Princess Ahira (33 page)

I couldn’
t hold back a snort. The King noticed my action and cocked his
head. Azmaveth’s paws stiffened. H
e must have heard me as well.

I didn’t care if he was hurt, it was a ridiculous claim. If Azmaveth had really cared so much about me he would have told me. He would have spilled his purple guts the moment he started feeling guilty. Instead Rose, Rose who didn’t even live with him like I did, had sniffed out his secret, and I had not.

A few tears spilled out of my eyes, hitting my cheeks like hot coals.

A shifting on the platform gained my attention, and I finally realized that one of the dragons sitting next to the King was Behemoth. The other was a large, black dragon that I had never seen before in my life.

“Fellow dragons,” Behemoth shouted over the whispers and hums. “You have heard Sir Azmaveth, a Duke of the Dragons, confirm with his own mouth the charges against him. What do you say?”

“Kill the girl!” Rose spat.
“She is the one who caused all of this.” 

“Ahira did nothing!” Azmaveth roared, twisting his neck to stare at the red scaled female. “She didn’t know about any of this. It was
you
who went through my lab, without my gainsay, when we were gone!”

“It’s a good thing I did,” Rose snarled in return.
“
Who knows how long
this little charade would have continued if I hadn’t!”

“My King,
let it be noted that
Rose obviously has
feelings of hatred for the girl. Not
beca
use Azmaveth broke the dragon code and turned into a human
, but because he
fell in love with the Princess,”
Behemoth sharply said
, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye.

I bowed my head to show my thankfulness towards him.

The King
twitched his tail. “Behemoth is right. Rose is too emotionally involved with this case, even if we ignore the fact that she’s been rallying to be Azmaveth’s betrothed for decades
.” 

Even in my cold fury, a part of me goggled at this news. Yet another thing I wasn’t aware of. Perhaps I really wasn’t a big part of Azmaveth’
s life
like I had thought.
I considered Azmaveth’s love confession with a great deal of disbelief and scorn. I didn’t know what Azmaveth was trying to accomplish, but he was very obviously
not
in love with me.

“If Azmaveth
is guilty then I am as well,” an icy voice announced.

I winced.
Oh please oh please
no! Facing public humilia
tion due to Azmaveth was enough.
I didn’t want
Zerah
ratting about their little jokes as well!

“
Wait, two of my d
ukes
broke a sacred law for
one
human girl?” the king demanded, completely incredulous.

“Azmaveth left out one part, as usual,” Zerah said, strolling up to stand next to Azmaveth in his usual, elegant glory. “He might have wanted to spare me, but it is my burden to bear as well. Rose, the inglorious rat, didn’t bother to discover that
I
too had taken on a human identity as well.”

I twisted to stare at Zerah who was gazing back. His face was emotionless as ever, but affection warmed his
grey
eyes.

He broke the eye contact when Azmaveth nearly bashed his skull in. “What are you doing?” Azmaveth hissed.

Zerah ruffled his wings and ignored Azmaveth. “Of course I introduced myself to Ahira as well. It was interesting and daring to talk to her as a human. I tried to befriend her and
ingratiate my human self with her
. As you can obviously see, I am guilty as well.”

There wa
s a stunned silence in the cave. N
o one
had ever
expected Zerah, hater of humans, to become one and admit to being friends with me. 

I considered Zerah’s speech. I wasn’t boiling mad at him. His betrayal did not sting nearly as bad as Azmaveth’s. Zerah and I had not lived together, and I had only known Levi for a short while. Zerah had not carried on with such an elaborate scheme like Azmaveth had.

The black dragon sitting on the King’s other side spoke up, staring at me with glowing, red eyes. “My King,” he hissed. “I find myself more sympathetic to Lady Rose’s argument. Tempting Azmaveth is one thing, but Zerah is an entirely different matter. If she ca
n change the mind of Lord Zerah
it is quite possible she may be some kind of enchantress. If we let her walk free who knows what she’ll do?”

Amaveth’s betrayal may have robbed me of my voice, but I found it again as I entered a staring match with this black dragon. “Excuse me?” I asked, leaning back on one heel. “I, as everyone here must know, am a princess. I come from a human country. It was you
dragons
who ripped me from my home, and you have the audacity to act as though this is all
my
fault?” I asked, cold anger building in my voice. “I have been lied
to
, made into a test subject, mocked, and public
ly
humiliated!
None of you want to admit that your stupid, precious dukes might have made a mistake so you’re going to make
me
the scapegoat? You know what? I don’t care about your
asinine
politics. I don’t
care
if Zerah hates humans or not, I don’t
care
if Rose has the hotts for Azmaveth, I don’t
care
if these dukes broke your stupid code, I don’t
care
if you win your dumb war against those stupid valkyrie!” I shouted, venting my anger.

As quickly as the inspiration came to speak, it left me.

I swallowed and shut my eyes, hoping I didn’t just get myself killed.

There was silence.

“I may believe her,” the king said.

My eyes snapped open.

He was watching me with a thoughtful frown. “At the very least she is brave. Perhaps foolishly so, but brave all the same.”

