Dragon Flight (3 page)

“Caden?” she called as she approached him.

He looked up, his eyes bleary from the strain of studying. “Izzy? And Zorin?” He stretched and yawned loudly as Zorin took the book from him.

“Ancient history huh?” Zorin said as he glanced at the embossed cover. He frowned as he skimmed the page Caden had been reading. “Idiots. I’m not mentioned at all.”

“It was hundreds of years ago,” Caden replied as if the man had gone mad.

Zorin snapped the book shut with a sudden finality and a disgusted shake of his wrist as he dropped it haphazardly onto a nearby table. The hard thud it made caused Isabelle to cringe. “That doesn’t make whoever wrote it any less of an idiot. I was there. I should know what happened.”

“You were?” Suddenly Caden was sitting up much straighter as he eyed the man with renewed interest.

Zorin seemed to brighten under the boy’s curiosity. “Yes. I was. I—”

“A story for another time perhaps? I’d like to speak to Caden in private,” Isabelle cut in. They both had mirrored looks of disappointment. “Oh grow up,” Isabelle told Zorin as she brushed past him.

She could tell by the smile Caden was trying to hide that Zorin was most likely making faces at her behind her back which sent a pleasant warmth of happiness through her at their ability to play with each other in a way she never had with anyone else before.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Isabelle asked him, making sure to keep her voice light.

Zorin came to stand next to her and shrugged. “Sure I do. I’m the Lord Batal and the Feeorin prince and the Dark Prince and the ruthless scourge and whatever else the people of this world decide to call me.”

“Why isn’t bothersome old man on that list?” she asked him. She tried not to crack a smile, but as he leaned toward her, pressing his nose to hers, she couldn’t help the smile that came over her.

“Saucy wench,” he teased back.

“Meddlesome fool,” she replied, her breath a warm pant on his lips.

She saw the mirth in his eyes and knew he was smiling, too, even if she couldn’t see it.

“You—”

Caden’s snort quickly cut her off. “Are you two going to kiss now?” he joked.

Isabelle’s face flamed. She had been right there. She had wanted to. And yet she had no idea how close she had really been to capturing Zorin’s mouth with hers. For his part he seemed wholly unaffected by their almost kiss as he gave her a sheepish shrug and turned away from her.

“You have languages now, don’t you?” Zorin asked as he met Caden’s teasing gaze.

The boy quickly nodded and pulled another large book from a nearby shelf. On his way back to the chair, he grabbed a roll of fresh parchment and a pot of ink.

Isabelle watched her brother closely, looking for signs of his illness returning, but he looked strong with a healthy glow. Though he was still much smaller than other boys his age and he did need to eat more.

“Stay with him, Isabelle, attend the lesson with him,” Zorin told her as he walked toward the door. “All lessons take place in this room and his tutor should be with you shortly.”

Isabelle balked. “I don’t need language lessons. I’ve had tutors since I was a little girl.”

Zorin gave her a wide eyed grin. “
Das nu talin crindos tin
,” he told her, his voice beautifully deep as his tongue formed each of the words as if caressing them.

Isabelle didn’t completely mind the shiver that his voice sent down her back. She shook of the feeling and frowned at the unfamiliar words. “That’s—”

“Angelus,” Zorin told her with a nod. “All of our most sacred texts are written in this most ancient of our languages. You’ll need to learn it as queen.”

“What’s that mean?” she asked, her tone softening as she saw his point.

Zorin grinned at her. “That you’re a silly little girl if you think that you know everything.”

Isabelle narrowed her gaze at him. “I am not silly and I’m certainly not a little girl.”

His grin instantly widened. “Is that so? Somehow I think you lie.”

Her mouth hung open and her cheeks went red. “What?” she sputtered.

“See you later,” Zorin said, waving goodbye to her as he left the room.

Isabelle flopped angrily into the nearest chair.

“He likes you,” Caden said as he fought back his laughter.

Isabelle shot him a dark look which only made him laugh harder until he was clutching his side. She shared a small smile with him and leaned back in the chair, letting its lavish comfort fold around her.

“You like him, too,” Caden said to no one in particular as he inked his quill and began jotting down notes onto the parchment.

