The Dragon Queen

Chapter 19

Baroness Makena Rikon of Rivergarde, Morith

Rivergarde, Morith

It is quiet, too quiet. Makena's finger taps nervously on her thigh as she waits for any sort of response. At their request, her parents and Makena went to the study and sat down for a chat. She knew it could not be avoided, but right now she wishes she had insisted Lucius join her. She imagines he is standing outside the door waiting for her. "You are Matylda's daughter." Makena nods. "So, biologically, you are my niece." Makena had heard the rumors of Matylda being Serena's sister, and now she knows for sure. Again, she nods.

"But you are also King Wesley's daughter," Derrick states differently. She knew he would upon learning who her biological father was. They knew she had a mother once, but her father was a mystery she never wanted to solve before, or so they thought. Derrick was content with being her only father. Now, he has to share.

"Yes," Makena answers hesitantly, though it wasn't a question. She takes a deep breath and intertwines her fingers on her lap, wishing she had Lucius' hand to hold again. Then she remembers the pendant and unnoticeably starts to fiddle with it.

"But this has been where you were the last year." Serena inquires with her face scrunched together. "You were with Wesley and Matylda?"

"Yes...and no." Makena knows she is walking on thin ice and debates the best course of storytelling. "I didn't know any of that until a little over a week ago. Wesley wanted to meet me, but at the time I didn't know what he wanted. I thought that being the heir of Rivergarde, there was something he wanted. So, I stayed with a community of people until he could meet me." She glosses over the fact that she couldn't leave. "That is where I met Lucius and his sister Lilith. They are the people in charge out there and they made sure I had what I needed."

"Why didn't you write to us and tell us all of that?" Serena is becoming more enraged, and Makena can't blame her. "We thought you were in trouble, kidnapped even, or worse."

"I know," Makena answers with an apologetic whimper. "I didn't handle things the way I should have, but I can't go back and change the past." Makena looks down at the pendant between her fingers. "I don't think I would want to anyway." Changing the past, even for the sake of letting her family know she was safe, would mean she wouldn't have known Lucius. Her family would have dragged her back to Rivergarde kicking and screaming. "I'm sorry I wanted to leave and see the realm. I wanted adventure and I guess I didn't realize that I already had the best one here, when I met you both and brought me home. I look back on how selfish and childish I was when I left. I assure you, I am not that person anymore."

"I can see that," Derrick answers with a loving smile while taking his wife's hand, hoping to calm her anger. "You are so grown up now. You are no longer the heir of Rivergarde. You are the Baroness of Rivergarde." Makena sits a little taller with a weak smile. The pendant is held tightly in her palm. "But that isn't all. I know King Wesley, and you being his daughter, makes you his heir princess."

Makena looks away from them and hearing a muffled question from her mother. "Unofficially, I guess I am, but I am not going to be." She looks down at the pendant, feeling a strange strength come from it, but also wishing she had Lucius.

"And why not?" Derrick's voice is firm in a business sort of way, rather than parental.

She looks back at her father to see him looking at her in such a way that he never has. "I can't be an heir princess, or a queen, with all that responsibility and decision-making. That isn't me."

"But it is you." Her mother chimes and Makena glances at her to see the anger has vanished from her face. In its place is one of hope and peace. "Maybe not the old you, but this new person you have become. You have been back mere hours and I can see it."