Kaiten couldn’t bear to look at Seraphis. Loren saw the way his hands shook, balled into fists so tightly that she could see the muscles under his skin. She looked back to Seraphis. “Why did you do it?”
“My dear sister told me to.” Came the reply.
“You could have said no. You could have done the right thing, instead of becoming a murderer.”
Seraphis’s laugh was hollow, and still she smiled at Loren. “Princess, I have no choice. Do you not see these marks on my wrists? I am shackled — as are everyone my dear sister chooses — to the will of the queen.”
Loren frowned. “She would not possibly hurt you, you’re her sister. Her last living family member if I remember correctly.”
“You have no idea what my sister is capable of, princess.” Seraphis stood and turned her back to them, lifting her shirt. Across her back, stretching from her right shoulder to her left hip, was a ghastly puckered burn scar. “A lash of fire across the back.” Seraphis said to the shocked silence. “Because I was too tired to fetch the queen a pitcher of water. I was seven years of age.”
Seraphis sat down and leaned back in her chair. She looked at ease, but she held an air of tension about her. Her shoulders were squared off, her gaze flicked from person to person to keep them in sight, and even while resting her sword belts remained on her hip. She continued. “Don’t underestimate the cruelty of the queen of Sagna, princess. You haven’t even asked why Kaiten still lives in my company, or why I haven’t returned to warmer regions.”
Loren, troubled by the sight of Seraphis’s scar, unconsciously touched the dragon pendant. The motion drew Seraphis’s eyes to it again. “Why then? I think you both have been here for quite a while before we arrived.”
“About a week.” Seraphis shrugged. “The truth is, princess, I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Is this a trap?” Loren asked frankly.
“No. I need your help.”
Loren raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Seraphis leaned forward to the table, and all traces of her laid back attitude were gone. Her face grew grim and serious as she looked Loren dead in the eye. “My dear sister is capable of many cruel things, princess. I am not the only one dissatisfied with her habits, and the way she rules the kingdom leaves very few freedoms. I am the second in line to the throne, and unlike her, I have no madness in my blood. All the same, I do not plan on having children to pass on the Dagan line and risk another one like her to be born. My plan is to take control of my father’s throne, retake the kingdom for the people, and let the whole lot die out.”
Loren sat wordlessly across from Seraphis, her mouth open in shock. “You want to kill your sister?”
“I’m very good at killing, Loren.” Seraphis said pointedly. “That does not mean I enjoy it. I enjoy hunts with my hounds and discussing strategy with the soldiers. I enjoy the rare times I can ride into town and not see the peasant folk balk in fear at the sight of red hair. The people of Sagna deserve better than my dear sister. I cannot say they deserve me, but they certainly deserve better.”
The Aldoran princess sat in silence, biting her lip as she thought. Seraphis’s plans and explanations felt too big; she plotted regicide, to kill her own kin. Loren couldn’t stomach it. Kae watched Loren as she listened to Seraphis talk, and took her turn to address the red headed princess.
“Why do you need our help?” Kae asked, eyes lingering on Loren.
Seraphis showed her marked wrists again. “My hands are magically bound. If we meet again, and I am sure we will, I will be ordered to kill you. I will have to fight at the best of my ability, and I cannot turn on my queen. It will have to be up to you.”
“We have to kill the queen of Sagna?”
“You have to liberate its people.” Seraphis said sternly. She was beginning to lose her temper. “I wouldn’t be asking something this important to just anyone. If I could do it myself, I would have done it ages ago instead of waiting a week in this frigid wasteland!”
Kae scoffed and held her ground. She stared down the warrior princess. “What’s in it for us?”
In answer, Seraphis jabbed a finger in Loren’s direction. “You want something in return? My dear sister will be too dead and rotting to be hounding her.”
Loren felt her heart fall into her stomach. “Me?” she asked in a small voice. “What does she want with me?”
“You haven’t caught on yet?” Seraphis glowered, impatient. “This whole thing has been orchestrated by my queen to lure you and only you out from Aldoran and into Sagna. The attempted assassination, Gaturr’s murder, Kaiten’s kidnapping – it was all to tie the king and queen’s hands. Knowing you, with that dragon pride your entire line has, would take it upon yourself to seek justice, even if it means crossing the damn world. And it’s all because of that.”
The princess clutched the silver dragon pendant protectively, shielding it from Seraphis’s sharp gaze with her hand and twisting her body away. “My dragon pendant?”
“Its not just a trinket and you know it.” Seraphis said. “It’s the key to the dragon, and only your line can control it.