Isabelle released a weary sigh. “You’re too young for this conversation,” she told him.

Her brother chuckled at her. “Probably. Though I’ve been hearing that quite a bit lately. So what’s wrong? I know lots of the details about what happened with Faolan so why can’t you love Zorin?”

“Who told you about Faolan?” she asked.

Caden shrugged. “I’ve been picking up tidbits for months. He chose someone else, right?”

Isabelle scrubbed her hands down her face. “Something like that,” she grumbled.

“So if you’re ready for someone new, why not Zorin?”

Isabelle glared at her brother’s matter-of-fact bossy attitude. She hadn’t seen him for months and he had grown so much in that time it was as if she were speaking to a completely different little boy. And the person sitting next to her was not quite so little anymore and he seemed to understand so much more than she gave him credit for. It was unnerving to say the least.

“That wouldn’t bother you at all?” she asked him.

Caden shrugged. “You’ll be queen, right?”

She nodded slowly.

“So you need a king. It’s a stupid rule. But Zorin wouldn’t be bad. He’s not mean at least.”

She laughed quietly. “I need a little more than just
not mean,
little brother.”

He grinned evilly at her. “Like sex?”

Isabelle shot up, sputtering at him, her cheeks bright red. “You…”

Caden’s grin turned sweet, but didn’t slip from his lips. “I hear things.”

Isabelle grumbled as she sat back down. “You sneak is what you do. And stop talking like that. You’re far too young.” She sighed. “And you’re right. To be queen I do have to get married. But Zorin isn’t the only available man in the world. Amalthea’s having a party in a few days to give me a chance to meet the rest.”

“I still think Zorin’s the best,” Caden told her quickly.

“Then you can marry him,” Isabelle said. Caden rolled his eyes, but said no more as his language tutor, a tall man as thin as a rail with a pencil thin mustache and the fluid grace of a crane walked into the room. He eyed Isabelle curiously, but said very little to her as they got started.

Half an hour later Isabelle was bored and growing restless. She saw the lines of strain around her brother’s face and it only caused her ire at the man to increase as he continued to push Caden although he was obviously struggling. It was during one of the times that she was glaring at him that the man turned to her and caught her. Unashamed she merely stared him down.

“Do you think you know enough not to participate?” the man challenged her.

“No, I just don’t respond well to tyrants,” she growled at him.

“Little girl—”

“Princess Isabelle Falcone of Nuer and soon to be Queen Isabelle of Feeorin,” she corrected him, delighting in the look of horror that drained his face of color. “You’re the best or else no one would have let you within a hundred feet of my brother. But you’re also incredibly strict and harsh on him.”

“Well if he’s too stupid to keep up then he hardly needs to be here,” the man said haughtily.

She growled at him as she stood up and pushed up against his chest, invading his space and making him visibly uncomfortable.

“Izzy—” Caden gasped at her, horrified.

“Let my brother breathe a little and leave your attitude outside of this palace,” she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “It’s not welcome around us. And if you can’t do that, then neither are you.”

The man didn’t miss the threat in her voice and was wise enough to take a few steps back.

“Class is going to be short today, Caden. Come along and you can show me these horses you are learning how to ride,” she said as she took his hand in hers and pulled him from the room. Behind them the tutor stared dumbfounded after them.

“I expect an apology from you tomorrow morning or you’ll be finding another child to terrorize,” Isabelle called over her shoulder. “Show me everything you love about this place,” she said into Caden’s bright face. He nodded and smiled up at her.

“I didn’t like him much anyway,” Caden said.

Isabelle nodded. She hadn’t either. “But we’ll have to find you another tutor.”

Caden shrugged, unconcerned.

“How do you say
horse
in Angelus?” she asked him, quizzing him.

Caden led her outside through a small door. “
Tulin
.”

“How about
I want to wear the dress over there
?”

Caden bit his lip as he thought. “I think its…
Es lontin weslas carras noncel
.” He sighed. “I’m not sure though. I don’t like the language. It’s hard and no one even speaks it anymore. And it makes my tongue feel funny since the words are so different.”

“You’re doing well though,” she told him. “Don’t be discouraged just because one tutor was hard on you.” She ran her fingers through his soft hair with her free hand.

