Chapter 17
Sagan
Belinda arriving was the greatest surprise ever, and while it wouldn’t fix everything that had happened—and I was still struggling with—it was enough to help me push on. It really was.
And it meant help for Myriam which shocked her since it had been her idea all for me. I snorted and made it clear that there was no love lost between Belinda and my parents, so I didn’t need to worry about their reputation with her.
It was the rare time the somber ancient dragon gave a full laugh. Yes, “no love lost” was a huge understatement so… Yeah.
But the next morning I was surprised with another win, namely over three dozen tiger shifters sent by their king arriving. The levels of surprise and people not knowing what to do were unreal.
And I was actually glad that Alpha Dray of Jade Creek was still there because this was delicate. Not that I needed the help but... Fine, help would be great.
“You’re pushing the limits of how much I can support you,” he muttered as I accepted a letter from the king.
“I can attest that this is entirely his goodwill and report on how happy he currently is with the queen’s help,” Onyx said from our left, his eyes only on me. “Myriam said she would update you.”
“You didn’t give me time,” Myriam drawled. “You flew right out when I wouldn’t let you talk to her.”
“Really?” I asked, glancing between them.
“I didn’t like hearing you were unavailable and not responding to my texts,” Onyx admitted. “This latest mess is—even if Joris did the right thing and it’s helped, it’s a lot of stress and I was worried.”
“Oh boy,” Dray grumbled when I flushed and it was probably visible.
I cleared my throat and quickly read over the letter, swallowing down my reaction before addressing the one who brought it. “Your king is fine with my sharing it? It doesn’t say either way and I want to check when he’s showing such goodwill.”
The man smiled. “You are truly the honest woman he said he talked to on the phone, Your Majesty. Yes, by all means.” He glanced at Alpha Dray. “He is loyal even if—he’s loyal to the monarchy.”
But not me. Not yet.
Fair enough.
I handed Dray the letter hoping that it would at least help in changing some of that. Maybe?
“Well done,” I praised Onyx.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty,” the messenger interjected before Onyx could reply.
“While Mr. Conley was beyond the king’s expectations, everything in that letter is because of his conversation with you.
You touched our king and gave him hope of a better future for our nations.
He is willing to show his intentions and readiness to work for that. ”
“He sure is,” Dray muttered as he read. Then he cut me a glance. “Well done. Your father could not have—none of us could have. I have to ask…”
“What did I offer for this?” I nodded when people went tense, but I was fine. “I would want to know too.”
And I would.
“Onyx,” I told him honestly, nodding when he looked at me. “And a few hopeful ideas of how I saw our future relations. That’s all.”
“Ideas that my king has long since wanted and is immensely sorry his former advisor didn’t handle better with your father,” the messenger informed us.
“I see,” Dray said, his tone now amused. “She was bluntly honest instead of male posturing and it outed a snake that king’s side.”
The messenger said nothing but handed me a folder. “The information you hoped for along with recommendations. Namely, none return to protecting you.”
I swallowed loudly. “None?”
“None, Your Majesty,” he said firmly.
Fuck. Just… Fuck. We’d sent ten of my guards with Onyx to be sniffed out—ignoring the pun—by the tigers, and apparently we’d picked the right ones to be wary of. I’d really hoped we’d been wrong about a few.
Because like who the fuck was going to guard the castle at this rate?
“Well, at least the good news came first,” I said tightly, handing the folder to Lydia. “Directly to Benson and with haste. I don’t care what he’s doing, he’s waiting for that, and I want his assessment on how to handle it before dinner.”
She put the pieces together and nodded before focusing on the tigers. “Those of us loyal to our queen won’t forget your help. We’ll make sure you are treated well during your stay. Ask us anything you need and it will be our pleasure.”
“We thank you,” one of them said, clearly in charge of the other guards. “It will be an adjustment, but we’re excited for the challenge and the hope this brings our two nations closer together.”
Well said.
Especially since the list of what we were getting was good.
First, the king was going to announce publicly that I had offered Onyx’s help as a gesture of goodwill after he sent a representative to my parents’ funeral.
That he regretted his relationship with Father and wanted to do better in the future, especially when my own friend was a tiger I trusted to be an aide, so clearly the whispers the royal family disliked tigers weren’t true.
