Page 23 of The Gold Dragon Prince
Gildur sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“I know you are only looking out for me,” I said, “but it seems as though I might need to look out for you as well.”
Gildur was not amused by my observation. I didn’t need him to be. I just needed him to have enough faith in me so that the two of us could work together to discover how and why Lord Manfred was in the magical world and what Lady Saoirse’s plans were for overthrowing Queen Gaia. We could only foil them if we had complete trust in each other.
Gildur must have felt my determination. His expression and the emotions I felt emanating from him softened. He stepped closer and planted a quick kiss on my forehead while resting a hand over our egg.
“Alright,” he sighed as he stepped back. “But you must promise me you will conduct yourself with utmost care.”
“Of course I will,” I said, resting my hand over his as it continued to caress our egg. “I have all the reasons in the world to make certain all of us come out of this safe and victorious.”
Gildur smiled at me, but that smile dropped when Lady Saoirse called out in an overly sweet voice, “Oh, Gildur! I need you. Desperately.”
Gildur rolled his eyes at the sudden sultriness of her tone, then put on a smile and turned as the woman approached. “Whatever you wish, my lady,” he said, stepping quickly away from me as if to deflect Lady Saoirse’s attention from me.
A flash of indignation sliced through me. I hoped my mate would not give the womanwhatevershe wished.
The quick, almost sassy pulse of emotion I felt from Gildur in response to my indignation made me laugh. I rather enjoyed the fact that we could tease each other without speaking or even looking at each other.
I took a deep breath to help myself focus on the moment, then turned to join the other servants at the table. I was handed a platter of small tarts. They looked delicious on the one hand, but I wondered how an estate owner with the responsibility for several villages on her land that had been in a bad way could spend her money on sugary tarts instead of helping those people who depended on her.
Once again, as I set off to mingle among the guests, offering them the sweets, I marked the similarities between Lady Saoirse and my father. I was quickly losing patience with rulers who thought that power was their right and who used it only to aggrandize themselves. It was so wrong in so many ways. A ruler was responsible for the fate and fortunes of their people. They should put all their efforts into making the lives of those who depended on them better. That way, everyone’s lives would be better, including the ruler’s.
From the sound of things, Queen Gaia was that sort of ruler. I’d known nothing but happiness and contentment from the people of the magical kingdom that I’d met so far. I sincerely hoped that someday someone would rise up to take my father’s place and be that kind of ruler for our kingdom.
“Tart, sir?” I asked one of Lady Saoirse’s guests, who already held a glass of wine and looked as though he’d come to the party for the food and drink alone.
“It’s about time you found me,” the man said, grabbing a tart from the platter and shoving it directly into his mouth, then following it with two more. “Lady Saoirse always has the best refreshments,” he said with his mouth still full. “I hope she follows through on her promise of giving me some of her cooks if I supply her with soldiers from among my serfs.”
I fought to keep my expression even. Whoever the lord was, he looked as though the chefs he had did their job well. He was so enormous that he looked as though he might burst out of his waistcoat.
I moved on, feeling vaguely sick, and found a small group of ladies in ostentatious finery to offer the tarts to.
“Refreshments, my ladies?” I asked.
“They look yummy,” one of them said, reaching for a tart.
The tallest of the women, who might have been the mother of the other three, slapped the woman’s hand. “Do not touch that until you know it’s pure,” she said. She sniffed and looked down her nose at me as she asked, “Were any of those tarts touched by fairy hands?”
I blinked. “Not that I know of, my lady.”
The woman narrowed her eyes. “I despise and abhor fairies. They are unnatural creations.” She turned to her daughters and said, “You know that fairies are humans who used magic to make themselves into something they are most definitely not.”
“That isn’t true,” I said, pinching my face in confusion. “Fairies are born as fairies.”
“They are not,” the woman insisted. “Everyone should remain who and what they are when they were born.”
My jaw dropped, and I wanted to argue the point that none of us remained what we were when we were born. We grew and changed, discovered what sort of person we truly were, and built the sort of life we wanted. It was ridiculous to believe fairies were not fairies when they were born. Facts were facts, whether people like the sour lady in front of me wanted to believe them or not.
I wanted to point that out, but before I could, she sniffed and said, “Lady Saoirse has promised to eradicate allfairies from my holdings in exchange for offering a few measly serfs to serve in her army. I consider that a fair trade. And that, my darlings, is how diplomacy works. I scratch Lady Saoirse’s back and she scratches mine, even though she doesn’t care one bit about fairies.”
The three younger women nodded and agreed with their mother as if they didn’t have a single brain between them.
I shook my head and walked away. My opinion of the people of the magical world was changing by the moment. I’d wanted to believe this world was perfect and fair, but it seemed as though too many people were as ignorant and selfish as in my father’s kingdom.
There were signs of hope, though. I served tarts to a group of people who stood off to one side, whispering and glancing carefully around them.
“Queen Gaia must know about Lady Saoirse’s treachery,” one of them murmured to the others as she took a tart from my platter. “Why does she not swoop in and remove Saoirse’s magic immediately?”
