Agent of the Dragon

Dinner was held in a formal dining room. The room was lit by a couple of chandeliers, wafer-thin pieces of gold reflected the light and gave the room a warm glow. Beneath the chandeliers, the table had been set with place settings of translucent china. The table itself was slightly too large for the number of people eating. The walls were plain stone covered by tapestries. According to Queen Vasilia, the tapestries were changed to reflect the current season. At the moment, the tapestries showed summer scenes.

Queen Vasilia, as hostess, sat at the head of the table with the King and Hallyk to her right and left respectively. Lady Kasteryn sat to the King’s right, and Elise sat across from her on Hallyk’s left. Rhysa was seated on Elise’s left. To Rhysa’s dismay, Jagun was placed across from her. Rhysa’s right hand sought Elise’s left. Elise returned a comforting pressure.

With the contact, Rhysa was able to pull herself together. She looked into Jagun’s eyes. They were still inhumanly cold; they still promised safety. But things had changed for Rhysa. After the riot and the alley, she couldn’t trust in that safety. Her fear of men had grown. She was usually able to control it, but Jagun’s presence was salt in a raw wound. She didn’t know why Hallyk or King Dazhdeb didn’t summon the fear, but with Jagun sitting across from her, she could barely keep herself from trembling.

When everyone had been seated, a door opened and a parade of servants came in with the soup: a light meat broth with vegetables. The servers put a bowl of soup in front of each diner, then silently disappeared. Rhysa waited until Queen Vasilia took up her soupspoon before she picked hers up. She was aware of everyone else doing the same.

Queen Vasilia started the conversation. “So, Lady Kasteryn. Hallyk tells me your gamble with Lords Amonteus and Hermestus paid off.”

“Yes, it has.” Lady Kasteryn glanced at Rhysa and smiled. “Rhysa’s accomplished some amazing things. We’re very proud of her.”

“You should be,” said King Dazhdeb in a soft voice. Rhysa glanced at him and saw he was eyeing her with speculation. A man, especially a powerful man, focusing on her should have sent Rhysa into terrified panic; however, all she felt was the ordinary nervousness of being appraised. “You’ve trained her well.” Rhysa flushed. “You’ve also done well with young Elise, here.” Elise started; she hadn’t been expecting to be brought into this topic.

The king looked at Elise, but Queen Vasilia spoke first. “House Kasteryn holds a special place with House Korolevsko. Is it any wonder we take an interest in its inmates?”

Elise shook her head; her response was quiet, if blunt. “Only a fool would not notice your interest. I just thought all the interest was aimed at Rhysa.”

Hallyk snickered. “Hardly. If nothing else, you catch the eye very nicely.” He winked at her. Elise blushed and looked at her soup. Rhysa patted her leg comfortingly.

The king turned his attention to Lady Kasteryn. “Amelia, are you planning to take on another student or two?”

Lady Kasteryn’s response faded into the background as Rhysa’s attention was caught by the figure looming across the table from her. Jagun glared at her. Once more Rhysa reached for Elise’s hand.

“Well, girl,” Jagun growled at her. “You’ve done well. I never thought you’d walk this particular path; not that first night.”

Rhysa quailed inside, remembering the rape Jagun had prevented--and the one he had not. She managed to keep her fear from her face and voice, though she squeezed Elise’s hand tightly. “You thought I’d end up in some lord’s bed, I suppose.”

Jagun nodded. “I did. Until Lady Kasteryn bought you. Even then, I expected you to be trained as a hostess. Or maybe a performer.” His voice grated on Rhysa--sandpaper on soft skin.

Rhysa cut her eyes at Hallyk, who was watching. He smiled at her. She took a breath. “Oh, I perform all right. Ask Hallyk what he saw the last time he came to observe.”

Hallyk smirked. “Watch out for this one, my friend. She can kill. And her movements are so beautiful, you’ll thank her for the pleasure.” Rhysa caught an odd light in Hallyk’s eyes. She looked back at Jagun, whose eyebrows were raised. He looked at her--re-evaluating what he saw. He seemed impressed, but said nothing.

Servants came to take the soup bowls away, and another set placed a meat dish in front of everyone. Rhysa wasn’t familiar with the meat. The flavor was oddly delicate, the accompanying sauce seemed more to awaken the tongue than flavor the meat.

The queen saw Rhysa’s startled expression and laughed lightly. “Is this the first time you’ve had hippogriff?”

Rhysa didn’t try to hide the widening of her eyes. She mouthed the word “hippogriff,” and then answered the queen’s question. “Yes, Majesty, it is.”

