Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
VIZARIOS
Again, I jostle my legs, trying to make the itch go away. I’ve been attempting to read a very long, very boring diatribe that one of my wardens left with Syzari when he departed. He has numerous complaints, most of which are problems he created for himself and now wants me to solve for him.
Once more I shift, hoping to ease the discomfort in my groin. I scratch at it again, as if perhaps that will help, but it doesn’t. If anything, touching my cock makes the itching worse.
I curse and get up, throwing the papers down on my bed. Pacing around the room helps a little to ease the tension, but my body is still aching. Hungering.
Now that I’ve released my scent glands, those fucking useless things, my cock is wondering where the queen has gone. It longs to be inside her again so badly that my body is betraying me.
Irritated, I decide to go and find Ragnakor. I ought to make him come on a horseback ride with me, or go on a long walk, or...
Perhaps I could sate my need in other ways.
Somehow, the thought only makes the itch grow worse. Now it’s a constant throbbing, a reminder of what Nissia and I did out there on the pedestal.
I grit my teeth, and before I realize what I’m doing, I’ve stepped out my door and into the hall. The guards Ragnakor left behind are there waiting, and they both startle when I appear.
I don’t tell them where I’m going, but they follow me anyway as I head to the corner and take a right. Queen Nissia’s quarters aren’t far.
Fuck. I pause in the middle of the hallway, realizing the itch has begun to ebb the closer I get to her room. I’m hardly in control of myself. I’m overpowered by my base needs, a mere animal. I can’t let it control me this way.
And yet my feet start moving again, carrying me toward her. Perhaps all it would take is a short, quick tryst with my new queen to get my head back on straight. My glands just need to be satiated, so I can focus on what matters—ruling the kingdom.
I rap on the queen’s door, and my stomach does a terrible flip inside me. I’m anxious to see her again, even though only a day has passed since we last saw one another. Then I cringe, thinking of how we left things. She may not be as receptive to me as I hope.
But as I stand there, waiting for judgment... it doesn’t come. After a while, the door does open, but it’s the female I assigned to be Queen Nissia’s attendant. When she recognizes me, her eyes grow huge and she bows her head.
“Your Majesty, I didn’t expect you,” she says.
I peer past her through the door. “Where is the queen?”
My question appears to perplex the handmaid. “Well, erm, Her Majesty went out with the captain.”
Instantly, my blood heats. “Captain Ragnakor?” I repeat, as if there’s any other one.
She nods uncertainly. “Yes. Queen Nissia was dressed in pants and boots.”
What could this mean? Where would Ragnakor have to go with Nissia, and vice versa?
The queen’s attendant balks at the expression on my face, which must be murderous. My wife is not here, not waiting for me—and now Ragnakor? I’d made my command to leave Nissia alone very clear, and here he is, outright disobeying me.
I won’t stand for it.
The attendant shakes her head furiously. “I’m so sorry she isn’t here, Your Majesty.”
With that, I spin on my heel and storm away. Where do I look for my errant captain and my wife, so I can properly punish them?
First, I try Ragnakor’s personal quarters. The entire way I envision what I might find there. Ragnakor has not expressed interest in females, but that doesn’t matter to the way my imagination is barreling forward. What if I break open the door to find her on top of him, riding his immense cock?
A completely different part of my body heats at this thought, and the itching in my groin grows far worse.
Cursing, I arrive at Ragnakor’s door and yank on the handle without knocking.
But it’s locked. I could bang on it and demand he open it, if he’s even here, but that would cause a ruckus.
Instead, I lean forward and press the side of my head to the door, where my ear canal should pick up any sound on the other side.
But there’s silence, and certainly no moaning Nissia.
Damn it. So where could they be?
I spin around on my heel and stomp off once more, unsure of where else I should look. Nissia does like horseback riding, so perhaps they went out.
I lick the tips of my sharp teeth as I stalk to the stables. When I burst in, it surprises a few grooms. The queen brought her own horse with her—a rather small, plain brown mare—which should be easy to spot.
Sure enough, the mare is there, chewing on some hay. None of the grooms speak to me, but they all watch me with cautious looks.
“Did the captain or Queen Nissia come through here?” I demand.
All of them shake their heads, too stunned to speak. Growling with impatience, I turn and stomp out of the stable the way I came.
Where could they be?
It’s when I’m making my way back toward the castle, around the barracks, that I hear a sound.
“Ah!”
I know that cry. It’s Queen Nissia. But it wasn’t a cry of pleasure.
Before I can even command them, my legs are moving toward the source. Someone is hurting her, and my teeth are already bared, ready to tear whoever has laid a hand on my queen to shreds.
What I don’t expect is for that someone to be Captain Ragnakor.
“Are you all right?” he’s in the middle of saying, inspecting Nissia’s side. She has one eye squeezed closed like she’s in pain.
I come to a stop, all my instincts at war. She’s hurt—but is Ragnakor the one who hurt her? It feels like my right arm attacking my left one.
When I step out into the training yard, every head turns to face me. My voice comes out booming and vicious.
“What is going on here?”
NISSIA
This doesn’t look good.
I’d been too full of myself as I parried and dodged Ragnakor’s attacks, which earned me a look of surprise from the stoic dragon. That had felt good—to surprise him a little, to be more than he expected.
I want his respect. I want him to treat me like an adult worth his time, not a kid to be humored and entertained.
