Speaking of pets, a small red dragon comes waddling up to us. Around its neck is a silver collar.
“Your wife’s?” I asked, and the Ansi prince nodded.
“Garnet.” Tovian offered the lizard a piece of fruit. Dragons are omnivorous. Garnet sniffed the offering and delicately plucked it from his fingertips, flapping a short distance away to eat it while eyeing us suspiciously. Can’t blame her, really. Humans are overrated.
Tahra, who has been sitting several feet away, rose silently. I exchanged glances with Tovian. Garnet wandered over again. I offered her another piece of citrus. Tahra’s silver hair gleamed in the moonlight as she strode determinedly to our room.
Minutes passed. She didn’t return. Tovian frowned and said, “I’ll speak with him. Lorcan isn’t thinking about how this looks to others.”
“It’ll be a fight.” I got up. “Consider whether it’s an argument worth having. I have decided that it isn’t.”
“At some point you’ll have to stop pretending that there will be a wedding.”
“I know. We planned to part ways in October.” I sigh. “Our deception might not last that long. At least we had our falling out here, amongst your people, where it will remain a secret for a while longer.”
“Thinking like a queen,” Tovian said, softly.
“Do I have another choice?”
“You always have a choice, Zosia.”
“Even if they’re all bad ones.”
I can’t stand his pity. I got up. Garnet followed me, hoping for more food. I offered her another bite and popped one into my mouth, too. She flapped hard and landed on my shoulder, to my surprise, her claws digging into my flesh.
“You’re surprisingly heavy for a flying lizard.”
I ducked through the flap and into the room I shared with Lorcan, bracing to find them naked in one another’s arms. At least then I’d know, once and for all.
The scene that greeted me was far more innocent. Tahra sat on one end of the bed, arms around her knees. She startled when I came in, glancing at me warily.
Lorcan was leaning against the wall with his notebook in his lap, and the colored pencils I gave him for his birthday open on the floor beside him. He carefully replaced the one he was using and closed his sketchbook. Both were fully dressed, not touching, just talking. Friends.
I felt like an ass. Lorcan always had female friends. Tovian might be his first male one, and given the tensions with Raina, there’s a limit to how close they could be.
He took in my repainted body and new dress. Tightness around his eyes.
“Don’t let me interrupt you,” I said, grateful for every bit of my princess training. My voice was steady; outwardly, I am the embodiment of calm. Garnet wrapped her tail around my throat for balance, which felt a bit weird, but I didn’t react.
“I need my papers.” I bent at the knee. The fringe of my skirt touched the woven mat. The dragon hopped down while I scooped up the papers I was writing on before Lorcan came in and we argued. I put them inside my pack and shoved the clothes I discarded earlier inside, too. Shouldering the bag, I turned to leave. “Carry on.”
Garnet followed me out of the rock dwelling. So did my knight.
“Zosia.”
“I have work to do.”
“Come back. Please.”
“We leave in the morning. I need to assess the situation in Oceanside.” I didn’t stop. I didn’t turn back.
“You’re still running away.”
“I’m doing my job, Lorcan. Fulfilling my duty.”
“Fine. If you want to have this discussion publicly, we will.”
Everyone below in the center of the village was watching us. So many eyes upon us, all the time. Tiresome.
