Dragons Rising: My Mistake Changed My Kingdom {Book One}

Chapter Seventeen: A Scale of the SeaWing King . .

    I swam to the bedroom of my parents, waving to the guards. One of them flashed at me in Aquatic: What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in your room with your brother? Of course, not everyone knew that I could speak Aquatic, but these specific guards, Seashore and Brine, I remembered, knew about it. I nodded and told them that I wanted to say goodnight.
    Seashore turned back to face the other way, but Brine stayed suspicious. He watched me go into their room, swimming carefully.
    I have to remember to hide the scale, I thought. Who knows what will happen if Brine or Seashore sees me holding that.
    As I made it to my father's tail, I realized that the queen wasn't there. I hesitated, but quickly swam over to my father and tapped him on the shoulder.
    Father? Can you wake up? Do you know where mother is? I flashed nervously and brightly. My father groaned, muffled by the water, but he nodded nonetheless.
    She's getting some extra dinner. She'll be back soon.
    Oh, okay. Well, I came here to say goodnight. So tell her goodnight for me, okay?
    Okay. Goodnight, Orca.
    'Night.
    I crept over to my father's tail, waiting a little while until I heard his breathing deepen. Carefully, I reached to the end of his tail, and reached my claw toward it. Just a little closer, I reassured myself. Just. A little. Closer. I brushed against his tail scale, and, with a final tug, it came lose. I tumbled backward, and hid the scale. But father was in too deep a sleep to notice.
    Great. That's great! He didn't wake up! I thought excitedly. I swam to the door and waved to Brine and Seashore. Seashore waved happily back, whilst Brine looked for anything that would get me trouble.
    He's just as bad as his sister. What was her name? Moray? Three moons they both hate me. I think they'd hate any heir. 'Oh, Queen Coral's so nice! No one should challenge her for the throne - '
    Wait a minute . . . challenge. I have to challenge mother for the throne. I'm the only one . . . YES!
    I can lead my tribe out of this horrible war, and I can get everyone whatever they need all the time! I'd be the best queen the SeaWing tribe has ever seen!
    I realized I had paused, and quickly continued down the hallway of the palace toward my room that I shared with Humpback. However, no sooner than I had reached my room, my brain came up with a counter argument.
    Wait, am I too young to be thinking about this? I mean, really. Come on, Orca! You're literally, what, nine days old? There's no way you can take the throne. Don't even think about it. Okay? Enjoy your time with mother. At least wait a few years. Wait seven years, okay? Maybe then you can challenge mother.
    Just then, Humpback peaked over his part of the room to me. Hey, sis! He flashed. He lowered his brightness just a bit when he spoke next. Did you get it?
    Yeah. I have it right here. What's next?
    Let's do it tomorrow, okay? Right now I'm tired. Let's go to sleep. 'Night.
    Goodnight.
    I curled up into a tight ball, and although my mind was still racing about challenging my mother for the throne, I drifted off to sleep.

    Okay, quickly: Here's how my sister and I say goodnight to each other.
    Sister: Goodnight.
    Me: 'Night.