Page 48 of In the Embrace of Dragons

I do not love the idea of learning to hunt—it has never been my area of interest—but the queen’s reaction is pure radiance.

“Would you do that?” she asks me. “Learn to spear throw?”

“I will watch you do it.”

She searches my face, and after a moment, seems satisfied. “All right. Good enough for me. I don’t have much time to learn before it’s winter, so we’d better get started soon.” She reaches out and pats my leg, which sends a sizzle of fire up my scales. “And then you can decorate with the antlers.”

I think this is supposed to be a peace offering, so I accept. “I’ll put them above the mantelpiece,” I say, and she laughs.

It is the first time I have ever made her laugh, and it is a lovely sound.

Chapter Eighteen

NISSIA

Our horseback ride is... surprisingly pleasant. I can tell that Vizarios is truly trying to make conversation with me, asking the occasional question about my homeland and my life back in my father’s kingdom—when I started sword fighting, how I learned to ride. My brother had no interest in such things, and it was my mother who taught me my way around a horse. I picked up swordplay when I was old enough to blend in as a young man and learned to hunt from the other soldiers.

We finally reach the edge of the city, where we pass through a guarded gate to go beyond the stone walls. More ancient stone homes are built into the mountainside, surrounded by evergreen forest. I must admit that Selvumrrest is a beautiful place, if much colder than my homeland. I draw my cloak closer around me as the afternoon sun is blocked out by the tree branches.

“Do you... miss home?”

I glance at Vizarios, surprised by the timidness of the question. He looks strangely unsettled, almost guilty.

“Every day.”

He fully turns his head to look at me. “Every day?”

“My handmaid, Ari, was supposed to come with me, but something came up and she had to stay behind. We grew up together. She’s my best friend, and I miss her the most out of anything.” Even more than my brother or father, who haven’t even bothered to write to me since I left.

The king doesn’t speak right away, seeming contemplative as the trees grow denser around us, the scent of fresh pine everywhere.

“I didn’t expect you to saysomeone,” he says. “I think that I have had an image of you for some time that is not accurate to who you are.”

I cock my head, curious what he means by this, but he doesn’t elaborate.

“I think we all do that,” I say after a while. “I mean, judge people before we get to know them. It’s a shortcut to make thinking about other things easier. Especially when you’ve been hurt.”

I am toeing the edge of what I think Vizarios might be willing to talk about. I remember how Syzari told me that his mother died, and he hasn’t been the same since. I still wonder if this might bridge the gap between us.

He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know what you mean,” he says, tone guarded.

I sigh and turn back to the road. I should have known it was too soon to try to pry open that oyster.

“My mom died on my twenty-second birthday,” I say instead. “Do you remember the fever that passed through our kingdom?”

He nods somberly. “I do. Many died, or so we heard.”

“That’s what killed her. She was everything to me. She wastrying to prepare me for this, for marrying you and becoming queen. When the fever took her, I feel like that’s when I lost hope for the future.”

Vizarios finally turns to me, his brows raised. “You don’t seem like the kind of person who has lost hope.”

“Sometimes it helps. If you don’t have any hopes, nothing can disappoint you.”

Behind us, I hear Ragnakor urge his horse back onto the road, a reminder that he and Quillion can hear everything we’re saying.

“Has Selvumrrest been a disappointment?” Vizarios asks. I can’t decide if he’s trying to goad me into an argument or not.

“I had no expectations. How can you be disappointed if you were expecting nothing?”