The Escape from Serrok (The Kingdom of Dragons Book 4)

I - The Aftermath

Rhenor was incredibly tense. He couldn't relax even a little, no matter what he did. He realized they couldn't just march back into the city since the guards were still looking for them, but he couldn't just wait around for the situation to calm down.

Kaz had been captured. That much was clear based on what they'd heard from the few people they'd talked to who'd seen the guards drag the man—no, the dragon—away somewhere. Which meant that they at least hadn't killed him yet, but that didn't mean that Kaz wasn't currently undergoing some awful interrogation.

And they didn't know where the guards had taken Kaz either. Apparently, they hadn't headed to the local dungeons, which if anything was more concerning. At least Elaya knew where those dungeons were. But with Kaz being a dragon, it would make sense for him to be brought somewhere else. What even happened to rebellious dragons?

Rhenor glared into the campfire that he and Elaya had put together to dry off. He was dry now, but he hadn't had a reason to move since they couldn't go gather information on how to save Kaz. So all he was left with were his thoughts, which were making him more than a little resentful.

"Why didn't he tell me?" he wondered out loud, mostly to himself, though he knew Elaya would hear him. The forest next to which they had decided to camp out for the night was silent and serene, so they hardly had to speak loudly to hear each other.

"He probably thought you'd reject him," Elaya answered. As if he didn't already know that. She hadn't said much over the last few hours and mostly just looked sad and thoughtful. She was no doubt already trying to figure out how to get Kaz out of the mess they had put him in.

"I wouldn't have rejected him." Rhenor wasn't sure if that was a lie or not. He honestly had no idea how he'd react. He might have accused Kaz of deceiving him and assume that Kaz had lied all this time to.... No, that wasn't making much sense, was it? What could have Kaz possibly thought to gain from not telling Rhenor the truth? "This is what you meant by me not knowing the half of it, didn't you?"

Elaya sighed, not adding anything. She didn't need to.

"So, the way he acted back on that ship, is that how he usually is, or—?"

Elaya laughed, though it didn't sound happy in the slightest. "I didn't even know he was capable of pretending to be like that for that long. He did get a bit lordly sometimes when he had to be, but he always talked about how much he hated it."

Rhenor mulled those words over. He desperately wanted to believe that the man he'd gotten to know over those few weeks was the real Kaz, and it all hadn't been some act to help him get to Sigallah. Though, when Rhen thought about that, it didn't make sense either because originally, Kaz had just wanted his help in saving Arlow. There had been nothing about traveling mentioned or talked about prior to Arlow's destruction, so clearly that hadn't been Kaz's plan.

And Rhenor highly doubted that anyone was this good of an actor, especially since Rhenor wasn't important. There would be very little to gain from manipulating him. And why would Kaz even need his help, to begin with? Even if he wanted to stay hidden due to his banishment, he could easily live as a dragon in the Crystal Mountains, unnoticed and left alone. And if he got lonely, since Kaz was one to socialize, he could simply transform back into his human-looking form and do just that. Perhaps visit the neighboring villages and make friends with the locals.

But no matter how much Rhenor wanted to trust Kaz, wanted to believe that he'd only lied about what he was, the fact that Kaz was a dragon—something Rhen absolutely hated—was still incredibly tough to swallow.

"Not all dragons are monsters," said Elaya, as if reading his mind. "A lot of them are decent, even. But they also like their lives as they are. They fear change."