A Tale Of Two Dragons

hand.

“You all right?” he asked her.

“I’m fine. I was hungrier than I thought.”

“You haven’t eaten in a couple of days. And it’s been a rough couple of days.”

Braith placed her hands on the table and leaned in a bit. “Addolgar.”

“Hhmm?” he asked, smiling down at the desserts Mary placed in front of them. “You should try this,” he told Braith. “Mary’s mum makes a great raisin and ale cake.”

Braith glanced down at the cake—it did look good—and back at Addolgar.

“Addolgar . . . I don’t know how I can thank you.”

“Thank me? For what?” he asked around a mouthful of cake.

“Putting your family at risk? Helping me with the Queen? Protecting me from Bercelak?”

“You protected yourself from Bercelak.”

“Addolgar,” she felt the need to remind him, “the Queen is holding your sister hostage.”

Addolgar blinked, nodded. “Uh-huh.”

Braith frowned. “Yet you don’t seem too worried about her.”

“If it were Maelona, I’d never have allowed it. I’d have torn the walls of Devenallt Mountain down before I let her take Maelona. So would the rest of my kin.”

“But Ghleanna . . . ?”

“If the Queen wants to have Ghleanna and Bercelak staying at Devenallt Mountain while you and I track your father down—that’s her decision. And I wish her much luck with it.” He pointed at Braith’s cake with his spoon. “You going to eat that?”

Chapter 11

“You staying here for the night, Addolgar?” Mary asked. “Me mum wants to know.”

“Aye,” he said, after glancing at an exhausted-looking Braith. “We’ll take a room. Is the one on the top floor open?”

“It is. But it’s extra.”

“We’ll take it.”

“Let me check it first, make sure it’s been cleaned right. I’ll let you know when you can come up.”

“Thanks, Mary.”

Mary headed to the back stairs and Addolgar again focused on Braith. “Stop worrying,” he ordered her.

“Who says I’m worrying?”

He rolled his eyes in answer and Braith gave a small sigh.

“I can’t help it,” she finally admitted. “I can’t believe my father has done this. And for what? He could never rule the Southland dragons. Not as a monarch. Being an Elder was the most he could ever hope to be. And he should be proud of that.”

“Perhaps he thinks he’s saving his people. There are many who don’t feel right with Addiena on the throne.”

“But she is. And she has been for nearly a century.” Braith rested both her arms on the table. “What I can’t figure out, though, is what Lady Katarina has to do with any of this.”

“Perhaps he hopes to use her father’s army to challenge Addiena. It would be a bold move, but her father’s army is strong. They have to be since they are all that lies between us and the Irons.”

“I thought the fear was that he’d side with the Irons.”

“He could, but he’d be foolish to try. The Irons see themselves as superior to everyone. In their minds, they only answer to the gods. So betraying Lord Berg would mean nothing to them. And he knows that.”

“But if Lord Berg challenges Addiena, won’t he have to face the Cadwaladrs in battle? I’ve always heard that’s what keeps many challengers for the throne from our borders.”

“Using our name will stop those who talk a lot about claiming the throne but really have no true heart for it. But those who truly want it, like Overlord Thracius in the West or the Horde leaders in the Northlands . . . the Cadwaladrs are merely something to figure out how to defeat. All we manage to do with the likes of them is keep them back until they have enough forces to move.”

Braith placed the palms of her hands against her eyes, her exhaustion and frustration beginning to grow. “I just wish I knew what he was doing. Who he was working with. My father does nothing on his own.” She dropped her hands and looked Addolgar straight in the face. “He’s not a brave dragon.”

“What about your mum?”

“The bravest I knew.”

Addolgar finally asked the question that had been bothering him for most of the day. “Why are you not close to your mum’s kin?”

“My mother saw me as a Penarddun, but her kin see me as my father’s daughter. And they want even less to do with him.” She shook her head, glanced off. “As always, I’m on my own.”

“Not anymore you’re not. You have the force of the Cadwaladr Clan behind you. That’s more than most will ever be able to say.”

“I still wish we hadn’t involved your family. If one of them gets hurt or . . . if anything happens to your kin, Addolgar . . .”

“Nothing will happen. And you seem to think you’ve somehow forced us into this. Or as if we’re doing it out of pity. The Cadwaladrs don’t feel pity. Not for each other. Not for anyone.”

“Then why are any of you helping me?”

“My father’s doing it because you won him lots of money. Ghleanna’s doing it because she likes knowing another female near her age who can’t quite wear her clothes. Bercelak will say he’s doing it to protect Ghleanna, but really he wants to spend time around Princess Rhiannon, even though we all know he doesn’t have a shot in all the hells with that one.”

“And you?” she asked, before Addolgar could list the reasons all of his kin would be involved in this. “Why are you doing this?”

“That’s easy. Because I like you.” He grinned. “I like you a lot.”

“Why?”

“Because you make me smile.”

“You’re Addolgar the Cheerful. Everything makes you smile.”

“Not everything. And if I want to like you, Braith of the Darkness, I get to like you. Whether you want me to or not.”

“Why wouldn’t I want you to?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not a royal?”

“Is there anything about me, Addolgar, that says I embrace being a royal? That I live my life as a royal? Anything?”

Addolgar thought on that a moment before replying, “Not really.”

“The Penardduns may be royals, but you don’t find any of them living in Devenallt Mountain or attending any of the parties or rituals. My mum hated that stuff. Didn’t see the purpose of it at all. And I have to agree with her. I only attended royal events to keep my father off my back.”

“So, when this is all over, if Addiena strips you of your title—”

“As long as I get to go back to my cave and be left alone, I won’t give a flying centaur shit.”

Addolgar glanced up and saw Mary wave to him from the stairwell. “Come on.” He took Braith’s hand and led her from the table and to the stairs. They went up the three flights and walked down the hallway to the last room. Mary held the door open for them.

“Think you’ll be needing anything else tonight, Addolgar?”

“No. We’re fine. But we’ll be up early tomorrow. We’ll need food before our trip. And if you have any bread and meat that can go with us, I’d appreciate that.”

“Of course. Me and Mum will take care of it.”