Paxton
Everything Cassarah was saying made sense.
While I was a spy for Creisal, I saw many strange things and reported or kept them safely written down, hidden in various places to use at a later time.
The spymaster was an idiot, and no matter how we explained things, it was never shared if the king didn’t ask for it.
We knew there was an army amassing between Errit and Utros, but it was too far away for the spymaster to see any threat to the kingdom.
Yeah, well, look at us now, dealing with the problem we told him about.
The rest of the meeting was dull, going over supplies, crops, and other normal life things a queen had to deal with when ruling a kingdom.
This is why I’d been so good at being a spy.
Being on the move, searching out the things people missed or just didn’t see happening in plain sight, was where I excelled—not sitting in boring meetings.
As for Cassarah, that woman had a brilliant mind that could see everything all at once, connecting the dots to things I don’t think I’d even consider.
To hear her stories of growing up and how her mother used to treat her made me furious.
Why the fuck would they want to cage such a person into a role of doting wife and mother when clearly she was meant for something more?
That’s what I didn’t get about court life.
I’ve watched it over the years in Creisal, and none of it made sense.
The mercenaries have always maintained that women have every right to be as involved as the men.
In many cases, they were better in certain areas than we were.
Royalty and nobles couldn’t see past their pedigree long enough to choose what would be best for the kingdom as a whole.
“Thank you all for your time. I will confer with King Thomas and the healers to see when it might be best for us to leave for Creisal,” Cassarah announced, snapping me out of my doodlings on the paper she’d given us.
Dayson peered over at my paper and snorted. “Is that what you think the Lost King looks like?”
Lifting the page, I took in the creepy form I’d drawn of a man with multiple arms, sharp teeth, and crazy eyes. In the background was a dragon looking more like a melting stick of butter, but I thought it fit.
“Well, you knew who it was right away, so I must have done a good job,” I quipped, flashing the big man a grin.
I still didn’t feel like I truly blended with this group, yet things were getting better. Cole still hated me, and Abbott seemed to think I was an insensitive prick, but the others tolerated me fairly well.
When things had gone down this morning with Cassarah, I was utterly shocked to have Gavin, of all people, willing to play my game.
Then he’d turned around and done the same thing to Zan.
I had to give that man more credit—he had a savvy mind to drive our woman wild and get others to play along.
While watching wasn’t a major turn-on for me, pushing people out of their comfort zone was.
I craved knowing just how far I could push someone to see them discover another side of themselves.
That is what I thought I was doing until I quickly learned our queen was veracious in the bedroom.
None of us compared notes about our time with Cassarah, but you hear things in passing, and when I found out she and Cole fucked on the beach… well, let’s just say I had some mad respect for Cole.
“Come on, you and I are going with Cassy-bear to check on Vasin. The others have things to do,” Dayson informed me as he got up from the table.
Blinking a few times, I got up, folded my paper, and slipped it into my pocket. “Guess I missed that part of the meeting.”
“You really didn’t miss much,” Dayson admitted. “I never knew that royalty was responsible for as much stuff as they are.”
“Oh, that’s Cassarah being Cassarah. Most kings and queens hand things off to a team of advisers and only deal with the large issues people bring to them.
My money is that Cassarah will refuse to ever do that and handle everything on her own.
That might change over time, but she’s only ever seen what it looks like when kingdoms have been mismanaged,” I explained.
“Queen Catharine was able to get away with so much because the king wasn’t dealing with the issues she was manipulating. ”
Dayson and I walked down the castle’s long hall.
It was sometimes hard to wrap my head around the fact that this is where I lived.
I wasn’t just visiting and sharing my observations of my trip, this was my home.
I was consort to one of the most amazing people I’d ever met, who happened to be a queen.
On top of that, I was also one of her guardians charged with ensuring she stayed alive to make the world a better place.
Who would have guessed the man whose brother tried to kill him while his father was a traitor to not only his people but that of another kingdom would end up a chosen guardian.
My family helped create the demon trying to steal everything away from us.
I guess the fates decided it was only fitting that I be part of the group that would bring about his destruction.
We reached the dragon platform on the upper level where our chambers were to find Ninnat waiting for me, wings stretched out, sunning herself.
Walking up to her head, I gave her eye ridges a good scratch, and she started to hum.
I always wondered what it would be like if I could talk to her like Cassarah could with Vasin.
Then, I remembered she was a female, and I thought maybe it was best to only have one woman ruling my life.
As if she understood what I was thinking, her golden eye flicked open, and she snorted at me, engulfing me in a puff of smoke.
Spluttering, I waved my hand about, glaring at her. “What’s the deal? You only do that when you’re upset with me about something?”
“Could it be that she knows you have another woman in your life now, and she’s jealous?” Cassarah asked, walking up next to me. She smiled at Ninnat as she reached out a hand to my dragon, who crooned and lifted her snout to meet her touch.
