Page 37

His eyes were focused on my face, but he didn’t seem to be looking at me. His thoughts were elsewhere, in the past or far away on the sea. “And you know nothing else?”

“The man who locked me in the cell was called Bear… That’s it.”

“Bear.”

“Yeah.”

“And how did you escape?”

I’d already told him this. “He left the door unlocked. I snuck to the back of the ship and left.”

He continued to stare at me, looking like an opponent in a card match. Trying to see my tells. Trying to determine if I bluffed or if I should fold.

Did he know I was lying?

“Do you think they would have searched for you?”

“Even if they wanted to, it was dark and I was on a little boat.” No way they would have been able to find me. And they probably wouldn’t want to after Wrath killed everyone on board.

“You don’t know where they were going or where they came from?” he asked.

“No.”

“How many ships?”

“Hard to know for sure, but probably ten.”

“Ten galleons,” he said more to himself than me. “That’s a lot of men.”

“Yeah.”

“The world is a big place. Not all matters pertain to us. But it’s smart to be aware. Pirates and sailors sell goods at our ports and our markets. Word travels far across the world. I’m sure many people are aware of the kingdom on the sea with an army of dragons. Any ambitious man would want that, and I almost couldn’t judge them for it.”

“Even if they come for us, they’re no match for us. We have the advantage of the cliffs, and we have the dragons.”

“The moment you assume you’re invincible, you become vulnerable,” he said. “I’ve never heard ofgoldenships. Hopefully this matter doesn’t concern us, that whatever their ambitions are have nothing to do with us, but it’s best to remain cautious.”

I’d been home for weeks now, and unfamiliar ships hadn’t been sighted from our shores. If they were going to follow me, it would have happened already.

“I’ll increase the perimeter of our scouts. And I’ll ask my sailors and pirates if they know anything about this fleet of golden ships.”

For those moments, my father was no longer my dad, but King of the Southern Isles, the protector of humans and dragons. He did it effortlessly, without panic and only with caution. “We’ve had decades of peace. I’m sure that will continue.”

“Hopefully,” he said noncommittally.

“Why are you so doubtful?”

“Because men are all the same.” He said it with resignation and without elaboration.

“But you aren’t,” I reminded him.

It looked like he might smile, but he never did. That emotion never broke through.

“You worked so hard to retake the Southern Isles decades ago, but it seems like you don’t want the job anymore.”

“What makes you say that?” His eyes focused on mine.

“Well, you’ve been training me my entire life to take over.”