Prince of Dragons

Chapter Nineteen

I admit, after that whole ordeal last night, with that freaky snake, I had a hard time falling back to sleep. I think it took me about two hours to finally calm down enough to fall into that dream filled world...but of course, leave it to Alaban to be an early riser. I felt like I had only been asleep for maybe thirty minutes, when I felt Alaban gently shaking my shoulder, pulling me back to reality.

I groaned and rubbed at my eyes, hating the way my body protested as I slowly sat up, unsure of what time it even was. Groggy, I ran my fingers through my hair and tossed my blanket half-hazardly into my bag before I left the tent altogether.

When I saw that we were up before the sun, I groaned and peeked over to Alaban, who looked wide awake as he cleared out his side of the tent. "Good morning, your highness," he spoke, seemingly amused by my messy hair and overall tiredness. "Did you not get much sleep?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, and I frankly found that it was too much effort to speak at the moment, so I merely groaned in annoyance and made a move to take down the tent.

Now, seeing as I had, at most, thirty minutes of sleep...the tent was most definitely giving me problems. I already had a hard time putting it up yesterday, which meant, of course, I was having an even worse time trying to take it down, with droopy eyes.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of me struggling, I gave up and plopped down where Alaban had started a fire—the other man glancing at me with an amused shake of his head before he gestured to what he was currently roasting. "Breakfast should be done in a couple of minutes, if you're hungry."

I sighed and nodded, leaning my head on my hand as I stared absentmindedly at those burning, twisting flames, silently wondering why we were up so damn early. Like, couldn't he have waited until the sun was up to wake me? I mean come on, I wasn't that much of a morning person, let alone a "wake before the sun is even up", kind of person. I usually woke up when the sun had already been in the sky for a couple of hours. So, this was torture.

I peeked towards Alaban as he turned the meat he was cooking for us.

He was wide awake, and I wondered how he could be so alright with waking up so early. Like I didn't get it. Then again, my brother Drake was the same way. He was usually already up for hours by the time I finally left my room. I just didn't get it.

"So, I figured we could start early today, to get a head start on our journey. Cover a bit more ground, if you will. I assure you, we won't be waking up this early every morning."

"Thank the gods for that," I muttered, rubbing at my eyes once again. "So, where exactly are we heading? I don't think you ever told me the specifics."

Alaban pulled the meat from the fire, and got to expertly cutting it up into slices for the both of us. His amber eyes were swimming with concentration, but he still spoke. "The map I managed to grab from Alton's study shows a strange settlement to the far north-eastern side of the continent. It would make sense for my people to go there, since there are theories over that area being particularly rich with magical energy. The downfall, however, is not knowing for sure if they were smart enough to travel there after the attack. I hope Evander was smart enough to realize that would be a safe place for them."

My brows furrowed. "Evander? Who is that? A lover?"

Alaban snorted and shook his head. "Heavens no. Evander is a friend, and the leader of our people. Not quite a prince, or king, or whatever. But he's the one that makes the decisions for us. He's the successor to his father before him. So, I'm hoping he took everyone up there. But then again, why would Alton know where they would go?"

"Yeah, that's unusual. Are you sure this Evander isn't, I don't know, working with the bastard?"

Alaban frowned, not looking convinced in the least. "He would not do that to us. He cares deeply about our people and would never put us in a position that could harm us. There's got to be something else at play. Alton does have many eyes and ears around the place—although I cannot fathom why anyone would work for someone so..." he grimaced and handed me some of the cooked meat. "I just don't see Evander doing something so treacherous to his own family."

I shrugged and nibbled on the given food. "I wouldn't have too much faith in one person. People have all kinds of reasons for doing what they do, and we don't know for sure if he's colluding with Alton for some kind of selfish reason. Does he have family? A lover? Children? For all we know, Alton threatened them if he didn't reveal their location."

Alaban huffed. "You wouldn't understand the way we are. Black dragons are as common as the stars. You have no idea what it's like to only have a small handful of people who are like you and understand you. Our family is one another. Every single one of us protects each other. Evander included."

I could tell that he was done with the conversation, and deep down I wondered if there were...feelings involved with this Evander guy. Otherwise, why else would he be so adamant in defending him? He claimed Evander to only be a friend...but I don't know, the way he defended him made me wonder if he felt something more than just friendship with the guy.

And despite myself, in the corner of my mind, I felt the slightest twinge of disappointment—why, I couldn't really tell you. But it was there, and noticeable enough for me to keep my mouth shut and eat.

"So, ah...do you have someone waiting for you? A lover? Children? Family?"

Alaban peered at me with those eyes like melted pools of gold, a small frown on his face as he returned his gaze to his food. "No. I've no lover, nor any children. I do have a sister, however. Younger than me. Never has been on her own."

I frowned and furrowed my brows. "What about your parents?"

Alaban sighed and shook his head. "They died when we were young. Some mishap with a spell they cast." He nibbled at his bottom lip, and I felt guilt crawling up my spine at bringing up painful memories.

"I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to remind you of anything painful."

Alaban shrugged and stood up—wiping his hands on his knees. "No need to worry. It happened many years ago, so I'm not as affected by it now. I understand what happened and accepted it. I...I just want to make sure Aerilyn is alright and that she wasn't..." he cleared his throat, "I just want to make sure she's alive."

I nodded in understanding and stood up as well, nibbling at my bottom lip. "I know it's not much...but, if she's as strong-willed as you, I'm sure she's ok."

Alaban stared at me for a moment, and if his skin wasn't so dark, I would be able to tell if he was blushing or not. But alas, a small smile formed on his lips and he looked away from me. "I appreciate your faith in her wellbeing." He shook his head—smile still on his face—and turned back towards me, gesturing towards the tent. "You should let me get this put up, since you seem to have so much trouble with it."

I pursed my lips and pouted, crossing my arms over my chest. "Hey, it's not my fault that merchant didn't include any instructions. Like come on."

Alaban's laugh echoed around the forest, and I couldn't help but smile as I moved to help him—ready for day two of traveling.

A/N: Just some lighthearted conversation between our precious boysssss. And ooooh, we learn a little bit about Alaban and his younger sisterrrrrrr, huhuhu.

Anywhoooo, hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Lemme know what you think! I love feedback!