Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Scout chirped once high and loud to alert me to an intruder. I rolled over the bed, surprised to find it empty of Preston, who had been in it when I’d fallen asleep, and onto my feet.
The next second, my dagger was at the throat of a female about my height. “What do you think you’re doing in my room?” I growled.
“How … how did you know I was here?” she squeaked in fear and held her hands up in surrender, one of which held a dagger.
“I think you’d better answer her question first,” Preston growled behind her and I could see the shine of his eyes in the darkness over her head. He stood by the door, likely waiting to see what she was up to before he grabbed her.
“I, um, I—”
“Too slow,” I snapped and swung my fist down, hitting her temple with the butt of my dagger.
She fell to the floor and Scout made its tee-tee-tee laughing sound.
“Were you going to just stand there and let her stab me?” I demanded from Preston and put my hands on my hips, being sure my dagger was pointed away from my body.
“Pet, I would never let anyone harm you,” he assured me, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and picked up the unconscious female.
Without waiting to see what he did with her, annoyed for some reason I couldn’t place, I climbed back into bed and pulled the covers back up.
Preston returned shortly after that and climbed into the bed beside me. “Pet?”
“Sleeping,” I mumbled with my face against the pillow.
His hands slid around me and he pulled me tight against him. “I was about to grab her when you rolled off of the bed. Since you didn’t need my help, I thought it better not to intervene. I would never let anyone hurt you. Do you understand?”
“Hm,” I grunted in reply as tears built in my eyes. I was glad for the darkness, so he couldn’t see the tears and I quickly blinked them away.
“I’ll burn the solar system to kill anyone who harms you. I swear it,” he whispered and pressed a kiss to the back of my head.
Preston wasn’t one for unnecessary words, so I believed that was how he felt, but …
“You’ll have to watch as I’m hurt in the Games.”
He growled and it vibrated from his chest into my back. “I’m going to train you so that you’re the one hurting others.”
“And if the High King ordered you to hurt me, what would you do? Or what if they decide that I’m no longer worthy of being your mate, since my planet is gone, and it’s more beneficial to sell me to the highest bidder?”
He turned on the lights and stared down at me with a scowl.
“If they didn’t want to keep the betrothal, they would have ordered us to return home long ago.
Dragonkin aren’t skin traders, we never sell anyone.
And, if my father or any of the others tries to order me to hurt you, he’s going to be removed from his throne and his head will be placed on a pike for everyone to see.
So that everyone knows that threats to you won’t be taken lightly. ”
“What if they tell you to take a Dragonkin female concubine?”
His expression softened and he rested a hand against my face. “That’s not going to happen. However, if they so much as say anything negative about you being our mate, we’ll defend you to our last breaths.”
Ducking my head down, I hid my face from him.
“I can understand why you’re concerned and if I were in your shoes, I’d likely ask the very same questions. However, you’re stuck with us, pet. Get used to it.”
He turned the light off and I relaxed into his warm body.
After a few moments of quiet, I whispered, “Preston?”
“Hm?”
“I love you.”
He wrapped his arms fully around me, pulling me tightly against his body as he wrapped his around mine. “I love you, too.”
“I’m glad my parents made an alliance with you.”
“I would have traveled to the end of existence and back if I knew I would find you. I would have stolen you from any other alliance or betrothal your parents might have made. There is no version of this life that doesn’t end with you being my mate.”
“Ditto,” I whispered back, letting his words fill me with warmth.
He chuckled and kissed the back of my head. “Go to sleep, pet.”
“Yes, sir,” I whispered and heard his soft growl, but thankfully he realized I was actually tired and allowed me to go back to sleep despite my teasing.
“There are three rounds to the Games,” Zeke explained. “The first one is an obstacle course. You’ll be racing against at least sixty other Dragonkin.”
“Isn’t an obstacle race pointless since Dragonkin have wings?” I asked.
“No wings allowed,” he explained. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem with that round. The second round is an endurance test to see how long you can hold onto a bar.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Shaking his head, he said, “With predators in the water below you. If you fall in, you have to fight your way out of the water and kill one of them to continue to the next round.”
“So, if you fall it’s not an automatic disqualification?”
“Correct. You have to kill one of the predators. One year it was crocodiles and the next year it was sharks. I don’t know what this year will be.
The third and final round is a combination intelligence and battle prowess tournament with the remaining contestants.
You’ll stand on a rotating platform with water surrounding it and fight each other while being asked questions.
If you don’t answer three questions in a row, you’re disqualified.
If you answer wrong, you’re disqualified. And the last one standing wins.”
“That actually sounds fun,” I said with a smile.
He sighed. “I figured you would say that. Yes, many enjoy the Games and some return every year to participate.”
“Wait, so I could participate again if I wanted to?”
He nodded.
“Nice,” I said, and my smile grew wider.
“You won’t be allowed to use your disc …”
“Scout.”
“… during the Games.”
I shrugged. “That’s fine. I don’t need Scout for the activities you described.” With the enhancements installed into me by Charles, I felt reasonably confident in my abilities.
“We’re going to have a very small window from arriving on Drakorantia and the start of the Games, but we will do our best to ensure we have extensively prepared you.”
“What kind of preparation?” I asked as I walked around the table and sat in his lap. “I hope there’s more than just obstacle course preparation.”
Zeke’s hand immediately came to rest on my hip, his thumb pressing lightly into my skin, and started purring. “You’ve got quite a bit of preparation before you take what I have.”
“Why wait? Let’s start preparing now,” I whispered against his lips.
