Page 34 of King of Fire and Scales

She clenched her fists and shouted at him. There was no way she was going to be spoken down to like a common cretin even by a dragon shifter and king.

“You are not at all who I thought you were." She seethed, rounding the chair and moving toward him. “Does my opinion truly not matter to you at all when I am the one who has been working closely with her?”

The king released a harsh sigh, raising a hand to rest upon his cheek, and regarded her like a petulant child.

“She is related to my enemy. Her arrival corresponds with the attempted kidnapping at the inn. And she knows which suite you have been sleeping in.”

Thalia threw her hands into the air and scoffed madly.

“Everyone knows where my room is, Drake. It is common knowledge. There are no secrets in this godforsaken castle.”

But Drake didn’t listen. He merely turned and returned to the bedroom, marching as if approaching battle. Thalia followed.

“It doesn’t matter what you think. I am the king, and my decision is final.”

He searched through his closet, speaking into the garments with detached contemplation. Thalia was spinning, her voice warped in utter disbelief. She stopped shouting, speaking in an even tone.

She stared at the back of his head, her thoughts going dark.

“Well, I’m glad you revealed yourself to me before I had the chance to fall for you deeply. What a joke you’ve turned out to be.”

Thalia stormed toward the door, and the king bellowed after her. “You are not going anywhere without a guard, my sweetheart. And you are banned from leaving the castle grounds.”

She halted and spun on her heel.

“I’m your prisoner now?” she said, simmering.

He still shuffled through his closet, speaking with the blitheness of ordering off a menu.

“I am going to tell you what to do whether you like it or not. This is all for your own good."

A gale of hot rage and cold sorrow wrestled inside Thalia’s heart. She was empty of words, so she spun back and stomped out into the corridors.

Thalia saw red, a burning, cryptic scarlet as she found her way back to her chambers, managing to wash herself and eat out of necessity. She had been this angry before, usually in relation to her father’s illness or the mistreatment of someone in town. She knew what was veiled behind it. A rain of encroaching grief that would eat her up and spit her out.

She retreated to her father’s side to keep her hands busy and her mind from idling. A guard trailed behind her, not so subtly. One of the men who was usually perched outside the king’s chambers.

The thought of Drake made her stomach churn.

Evanth was looking healthier each day, now standing by the window with a younger man’s need to venture beyond. She asked him if he felt well enough for her to practice another healing.

Evanth’s eyes were bright with promise.

“Of course, my darling,” he said.

He sat on the bed as he had when Sorcha had guided her through the spell. Thalia placed two hands on her father’s head –one along the back, the other on the forehead– then closed her eyes.

She envisioned the manipulation of the matter Sorcha had informed her were called molecules. She saw, in her mind's eye, green balls the color of fresh peas bouncing off one another until they began to suffuse with a pink, gentle light. They switched places merrily, and her father let out a satisfied groan.

“Good?”

“Yes, darling, are you?”

Thinking of Sorcha made Thalia sad, but the matter seemed far too complicated for her father to take on. Especially with the delicacy of having spent the night in the king’s bed.

“I am as long as you are,” she said, placing a soft kiss on his forehead and releasing her hands. “That is enough for now. I cannot go too far.”

Her father was gracious and returned to basking in the morning light, daydreaming of green pastures.

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