Page 11 of The Dragon Queen #3
Conducting a state dinner, it appeared.
“No time for rest,” Draven said in a crisp voice as Ged collapsed down onto the bed.
“I beg to differ.” Ged opened his eyes a crack and then gestured me forward. “A warm bed, a warm girl?—”
“A semi-warm bath is about all you’ll get and then in your dress uniforms.” Soren was all business as he walked into the room. “Just spoke to the general, and we’re to attend dinner tonight.”
“What dinner?” Flynn said that a little too abruptly, dropping his saddlebags onto the bed. When Draven didn’t answer fast enough, he turned to Soren. “You didn’t tell us about any dinner.”
“While you’ve been away, I’ve had other dragons fly out to the three loyal duchies,” Draven informed him in a voice that made clear he was doing Flynn a great favour.
“Including Skane…?” Flynn stepped forward with the stiff legged gait of an angry dog.
“Of course, to Skane. It’s the most powerful ally we have,” Draven replied, crossing his arms.
“You’re bringing my…” I was by Flynn’s side, my hand sliding in his in seconds. His fingers gripped mine far too tightly. “You’re bringing my family here?”
“The funeral of my parents must be held soon.” Draven walked across the room, pulling open a wardrobe and drawing out his own dress uniform. “All the important members of the aristocracy must be present for it, but also…” His hand slid to the epaulettes of the jacket, flicking away a mote of dust. “If I had them escorted here on dragon back?—”
“You could use the dragons to read the minds of those they transported.” Brom shook his head slowly. “Cunning.”
“I’ve instructed each dragon and rider to report to me anyone they can’t read.” Draven’s fingers moved swiftly, undoing the fastenings of his tunic then wrenching it up over his head. I never seemed to grow accustomed to it, the pale beauty of his body. He caught my stare, pausing for a second, a slight smile encouraging me to take a longer look. Not for long, though, because he was forced to continue. “If they’ve been using some of the same tricks my mother did?”
Dragonstone, that went unspoken. The material was an odd thing. A psychic amplifier, it seemed to allow the strong to impose their will on others. The crystal eggs were made from it, and they acted like a repository for memories, information, that could be stored for someone else to experience viscerally.
“You think dragonstone can be used to block a dragon’s intrusion into your mind?” Soren asked.
“We’ll soon find out.” Draven was dressed, his hair tied back neatly into a soldier’s queue, and he looked every inch the prince. No, king. “All the potential suspects will be at dinner. Flynn, no one wants to bring those who murdered your family to justice more than me, and today we take the first step.”
The two men stared each other down as Draven appeared to will him to understand. A brief nod in acknowledgement, that’s all Flynn gave him.
“Now, Pippin.” Another garment was produced. This one was a flowing golden gown, the material quite familiar. Flynn had torn it off my body in his hurry to get to me. “The dressmaker did what she could at short notice?—”
“No.” Brom’s response had us all turning his way in time to watch him march forward and pluck the dress from Draven’s fingers and then toss it onto the bed. “Pippin is a rider.”
“She’s my queen,” Draven ground out. “She must look the part of one.”
“Pippin doesn’t wear a crown yet, so she remains a rider. She should be wearing her dress uniform,” Brom insisted.
“Then the ring must go.”
If Flynn was a dog spoiling for a fight, Brom and Draven were curs with their fangs bared, growling threats.
“No.” I shook my head, snorting when I realised I’d echoed Brom. Draven’s eyes whipped around to meet mine, and for a second I saw the pain there. “And before you start biting my head off, hear me out. You’ve invited all of these nobles to sit at your table.” The barest of nods was all I got in response. “You want to feel them out. If I walk in there looking like a queen, your choice of wife is made clear to all and sundry.”
“Because that decision has been made.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to let them know that.” Ged smiled. “Seems like you’re going to get a whole lot of people falling all over themselves to get your attention if they think you’re an eligible bachelor.”
“No.” It seemed we were all reaching our limits tonight, but Draven said this, “Wear what you like, Pippin, but you’ll be on my arm the entire night. I don’t pull rank often.” Some rude noises from the room made clear that no one else agreed with him. “But I must insist on this.”
“A lukewarm bath?” I said to Soren. “Show me the bathing room. Do I even have a dress uniform…?”
Apparently I did. I was dressed in it, trying very hard not to tug at the tight collar as we all stood at the private door that led into the formal dining room .
“Hellishly uncomfortable, isn’t it?” Draven whispered, taking my arm in his.
“Is it too late to put the frock on?” I replied, shooting him a smile. “A corset would have to be less confining than this.”
“Try this.”
Ged moved into view, undoing the top button that kept the collar clasped tightly around my neck. The silver dragon that was pinned to the throat was removed and then used to pin the collar closed, though considerably less tight.
“That’s not regulation,” Soren said with a frown.
“Neither is breathing, but I think you’ll find our girl likes doing it a lot.”
I watched our drill sergeant’s jaw work, then his hand moved, undoing his own collar and re-situating his pin.
“Oh, thank the gods…” Flynn sighed. “If I didn’t thank them every day for you walking into our lives, I would simply for removing the stick jammed up Soren’s?—”
His eyes went wide as I leaned over and kissed him.
“That’s the way you stop arguments?” Ged said. “Well… I’m not going to wear my insignia at all.”
Soren’s brows drew down as Ged went to undo the dragon badge, forcing me to pull back and kiss each one of them to silence.
“Well, if you’re all quite ready…”
Draven sounded quite aggrieved. Perhaps because we could hear the muffled sounds of the diners on the other side of the door. It was like facing down a firing squad, even though we were the ones who would be the interrogators.
“Not quite.” I turned to find Brom waiting there. “I’ll take my ring off, for you, Pippin, if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t.” My hand covered his, folding his fingers over, forming a fist that the ring couldn’t be pulled from. “I know I’m not taking mine off.” I looked down at the setting, seeing each leaf that had been inset into the band. Brom was my husband, but in his choice of rings, he made sure to include all the men I loved in its design. “I’ll need it, this symbol of us, to get through tonight.”
When he pulled me closer, when he pressed a kiss to my forehead, it felt like there was no one else but us here. I treasured that moment, because my mind wouldn’t allow me the luxury of pretending this was true. Because when I turned around and took Draven’s arm, the two of us affecting an appropriately regal pose before opening the doors upon the dining room, every person rose in response to our entrance.
Rich fabrics, furs, jewels, and sharp looks, that’s what I noticed as we stepped into the room. People, so many people, lined a table that seemed to go on forever. I swallowed hard, somehow finding this more intimidating than walking into a storeroom full of an ancient dragon’s blood. Probably because I had no training to prepare me for that, but a state dinner? The Wentworths weren’t called to the capital with any kind of regularity, but my mother, then my father, had tried to teach me the correct etiquette for dining with our betters.
I just couldn’t remember a single bit of it.
“Your Highness.”
It took me a second to realise Draven was speaking to me. He’d pulled out my chair for me and indicated that I should take a seat at his right.
But not the others.
They moved away from us, Flynn to sit with his family, by the look of these blond-haired strangers, Soren to sit further down the table with some people he seemed to know, but it was Brom and Ged whose progress I followed the most closely. They walked down to the end of the table, where there were several empty seats. Banished, that’s what it looked like. I turned and searched Draven’s face, asking a silent question, but he just shot me a well practised smile, taking my hand and squeezing it before nodding to the footmen stationed around the table.
“Bring out the first course.”