Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
NISSIA
The following morning, Zephala is working on my hair when there comes a light knock at the door. My handmaid answers it, revealing Syzari. She’s bright and alive, her sapphire scales gleaming under her ivory and gold robe. How does she always look so put together?
“Good morning,” I say as Zephala quickly finishes her work. “I’m not dressed yet.”
“Sorry, sorry.” But the advisor doesn’t look all that sorry. “It’s just that proposal I’ve been meaning to discuss with you.”
I vaguely remember this. I wave for Syzari to come in, and the advisor follows me as I head into my dressing room.
In my country, this would be scandalizing, but the dragons are far, far less modest. She doesn’t bat an eyelash as I take off my dressing robe in front of her and search for something else in the closet.
“What sort of proposal?” I ask as I pick out what I want to wear for the day. The garment I select is a rusty orange that reminds me of Ragnakor’s hide.
“So, we have a problem in the kingdom,” Syzari begins. “Our population is small, and it gets smaller with every generation. You can imagine that creates a labor shortage.”
“Yes, that sounds like it would become a significant barrier.”
“Exactly.”
I finish putting on my clothes, and we step out of the dressing room.
“Walk and talk?” I ask Syzari, and she nods hastily. I put a leash on Daina and bring her along as we head out into the hallway. “So where do I come into this?”
“We need outsiders, Your Majesty. I won’t beat around the bush. We need humans who are willing to come here, live here, marry here—build a life here. If we don’t have an influx of new workers from somewhere, eventually, the entire kingdom may collapse.”
I stare at her. That was a table full of information first thing in the morning.
“So you need my help to bring other humans here?”
She nods fervently. “I don’t know how you would manage it, but I’m here to support you in any way I can.”
It doesn’t sound like I have much of a choice if the kingdom is in that dire of straits.
“Incentives,” I say, and Syzari continues walking. “It requires a good incentive.”
A few hours later, Syzari and I are still lost in conversation, sitting in one of the bigger rooms where the former queen once held meetings.
Daina snoozes on the floor by my feet. We’ve come up with a list of possible incentives—giving away land for homesteading, offering gold to those who come, and sending dragons to the human kingdom as recruiters.
“Humans are intimidated by dragons,” I explain. “They would need your presence to become more commonplace, to learn for themselves that our peoples are very alike.”
Syzari nods and jots down a note. She’s about to say something else when the door opens.
“Syzari,” comes Vizarios’s voice, “I was looking over—”
He falls silent when he notices me sitting there, and his brows rise nearly to his horns. Ragnakor stands in the doorway behind him.
“Nissia?” Vizarios asks. “What are you doing here?” His tone of voice is so disbelieving that I can’t help but take offense.
I cross my arms. “Well, Syzari asked me for my help, so here I am.”
The king glances at his advisor for confirmation, and that annoys me even more.
“We’re discussing the labor shortage and approaches for rectifying it,” Syzari says. “The queen has much insight for me.”
His gaze slides back over to me, and it’s appraising. I don’t like that look of judgment.
“What?” I ask, bristling. “Am I just a queen in name, or do you want me to do something with it to help?”
Vizarios holds up both hands in a peaceful gesture.
“I am not upset. Just surprised that you would want to be involved.”
“If you sensed a lack of interest, it is only because you never gave me the opportunity,” I say, unable to hide the resentment.
He opens his mouth, eyes narrowed as if to argue with me, but then he pauses.
“Well then, I’m glad Syzari has given you the opportunity, and I hope that you two are successful in your plans.” He swallows like this was a hard sentence to utter. “But I still need to ask some questions about these permit requests before I can grant them.”
It’s about time I take Daina to go to the bathroom, anyway, so I wake her up and snap on her leash.
When I pass Vizarios on my way out, though, he holds up a hand and stops me.
I’m surprised when he steps closer, so his body is only inches from mine, and lowers his head so he can speak directly into my ear.
“Later,” he says quietly, “I would like to speak with you further.” A shudder runs down my arms at the intimacy in his voice. He glances over his shoulder at Ragnakor. “Will the two of you train again today?”
Ragnakor shrugs. “It is up to the queen.”
“N-no,” I say, flustered. “I need a rest day.”
“Hmm.” The low rumble of Vizarios’s voice sends that shudder traveling even further down, into my abdomen. “Good. Wait for me in your room after dinner?”
