“Thick like a tree trunk,” Brigida muttered.
“It’s graceful. This neck is long and graceful.” Powerful legs landed on the table and Ghleanna crossed her arms over her chest. “Graceful,” she growled, appearing to fight an instinct to yell.
Addolgar shrugged at Braith. “Me sister’s graceful.”
“Yes,” Braith replied, her eyes briefly crossing. “I can see that.”
Chapter 8
With the chains broken, there was no point in forcing Braith to sit around at dinner with the cuffs still on, so Addolgar removed them.
She rubbed her wrists and nodded a thanks while food was brought out from the kitchens.
Addolgar retrieved wine from the side table and poured Braith a chalice full. He sat down while she sipped it and watched his kin eat, argue, and laugh at dinner.
“You all right?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Everything will work out, Braith. I promise.”
She gave him a smile that was clearly forced and said, “I know it will. I’m just tired.”
“You must be hungry, too.”
Braith studied the platters of meats, roasted potatoes, and still-warm crusty bread. “No. I’m not.”
“Addolgar,” his mother said to him, her small hand resting on his shoulder. “Why don’t you take Braith upstairs to get some sleep? It’s been a long day for both of you.”
When he looked into his mother’s face, she frowned a bit and motioned to the back hallway with a tilt of her head.
Taking the hint, Addolgar stood and waited for Braith to follow. She placed her chalice on the table, thanked his mother, and followed him up several flights of stairs to his room. He held the door open for her and Braith stepped in.
“I’ll see you in the morning.”
Braith did no more than nod before she crawled onto the bed, dropped her head to the pillow, and closed her eyes.
Worried, Addolgar watched her for several moments before he stepped out of the room, carefully closing the door behind him. He turned around, but took a surprised step back when he found his mother standing there. His shoulders hit the bedroom door hard.
“Hello?” a sleepy-sounding Braith called out.
“It’s all right, Braith,” he told her through the door. “Go back to sleep.”
Addolgar took his mother’s arm and led her down the hallway.
“What are you doing up here?” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“You’ll need to keep an eye on her. She says very little, that one, but I can tell—there’s all sorts of things going on in her head.”
“You don’t trust her either?”
“I don’t trust her not to throw her poor, foolish ass on the altar of her mother’s honor. She’s a Penarddun, Addolgar. They are . . . a special kind of royal. I met her aunts when I lived in Devenallt Mountain, and . . . well . . . honor means everything to them. Which I do appreciate, but this girl is trusting that bitch Addiena to do what is right, which is the stupidest thing she could ever do. So don’t let her sneak away from you on this trip.”
“I won’t, Mum.”
“Good.” Frowning hard, she studied the floor. He knew his mother was thinking about something, but he didn’t expect what she said next. “I like her.”
“You do?”
“I do. And I know exactly what she’s doing. I used to do it, too, when I was forced to spend time with Addiena. There’re all these things you want to say but you keep to yourself out of fear or guilt or whatever.”
“Because of Addiena?”
“No. Not for Braith. It’s that father of hers.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’ve never liked him. Not at all. But he is dangerous. Maybe not physically to you, but he’s not above using others to get what he wants. Keep that in mind.”
“I will. And I’ll stay outside her door to make sure she doesn’t sneak away from here during the night.”
“Excellent plan. I’ll bring you some food so you can eat up here.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
Finally smiling, Shalin went up on her toes, then stretched her arm up so that she could pet Addolgar’s cheek. “My handsome son.”
She winked at him and went down the stairs
“Don’t let that compliment go to your head, brother,” Bercelak said from behind Addolgar, and it took all of Addolgar’s training not to scream and run away. Did the dragon ever make a sound? The big, overbearing bastard. “Mum says the same thing to all her sons.”
Addolgar faced his brother. “What are you doing up here?”
“Can’t I spend time with my own brother just to catch up and talk about old times?”
Thinking on that, Addolgar finally answered, “No.”
Braith was allowed to sleep in Addolgar’s room for the night. She didn’t mind. His room smelled nice. But she had no delusions she was trusted. Not with Bercelak pacing the hallway outside her door while Addolgar rested against it all night long. The brothers never said a word to each other, but they never left either—although for different reasons she was sure. Bercelak, because he still saw her as a traitor even if it had been his suggestion to take her to Arranz’s home deep in the Black Woods about fifty leagues from here. And Addolgar, because he was afraid she would still leave this place in the middle of the night to turn herself over to the Queen.
She would have, too, but there would be no getting past the Cadwaladrs undetected. She did not have the skills for sneaking around. She didn’t lumber as some dragons did, but one could definitely hear her coming and going.