He growled and kissed me, hard and passionately, his tongue claiming mine as his hand wrapped around the back of my head, angling it exactly how he wanted it.
The door opened and Preston walked in. He smacked the back of Zeke’s head and chastised, “Stop getting distracted.”
Zeke snarled, but quickly smoothed his features out when Preston stepped around to face him. “It’s not my fault.”
Preston plucked me off of Zeke’s lap and deposited me back on my chair. “Behave,” he warned with a finger pointed at my face.
I pouted, which made the corners of his lips twitch. “Fine, let’s get back to my schooling about Dragonkin, now that I have the basics down for the Games.”
Zeke cleared his throat and adjusted himself.
“Right. These are the members of the royal family,” he said and laid out several pictures with names written below them, arranging them into four columns.
“It’s important you learn their faces, names, and ranks before we arrive.
Needing to be introduced will look like lack of knowledge, which you must not show.
Even if you don’t know something, you have to act like you do. ”
“That’s so stupid. Why wouldn’t you want someone to admit they don’t know so they can be taught?” My parents were always quick to provide knowledge and loved being asked questions.
“You’re going to be High Queen. You must be seen as all-knowing,” Zeke explained.
“Does the same apply to you four?”
Zeke and Preston nodded.
“Okay, let me look at them for a bit,” I said. As quietly as possible, I whispered, “Scout, memorize.”
Scout let out the tiniest, softest chirp of confirmation and in my display, I saw them taking pictures and recording.
“What’s proper greeting protocol between me and the members of the royal families?” I asked. “Am I expected to bow to the High King and High Queen, all Kings and Queens, or all royals?”
“You bow to the High King and High Queen only,” Zeke answered.
“So, I don’t bow to your parents?” I asked, shocked. It felt wrong to only bow to one of my mate’s parents and not the others.
He shook his head. “They’re King and Queen, which, yes, is technically higher than you as princess, but since you will become High Queen, you outrank them. It’s weird, I know, but that’s how our society works.”
“Does leadership pass only at death?” I asked, since that was how it worked on Caltyrela.
“No, my parents can decide to pass on leadership at any time they wish,” Preston answered.
“Doubt that’ll happen, though,” Zeke muttered.
Preston sighed. “Yes, my parents are … greedy. They won’t want to pass on the titles until they no longer have a choice.”
“Do you want to take over sooner rather than later for some reason?” I asked.
“Yes and no. I want to ensure that they don’t stick to antiquated ways for too long, but I also know we need time to build up our base and ensure we’re truly ready to take over the mantle when the time comes.”
“Build up our base?”
“We need to ensure that we have followers who believe in us, people who agree that we deserve to be rulers and who agree with our beliefs and plans for our people,” Zeke explained. “We’ll start by doing charitable works amongst the people, like helping the orphans and disabled.”
That made sense. I knew my parents were well-loved by our people because of the amount of work they did to help those who couldn’t help themselves.
We had a handful of orphanages that we frequently visited and ensured had proper management.
There were also guards specifically assigned to the orphanages to ensure that no children were ever harmed or lured by evil people.
The Exostalons had tons of cases of abuse and trafficking from their orphanages, and they weren’t the only planet with such a problem. My parents had wanted to ensure that didn’t happen.
“What happens if we don’t have a good base? Can we be denied from taking the crown?”
“No, but the people could rebel and if they rebel enough, we could be forced to vacate the throne. That’s never happened, but it is a possibility,” Zeke answered.
“It happened with our great, seven times back, grandparents,” Preston said.
Zeke’s eyes widened. “What?”
“It’s not talked about often, but they were evil, truly evil, and it took them murdering one hundred civilians before the other royals finally stepped up and forced them to vacate,” Preston explained.
“Whoa,” I whispered, shocked that something like that had happened on Drakorantia.
“We’re getting too broad and too far ahead of ourselves,” Preston said. “We need to focus on your initial meeting of the people and our families. The rest can wait.”
“Right,” Zeke grumbled. “When you step off of the ship, you’ll likely be greeted by some of our family, but not the High King and High Queen.”
“Why not?” I asked, curious.
“They’ll be in the throne room, waiting for us to come present you to them.
” Preston sighed dramatically and sat down hard in a chair beside me.
“They’re all about appearances and protocol and don’t want anyone to forget that they’re the High King and Queen.
It’s rather tiring, honestly. This time away from home has been … refreshing to say the least.”
“So, you’re not looking forward to going home?”
“Oh, we are, but there are some things we wish we didn’t have to go back to,” Zeke answered.
“Anyways, when you greet those who are gathered to meet you at the docks, you can just smile and greet them by name. Wayne’s sisters might hug you, so be prepared for that and don’t attack them, please,” Preston said.
I smiled. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“When you enter the throne room, you’ll walk up to the stairs, bow at the waist, and then greet them,” Preston continued.
“Like this?” I asked, stood, and then bowed at the waist, bending halfway over.
“Exactly,” he praised.
Zeke leaned his elbows on the table, relaxing again. “And you should say something like, ‘Greetings, Your Majesties. I am happy to have finally finished the journey here to Drakorantia.’”
I blinked. “Seriously?” I asked.
Preston nodded. “Seriously.”
“Like Preston said, they’re all about formalities.” Zeke smiled. “You get used to it.”
Preston leaned back in his seat and said, “I find it easiest if you just treat them like they’re young children pretending to be king and queen. Smile, tell them what they want to hear, act like they want, and then relax when you’re not around them.”
I laughed before I could stop myself, but both Zeke and Preston simply smiled.
“Okay, now let’s discuss the obstacle courses,” Zeke said.