“Oh. All right.”
His hand brushes over the curve of my hip as he walks past me into the room to sit down across from Syzari.
I shake my head, trying to escape my daze. I exchange a look with Ragnakor on my way out, but he shrugs as if he has no idea either.
RAGNAKOR
Vizarios has something planned. I’m pleased to see him showing his new wife affection, but it makes me suspicious, too.
Dutifully, I wait outside the door while the king and Syzari work. I wonder what this all might have to do with what he dragged out of me last night—with my admission that I harbor feelings for Queen Nissia.
I’m still surprised he wasn’t angry with me. He has turned over a new leaf, and I thought that was because his need to mate again had grown too great and he had no other choice. But a dragon in the early throes of a bond is typically protective and jealous of their new relationship.
Then again, we both released our scent glands on one another when we last had sex. We claimed each other then, too.
What does it mean? I still don’t understand as Vizarios and Syzari wrap up for the night, having eaten dinner while working.
“You ought to get something for yourself,” Vizarios says to me as he emerges. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
I shake my head, because things like hunger never even register in my mind when I work. The king dismisses me, but before I can go, he places a hand on my shoulder.
“I was not just inviting Nissia,” he says in a low voice. “I want you there, too. Tonight.”
My tail curls at the tenor of his voice. All it takes is the suggestion and I’m thickening under my armor.
“But you are not courting me,” I say. “You are courting the queen.”
“I know. And you’re going to help me do it.” He waits until Syzari passes us and departs before he reaches up to brush a clawed finger over my cheekbone. “You’ll do that, won’t you?”
“Me?” I don’t know what I can possibly do to help him in this endeavor. “I suppose so...”
“Good. Now go.” He pushes me away, calling over a different guard to escort him back to his rooms. I stand there, mystified, as he heads off down the hall with a swish of his robe.
I find my way into the kitchen and eat some of the leftovers from dinner, but my stomach is responding to my uncertainty just as my groin is eager to find out what’s waiting tonight. Surely the king doesn’t think Nissia is going to welcome him into her bed.
I’m barely able to get down my meal before I head to his rooms, still dressed in my guard uniform.
Vizarios answers the door the moment I knock.
He’s wearing a white robe, cinched at the waist with a heavy black iron belt.
He looks good in it—strong and male, but still bearing a royal elegance.
He even has on a matching black necklace with his family’s crest.
“Let’s fetch the queen.”
I don’t ask questions as I follow him down the hall, but I have a growing sense of how I might be involved. The King’s tail drifts from side to side as he walks, accentuating his narrow hips. I picture him without the robe, his ass bare, lifting up his tail so I can—
We stop at Nissia’s door, and there, the king knocks. We wait only a few moments before it opens to reveal Zephala.
“Ah, the Queen is expecting you.” She turns and calls over her shoulder, “Your Majesty, he’s here.”
My cock was already awake, but when Nissia appears, it jumps to full attention. She’s dressed in a bright greenish blue that perfectly mimics the king’s scales, and gold hangs from her ears and throat. She looks almost... flustered, a nervous smile on her face.
This piques my interest even more. Is she, too, anticipating what he wants? This is a positive sign.
Zephala quickly extracts herself, disappearing into another room while we talk.
“You had said, my queen, that I was not to have any relations without you present,” Vizarios says.
Quite an opening. I wince as Nissia arches an eyebrow.
“Yes, I did say that.”
“Then, tonight, would you...” He leans down closer to her, letting his breath drift over her exposed neck. “Would you grace us with your presence?”
She glances from him to me, uncertainty clear on her face.
Ah, this is the part that the king wanted me to play.
What is he up to? Being intimate with me in front of the woman he’s trying to court...
I don’t see how that gets him what he wants, not at all.
But I also agreed to help him, and so of course, I will do my part if he thinks it will achieve his ends.
I step forward, so I’m now beside Vizarios, and bow my head.
“I would very much like your company,” I say. “In whatever way you see fit.”
Vizarios looks at me from the corner of his eye with an approving smirk.
The queen nods hesitantly. “All right, then.”
For a moment, I catch hurt on her face. I feel like an intruder, like I am taking something from her. I truly hope Vizarios knows what he’s doing by having me as a partner again in front of her.
Nissia calls to Zephala that she will return, and then we depart again for the king’s quarters. Once there, Vizarios holds open the door, then closes and locks it behind us.