So, instead of fretting about it all, Braith slept until she heard a soft knock on the door. She immediately sat up and Addolgar stuck his head in. He smiled at her, looking surprisingly refreshed since he’d spent the entire night on the floor outside the door.
“We’ll be leaving in about fifteen minutes. That enough time for you?”
Braith nodded. She didn’t primp like some females did. “Are we going as human or dragon?”
“Dragon to start. But bring clothes and a bag for human travel. Just in case, Ghleanna left some clothes for you on that chair over there.”
“And my father?”
“Brigida thinks he may have headed north.”
“North?” Braith let out a breath, horrified. “He’s heading toward the Northlands? To the Lightnings?”
“Perhaps. But don’t worry about that now.”
Easier said than done. Had her father actually joined forces with the Lightning dragons of the Northlands? The vilest, most brutal dragons and one of their greatest enemies until the Iron dragons had reared their curled-horned heads not too long ago.
Braith threw off the fur covering and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stood, stretched. And that’s when she realized that Addolgar was still standing there . . . watching her.
“Anything else?” she asked.
“No. You got nice legs, though.”
Braith looked down at her legs. Human legs that she’d always thought were rather thin and weak-looking compared to her legs when she was in her natural form.
“Uh . . . thanks?”
When Addolgar continued to stand there, staring at her legs, Braith pushed, “Addolgar?”
“Huh?” he asked, looking up at her.
“Fifteen minutes, right?”
“Right! Right.” He nodded. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”
“Thanks.”
The dragon stood there a few seconds longer before he seemed to snap out of whatever haze he was in. But before he could move away from the door, a big shoulder rammed into him, knocking Addolgar’s entire body into the wall beside the door.
“Da!” Addolgar exploded at his father.
“You need to pay attention, boy! You can’t let a good set of legs and a pretty smile distract you from what’s going on at all times. That’s how you get your head taken off. And then your mother will cry and I hate when she cries.” Ailean smiled at Braith and winked at her before walking off.
Eyes down, his human face red from embarrassment, Addolgar nodded at her and muttered, “Downstairs then,” before he stepped back into the hall and closed the door behind him.
With a shake of her head, Braith went about getting her things organized. “The whole lot of ’em,” she softly said to herself. “The whole lot of ’em are just daft.”
Addolgar was heading down the stairs when Bercelak caught up to him.
“I don’t like this,” his brother told him as they walked down the stairs.
“You don’t like anything. I’ve heard you complain about the air.”
“It irritates me when it whistles. But that’s not what I’m talking about. When did Brigida become so helpful?”
“I have no idea because I avoid her like the plague I once heard she vindictively spread in that little town near the Desert Lands.”
“Just be careful, brother.”
“I’ll have Ghleanna with me. She and her thick neck will keep me safe until we get Braith to Arranz’s.”
“Her neck is thick, isn’t it?”
“It runs in the family. Only Maelona has been spared the Cadwaladr thick neck because she takes after Mum.”
They went down another set of steps.
“What are you going to do?” Addolgar asked his brother. “Head back to your troops?”
“No. I’m going to see the Queen. See if I can head this off at the pass.”
“You haven’t told her anything?”
“Of course not. As soon as I heard what happened, I came to make sure you were okay.”
Addolgar stopped and focused on his brother. “You do care about me!”
“Oh, shut up!”
They made it to the courtyard and that’s where they met Ghleanna. She had on chain mail and the surcoat of an army she and Addolgar had long ago destroyed. A large bag hung off her shoulder and nearly to the ground. It would be much smaller when she was in her dragon form, but once she untied the knot at the top, it would fit around her dragon shoulders just as well, allowing her to carry clothes and human weapons, along with food and other supplies for her dragon form.
“Where is she?” Ghleanna demanded.
“She’s coming.”
“Keep an eye on her,” Bercelak warned Ghleanna. “I still don’t trust her. And make sure Arranz is completely apprised of this entire situation so he and our cousins know what to do.”
“Of course you don’t trust Braith. You don’t trust anybody,” Ghleanna reminded their brother. “You don’t trust the air.”
“Because it tends to become unseasonably chilly when I’d prefer it to be warm. It’s as if it does it on purpose.”
Ghleanna closed her eyes, shook her head.
Braith stepped out of the Main Hall and onto the courtyard steps. She wore nothing but one of Addolgar’s shirts, showing off those lovely human legs of hers. But she had a bag similar to Ghleanna’s over her shoulder.
Once she stood next to them, Addolgar asked her, “You ready?”