Page 14 of The Dragon King's Bride
“Your Highness?” A knock sounds at Ava’s door. “Your Highness, wake up.”
Beside me, Ava grumbles and wraps her pillow over her head. Clearly, she’s not any happier about being woken up this way than I am. I do the same with my pillow, hoping that if I ignore him long enough, Wilcox will eventually go away. Another knock, louder than before, shatters that illusion.
“Your Highness, wake up,” Wilcox repeats. “It’s an emergency.”
That gets my attention. Ava’s as well by the looks of things. Sharing a nod with her, I lean up onto my elbows to answer Wilcox’s call. “What is it, Wilcox?”
There’s a pause. “It’s…difficult for me to explain. Can you come out here and take a look for yourself?”
I bristle at the words. Wilcox knows Ava’s with me. If he wants me to leave the room that means that he’s purposely trying toleave her out of the conversations. That’s not going to work for me. I’ve already decided Ava will be my queen, so as far as I’m concerned, she needs to hear this just as badly as I do.
“Anything you need to say to me you can say in front of Ava. If she’s not going anywhere, then neither am I.”
Ava looks touched by my show of support. A pleasurable rumble echoes deep inside my gut as I realize I’ve made my mate happy. Her cheeks redden at the noise, and she leans over to kiss me. I can’t help but grin. Whatever’s going on, I’m sure we can handle it together.
“…Alright, fine. If you look outside, you’ll be able to see it for yourselves.”
We exchange shrugs as we look towards the window. It’s not too far away, so it’s worth a look. Ava tugs the sheet with her as we walk towards the window. She wraps it around herself as we go. I don’t bother to do the same. I shift so often around here, every servant in the palace has seen my naked body at least once.
Ava’s face whitens as she peeks outside. Curious as to what could have drawn a reaction like that out of her, I do the same. My whole body stiffens as I take in the sight of my yard. Overnight, every flower, every shrub, and every blade of grass seems to have shot up at least two feet. The overgrowth in my yard stretched as far as the eye could see. There seems to be no end to it.
A pit of hateful fire burns within my chest at the sight. There’s only one species I know of that has this sort of control over flora. Fae. There has to be at least one fairy somewhere in the castle. They’re being so overt about it too. Clearly, they’re rubbing it in my face that they’re here underneath my nose. A rumble sounds from deep within me. Smoke begins to flare out of my nostrils.
Ava blanches at my reaction, and I make a mental note to calm myself. I’m furious, but I don’t want to scare off my future bride. I take a few calming breaths before smiling at her. “Sorry. I’mokay now, though. I need to go call an emergency meeting to get this whole thing sorted out. Do you want to come with me?”
Despite my reassurances, Ava is still as white as a sheet. Was I really that frightening just now? I’m a little disappointed, I thought Ava was made of sterner stuff than this. Fear over a small bout of rage isn’t a good quality in a future queen. She seems to need a few moments to compose herself. I wait for her to calm down as I await her answer. Finally, she plasters an insincere smile across her face and shakes her head.
“It’s no trouble. I appreciate the offer, but I think I’ll stay here and try to piece together the puzzle. After all, the last round is tomorrow, right?”
I nod my head. Somehow, I don’t believe she’s being sincere, but I don’t know enough about her to call her out on it. I’m not familiar with any of her tells. Since I have no proof, there’s no choice but to accept things as they are for now.
I leave her to her puzzle with a small shake of my head. Before I leave, I pick my breeches up off the floor and put them on. Wilcox is waiting for me when I leave. He frowns at the door, clearly expecting Ava to be accompanying me.
I shake my head at him. “She’s not coming. Ava has decided to work on her puzzle today instead of attending the meeting.”
Wilcox nods. “It’s for the best, sire. Even if you’ve made up your mind, there’s still a procedure in place that must be followed. The other advisors won’t like it. It’s best to give them some time to get used to the idea.”
I give Wilcox a stiff nod of my own before I start walking towards the meeting room. He follows me without hesitation. I consider going back to my room to put on a shirt, but ultimately, I shake it off. Every one of my advisors has seen me this way at some point. The situation is far too dire to bother with such useless trivialities.
I speak to Wilcox in a low voice as we continue making our way towards the meeting room. “As long as Ava passes through the competition, they have no reason to complain. After all, it’s not like they can outright forbid me to take a commoner as my wife. With all the commoner deaths leading up to the competition, it would cause an uprising if they dared to say such a thing.”
Wilcox gives me a pointed look. “They’ll be a lot more subtle than outright forbidding it. I wouldn’t underestimate them just yet. They’ll be pulling out all the stops in the final round.”
We round the final corner to the meeting room and pause outside the door. “Does anyone know I helped Ava during the previous round?”
Wilcox purses his lips. “They’ve guessed, I’m sure, but they don’t know. I chased everyone off before they saw they two of you in that cave.”
I nod at him. “Good. Then I should be able to run interference in the final round if necessary.”
“Your Highness, despite the unfairness, the rules of the competition exist as they do for a reason. A queen must be able to make it through to the end on her own.”
“Ava is plenty capable,” I argue, bristling at the suggestion that Ava is weak. Her fearful face flashes in my mind, and I shake it off. “She was the best during the target competition and the only clue that tripped her up in the second round was the one that was rigged. If this competition was fair, I wouldn’t bother to get involved. I’m one hundred percent certain that Ava is the most talented dragon in the bunch.”
Wilcox seems pacified by my reasoning, so I let out a sigh of relief. Approaching footsteps signal the arrival of the other advisors. I enter the meeting room so I can be seated at the head of the table when they arrive.
One by one, the advisors file in. Most seem worried by this latest occurrence, but others merely look exhausted. Clearly, weweren’t all on the same page as to how serious of a threat this is. As soon as everyone is seated, I clear my throat.
“Thank you for coming everyone. I know that all of you wanted to wait until I was married before we had a conversation about the Fae, but in light of the current situation, I think we need to start right now.”
