Princess of Dragons

Chapter 31

Ciara carefully knocked on the door in front of her, unsure of what she was supposed to do.

Quickly, a voice sounded from the other side.

"Yes?"

She took a short moment to brace herself.

"It is Ciara, your majesty. You summoned me?" she asked the door in front of her.

"Come in," was the curt reply to that, and so, she slowly pushed the door to the king's office open.

She found the king sitting behind his desk, not even looking up at her as she stepped in. She was immediately acutely aware of Sergon's lack of presence.

"Take a seat." He didn't even look up as he spoke.

Her nerves peaked as she slowly did so. She could feel herself bracing for a scolding she was growing increasingly certain that she'd get. Even if she wasn't sure what she could've possibly done.

Maybe Kaisog had gotten himself into trouble? She wouldn't put it past the drake.

Suddenly, a snort sounded from the man.

"At ease, princess. You have done nothing wrong this time."

Her eyes fluttered from the king, who had yet to explain himself, to Narza, who she had seen as little as she had the king recently. None of them made a move to say anything though.

And, just like that, her own patience wore thin.

She cleared her throat awkwardly. "Uhm... If you do not mind my asking, your majesty, why have I been summoned here?"

And finally, his steely eyes met hers as he pushed his work aside.

"I was wondering when you would ask," he said as though this had been a fun, little game to him.

Well, what else was new with this man?

Still, despite saying as much, he passed the word to Narza with a swipe of his hand. Instead, he leaned back comfortably in his seat, arms crossed.

"It has come to our attention that many of our own people do not believe in the union of our kingdoms," the advisor spoke, wasting no time. "Not to mention the West."

Even she could easily figure out how bad that was. It was the only reason she was here in the first place

"So, what do we do?" she asked, already ready to agree to anything they'd suggest. Anything to prevent war.

"We are hosting a ball," the king declared, awaiting her reaction with a smirk.

"A ball?"

"Indeed," Narza confirmed, swiftly elaborating. "The reason for this will be to make our kingdoms' union official to the nobles of our own kingdom. Dissuade their doubts."

She nodded slowly, starting to understand. Once the nobles knew, it'd spread to the common populace and spread further through them. It was an interesting way to announce it. She'd kind of wanted to attend one for quite a while now as well.

"Of course, we also expect this to reach the West one way or another." The king uncrossed his arms and instead rested them on the desk in front of him. "Either through common speech or through the spies they will no doubt send our way. That is part of the reason we are making such a spectacle of it."

She frowned. "Is that really okay?"

"You do not need to worry, princess. Spies are nothing like assassins - they are only here to gather information, so they will not be attempting anything. That would be incredibly counter-productive." He easily read her worries. "Besides, we want them here, so we will not be doing anything either, even if we discover who they are. As such, they should not feel the need to draw their weapons," he confidently said. Like he'd done this a thousand times before.