I raised my hand to run it through my hair,
relieved
for the moment. The charm bracelet on my wrist fell down my arm, the charms clicking as they hit each other.

The King
’s face was suddenly mere feet away from me. “What do you have?” h
e asked
, his voice dangerously quiet.

“N-n-nothing!”
I squeaked.

“Ask Azmaveth, my King,” Rose snarled from her seat. “
Ask him why that miserable maggot
wizard was after her and
tried
to kill her this afternoon,” s
he hissed.

The King turned to Azmaveth
and waited for an explanation. “She has the Guardian Charms,” Azmaveth admitted.

“
Are you a complete imbecile?” the King roared.
“You
GAVE
her
one of our greatest national treasures
?” 

“Like you’re one to talk! You told me it was the Gaffer Charms of Gentlery! I gave it to her before I was p
roperly able to identify it because of
your
false advertising,” Azmaveth
snarled, shaking his long head.

“Silence!” the black dragon hissed. “You will address our King with proper respect!”

“It’s a family feud, Blackie. Keep out of it!” Azmaveth
snorted
.

The King rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, Blacksford. Azmaveth is not entirely wrong in his accusation. This, however, does change matters. Before I withdraw to consider the case are there any other comments?”

“Let it also be known that the Keeper is smitten with her,” Shammah said, avoiding looking in my direction. “He doesn’t love her, but he is incredibly fond of her. That fondness might possibly outweigh his loyalty towards us.”

“That is beyond dangerous,” the black dragon, Blacksford, hissed. “
He is only the first of a long line of creatures that will turn a
gainst us if we let her live.”

I was surprised when another voice jumped to my defense. “May I point out,” a
d
ainty, white, female
dragon
started.
“She is a mortal.
It’s not like she will remain here long, she has perha
ps 50 years left to live, max. Plus it seems to me that she doesn’t really seem to be very excited about Azmaveth’s deception.”

I was so grateful to this white dragon I could have kissed her. That Blacksford seemed
bent
on getting me killed.

“It is so,” the King said before turning around and leaving, Behemoth and Blacksford trailing after him.

My life was in the claws of the Dragon King, and I wasn’t sure
how I felt about that.

Ardeo Again

The second the King disappeared the dragons started to murmur to each other. Azmaveth, who still had his paws placed on either side of me, whispered. “Ahira.”

I stonily ignored him.

“Ahira, I’m sorry, we’re sorry,” A
z
maveth
said as he and Zerah drew close
r
to me. He moved so he
could see my face, and he star
ed at me with his beautiful, deceptive eyes.

“Please leave me alone,” I politely said through gritted teeth.

Azmaveth recoiled, as though I had hit him. My politeness was a stone wall thrown between us.

“Ahira… I—.”

“Please,” I stiffly repeated.

Azmaveth looked hurt.

He expected me to throw a temper tantrum, to sob and collapse in a miserable heap. Instead I managed to keep myself standing, my chin held high as I stared straight through him as if he were a wisp of fog.

I was a princess.

I was royalty.

I would hold myself together until I heard my sentence. Even as my legs buckled and tears threatened to burn at my eyes, I stared forward with a dignity that would have surprised and delighted my mother.

It seemed like hours before the King returned, but
really
it was only a few short minutes.

Behemoth looked absolutely worse for the wear. His scales were dull and his ears were pinned back. But when he met Azmaveth gaze he nodded and smiled in a reassuring matter.
(I suspect he had earned a scolding for knowing about “Kohath” and not telling the King.)

Blacksford was not so content. He looked furious and had a hard time looking anything but murderous. Rose picked up on his anger and started to grow irate as well.

“I have made my decision,” t
he King announced as the dragons hummed with apprehension.

I held my breath and
waited. 

“The p
rincess shall be return
ed to her homeland, uninjured.
Azmaveth will not be punished, however
,
he will not be
allowed to see the girl again. Let us put this predicament behind us. It is only foolishness. May this be a lesson unto all.
Lord Zerah is to take the mo
rtal back to her home,
”
the king dec
reed before unfolding his beautiful wings. He made a quick and determined exit out of the cave, ending the trial.

My
knees crumpled up underneath me in relief.
I sat down on the cave floor and tried to take steady breaths.

Azmaveth passed through the corner of my vision. Behemoth was escorting him out of the cave. He watched me as they walked past, but I unflinchingly ignored his gaze.

Zerah slowly approached me. He bowed his head once before scooping me up in his claws. His sadness was apparent in his dulling scales.

Without excha
nging any words we flew out of Tsol and to
Ardeo
.
Zerah
thoughtfully flew lower tha
n when I had first come
to Tsol
, making it
much easier for me to breathe.

The flight gave me an hour or so to think. I still wasn’t completely sure how I felt. Azmaveth
’s
betrayal had hurt me deeply. All of this time I t
hought we were friends,
comrades, when really I was just some silly science experiment.

I should have known better.

Zerah’s deception hurt less, and perhaps even made some sense to me. Zerah hated humans, but he had always been curious about our ways. His observation from a human form made sense.

Not Azmaveth’s. Azmaveth didn’t have a single good reason after our initial meeting as Ahira and Kohath.