“What the hell,” I grumbled. “You smoke me out, but you get all sweet around her. What gives?”
Cassarah chuckled as a real smile bloomed on her face.
Those were becoming few and far between these days, which is why I always did something stupid to get her to react.
“It’s a woman thing, unfortunately. We always seem to team up when we feel slighted.
My guess is that she used to be the only woman in your life, and with how much you traveled, you two were all each other had.
Now you have me, and she gets less time with you. ”
When she put it that way, it was easy to see the problem. Ninnat and I had been through so much together, and since I became a guardian, that’s all changed.
Wrapping my arms around my dragon’s neck, I whispered in her ear, “Ninnat, you will always be my girl. No matter what happens in life or who joins us, you are the first ever to choose me and stick by me no matter what.”
Ninnat crooned and let out a little puff of fire to add to her answer, nuzzling into me.
Many people wouldn’t take me seriously and always assumed that since I left my home, I must have been the one to do something wrong.
On top of that, being a spy didn’t do me any favors either.
People hear you’re a spy or you work for the Crown, and automatically you’re untrustworthy.
Gathering intel for the king isn’t the same as infiltrating another kingdom to spill their secrets so we could overthrow them.
King Thomas just wanted to be kept informed of the other kingdoms in case there was a cause for concern.
It was his spymaster who was the moron and missed the signs.
“You two have a very close relationship, don’t you,” Cassarah commented as she rubbed Ninnat’s snout.
I looked at my golden girl with pride and nodded.
“She actually saved me when I ended up too close to the Dragon Lands outside the Utros border. I was trying to cross the border, but the patrols were stronger than they’d ever been, so I trekked further through the mountains and stumbled upon an oasis where a group of dragons were sunning.
Trying to get away, I fell and hurt my leg pretty badly so I couldn’t escape.
Ninnat came to my rescue, and she’s been with me ever since. ”
“That’s the beauty of dragons, isn’t it?
They see into our souls and come to know who we truly are inside.
When Vasin called out to me the first time, I couldn’t understand why he would ever pick someone like me.
My mother stripped away my self-confidence year after year until I almost believed her.
” She looked up at me, her amber eyes meeting mine, full of so much emotion.
“They always seem to know who needs saving, don’t they? ”
Grinning, I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I would have been a snack for a dragon if she hadn’t decided to save me.
Then, another miracle was that she never left.
She was the first to stick with me through thick and thin, never once hesitating to do whatever it took to keep us alive.
Being a spy makes you a target on and off the job. ”
Cassarah took a step back and bowed to my dragon. “Thank you, Ninnat, for sharing your pair-bond with me. I will do my best to ensure once this battle is over, you get more quality time with him.”
Ninnat bobbed her head and folded up her wings, settling herself into position for us to climb on. Hopping up, I got settled and reached down for Cassarah. “Come on, spitfire, stop trying to steal my dragon from me. You’ll make Vasin jealous.”
Laughing, she took my hand, and I hoisted her up, putting her right in front of me so I could wrap my arms around her. “You’re a one-of-a-kind woman, you know that, Cassarah? What queen would bow to a dragon and ensure they are as happy as the rest of the people she cares for?”
“A smart woman,” she teased. “Pissing off a dragon, especially a female, is a terrible idea. I’d like to see us all grow old together one day.”
I burst out laughing as Ninnat vaulted off the platform and snapped open her powerful wings, allowing us to glide our way to the roost. Dayson and his brown dragon, Hegg, followed after us, drifting from side to side, ignoring whatever Dayson was yelling at him.
Those two had an odd relationship. It was almost as if his dragon purposely did things to enrage the mammoth of a man.
It made me smile every time but, of course, I would never share my thoughts, knowing Dayson wouldn’t find it as funny as I did.
The flight to the roost was short and sweet, but it was nice to get the chance of a flight in.
I hadn’t noticed how much I hated being in the same place all the time until I was asked to.
Of course, I wouldn’t change a thing about being Cassarah’s guardian and consort.
I love the hell out of that woman. Yet, I couldn’t argue that my soul cried out for the chance to wander more, seeking the mission’s thrill.
Cassarah scrambled off Ninnat before I could help her, dropped to the ground, and ran.
Looking up, I saw Vasin standing at the entrance to the roost, and when he saw her coming for him, he moved forward to greet her.
She flung herself at the dragon, and he caught her against his chest with his front legs and large head.
We all knew it was hard for her not to have Vasin the past few days, but we clearly didn’t understand the level of loss she’d been feeling.
Seeing this had me looking over at Dayson, and the same thought was also written on his face.
We needed to do better for our woman. We’d been trying to do our best, but it just wasn’t in the way she needed right now.
We would need to take this knowledge and learn from it for the future.