A feast of dragons

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

He took a step closer to her, one step too close for her. There were only a few feet in between them, and she felt her body tense up.

He smiled, as if not detecting her hostility.

“I’ve come to give you a second chance,” he said.

She laughed aloud at his absurdity.

“Me? A second chance?” she asked, incredulous. “As if I ever wanted a first chance to begin with. And who are you to be giving anyone chances? If anything, it would be I giving you a second chance. But as I said, there are no chances. You’re nothing to me. You never were. You never seem to accept that. You live in a world of delusion.”

He snorted back at her.

“I understand that when a woman’s feelings are so strong for man, she can sometimes live in denial, so I forgive you your rash words. You know that you and I have always been meant to be, from the time we were children. You can try to resist it, but you know as well as I do that nothing will tear us apart.”

She laughed.

“Tear us apart?” she mocked. “You really are sick. We were never together. We will never be together. There is nothing to tear apart. Except for your lies. How dare you lie to me about Thor!” she yelled, her voice rising, growing indignant.

Alton merely shrugged.

“Technicalities,” he said. “He is a commoner. Who cares about him?”

“I care-very much. You spouted lies about him and made a fool of me.”

“If I took liberty with the facts, it makes no difference. If he’s not guilty of one voice, surely he will be of another. The fact is, he is a commoner and beneath you, and you know I’m right. He will never be good enough for you.

“I, on the other hand, am ready to accept you as my wife. I’ve come to you to confirm that you want me to make arrangements before I do. After all, weddings are expensive. My family is going to pay for it.”

Gwen looked back at him in disbelief. She’d never met anyone so out of touch with reality, so pompous. She could not believe that he actually seemed genuine. It made her sick.

“I don’t know how many ways I can tell you, Alton: I have no love for you. I don’t even have any like for you. In fact, I have the utmost hatred. And I always will. So I suggest you leave me now. I would never marry you. I would never even be your friend. Besides, I have other plans.”

Alton smiled, undeterred.

“If by that you mean your supposed marriage to Thor, you can think again,” he said, confidently, a mischievous smile at his lips.

Gwen felt her blood run cold.

“What are you talking about?” she hissed.

Alton stood there, smiling, reveling in the moment.

“Your lover boy Thor is not returning. I have it on good source he will be killed on the Isle of Mist. Quite a fatal accident, I’m afraid. So you can stop pining for his return home. It won’t happen.”

Gwen saw the confidence in his face, and she felt her heart crash. Was he telling the truth? If so, she wanted to kill him with her on their hands.

Alton took a step forward, staring into her eyes.

“So you see Gwendolyn, destiny is meant for the two of us after all. Stop resisting it. Take my hand now, and let’s make matters official. Let’s stop fighting what we already know to be true.”

Alton held out a hand, his smile widening as he stared at her. But she could also see drops of sweat forming on his forehead in the sun.

“Still no response?” he said. “Then allow me to add one more point,” he added, as he held his hand out there, trembling. “I’ve heard it on good rumor that your family plans to marry you off soon, like your older sister. After all, they can’t afford to have an unwed MacGil roaming around. You can choose my hand now in marriage-or if not, allow yourself to be assigned to some stranger. And I might add that it might be a brutal stranger, a savage from some corner of the Ring. You’d do far better with someone like me, someone you know.”

“You lie,” Gwen spat, feeling her entire body tremble. “I cannot be married off. Not by my family. Not by anyone.”

“Oh can’t you? Your sister was.”

“That was when my father was alive. When he was King.”

“And do we not have a King now?” he asked with a wry smile. “The King’s law is the King’s law.”

Gwen’s heart was racing as she contemplated his words. Gareth? Her brother? Marry her off? Could he be so sick, so cruel? Did he even have the right to do so? After all, he may be king, but he was not her father.

She did not want to ponder any of this anymore. She was revolted by Alton. She had no idea what to believe. She took a step closer to him, and put on her firmest face.

“Let me make it as clear for you as I can,” she enunciated slowly, her voice as cold as steel. “If you come near me again, I will have the royal guards-the royal guards of the true royal family- imprison you. They will throw you in the dungeon and you will never get out again. I can guarantee you that. Now get out of my presence, once and for all.”

Alton stood there, staring, and slowly his smile collapsed into a frown. Eventually his face started to tremble, and she could see his face change, boil over with rage.

“Don’t forget,” he hissed, “you’ve brought this on yourself.”

She had never heard him so angry before, as he spun on his heel, stormed off the parapets, and down the steps.

She stood there, alone, trembling inside, listening to his footsteps disappear for a very long time. She prayed to the gods that she never see him again.

Gwen turned back to the parapets, walked to the edge and looked out. Was anything he said true? She prayed not. That was the problem with Alton-he had a way of implanting the worst thoughts in her head, thoughts she could not get out.

She closed her eyes and tried to shake the memory. He was an awful creature, the epitome of everything she hated about this place, the epitome of everything she felt was wrong with the world.

She opened her eyes, looked out over King’s court, and tried to make it all disappear. She tried to get back to the place she had been before Alton had appeared, to thinking of Thor, of his arrival home today, of being back in his arms. If anything, seeing Alton just made her realize how much she loved Thor. Thor was the opposite of Alton in every way: he was a noble, proud warrior, with a pure heart. He was more royal than Alton would ever be.

It made her realize how much she wanted to be with Thor, how she would do anything for it to be just the two of them, far away from this place. And she felt more determined than ever to let nothing come between them.

But as Gwen stood there, trying to recapture her peace, to picture Thor’s face, the shape of his jaw, the color of his eyes, the curve of his lips, she could not. Anger burned in her veins. Her peace had been shattered. She could not think clearly anymore, and she wanted to think clearly, before Thor arrived.

Gwen turned on her heel and crossed the parapet, leaving the roof, entering the spiral staircase, and beginning her descent. She needed a change of environment. She would enter the royal gardens, and take a long walk amidst the flowers. That would change her mindset-it always did.

As she descended, going down flight after flight, traveling the well-worn stone staircase that she had since a child, something felt wrong. She felt it before she saw it. It was a chill, a cold energy, like a sudden cloud passing over her.

Then she saw it, out of the corner of her eye. Motion, darkness. A blur. It all happened so quickly.

And then she felt it.

Gwen was tackled from behind, coarse hands grabbing her around the waist, driving her down to the ground.

She hit the stone hard, tumbling down the steps flight after flight.

The world spun, was a blur, as she banged and scraped her knees, her elbows, her forearms. She instinctively covered her head as she rolled, the way her instructors had taught her when she was a child, and