Page 10 of Shadow Throne King
“Oh, no, Your Highness.” Nohe pulled the dragon closer to her chest, nearly twisting her body away from me as though to protect the murderous, ravenous, ancient beast from me, the man who provided food and a home for her.
“I’ll continue thinking on it,” I said, shaking my head, droplets of water trailing down my neck.
Having waited for the dust to settle, Nuti rushed forward, a towel in her hands, nudging me toward my room, where shedried my hair, rubbing oils into it to keep it smooth. Her hands were professional when they spread scented lotion over my skin, before she left me to the mercies of my newest personal servant, Homisu, a man twenty years older than me, but whose judgment I felt like a physical blow every time he raised an eyebrow significantly or sighed under his breath.
Nohe had accepted the story that Piivu had run away with a short nod and if any of his fellow servants were suspicious, the whispers never reached my ears. Even the blood monks said the other servants simply talked around Piivu as though he’d never existed. I hoped it didn’t mean they assumed I’d killed him. I did miss Piivu’s affection for me, especially as Homisu made his own disapproval so clear.
I’d learned a series of disapproving hand gestures from him that made even Nohe raise her eyebrows. He tutted as he looked over the bruises on my body, his lips going tight and a distinct aura of displeasure radiating from him when he peered at the cut on my cheek. After examining it closely, he found a salve and spread it over the wound before starting to dress me. As Homisu finished fastening my pants and adjusting the tuck of my shirt, the door opened just slightly, the dragon now the size of a well-fed cat as she pushed her way into the room.
She sat on her haunches, observing for a moment before she said, “You’re hurt.”
I hid a wince as Homisu readjusted the fastening of my pants, pushing on a tender spot that would most certainly turn into a bruise. “I was in a fight. Two, actually.”
Homisu nodded, brushing a finger over the shell of his ear in a signal that he had heard as much. “My deepest sympathy, Your Highness.”
“I mean, I survived. Obviously. I won, even.” I wasn’t sure who I was defending myself to because the dragon was looking at me just as judgmentally.
Homisu’s only response was to brush his finger over his ear again. He helped me into my jacket, fussing with the collar before saying, “Will that be all, Your Highness?”
“Yes, thank you.” I started to wave a hand before adjusting it to the more polite dismissal I’d finally learned to Nohe’s satisfaction. “No, wait. Can you find out what happened to Asahi—the Dog assigned as my guard? He was injured this morning.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” After a perfunctory bow, Homisu stepped around the dragon who had taken over most of the doorway before closing the door behind him. The dragon stared at me.
“Tallu won’t like it at all.”The dragon’s words were pointed, mostly because they were true.
“I fought off my own Dog. I won. I think he’ll be fine.” Even I knew those were lies.
“He doesn’t like it when you are hurt.”The dragon licked her paw like a cat, dragging the edge of it over her crest and down her neck.
“Have you ever heard of insects this big? They had many legs, and were as long as a snake, but their bodies were segmented. When inside it, they controlled a dead body. Their bites were poisonous…” I trailed off, frowning down at my hand, the skin was still markedly pink, but not the inflamed red of infection or the dark lines of poisoned blood that had radiated from Asahi’s wound. “They had enormous eyes and were capable of speaking into my head. They had a particular thing for ears that I can only hope wasn’t sexual.”
The dragon froze, the air around her chilling. She stared past me out the window. Her breath came in puffs of steam that turned to frost.
“You fought these things? This is why you’re bruised and injured?”
“Yes,” I said. “That and the Dog.”
“These creatures live in animalia memory. You should not risk yourself on these creatures.”Her body grew in front of my eyes, her shoulders expanding, her paws lengthening into long claws. “Their name… their name…”
She shook her head, her crest rising up around her head like a corona. Her body was the size of the doorway now. Frowning, I crossed the room to run a hand down her neck, stroking the soft puffs of fur that rose between her iridescent scales.
“What is it?” I asked quietly.
“Pah, nothing.”The dragon shook her head under my hand, and I let it fall away. “You beat the Dog?”
“The Kennelmaster was there. He protected me from the final blow.” I let my fingers drift through the soft, downy fur and then over the hard spikes that lined the dragon’s crest. She began to purr softly, crouching lower and shrinking in size so that more of her was available for petting. “He wanted me to argue why Tallu should trust the Dogs and the Kennelmaster.”
“He came with his forces? He ran there? Or did he sneak in like the snake he is?”The dragon chuffed.“And I know serpents.”
“No one would mistake you for a snake,” I said. “A greedy pig, perhaps. A younger sibling who plays poorly with her fellows.”
She whined, but my mind circled her questions.
“He came alone.” I put together what she was implying quickly. “He came alone when he could have brought more Dogs. He came alone because he was setting up both me and Boro.”
The dragon regarded me, her prismatic eyes reflecting frost, waiting for me to make a connection she already had.
“He was setting me up. Both of us up. What if he was the one who put it in Boro’s head that I was responsible for Toji’s death? What if he was waiting for this moment so that I would feel grateful to him, so that I would see the benefit of the Dogs?”I shook my head, worried I’d taken it too far, worried that now I was just as paranoid as a fisherman convinced catching a sunfish rather than the expected silverfish was behind the appearance of an early spring.