Page 19 of The Gold Dragon Prince
Saoirse continued to look offended. “But if my guards busied themselves fighting off ogres, who would protect me?” she demanded. “Who would protect my party guests?”
“I beg your pardon?” Selle asked, rippling with indignation.
I needed to step in. There were several layers to Saoirse’s comments and to her garden party that morning that I hadn’t been able to explain to Selle yet. It was all verymuch a part of the final stages of my mission to neutralize Saoirse.
Before I could take charge of the situation, Saoirse tipped her chin up to look down her nose at Selle and asked, “Who are you?” with such distain that I felt my omega bristle through our bond.
“He’s the dragon who saved us,” Alyce insisted.
When Saoirse snapped to narrow her eyes at her, I laughed and quickly said, “He’s the new undergardener I hired to help with preparations for your party, my lady.”
I added just a hint of persuasive magic to my words, although it was dangerous to use magic around someone as adept at wielding it as Saoirse.
Saoirse turned to stare at me again as the serfs nodded and hummed, as if figuring out Selle was a gardener and not a dragon was some sort of grand revelation. She was suspicious, but one smile from me changed her attitude entirely.
“You are so thoughtful, Gildur,” she said, swanning in and taking my arm again. “Always thinking of me and how you can help me. No wonder I like you so much.” She giggled ridiculously and raised my hand to kiss my knuckles.
Selle made a sound like a very small teapot steaming. I glanced sheepishly at him, hoping he could feel my intention to explain everything as soon as I was able through our bond.
“Enough of this ogre nonsense,” Saoirse said, stepping back and waving her hand as if brushing the problem away. “We have a very important garden party to prepare for. I want my gardens looking as magnificent as possible for our very special guests. I do not have time to bother with ogresor trolls, or anything else as base and dirty as that. Come along, Gildur.”
She smiled at me and turned to go, beckoning me with a crooked finger.
I tried not to roll my eyes.
“But my lady,” Freddy spoke up, rising from where he’d been on one knee since bowing to her. “Half of the village is destroyed. The ogres wreaked havoc before they were, er, chased away.”
“So?” Saoirse asked, her expression darkening with distaste.
“We are your subjects, my lady,” Alyce reminded her. “We work the farms of your estate and produce goods that feed and provide for you and your servants.”
“Yes, you do,” Saoirse said, a different sort of light sparking in her eyes, but not a kind one. She stepped over to Freddy, Alyce, and the others, planting her hands on her hips and glaring at them. “You have been irresponsible to let your village fall into such disarray. I should take the cost of repairing it all out of your share of everything my estate produces.”
Selle sputtered with indignation as the serfs all gaped in shock. “It was the ogres that caused the damage,” he insisted. “The ogres that you should have protected your people against.”
“How was I to know ogres would attack?” Saoirse asked with a shrug. “I told them all that if they would just pay me what I deserve to hire guards to protect them then none of this would have happened.”
“But you are their lady,” Selle argued. “It is your responsibility to protect your people. Every good leader should protect the people who owe allegiance to them. All of thepeople who owe allegiance, not just the ones you like or think are the best.”
Saoirse laughed. “This lot is definitely not the best,” she said as though the whole thing were a joke.
Selle had more to say, I could tell, but Saoirse raised a hand to stop him. “There is no point in any of this,” she said. “My guests will be arriving soon, and I need to make certain everything is exactly as it should be to impress them.”
I could practically feel Selle vibrating with indignation over the fact that Saoirse thought her party was more important than the destroyed livelihoods of her own serfs, but I sent him a look asking him to stay quiet.
He glared at me in return, for more reasons than one.
“Come now, Gildur,” Saoirse said. “Come along.”
She spoke to me like I was her favorite puppy, and like she had plans to cuddle and play with me later.
I sighed, glanced pleadingly to Selle, asking him to trust me. He frowned but kept the litany of things I knew he had to say to himself.
I looked past him to Freddy and Alyce. “I will see to it that help is sent to repair your homes,” I said quietly before following Saoirse and her guards to the door in the wall.
I glanced back to Selle, raising my eyebrows and holding my hand out subtly to him.
Selle sighed and stomped after me, muttering, “You owe me a very good explanation for all this.”
