think?“

Her eyes narrowed at me, knowing full well that I cornered her into sounding like an ungrateful bitch if she disagreed with me. “That is rather forward thinking of you, your Majesty. While I see your point and support it, I do believe that seeing as you have guests it might have been wise for your staff to inform us of this request you made. That way when it arrived, we did not perceive it as a slight.“

“You do make a good point, I apologize for that oversight. I guess it was too much of me to assume that guests in my home would be grateful for the food and protection that I’m offering after they made it clear they didn’t support me or my kingdom. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, there was absolutely no desire to combine our two countries in the slightest. Any other ruler would have just sent you and your family on their way, danger or no danger, seeing as we didn’t have any responsibility to look after your safety,“ I paused, turning to King Thomas. “If that is still the sentiment of Creisal, then I believe it would be best for your family to leave before the coronation takes place. We wouldn’t want to give the Lost King any room to misunderstand.“

King Thomas rose from his seat and walked over to face me, holding my gaze for a moment before bowing his head. “Queen Cassarah, I would like to formally apologize for my behavior along with that of my wife, for how we spoke to you last night. It was short-sighted and unnecessary on many levels to treat you in such a manner when you’d done nothing to warrant it. Gavin and Phillip both took the time to walk me through what happened with their father and letting Queen Mary live, when it would have been in your rights to behead her as well. You are a truly honorable queen, and Creisal would like to formally declare an alliance with you and fight alongside you as you face the Lost King. His blight on this world needs to be put to an end to ensure the safety of all.“

Even though my plan didn’t go the way I’d hoped, it seemed that the threat of almost losing his life, or that of his wife or child, was enough to make him see reason. I would have led our people into battle no matter the outcome of this meeting, but knowing that I would have their army to back us up gave me hope. This battle was going to be one for the history books and I’m glad that it will show we didn’t have to do this on our own.

“It is my honor to accept your alliance. We will draft up a contract of terms once the coronation is finished and make this official, along with Crown Prince Phillip,“ I answered, bobbing my head in return. “If you’ll excuse me for now, I have other things I must attend to before things are set in motion. Oh, and I’ll have the staff send up another bowl of porridge for you, your Majesty. I would hate for you to go hungry until the feast tonight.“

Queen Catharine didn’t say a word as I took Gavin’s hand, tugging it for him to follow me out of the room.

“Love, you are a queen among queens, never forget that, no matter what,“ Gavin whispered as he squeezed my hand, laughter in his eyes.

Chapter five

Cassarah

Knowing I wasn’t going to have a whole lot of time before I had to prepare for the coronation, I headed straight for the stairs to the second level, where the dining hall was. Once we reached the stairwell, Gavin pulled me to a stop and pressed me up against the wall, his hands firm on my waist. Before I could ask him what was happening he cut me off with a kiss, letting his whole body press into mine, showing more physical attention to me than he’d ever done before. Feeling no need to fight, I let him deepen the kiss when he nibbled on my lower lip, my hands running up his arms to slide into his thick curly hair. His moan encouraged me to do something else to get a reaction like that out of him again, so I slipped a leg between his so I could press my core against his hardening cock.

“Don’t you ever put me through something like that again,“ Gavin whispered against my lips as he pulled back. “Losing my father was hard, but if I lost you on top of it, I’m not sure what I would do. You, my love, give me purpose and meaning in life, without you I’m not sure I’d be able to go on living.“

I didn’t know how to reassure him so instead of words I pulled him back down for another kiss, letting my emotions bleed into it. I’m not sure how long we would have stayed there in the stairwell, but someone cleared their throat and I knew our time came to an end for now. Both of us were panting at the flurry of emotions and how fast our hearts were beating. With one more lingering caress of my cheek, Gavin released me, only to take my hand again leading me the rest of the way down. None of the others said a thing, for which I was grateful, if all of them were going to be intimate with me, then they needed to be alright with seeing stolen moments like this.

The flurry of activity on the second floor when we stepped out was overwhelming. Men carried tools and lumber into the dining hall while others were taking debris out in large baskets strapped to their backs. Ballard was directing people coming and going, making me smile that he was so willing to jump into things after all that had happened with the previous clan leaders. Thankfully, this level of the castle was still intended for the royal family and guests and wasn’t meant to be used for anything related to the coronation.

“Good morning,“ I called once I got close enough to Ballard.