Princess of Dragons

Chapter 56

"So, Ciara, I heard a little bird tweet about you and the king having your own little tea-party the other day." Alex had a big, revealing grin on his face. "Would you care to elaborate on that?"

Chanti never had been good at keeping things secret.

"Yes, it is true." She couldn't help beaming herself. "I was so surprised when he suggested it." Still was, as it happened.

Alex smiled at her innocently happy expression. "Yeah? That is surprising for him," he agreed. "What did you do, then?"

"Well, we did not do much else than talk, really," she said, remembering the long talk they had. "I think we were talking in there for over an hour - that is what the maids tell me, anyway," she explained. Time had seemed to fly by so fast it hardly felt like even a fraction of that long. "Mostly, he just let me talk about dragons, but I managed to get him to tell me something about himself as well." While she'd had to twist his arm to get it out of him, it remained the truth.

Alex' eyes gleamed. "Like what?"

She looked up at him from the corner of her eye. "As if I would tell you something like that. It is a secret!"

"Oh, please," he said. "You can tell me; I promise I will not tell."

She couldn't help but to roll her eyes at the blatant lie. He would tell Elias and Chanti would somehow catch on - she always did. Though she trusted Elias to keep it tight, Chanti would have told all of Crocus within a week.

She shook her head pointedly enough for her hair to swing with the movement.

"Not a chance, Alex. Just forget it." She smiled, having fun dangling it in front of his nose.

Still, she couldn't forget just how pleasant it'd been to talk with Lodin - there was no reason for her to feel as nervous as she had. He was quite nice. She just hoped it wouldn't be too long until she got the chance to do it again. And then to learn more about him this time.

She heard a familiar, disdainful huff behind her. "This is no reason for you to feel special, girl."

Ciara sighed and turned to see a much less pleasant face.

Why did Victoria not just give up, already? This was starting to grow dull.

Victoria scoffed. "Just because he talked with you once changes nothing - he has done much more than talk to me." There was a triumphant look in her eyes. "Neither does it that you are still sleeping in his room like the little girl you are."

Speaking of sleeping in his chambers; Ciara could clearly remember having chosen to sleep on the sofa that night to spare him from it. He had done it for so long now, and she was small enough to actually fit, so if anyone, she should be the one sleeping over there every night. Still, when she had woken up the morning after, she'd been lying in the bed.

For a change, though, the other side had been vaguely warm, so Lodin must have slept there after all, fortunately. Had she sleepwalked? She couldn't remember being told she had ever done something like that, though.

Suddenly, a pair of fingers snapped right before her.

"Hey! Are you listening to me at all, girl?!"

Alex took a threatening step forward, hand resting on his sword pointedly. "Mistress Victoria, I suggest you calm-"

"I apologize, Victoria, it seems I zoned out for a moment." Ciara quickly cut Alex off before he could finish his sentence. It was about time she fought her own fights. "What did you say, again?"

Victoria clicked her tongue, glaring at the younger lady.

"Pathetic." she muttered just loud enough for them to hear. "You really are a not-"