Page 10 of The Dragon King's Bride
“Are you going to fly me back?” she asks, tilting her head.
“No. I don’t know how many more assassins there are. There could be a lot. If we fly over top of them, they can attack us from below. We can head back in the morning, but for now, we have to find shelter.”
To my surprise, Ava grins at my comment. “Good news. I’ve already set up the perfect place.”
Chapter six
Ava
Kaiser isn’t what I expected him to be. I thought he’d be like the other nobles, cold-blooded and heartless towards anyone beneath him. But the more time I spend with him, I realize that I’m the one who’s been presumptuous.
I never thought I’d see the day a noble would grieve for a commoner, much less one who was planning to murder him. Yet, I can tell that’s exactly what is going on. He may not be weeping, but his eyes are downcast, and his shoulders are slumped. He’s showing all the same signs of grief my father used to whenever he was thinking about my mother. My father also never used to tell me what he was thinking about in those moments. Yet, just like now, I could always tell.
Kaiser suddenly pulls ahead of me as we reach our destination. He’d wanted to see my hideout before he’d agree to search for the final piece of the puzzle with me. Apparently, he didn’t trust me at my word when I told him everything was already taken care of. I’m a bit vexed, but what can I do? It’s not like I’ll be able to find it without his help.
He lets out a low whistle as he steps beneath the falls. I join him a second later, ducking down to protect the firewood in my arms as best I can. We set the wood down by the fire to dry off while Kaiser surveys the results of my handiwork.
“Impressive,” he comments, his eyebrows raised. “How did you find the time to do all this and also collect the other pieces?”
I freeze at the question. Suddenly, I wonder if it was a huge mistake to bring him here. He’s right to be skeptical. It would have be nigh on impossible to accomplish both things in the time since I entered the forest. I can’t tell him I used the birds to help me. Talking to animals is a Fae gift, not a dragon one.
As I look over Kaiser’s face, his expression skeptical but not suspicious, I consider just telling him about what I am. Since the Fae and the dragon shifters have been at war since I was born, I’d always hidden my secret like my life depended on it. But seeing Kaiser’s pity for his attempted assassins has me reconsidering. After all, if he can forgive them, why wouldn’t he be able to forgive me? Unlike them, I’ve never done anything to him.
I shake my head at myself. No. I don’t know Kaiser well enough to trust him just yet. Maybe if I really had a shot of being his wife, then things would be different. But they weren’t.
“I have a lot of experience hunting,” I lie. I’ve only been hunting a dozen or so times. “I can skin and chop up an animal in very little time.”
He nods at my answer, seemingly accepting it. In all honesty, I’m not sure if experienced hunters really can take apart an animal in so little time. But as a royal, Kaiser should have even less experience with that sort of thing than me. I doubt he’s ever had to butcher an animal himself in his entire life.
“Well, I suppose you were right, then. We do have time to go and get the final piece before sundown,” Kaiser says briskly, clapping his hands to shake off the excess dirt from the sticks.“It’ll be close, though. We have no choice but to take the longer way if we don’t want to risk being spotted.”
I nod and follow him as he heads back outside the waterfall. I shiver when the water once again pounds over my head. Now that the sun is no longer blazing as much, the water has become much cooler. I can’t wait to finish up so I can curl up beside the fire and eat my meal.
Once again, I find myself sneaking through the forest with Kaiser. Luckily, this time we don’t encounter anyone along our path. It’s getting darker now, and I have to keep an eye out for barely visible rocks and tree roots. There are a couple times when I nearly trip but manage to save myself at the last minute.
Eventually, we reach our destination. I can tell by the way Kaiser slows right before we reach a large clearing. The field we’re standing in is at least the size of the stadium we were in earlier. It is barren of anything besides grass and a large firepit. Flattened patches of grass indicate where tents were placed not too long ago, and animal bones lay scattered around the firepit. The hunting party was a rather large affair, judging by the state of things.
Kaiser walks confidently towards the firepit, like he already knows what’s waiting for him there. Sure enough, when he bends down, he comes back up with a puzzle piece in his hand. He tosses it in the air and catches it with a grin.
“Got it,” he says, like I’m not able to tell.
“You seem awfully familiar with this place,” I comment as soon as he’s close enough. “I take it you must have participated this past year.”
“I’ve participated every year since I was five,” he nods, still tossing the piece in the air. We start heading back. There’s not that much time until it’s completely dark.
“Wow,” I say, my eyebrows raising. “Did you actually manage to catch anything?”
“Not my first year,” he admits, “but every year afterwards I succeeded. After I failed the first time, I practiced every chance I could so I’d be ready for the next year.”
“That impressive. But isn’t that a lot of practice for a little kid? Are you that much of a perfectionist?”
Kaiser laughs. “I am a perfectionist, but that’s not the reason I was practicing that hard. See, the annual hunt was one of the only chances I had to spend some quality time with my father. Being king is a lot of work. Whenever we did spend some time together, I wanted him to be impressed by me.”
“I see…,” I trail off, feeling awkward.
The mention of Kaiser’s father makes me fall quiet. Everyone knows that the late king was killed by the Fae. For obvious reasons, it’s a subject I want to steer clear of.
As we make our way back to camp, my thoughts are filled with the stress of keeping my secret. I can’t believe I was actually considering telling Kaiser about my heritage. I clearly forgot all about his father. I can’t tell him. He’ll definitely hate me. There’s a difference between someone who’s out to hurt you and someone who’s already hurt someone you love.
