Page 28 of In the Embrace of Dragons

Damn it. So where could they be?

I spin around on my heel and stomp off once more, unsureof 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 itwasn’ta 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 atme.

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.”