So I pull out every tactic in my book, trying to weasel through his defenses.
For someone so large, so hulking and heavy, he moves like a piece of paper on the wind.
He’s fast and deft and too clever. A few times he gets through my parries and blocks, then taps me with the blade of his wooden sword.
But I get one or two in on him, too. And that’s when I see the smile pull at the edge of his mouth, and I have to admit that I sure like it when Ragnakor smiles.
Even more when he smiles at me.
It encourages me to get even more daring, and I manage to force him back a few steps. But then he comes at me—really comes at me, like he’s fighting an equal—and he sneaks through my guard. The tip of his wooden sword slams me in the ribs, and I let out a terrible squawk of pain.
That is, of course, how King Vizarios finds us. His eyes are practically bulging out of his head, his teeth bared in primal fury as he approaches.
“What is this?” he demands.
Ragnakor’s face slackens when he sees who’s arrived. “Your Majesty.” The captain bows his head in deference, dropping his wooden sword. “I’m so sorry. Queen Nissia and I were sparring, and I got too overzealous—”
“And you hurt her.” Vizarios’s gaze jumps between the two of us like he can’t decide who he’s angrier with. All around us the other guards and soldiers are staring, watching this debacle unfold.
I reach out on instinct and grab Vizarios’s hand. He falls instantly still—but he doesn’t pull away.
“Can we go... inside to discuss this?” I ask. “There’s nothing nefarious going on.”
“I will decide that,” he growls, his fingers squeezing mine so hard that I can feel his claws. Finally, he yanks it away and aims a snarl at each of us. “Go on, then.”
Ragnakor’s entire demeanor has shifted as if to make himself smaller while we leave the training yard. Inside the castle doors, though, Vizarios rounds on us again. He chooses me to attack first.
“What were you doing, fighting in the yard?” he demands. “A queen! Debasing herself this way!”
“What’s wrong with it?” I shoot back. “I like swordplay, thank you. And as queen, I can do whatever I want.”
“Unless it upsets the king.” His voice comes out a growl.
Even Ragnakor looks taken aback.
“You can’t mean to hold her hostage,” the captain says, and I’m surprised at how frankly he’s speaking. “Queen Nissia can do what she likes. There are no restrictions on whether or not a queen can fight.”
“And you.” Vizarios’s lips peel back over his fangs as he turns on Ragnakor. “Was this your idea or hers?”
“Mine,” the captain answers instantly.
“You put my wife in harm’s way, and—” Vizarios cuts himself off, his eyes blazing. Then his voice falls much quieter, much more helpless. “You would do this? Behind my back?”
I’m astonished. He’s... hurt?
Ragnakor’s stony expression melts, and without hesitation, he reaches out to put a hand on Vizarios’s shoulder. It’s such a practiced, intimate gesture, one he’s clearly done before, and my breath escapes me.
What is it? What is this between them? I can’t be imagining this tension.
“Why are you angry?” Ragnakor says in a solemn voice. “Why, truly? It’s not because you believe the queen shouldn’t learn swordplay.”
Vizarios flinches but doesn’t pull away from Ragnakor’s touch. I feel as if I am an audience member watching a drama playing out on stage, completely separate from them.
“It’s not becoming of royalty,” Vizarios mutters under his breath.
Ragnakor narrows his eyes. “Your mother would have some words to say about that.”
Vizarios’s gaze darts up and his lips part.
“Before you get angry with me,” the captain continues, his voice soft, “I want the answer to my question. Do you think I would ever try to hurt Queen Nissia?”
Vizarios hunches forward, almost like a chastised child. “No. Not... intentionally.”
“So what has upset you?”
Something about Ragnakor’s calm, collected voice is lulling, like a dream. It has both of us in its spell.
“Seeing you two together, without me.” Now Vizarios is staring down at the floor, his tail flicking behind him. “It infuriates me!”
His admission startles me. He was jealous because I sparred with Ragnakor without him there?
“But I don’t hold an affection for you,” Vizarios suddenly snaps at me, standing up straighter. “Don’t get any illusions. I marked you, yes, but it was an accident, and now”—he gestures between us—“my body thinks you are mine. It has nothing to do with feelings.”
I stare at him as I search for words. So he wants me, but he doesn’t actually care about me? He’s saying this is all just his body reacting instinctually to what we did in the throne room. Purely physical.
I look down at the floor, finding myself much more injured than I would have expected. Why is he fighting so hard against some kind of relationship between us?
“We could embrace it,” I finally suggest. “We could... you know.” I wouldn’t mind doing again what we did then, and then maybe we could develop real feelings for one another. “We could try to be more.”
Vizarios’s reaction is impossible to understand. His lip curls with disgust while his other hand drops to his crotch, rubbing over his groin.
“No.” He shivers. “I can’t ever love you. It’s impossible.”
“Why?” I ask, my voice rising. But I already know this was a mistake, to even bring up the idea. I made myself vulnerable and I shouldn’t have. “What is your problem with me?”
Vizarios drops his gaze from mine. “Because I love someone else.”
It’s like a blow with a blunt weapon.
All at once, it becomes clear to me. The moment he says his truth, I feel like an idiot for not having seen it sooner.
“It’s him,” I say, my gaze drifting over to the captain. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
Ragnakor lowers his head, immediately telling me I’m right.
Vizarios can never be with me because he’s in love with his captain of the guard.