Page 114 of The Last Slayer
“Are you all right, milady?” Basiliana asked, returning to me.
“I’m a little, uh, tired. I’d like to go to my room. Now.”
“Right away.” She incanted in a language I didn’t understand. “Your antechamber,” she announced.
I blinked and shook my head. We weren’t in the garden anymore, but in a huge room. The main wall was one enormous curving window with a thousand panes of glass, delicate gold veins woven into each one. Water slid down the outside, creating ripples of light.
“Is this acceptable?” Basiliana asked as I looked around. Vera seemed to have been left in the garden. Or maybe she’d gotten lost. “There is a waterfall outside along the wall. If you find it offensive, I can replace it with something else.”
“No, no. It’s beautiful.” Near the cascading water was a huge marble desk that reminded me of the one in Besade. Its wide grey expanse was piled high with…parchments.
I walked over and picked up the one on top. It unrolled to the full length of my arm and was covered in with characters I couldn’t read. At the bottom was an incredibly ornate golden seal. “What is this?”
“An invitation to a banquet in your honor. From His Majesty Alexandros.”
“Huh.” Despite myself, I was a bit impressed. The slimeball hadn’t been kidding. “Okay… What are the rest then? More invitations and such?”
“Reports for you to read, milady. The hold has been leaderless for a long time.”
“So?”
“Since you were unavailable, we couldn’t make any major decisions. So we’ve deferred them.”
I was starting to get a bad feeling. “For how long?”
“Four hundred years or so, since the passing of the last dragonlord. Would you like an exact—?”
“No.” Talk about procrastination. I supposed I should be thankful those lazy butts had at least kept the dragonhold clean.
Well, the paperwork could wait. “Basiliana, bring me a goblet of wine and some cheese. I’m going to take a long bath.”
“And the others, milady?”
Oh yeah. Ramiel, Kenji and their dragons.
“Shall I send them back to their holds?” she asked, a bit too hopefully.
“On the contrary, please take good care of them. Make sure they get medicinal baths and whatever other care is needed. They fought hard for me.” I tried not to emphasize the “they.”
“As you command, milady.”
She left, and I turned to have another look at the room. The floor was smooth white marble floor with inlays that looked like pink flower petals. Somewhere in the vast chamber I could smell the delicate woody and spicy scent of incense burning. Maybe it would accidentally start a fire that would incinerate every single document on my new desk.
There was a discreet knock on the door. I opened it, and there he stood in the hallway, shining as though he’d never been in a battle.
“Hello, Ramiel,” I said.
“Milady.”
My lips spread into a smile. “You can call me Ashera.” I gestured at the antechamber behind me. “Join me?”
“My pleasure.” He walked in, taking in the room as he did so.
I closed the door and stood with my hands on my hips. “Well, here I am. In my dragonhold.”
“Indeed you are.”
I waited for him to announce…something about how his vow was now fulfilled and how he was free of me. My mind was in overdrive. Hey, Ashera, it’s been nice. If you ever want to stop by Besade, feel free. Mi casa es tu casa, what with us in the same Triumvirate and all. We can remain friends. Buds. Maybe even with benefits.
