Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
My entire body was deliciously sore and under any other circumstances, I would have stayed in bed the rest of the day.
However, it was important that we showed a united front to Gage’s father and the other Dragonkin on the ship.
The clothes that I’d been provided were loose, so I’d rolled the shirt several times before tying it at the back.
Part of my stomach had been exposed, which had for some reason made Zeke growl and untie it enough to cover all of my skin.
My smirk had annoyed him even more and he’d stormed off ahead of our group without another glance back at me.
This ship seemed to be even larger than the prince’s had been as it took us fifteen minutes to walk to the room where they served breakfast.
“If I have to walk this far for lunch, I’m just going to take a nap here instead,” I grumbled.
“We’ll have lunch delivered to us,” Wayne promised as he walked at my side.
Preston and Zeke walked at the front, Wayne walked at my side, and Gage brought up the rear. They moved like they thought there was going to be an attack, which had me on edge despite the euphoric bliss of my post-orgasmic state.
Finally, the doors to the room opened and admitted us to a large rectangular table full of a variety of foods.
“Welcome!” Gage’s father boomed and stood from his seat.
“No need to greet us,” Preston said and raised his hand almost dismissively. “We appreciate your invitation to dine with you.”
A sudden realization hit me and I leaned closer to whisper to Wayne, “Wait, if Gage is a prince, doesn’t that mean his father is …”
Wayne nodded. “King Larson Thren of the Eastern Dragonkin.” He pulled out a chair for me and pushed it in as I sat before taking the seat next to me.
Preston sat on my other side and set his hand on my leg, his thumb rubbing a slow and relaxing pattern on my thigh. “What would you like to eat, mate?”
King Larson’s eyes widened a moment, but then he schooled his features and resumed eating what looked like fruit on his plate.
“Pick for me, please. Everything looks good.” I smiled and Preston nodded once before putting several brightly colored items on my plate as well as a few pieces of meat.
“Scout,” I whispered. Scout chirped, flew out from behind my ear, and scanned the food before slipping back into place. No detectable drugs or poisons.
“Are you excited to finally reach Drakorantia?” King Larson asked, seeming unsurprised by Scout’s appearance or the fact that I’d just scanned the provided food.
“Yes, very excited,” I said with a nod. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the jungles especially.”
His eyes widened. “The jungles?”
Glancing at Wayne who was smiling wide, I said, “Yes, I found that I quite enjoyed the foliage from your jungles that the princes had on their ship and can’t wait to see the natural habitat.
” Sighing longingly, I said, “I had hoped to finish the bracelets by the time we made it to Drakorantia, but sadly they were destroyed with the ship and now I will have to start over.”
King Larson cut a piece of meat, avoiding eye contact as he said, “You seem to know a bit about our traditions already.”
“Well, it wouldn’t do for the future high queen to show up completely ignorant, would it?” I asked. “Especially not when I’ll be showing up just in time for the Games.”
His fork scraped hard against the plate before he looked up at Preston. “You know?”
Preston tilted his head as he finished chewing on the food in his mouth. “Know about the Games?”
King Larson nodded.
Preston smiled. “King Larson, we are the Princes of Drakorantia. Of course, we know the Games are coming up. It is a sacred tradition amongst our people. One that is eagerly anticipated every decade.”
King Larson’s eyes flicked to mine before returning to Preston. “And how does the princess feel about the upcoming Games?”
“You can ask her,” Preston said and turned towards me. “How do you feel about them, Princess Xoe?”
“I’m excited to participate,” I answered. “Truthfully, I would have loved if my first time was in attendance only, so I could get the full experience, like young Dragonkin do, but the universe has its own plan for things. So, I will accept my fate and do my best to bring honor to the princes.”
“You aren’t nervous about participating? About fighting against female Dragonkin?” he asked.
“Why should I be nervous?” I asked as I ate some of the meat from my plate.
“Did you not tell her about the danger?” King Larson asked.
Preston’s nostrils flared slightly and his grip on my leg tightened, the only outward signs of his annoyance. “She knows of the danger, but …” He laughed, relaxing his posture more. “She’s confident in her abilities and doesn’t believe she’ll have to worry too much and we agree with her.”
I winked at King Larson and kept eating.
“Have you decided who will be king when you hold your ceremony?” he asked.
Why wasn’t I surprised that he was trying to get information out of me like we had anticipated?
“We all know that I don’t choose the king and that my pack has already chosen its leader,” I said with a pleasant smile.
King Larson laughed like it was the funniest joke.
“So, you have been filled in despite being away for so long. That’s good to hear.
” He pushed back from the table and stood.
“I would hate for you to step into a role that you weren’t prepared for.
Have a good day, gentlemen. Princess. I have matters to attend to. ”
Once he was gone and we were the only ones left in the room, I spun towards Preston with my mouth open, but he shook his head, so I closed my mouth. He pointed under the table and when I looked beneath, I saw a little flashing light there.
A listening device.
“This food is delicious,” I raved. “Oh, after we finish eating, do you think we could take a stroll on the ship? To get a lay of the design? Since we’re going to be here for a couple of weeks, I’d like to know my way around at least.”
“That’s a great idea,” Wayne agreed.
“That will have to wait until after we contact our parents. I’m sure they’ve all heard by now that our ship was destroyed. Even though they likely know we’re okay, it’s best if we call and reassure them,” Zeke said.
We chatted about random things until we finished our food and then we hurried back to Preston and my room.
Scout did a quick search and found three new listening devices had been planted while we were at breakfast, as well as two in each of the other rooms.
