Dragon Kin 2

14

Liam

"Liam, could you sit with me for a moment?" the king asked as he sat at a nearby table set in a study area, with three bottles of wine, and two pears.

"Yes, sire," I said, taking the chair opposite the cushioned bench on the other side.

"I didn't think you would want to be far away while she's doing this bit." After glancing in the room's direction he said, "We're not so far away, and I know something about being young and in over your head."

"What's that sire?"

"When you make a decision like the one she just made, and you have the audience she has, you're damn sure of yourself, or the fear would crumble you," he said.

"Ah," I said, and sat after he did. I had now spoke more words to the king than all years prior combined. Most of the ceremo

"I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm sure you will," he said, and then smiled.

"You're twenty now, yes?"

"Yes sire," I answered.

"What do you think of her? Carmen, the doctor?" he asked.

How was I to know if she were a good doctor or not? "I think that she's competent, intelligent and out of her mind for doing that in there," I told him, and then snapped my mouth shut. I was more tired than I believed. After cracking my neck, I flared my rage to sharpen my thoughts. One didn't speak to his king that way.

"It's alright, speak freely. You and Vlad have earned that right from me. And couple of others," he said. "In case I get too busy too quick. I want to you know that I'm in your debt for bringing the doctor."

"She wasn't raised as one of us." This was more or less a reminder that she might not be an enemy but that didn't make her friendly. "We know little about her, really. One and a half days is hardly time for trust."

"Good to keep your ears open," he agreed. "Do you know who her family is?"

I shook my head, "No, I never heard. Nor did anyone ask."

"What would you think about her if told you her grandfather was the one who put that bullet into Alicja's shoulder?"

"Into the Mistress' ..."

"Yes, the very one."

My mind went blank, "Do you think you might say something like that anytime soon?" My question was an obvious diversion but King Victor wasn't in the mood.

"I might, yes," he said, without missing a beat.

I tried. Then tried again, then lifted my hands. "Nothing sire, I got nothing I can't even fake something."

The king poured a half glass of wine for both of us. I bowed my head in thanks, and then took it down in a gulp. He sat back in the chair not touching his.

"Was she here when...?" I asked. When the Mistress was shot?

"Yes," the King said, his voice strong but quiet. His dark hair, thick and loose locks forming a hook across his brow helped to put his eyes in deep shadow. The room felt dimmer for a moment, and then the moment passed.

"But not complicit. She had no foreknowledge. She was told very little about us as she grew up."

"That's something, I guess," I murmured, still trying to get my brain moving again.

"That's what exactly?"

I glanced at his eyes and found he wasn't being rhetorical.

"Well sire, I feel that if she didn't have foreknowledge, as you say, she was not complicit. And, as she said herself to the Commander, if she wanted the Mistress to die, all she had to do was, nothing. Through extrapolation, I understood she'd already told the Commander or he already knew about her grandfather. Which in turn meant she didn't try to justify herself or defend her grandfather because the Commander wouldn't have brought her here if she had — or would've brought her in chains."