The Dragon Prince

Chapter 20

Prince Jasper Andry

Iron City, Sarkin

There was a knock on the bedroom door, and I got up and answered it. I had a brief moment of shock when I saw who was standing on the other side. My wife. "Can we talk?" She asked, and I could see that her eyes were nearly filled with tears. For the past several nights, Mickaela had been sleeping in a different room due to the distance between us. "Please, Jasper." Her voice cracked, and it brought me back to the day when she admitted she was in love with me and didn't want to marry Jonan. I didn't blame her for not wanting to marry Jonan. He was egotistical at time and often didn't see he was hurting people around him, especially at that age. What shocked me back then was that she had said that she loved me, even if I didn't love her back. How could I have not loved her back? We were best friends since we were born, but had I loved her as more than a friend. I did. I always had and I hated the idea that she couldn't be mine, but when she admitted that she loved me, I began to have hope. Some of our relatives saw it coming, and the first thing that we did was took it straight to our parents, telling them of the matter at hand. They were slightly shocked, but understanding. Zircon sensed it was coming because his son didn't want to marry Mickaela either and had told him such. Within days, Mickaela went from being betrothed to Jonan Argos, to being engaged to me.

I glanced away from her dark eyes and stepped aside, allowing her to enter. She sniffed, while wiping her eyes as she passed by me. I closed the door and then turned around to face her. "I am so sorry, Jasper." She whimpered, and I sighed looking down to the floor. "I doubted you. I doubted your family. I doubted your beliefs. I doubted everything." I looked back up at her to see the tears streaming down her face. She looked as though she hadn't slept in days. Perhaps she hadn't. "I doubted you, when you needed me most."

"Mickaela..." I started to say something, but she stopped me.

She held up a hand, and glanced away for a second. "I'm not finished. I have to explain, please." I nodded when she looked back at me. "It wasn't that I thought Felix would never come back, or even that I wanted to be Queen. I cared little about being Queen, I really did. It was that Felix was gone and everything was so chaotic, I just wanted a sense of normality back. I wanted to take that next step forward, for our boys. That step just happened to be towards you being King. I didn't see it as you replacing Felix. I didn't want that. I wanted to show the Kingdom and all of Zoshan that we were united, and that we could continue on even after a tragedy like that." She gave another whimper. "I was trying to make a life for our boys, and in doing so I tore us apart." As I looked at her she began to tremble slightly. "Please, Jasper. Tell me we can still fix this. I don't want to live in a world where I can't have you, and it will kill me to know that it was my fault. That I drove you away. Please, tell me we can fix this."

I walked over to her and hugged her, and she cried in my arms. I had to admit that I teared up myself, seeing her like this, and finally hearing why she had pushed it so hard. She had been thinking of our children, and not of herself. "Mickaela, look at me." I said, pulling back and keeping her at arms-length. Her eyes trailed up to mine. "There is nothing to fix, because nothing was broken. I still love you more than life itself. I always have and I always will." I leaned down and kissed her as she fell apart, clinging to me as if she was going to fall.

***

King Felix Andry

Iron City, Sarkin

"I want to thank you all for coming." I had raised my wine glass to them an hour ago at breakfast. The whole family was there, as was all the guests. "I wish you all safe travels home. My family has agreed to dispatch our guardians to watch over you in your travels to make sure you safely arrive home. Your safety in these trying times is what matters to us." The family I worried the most for was Uncle Zircon. He had sent a message to Billy to find Tom, but he was long gone. Knowing that he was still out there caused me to worry. Jaymie would never be safe with him still out there.