The Serpent's Chains

Chapter 20: Duty Fulfilled

Sabine

My gilded sandals captured torchlight in the long corridor making them glitter. Prince Cole was several paces ahead of me, his private guards with their marked armor walked in front of him and behind us.

I glanced at the back of his head and wondered if he even needed protection with a dragon that could swat five intruders like flies.

My eyes dropped back to my shoes.

We took the familiar route to the throne room where King Talis had summoned the prince. His guards came to a standstill outside the double throne room doors. The dragon carvings on the door towered high and stared at me with judgmental eyes.

I dropped my eyes to my shoes again.

"Announcing Prince Cole," A voice boomed over the creaking of the throne room doors.

I heard the prince's heavy sigh and from my peripheral, I saw him straighten up. He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. I never saw him wear that sword unless he was meeting with the king, not even when he just got back from battle.

My eyes traced the dark veins in the white marble floor as I followed Cole to the center of the throne room. When he stopped walking, I grabbed my skirts and dropped to the floor in a low curtsey.

"Father," the prince said shortly.

I stood and brushed off my dress. Keeping my head low, I took a couple of steps back.

Once the prince and the king began speaking, I darted my eyes around the room. The great golden dragon, Amonette, curled around the throne. Her molten eyes fixed on the prince. Each of her breaths sent a shudder through the room and her scales groaned with the movement.

"I looked over your reports on the confrontation with Stivalia. It sounds to me like they won't stop until they start a war. Perhaps we should think of a preemptive strike," the king said, his deep voice wrapped around me like thick, heavy smoke.

I noticed a slight dip in Prince Cole's shoulders as he relaxed minutely.

"As your military adviser, I have to caution you against it. We know very little about Stivalia's forces and power."

"You said it yourself; they underestimate the strength of the dragons. Would it not be easy to catch them off guard?"

Prince Cole cleared his throat. "If Talon and I weren't the only ones on the battlefields, then perhaps we'd be having a different conversation."

His voice sounded tired, haggard. I couldn't help but glance at the back of his head. For a man who enjoyed fighting as much as he did, I didn't expect to hear him advise the king against war.

"Then we should act now before they find out that Talon is their one great threat," the king offered.

Prince Cole shook his head. "Father... a war with Stivalia would devastate both countries. If you would allow me to speak with King Verill, I could assure him that we didn't curse his family or assassinate his heir."

The conversation went down a path I didn't understand. It wasn't my place to know about the politics between two kingdoms or royal families, but I heard a lot standing in the background.

Servants entered through a side door. Amonette stood and shook herself from head to tail. All the servants stopped dead and uttered horrified gasps.

I suppressed an eye roll.

The dragon moved to the opposite end of the throne room and curled up in a large beam of sun streaming in through a stained-glass window. The colored light made her scales glow red and green instead of plain gold.