Page 30 of The Forsaken Heir
“You were so young,” Elle said, her brows knitting with confusion and sadness. “What happened?”
Dragons had incredibly long lives. For one of us to die as young as my mother had from something other than an accident or battle was rare beyond words.
“She fell ill. An intense fever wracked her body. None of the magical healers we brought in were able to stop it. She slowly succumbed to whatever was ravaging her,” I said, but purposefully left out the prevailing rumor that the Laurent family might have poisoned her in some way. I didn’t believe that, nor did Father, but many of the noble houses had espoused that conspiracy in the years since her death.
“I’m sorry,” Elle said, putting the brush down. “Should we ride?”
Happy to get to a more pleasant line of conversation, I grinned at her and raised my hand. Two large men strode out of the stables, each holding a saddle.
“I thought you might want to,” I said.
Ten minutes later, after the horses had been saddled, Elle and I trotted across the grass to explore the grounds. After going afew hundred yards over the rolling grass lawns, she turned in her saddle, her face alight with happiness.
“This is easy. I thought I’d have a hard time,” she said.
“These are our best horses. They’ll do all the work as long as you let them,” I said.
I nudged Shadowfax along until I walked beside her.
“I really am sorry about your mother,” Elle said. “That must have been difficult for you.”
Her words, simple and heartfelt as they were, struck me hard. Growing up as the prince and rightful heir to all of the world’s dragons, it had been the most natural thing to push my mother’s death to the back of my mind and continue with my studies. Father had been heartbroken, but even he’d kept his emotions in check. All these years later, and I’d nevertrulybeen given the time to properly mourn her. Elle’s deeply apologetic gaze told me she wasn’t performing lip service. She really did feel bad for me. I felt seen in a way I’d never experienced before. Strange.
“Thank you.” I cleared my throat. “Loss can be difficult. Uhm, have you ever experienced anything like that?” I paused, wincing at how blunt the question was. “I don’t want to pry. You don’t have to answer that. I’m sorry.”
Her eyes grew distant for the barest instant, but then that sarcastic smile returned. I breathed a sigh of relief. I hadn’t overstepped.
“Loss? Oh, you know, just the normal stuff.” She slapped her hand on her thigh. “My phone or car keys every other day.”
I chuckled along with her joke, but there was something about the way she quickly diverted the conversation toward humorthat made me think she was hiding a deeper pain she didn’t want to discuss. Perhaps she and I were more alike than I’d realized. A dragon and a wolf could be similar, much as many of our kind wanted to argue otherwise.
Elle ran a hand down Artax’s neck and looked back at me, a mischievous smile on her lips.
“How fast can he go?”
“Pretty fast, but if you’ve never ridden before, maybe we should?—”
“Go!” she shouted and jammed her heels into the horse’s side.
Artax took the signal and shot off like a dart. Elle’s musical laugh echoed across the mountain valley as she raced ahead.
“Oh, damn,” I muttered under my breath, then urged Shadowfax onward.
Soon, I managed to catch up to her. When I looked across at the woman, there was no trace of the terror I’d expected. In fact, she was almost exultant in her happiness.
“This is amazing,” she shouted at me over the sound of the wind and thudding hooves.
She was obviously unskilled at riding, but her powerful legs kept her in the saddle. I should have been worried for her, but her exuberant excitement brought a smile to my own face.
“Follow me,” I said, spurring my own horse in front of hers, leading her deeper into the meadows and fields that surrounded our house and the low mountain it was built into.
For the next ten minutes, we ran. Elle got more and more comfortable with the beast the longer she rode. I couldn’tremember the last time I’d had so much fun. The life of a prince was somewhat glamorous, sure. We went to court and hobnobbed with the other nobles, and our fortune also allowed us to mix and mingle with human celebrities and politicians, but that wasn’t fun. In fact, the death of my mother had been the de facto death of fun in our house. Father and I loved each other and we had a close relationship, but when she died, happiness, for the most part, had died with her. Even Rasp and Vincent, fun-loving and goofy as they were, never brought out laughter like this in me.
When we cantered to a stop at the entrance to the gardens, Elle leaped off her mount, her face flushed and smiling. She was incredibly graceful for a woman of her height.
I dismounted and walked toward her, unable to stop grinning. “Whoareyou, Elle Laurent?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Her smile dimmed, and she averted her eyes.