We made quick work of destroying them, but it didn’t lessen my anger.
“This is going to be how things are until we are in our private residences,” Preston advised me.
“It’s annoying,” I growled and flopped down onto the bed.
“Yes, but you’re doing really well, if that’s any consolation,” Gage said as he sat beside me and stroked his fingers through my hair.
“Are you going to call your parents?” I asked Preston.
He shook his head. “As High King and Queen, they don’t have much free time. Plus, their advisors will let them know I’m still alive.”
They didn’t sound like a particularly close family, but I wasn’t going to pry.
“What about your mom?” I asked Gage as I looked up at him while he continued to play with my hair.
“Father will have notified her already and she and I aren’t exactly close.”
Preston scoffed. “That’s like saying my mother and I are close.”
Gage laughed softly. “Yeah, my mother hates me, truthfully. She’d probably rejoice if she heard I was dead.”
“That’s terrible,” I said and grabbed one of his hands in mine.
“She’s my stepmother, not my biological one. My brother and sister are my half-siblings, and my father pretends my mother never existed, makes me call my stepmother, ‘mother.’ Honestly, I don’t really blame my stepmother for hating me. I was a cantankerous asshole to her when I was a teenager.”
“You were a cantankerous asshole?” Preston asked with an arched brow.
“I’m better now,” Gage said and looked down at me with a smile. “Right, Xoe?”
“If I agree, will you keep playing with my hair?”
Preston laughed and Gage nodded.
“You’re the epitome of kind and sweet now,” I said with a nod.
He chuckled and resumed playing with my hair, but I could see a bit of sadness in his eyes. Was it because he mentioned his birth mother?
“We’re going to have to hold training sessions in the rooms for her for now,” Gage said as he looked up at Preston.
Preston hummed. “I think we should write everything down, on paper, so she can read it, learn it, and then we can destroy it.”
“Leave no trails,” Gage agreed with a nod.
“Is it really that serious that they not find out you’re teaching me what I need to know? I mean, they all know that I was missing for a decade.”
“It’s politics and appearances,” Preston explained. “We want them to think you’re capable of taking over as queen today. That you have already learned everything that you need to learn.”
“The Games, are they deadly?” I asked nervously.
Both shook their heads.
“We prize our females too much for us to let them die during the Games,” Gage said.
“However, they are still dangerous. The events are mostly primitive – fights, obstacle courses, that type of thing. They do not use any scientific technology and you cannot use any type of tech during them, either. Everything must be done by your own hands. There’ve been a few with permanent dismemberment from the Games, though,” Preston advised.
“Wonderful,” I grumbled.
Scout chirped a warning just before someone knocked on the door.
Gage hopped up from the bed to answer it and a meek, adolescent, female Dragonkin bowed when he opened the door. “Gr-Greeting, Princes. I have brought the afternoon meal.”
My brows furrowed as I looked at the time. We hadn’t been talking for more than half an hour. It wasn’t even close to afternoon.
“Tell the chef that we will retrieve our meals and snacks from the hall along with the others,” Gage said sternly.
She fumbled with her tray a moment. “The Captain said—”
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Gage growled.
The girl jumped and hurried away from the room, the tray shaking in her hands as she left.
“What was that?” I asked softly.
“Most likely drugged,” Gage said nonchalantly.
“Why would they want to drug us?”
“A good question, but one I don’t have an answer for,” Preston said. “From now on, double up in the rooms and ensure you keep it secured.”
“Scout, you’ll need to reserve your batteries to stay alert during the night for any intruders,” I said softly.
Scout chirped an affirmative.
“Scout has weapons, right?” Preston asked.
I nodded. “Scout, drone with guns.”
Scout slipped out from behind my ear, expanded into a large, round drone with a single red eye, and two large guns appeared on each side of it.
“It boggles my mind how such a small disc turns into … that,” Gage whispered.
“The amount of time I spent on Scout is almost undefinable since I didn’t track it and it was over the last ten years,” I explained. “Plus, there were a few failures that resulted in me starting from almost scratch.”
Scout chirped sadly.
“Oh, don’t act like that, Scout! I fixed you, right? And no matter what happens, I’ll always fix you.”
Scout changed shapes, turning into a mechanical bear, and hugged my neck.
It was rare for Scout to take this shape, one I’d made as a child, but I accepted the hug and returned it as well. “There, there, Scout,” I whispered and patted his metal back.
“That thing defies all logic and reasoning,” Preston grumbled.
“Some have said the same about me,” I whispered in response.
Preston smirked. “Yes, you and Scout are definitely two peas in a pod in that sense.”
“Peas? Pods?” I asked, uncertain what he was talking about.
Preston’s and Gage’s eyes both widened and they looked at each other and back at me.
“I see we will have to add idioms to your training,” Preston muttered.
“You’re an idiom,” I grumbled back, feeling insecure about not knowing what they were talking about.
Gage laughed and Preston’s lip twitched, but he held back from smiling.
“So, what’s first on the agenda?” I asked. “Proper bowing and curtsies?”
“How to dislocate someone’s arm,” Preston answered. “Gage, you’re the best at it, so go ahead and show her.”
“I need someone as the sacrificial arm,” Gage reminded him.
“Call over Wayne, he’s more willing to get injured for Xoe than Zeke is.”
“What about you?” I asked with a teasing smirk.
Preston dropped his head and narrowed his eyes. “I’m the leader and need my arms in full working order. Especially since they’re likely going to try to drug us tonight and kidnap you.”
“Wait, what!” I shrieked.