Dragon Blossom

Quite Annoying parents

Frey was training in the castle courtyard with a heavy practice broadsword. His eye still hurt. Jimmer had made his feelings very clear about the secrecy with which they had handled all matters related to dragons. Three elven soldiers were injured and much of the upper sector of the city was destroyed, as well as part of the castle's facade. And Jimmer blamed him for not telling him that Lady Meracina was a dragon, nor about his suspicions about the cardinal of Atyr. In the end, the man with the markings turned out to be the real cardinal, his name was Celhyun. King Alistor and Runa had had several meetings with him and the dignitaries of Pellegrin, while he had decided to stay out of it, lest he make more mistakes. As he understood it, they had revealed the nature of the dragons to them. Jimmer had found and interrogated the dragon woman before their argument. Thank the Goddess her devotion to Eri had prevented her from turning against them.

There would be another meeting in the afternoon. Runa would be getting ready...

Runaesthera was having a terrible hair day, a horrendous dress day, and an overall awful day. She was furious with her husband. Wasting the little time they had left together on stupid fights because she couldn't make him understand that what had happened wasn't his fault. He insisted on missing state meetings and talked about resigning his rank as high general. That friend of his, Jimmer, hadn't helped, forcing him to reveal everything they knew about dragons. No matter how right he was, it wasn't fair. It was she who had insisted on lying about Meracina, they hadn't even told her father until shortly before the incident. Frey had actually hated the idea until he considered the danger to Eri and her teacher. Among his own generals, there were many who saw all dragons as monsters. And after the battle, everything was going to get worse. Although... maybe revealing the secret was necessary if there was ever going to be peace, and not extermination. The real cardinal had been scandalized, even despite his role in the attack. She couldn't blame him, a dragon prince had intercepted his caravan and forced him to pretend in order to find Eri, he had reason to be wary.

And while that fool Frey just trained, feeling sorry for himself. Runa wanted to make Frey's eyes even.

The healing sessions on his ribs weren't enough. Each swing of the greatsword sent bursts of pain throughout his body. It felt good, like a much-needed redemption. Every time he thought of Eri and that knife... When had he started to worry so much? Exhausted, he set his heavy practice sword aside and went to drink some water.

Eight years ago.

Frey took Runa in his arms for the first time. Never before had fighting a dragon been so worthwhile. Until that day, every severed head had left him empty, but his first wound, on the other hand, had led him down the path of meeting none other than a princess. Blood rushed to his face as he tried to remember the dance lessons Jimmer had given him.

She was so small, it was hard to believe that hours before she had knocked him down with one hand. She wasn't behaving like she had then, or even like she had a few minutes ago while calling him a fool and buttoning his jacket. She was letting herself be led and it seemed to him that she trembled at times. Was he being too intimidating? Was she cold in that low-cut dress? The thought led him to look, just a little, "Her eyes, focus on her eyes," Jimmer's voice reprimanded him in his memory.

It was of little use, she was avoiding his gaze as they moved smoothly around the ballroom. He was ruining everything.

Runaesthera let herself be guided by the captain whose name she was embarrassed not to be able to pronounce, or even remember. The music was beautiful, but she could no longer hear it. If she could follow the rhythm, it was because he was leading her well, or so she thought. She was only thinking about the conflict between how much he attracted her and the fact that she objectively shouldn't be attracted to him. He was so bad at expressing himself, so careless, he thought he was clever, those were the worst. He had let himself get hurt to get close to her...