Second, he sent the guards we’d talked about. Over a dozen to be integrated into the castle’s protection and however else we needed.
Third, five of his top investigators and interrogators to help with the elder situation.
Fourth, two of his own pilots who were also certified to do just about anything on private jets. No, I wasn’t kidding. They were full engineers as well and could take them completely apart and put them back together. Plus, a civil engineer who specialized in runways and aviation everything.
Fifth, he was talking to other allies about a fall peace summit.
It was already in the works, but he was now adding the idea of Thovudin attending with a delegation of the Alphas I trusted most. The public reason the monarchs would give for the invitation would be that Thovudin had moved past our outdated elder system and could be trusted again.
Not that I’d taken over like they thought they could pull fast ones on me or I would be too stupid to handle something so big.
“It would make huge waves to only pick certain Alphas but would be a huge win for you if such a defining event was hosted here with all of us at your side,” Dray muttered as he handed back the letter.
I considered that for only a moment. “Hosting? Yes. All of you, no. That would make it seem like the Alphas were the main hosts and another headline you all lead me around by the nose.” I snickered when he didn’t say anything, obviously agreeing with my point or at least seeing it.
“Don’t worry, Alpha, you’d be one I’d considered. ”
It was his turn to snicker and I was glad he caught what I’d said.
I’d consider all the Alphas in turn to be fair.
Duh.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I was informed you had foreign guests,” Belinda said as she joined us. “And as your newest advisor, we both know there is much I can ascertain about their intentions.”
It was almost amusing to see the range of shock from the tigers… But then I realized it wasn’t just them.
Except Onyx wasn’t shocked. He gave me a look that said he figured out I caught onto something and to give him a chance to explain later.
Fine, but I doubted that I would like the answer.
“Ancient, forgive my behavior,” Dray quickly said as he recovered and dipped his head.
“No need, Alpha,” Belinda said easily. “It hasn’t been announced yet, and I believe the queen is still working out the best way to do that.” She smiled at me. “I have a meeting with Toni later to talk strategy and I’ve already reached out to other ancients as you requested.”
Oh, the tigers were good at hiding their reactions because not one flinched or reacted to the big fat lie.
Except Belinda was smirking. Then I almost busted us and nodded but hurried to look away. I caught Myriam’s gaze and she gave a subtle wink. So whatever magic Belinda was doing to cover herself when she lied, she’d tested it on Myriam first.
And Belinda was obviously going to teach me. Eloise figured it out too and was so excited to finally learn more “fun” that I had to blink back tears. She was so neglected that it honestly killed me.
“I apologize, but may I ask what this is about, Your Majesty?” Dray hedged, looking nervous again.
I nodded for Belinda to go ahead, seeming to defer to the ancient’s wisdom instead of a bit confused myself. We’d not had much of a chance to talk last night since I’d just been so happy and overwhelmed.
Belinda focused on Dray with a cold gaze. “When the queen was younger, she didn’t spend summers at ‘princess summer camp enjoying frivolity’ as some buffoons ran their mouths.”
Dray. Dray was one of the loudest voices who had said that and criticized how my parents had raised me.
I loved that she got to say that and he couldn’t do a thing about it… Which he understood from the way he ground his jaw.
“She was enduring additional training by dragons like myself that too many write off or disparage because of their envy of our powers,” Belinda continued.
“While the king arranged it all, Sagan was a dutiful and dedicated student who believed understanding firsthand what all dragon types were like would make her an effective leader.”
“I cannot only lead and be an advocate for the most common of us, especially when it’s a completely random decision by the gods,” I said, easily picking up the ball she’d just lobbed at me. “I learned more studying at your side than all my textbooks ever taught me.”
“And that is why you will be the finest De la Rosa ruler maybe ever,” Belinda said firmly while still keeping Dray’s gaze.
“When Princess Maple came to find me at the queen’s request—you know yourself now that our queen is wise and listens to seasoned counsel.
She simply didn’t have any honorable counsel here. ”
“So she—I apologize, Your Majesty,” he muttered, focusing on me. “You asked your aunt to find your former tutor?”