Junica frowned. “Then what is the difference between a queen and a Ran?”
Seri seemed to struggle with the answer, so it was Kelir who said, “In Parsathe, when we speak of queens and kings, it does not carry the same meaning as it does in other realms. Our queen is married to the Ran, and so is the Ran’s closest advisor and a powerful influence throughout the Burning Plains. But only the Ran is chosen to speak for all Parsatheans—and we might call Maddek our king, but never would we call him King Maddek.”
“Maddek is your only Ran?” The councilor arched an inquiring brow that was aimed at Kelir now, too. “Do you and Ardyl still serve on his Dragon?”
“They do,” answered Seri proudly.
“Yet you are here?”
“Because of me,” said Tyzen, seeming in good humor again. “Maddek is the heart of the Dragon . . . and my sister holds his heart. Any wound that Yvenne feels is agony to him—and if I were killed, a deep wound it would be. So by protecting me, they look after Maddek’s heart from afar.”
Head cocked, Kelir frowned at the boy, as if intending to argue—and then he met Ardyl’s eyes when the other warrior glanced back. They both shrugged.
“I might have said that we came because Ran Maddek asked it of us,” Kelir said. “But Tyzen speaks the truth of why we agreed.”
“So a Dragon is not merely a palace guard,” Lady Junica mused, “but more similar to a keeper, whose loyalty is bound to one particular member of the Kothan royal family.”
Tyzen looked to Aerax. “Where is yours?”
“Cernak also protects my heart. So I bade him to stay and look after his family,” Aerax said, and watched Lizzan’s back stiffen, as she was reminded of the stigma they suffered under. And though Aerax wished that Cernak had joined them so Lizzan could reunite with her brother on this journey, better that he was in Koth protecting her mother and younger brother.
“From what does he protect them?” Tyzen asked. “Do you fear the bandits or the Destroyer?”
“Neither.” It was Koth that Lizzan’s family had to fear.
As Lizzan knew, too. The look that she cast over her shoulder said so much. There was gratitude, that he’d made certain her family were cared for. But it was the depth of her despair that sliced Aerax open, filled him with the shame that nothing he’d done had truly helped them. The only remedy was leaving the island . . . and her family would not go.
“For what reason do you think the Destroyer left your realm alone before?” Seri asked curiously.
Riding beside her, Degg answered more quickly than Aerax could. “His magic is from Enam, and that god has no power on Koth.”
“But given the size of his army, he did not always need magic,” the young monk pointed out. “His warlords took Rugus’s mountain stronghold, which can only be reached by a bridge similar to the King’s Walk, and not a sorcerer was among them.”
“There was the Smiling Giant,” Tyzen countered.
“But he had no magic of his own. Only the beastly strength the Destroyer gave to him. And he was stopped by an axe, not a spell.”
“So he was.” The prince’s face clouded and he looked to Aerax before saying, “It was my father who smote the Smiling Giant—and became a hero to all of the alliance that formed in the Destroyer’s wake. Except it was not long afterward that he began planting seeds for the Destroyer’s return.”
Aerax nodded. “A proper villain, full of ambition. My father only bedded my mother and then left her and his bastard child to starve during the Bitter Years.”
Lady Junica sucked in a sharp breath. “Our king would never have—”
“I was there. That is what happened.” Aerax cut her off before adding, “Prince Tyzen has just said his father was the Destroyer’s tool. These southerners do not expect perfection of their allies. Only honesty.”
Kelir nodded. “That is truth.”
Lady Junica threw Aerax an exasperated look. “Then try not to be so very honest. Unless, of course, it is regarding why Koth was left untouched by the Destroyer.”
“Because the island is the perfect trap,” Lizzan tossed back, her gaze meeting Aerax’s in a brief, shared memory. Years ago, they’d spoken of this—and of all the reasons why the usual explanations made no sense. That Anumith the Destroyer feared Varrin’s power, that the sun god’s magic was weakened by the cold and ice, that the King’s Walk was too well defended.