“Yes. I’ve noticed that about you.”
“You, peasant,” a young voice said from the bottom of the stairs. “Remove yourself from my way.”
Kachka and the king smirked at each other before Kachka turned and stared down at Dagmar Reinholdt’s eldest daughter, Princess Arlais. She wished she could say Arlais treated her this way because she sensed her mother’s intense dislike of Kachka, but no. Arlais treated anyone she deemed beneath her this way—which was pretty much everyone.
The nine-year-old waved at Kachka. “Move!”
“You have plenty of space. Go around, demon child.”
“Isn’t it bad enough we have you barbarians here? My aunt allows it, but you don’t need to be sitting there in front of our home, making the rest of us look bad.”
“And one day,” Kachka replied, “the peasants here will rise up . . . and destroy you. And I will laugh.”
“Damn, Kachka,” Gaius laughed.
“What? Should I lie?”
“She’s a child!”
“She is spoiled brat who is lucky no one has put pillow over head while she sleeps.”
“Do you think you frighten me?” the girl demanded. “Have you met my mother?”
“I quote your mother.”
A large shadow fell over the girl and wide gold eyes stared up at a battered and bruised—but somehow still smiling—Zoya Kolesova.
“So they managed to keep you alive, Zoya Kolesova,” Kachka noted, but the disappointment in her voice had the dragon tapping her thigh.
“Be nice,” he muttered to her.
After rolling her eyes, Kachka lifted her hands, wiggled her fingers, and cheered, “Yay, you are better! We are all so happy you are not dead.”
Zoya nodded, pleased with that ridiculous display.
“You are huge!” the little princess exclaimed after making her way up the stairs. Now she walked around Zoya like a side of beef. “Look at her,” she said to Gaius, who she probably felt was on her level. “She is peasant perfection!”
“Princess Arlais,” the Iron dragon gently chastised. “It is never polite to—”
“You will be my bodyguard,” Arlais ordered a grinning Zoya. “You will do my bidding and protect me from all dangers.”
Zoya stared down at the little girl until she finally exclaimed, “Look at her, Kachka Shestakova! Look at this tiny person.” She leaned down so that she could look the girl in her face. “How old is she? Three? Four?”
“I am nine.”
“Nine?” Zoya gasped. “How tiny you are! My girls at nine are ten times your size!” That’s when Zoya, who had never understood the word “boundaries,” suddenly grasped the child around the waist and lifted her up. “She is like toy! I shall take her back to one of my young granddaughters. She will be her tiny playmate!”
“Put me down, you oaf! You vicious beast! Unhand me!”
Gaius bumped Kachka’s leg with the back of his fist and jerked his head at the tiny Southland royal struggling with Kachka’s giant comrade.
Kachka sighed. Loudly. “Must I?”
“Yes.”
“Zoya, put her down.”
“But my granddaughters will love her!”
“She is princess here and although I am sure her mother will happily give her over to you—”
“Oy!”
“—her father, a dragon, will definitely not. He seems to like her, though none of us can understand why.”
“Vicious cow,” the little girl hissed at Kachka.
“Keep that up and I will let Zoya’s granddaughters chain you like stray dog in street. Now, Zoya, put her down!”
Zoya dropped the girl to the ground and they all watched her tumble down the stairs, rolling head over ass.
“So,” Zoya asked, forgetting the child since she could no longer have her as a pet, “where are others?”
“At some pub in town. Head north . . . that way.” Kachka pointed.
“A pub, eh? They must be celebrating my amazing recovery!”
“Are you going to join them, Zoya?” the dragon asked.
“No. I have something else to do first.” She patted the travel bag strapped across her shoulders. “But do not worry, Kachka Shestakova. When you are ready to leave, I will be by your side.”
“Oh . . . yay.”
Zoya walked off and Kachka crossed her eyes at the dragon. “How can anyone be that . . .”
“Oblivious?”
“You didn’t even try to help me!” the little girl snapped as she got to her feet. “And look at my dress. It’s filthy! I will have you executed!”
“Go!” Kachka ordered her. “Before I have you skinned and gutted like that bear we will have for dinner.”
The child screeched and stormed off, up the stairs and into the Great Hall.
“It seems . . . unwise to make that one an enemy,” the king noted in that sensible tone of his.
“She is child.”
“Child today. The beast that rules these halls tomorrow. If she has her way.”
“I would kill her myself before I let that happen. Now come.” She studied his face. “You need rest.”
“Are you taking care of me, Kachka Shestakova?”
“Someone has to. The male dragons here will ignore you. Dagmar Reinholdt will try to use you. And Annwyl the Bloody will try to take your head. So come,” she said again, grabbing his arm and helping him to his feet. “Let’s get you some sleep. Just few hours.”
Kachka led him into the Great Hall even as Gaius protested, “I think they made a room for me in the building where they put visitors.”
“The rooms here are giant. I could put most of Zoya’s big-legged and big-armed sisters in the queen’s chamber and I doubt the queen would lose her giant bed. Why these Southlanders waste so much space I will never know. Now come.”
Kachka led Gaius to her way-too-big bedroom. With a yawn, he sat down, rubbing his hands across his face and neck.
“Are you sure you are all right?” she felt the need to ask. She reached over and gently stroked the marks still on his neck from the torc.
“I’m fine. Because I’m breathing. And that’s thanks to you.”
Kachka folded her arms across her chest. “That is thanks to me. And yet I still do not have your kingdom.”
“You have my everlasting loyalty.”
“The loyalty of a one-eyed rebel king who is allied with two mad queens?” She shrugged. “I could definitely do worse.”
They smiled at each other just as the bedroom door swung open. Kachka, her hand on the hilt of her sword, turned at her waist and looked at Celyn. “What?” she asked when he just stared at her.
“Everything all right?” he asked, dark eyes moving back and forth between Kachka and the king.
“Well,” the king replied, “she is being rather difficult.”
Kachka faced Gaius. “I am difficult?”
“I have needs and you’re not fulfilling them.”
“Why aren’t you fulfilling them?” Celyn wanted to know. He was new to his job as . . . something or other for the Dragon Queen. Kachka didn’t know or care. But, like her, he had much to prove.