The conversation flitted from topic to topic, carried mainly by Lady Kasteryn, Hallyk, and the king and queen. Every now and then, Rhysa offered an opinion or observation. Elise said little, and Jagun said even less, though his comments tended to focus on Rhysa.

It wasn’t until dessert that Rhysa began noticing the glare Elise aimed at Jagun. Jagun, for his part, merely returned the glare calmly with his eyes of frost. Rhysa wasn’t sure what to make of this, especially since Elise’s hand was no longer supportive, but protective. Rhysa also noticed Hallyk watched the byplay with amused interest.

Eventually, dinner was over and people pushed back from their places. King Dazhdeb invited everyone to the library to continue conversation in comfort. As they walked down corridors, Hallyk laid a hand on Rhysa’s shoulder. “May I speak with you, alone?”

Rhysa looked at him and raised her eyebrows at the solemnity of his expression. She nodded, and turned to Elise who had slowed down when Rhysa stopped. “Go on.” She smiled. “I’ll be safe enough with the prince.” Elise nodded, if a little doubtfully, and followed the others.

“Go with them,” Hallyk said to Jagun. “Rhysa’s no danger to me.” Jagun started to protest. Something in the prince’s face stopped Jagun cold. He nodded curtly, and quickly caught up with the rest of the group. Hallyk chuckled. “Something’s come over him. I’ve never seen him so talkative.” Rhysa goggled: Jagun had hardly said a thing at dinner. “It’s quite true,” assured Hallyk. “Compared with his normal habits, he was positively loquacious.”

Rhysa pondered Hallyk for a couple of seconds. “I’m sure you didn’t pull me aside just to talk about Jagun.”

“No. But I did want you to be aware he seems to have taken an interest in you.”

“Jagun? My only experiences with him were as a slave caravan guard.”

“Let’s just say he’s far more human than he shows. I watched him during your auction. What I saw led me to ask him to join the Royal Bodyguards. It takes far more than skill in fighting to be invited. You have to have compassion, and the discipline not to give into it. For a Bodyguard, acts of compassion must be chosen. Otherwise compassion will dictate your actions--not a good thing if compassion and duty conflict.”

Rhysa nodded. For most people, it would not be a problem since they didn’t have to keep someone alive in the face of any distraction. She agreed a good bodyguard should have compassion. Compassion showed an ability to realistically imagine yourself in another position--a necessary skill to out-think an assassin.

Hallyk shook his head. “I’m sorry. We’re getting off track. Let’s go to one of the parlors to talk. I want to sit down.”

Rhysa shrugged. “Fine by me.” Hallyk ushered her into another room with soft but bright lighting.

Hallyk walked to a sideboard. “Drink?”

“Water, thank you.”

As he poured water for her and some kind of amethyst liquor for himself, Rhysa looked around the room. No windows, so this must be an interior room. There were two circles of seats, each anchored by a couch and completed with overstuffed chairs. She made her way to one of the chairs by the sideboard Hallyk was using. She sat and he handed her the water.

She sipped as she watched him choose a chair and sit. For several seconds, he silently rolled his glass between his palms while he peered into the liquid as if he could find the needed words in its depths. Rhysa waited patiently while he collected his thoughts. As she watched him, she noticed again that, unlike most men, Hallyk called forth no fear. If she wasn’t entirely comfortable, she was at least confident.

He raised his head and looked into her eyes. “I know what you’ve been through, at least since you entered the city. I am aware of what happened during the riot. It was one of my agents, in fact, who brought you to House Hermestus that day. I’ve monitored your training and testing. I’ve seen your failures. I’ve seen your successes.

“I tell you this bluntly so when I tell you we need you, you will understand we need the whole you. Not just your training. Not just your successes. We need the woman in the riot as much as we need the woman who did so well on the last test. We need the beaten woman as much as we need the genius you’ve become.”

Hallyk’s voice was soft and painfully sincere. She wanted to let the words, his voice, his eyes convince her, and she found herself gulping her water. “That’s not all, is it.” She made it a statement.

Hallyk shook his head and took a large swallow of amethyst liquid. “You belong with House Korolevsko. You feel it. You are not scared of me or my father as you are with most men. You feel the safety of home. We share similar blood, you and I. Not the same, but similar.” He smiled wryly. “Don’t worry. This is not a ballad. I’m not going to tell you we’re siblings, or even cousins. Nevertheless, we are the same in some ways.” He sighed heavily, shouldering a heavy duty he didn’t want to perform, and lowered his head to stare into the bright purple remnants of his drink. When he lifted his head and looked into Rhysa’s face, slitted pupils stared at her from red-gold eyes.

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