Dragon's Challenge - D. R. Rosier Page 0,63
be foiled a lot of the time.
The new chamberlain, he wasn’t sure what the guys name was, led them to Liandra’s office. Liandra sat behind the desk, with two guards behind her and to the sides of the desk, almost in the far opposite corners. Sally the witch was also in the room, on the left-hand wall sitting on the couch.
Liandra said, “Please, sit. We have something to discuss.”
He sat in one of the two chairs before the desk, and Cinder took the other one with a teasing smile on her face. Shar, Nysa, and Tansya stood behind them, and he felt the former put her hand on his shoulder. That was new, it was almost as if she were claiming him before the baroness, but he pushed that out of his mind. He didn’t get women as a rule, so chances were that it was something else.
“What’s on your mind, baroness?”
Liandra tossed a small silk bag at him that clinked, and he felt the ten gold in there and shifted it to his treasury. Her eyes widened slightly when it just disappeared, but he was long past hiding any of his abilities now that he’d been outed and was married to the princess.
Liandra said, “Benjamin tried to contact you, but he couldn’t connect to Shar?”
Shar replied, “Probably when I was wrestling an elemental into submission.”
Liandra nodded, “Regardless, he contacted Sally and asked we pass on the king’s words. He’s recalling you to the castle, your circuit will have to wait once again. He didn’t give specifics, you’ll be briefed when you get there, all I know is it’s about Daca.”
He nodded. The having to wait part only tweaked his instincts a little bit. He’d earned a healthy amount of gold the last week on the road, not to mention his expanding ale business and the whorehouse and shipping investments. There was also the not so small amount of a hundred gold just for being the prince. It was more than enough to settle him for a while, and if Daca and his sister was on the move, that’s where he needed to be.
Lastly, and more than all the rest of it combined, was splitting those three lesser dragon hoards with Cinder. That had made a visible dent on his treasury room.
“We’ll return immediately. Was there any indication of how long?”
Liandra shook her head, “No, but I got the impression it wouldn’t be quick.”
He grunted, “We’ll collect our horses as well then. Thank you, baroness, and good luck with your new hold and responsibilities.”
She smiled, “You’re too kind. Sally will see you out.”
The witch apprentice stood, and they followed her to the front door, and over to the gate.
Cinder looked annoyed and concerned as they headed toward the stables. She scowled at him.
He smirked, “We’ll be back, eventually.”
Cinder finally said, “I’m coming with you this time.”
“You are?” he asked, more than a little surprised.
Cinder nodded, “The king won’t turn down my offer to guard the princess if Daca is on the move. I need to get to know her anyway, so she’ll hire me for delicate tasks when she reaches the throne. I’ll also be able to keep an eye on you, if your bitchy sister manages to kill you then I’ll lose my ticket home.”
He wasn’t sure he bought that, though there was some truth to it, or she wouldn’t have been able to say it. Phoenixes didn’t lie any more than demons did, or elder dragons for that matter.
He grunted, “So, that’s what you’re worried about? Getting home?”
She giggled, and she looked him up and down with a teasing boldness in her eyes that made his cock stir.
“Of course it is, what else would it be about,” she said innocently, her eyes and tone definitely suggesting there was absolutely more to it.
Sparring with the gorgeous ochre-orange eyed phoenix gave him a headache.
She giggled wickedly when he grunted in annoyance and called over the stable hand to get their horses.
Chapter Sixteen
The king and Queen Sara sat on the slightly raised couch, just a dais maybe three inches high, while he sat down on the small couch caddy corner to it where the princess already sat. Shar, Nysa, and Tansya sat on the couch across from the royal couple, and Cinder took a seat in a chair over to the side.
The king looked her way with a questioning look in his eyes.
Cinder said, “I was there when Muranth received the summons. If things are stirring up with Daca I thought