“Over here is where the scholars take me to read outside on nice days,” Caden said as he pulled her to a nearby bench shaded with large willow trees. Isabelle’s breaths suddenly became weak, short gasps. She slowed his pace and leaned against one of the nearby trees.

“Do you need to rest?” Caden asked, turning toward her with wide eyes full of worry.

Isabelle smiled and smoothed the hair back from his face. “I’m alright, darling. But a rest would be nice. I’m sure it’s just the excitement of the past few days. I’ve been through a lot recently. We both have.”

Caden nodded and pulled her toward a small group of stone outbuildings. As they approached, Isabelle could smell the horses, leather and hay. Obediently she followed Caden as he slipped inside the smallest of the barns. It held no more than four horses and only one horse, a deep bay gelding, was there. Caden greeted the horse easily, the horse reaching his large elegant head over the stall door to receive a pat on his cheek and a light rub between his ears.

“Are you sure we should be in here?” Isabelle asked him as she eyed the gelding warily.

“Of course. I come in here all the time. This is Zorin’s private stable,” he informed her with a wide smile.

Just as she was about to suggest that they leave, and right away at that, the wide double doors at the end of the barn were pulled open. Bright sunlight washed in revealing Zorin and the bright chestnut stallion at his side. His loose tunic hung low around his hips, disguising the muscles underneath, but making his long legs and the muscles there much more apparent.

“Zorin,” Isabelle greeted him, warily putting herself between him and Caden. Just in case he was upset at them for invading his personal stable.

He stopped short at the sound of her voice and his eyes narrowed sharply. “Isabelle. And Caden, too. In my stable. While he should be in his lessons.” His voice sounded tired and a bit suspicious of them.

“We’ll be leaving now then. Caden was just showing me around,” Isabelle said, quickly grabbing Caden’s small hand and backing away towards the doors behind them.

“The man was mean. Izzy took care of him. How was he today?” Caden asked, unaware of the tension between them.

Zorin noticeably relaxed and patted the stallion’s gleaming red neck. “He is handling much better. Barely any stiffness I’d say. In fact, I was just coming in to get him ready for a ride him in the arena. Would you like to watch?”

Caden eagerly nodded and moved around his sister. “Yes! Can I, Izzy?”

She nodded uncertainly, but she knew that she couldn’t resist Caden when he was excited about something. She simply loved him too much.

“What happened to the horse?” she asked Caden as they watched Zorin tie the stallion to a low wooden bar in the barn.

Zorin handed Caden a brush and they began to groom the already gleaming stallion. “He stumbled during a run, came up lame and had to be rested for the last month,” Zorin answered without looking at her. “Today’s the first day that he’s been well enough to ride.”

She eyed the large stallion as it seemed to dance under Zorin’s careful eye while he brushed it. “How often do you ride?”

“Daily.”

Caden pulled gently on her sleeve, pulling her attention back to him. “He’s very good. Queen Amalthea says that he’s a natural at it.”

“Is that so?” she asked him without taking her eyes from Zorin’s back as he ran a comb through the horse’s long mane. “And how often have you seen him ride?”

“I’m his riding instructor. For an hour every morning and afternoon we ride together,” Zorin answered for him. “Caden’s picking it up quickly. His hands are steady and he has a gentle touch.”

Her brother beamed at the compliments and moved towards the horse.

“Now tell me how the man was mean?” Zorin asked her.

Isabelle bristled. “He was too forceful. I didn’t like him.”

“He called me stupid,” Caden popped up helpfully as he brushed the dirt from the horse’s flank with a soft brush.

Zorin’s eyes darkened. Beside him the horse seemed to notice his shift in mood and danced lightly. A soothing word from Caden though had the large animal calm again. “Did he now? Well, we will have to see about that. I assume that you threatened him sufficiently?” Zorin asked her.

“I told him he wouldn’t be welcome back in the palace with that attitude,” she told him with a nod.

Zorin smiled at her. “You’re too soft. I’d have threatened him with his spine shoved down his throat.”

Isabelle gasped at him. “Caden’s a child! You can’t talk like that around a child,” she chided him.

Zorin rolled his eyes at her and turned back to the horse.

“Where are your wings?” Isabelle asked him, curious.