The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) by Dan Michaelson (best free ereader TXT) 📕

he focused on me. His gaze was heavy, filled with an expression that left me feeling like I was somehow beneath him.

I ignored it. There was no point in letting the Sharath intimidate me. The king, on the other hand, did.

He was younger than the Sharath, and not that much older than me. When his father had passed, King Dalton was barely twenty, and he had served for the last dozen years, solidifying the kingdom, using the dragons to ensure the stability of the throne. He had wavy, dark hair and a casual demeanor as he sat in his throne, watching Thomas as he approached. He leaned toward the Sharath, whispering something softly, and the Sharath tapped his staff once more.

Thomas stopped.

I almost ran into him before catching myself. I whispered a quick apology, but Thomas ignored it.

“Thomas Elaron,” the Sharath said. He had a hoarse voice and sounded as if he’d been yelling. “You have been summoned before your king.”

“I answered the summons,” Thomas said. “Though I don’t know that it needs to be quite so formal as this.”

“You have answered the summons. You have been given the requisite time to prove yourself. Have you come to us intending to prove your innocence—or your guilt?”

I stepped off to the side, looking over at Thomas.

What was he accused of?

Better yet, what had I gotten involved in?

Nothing. I’d done nothing. Still, I had come with Thomas, and now, because of him, I was going to be affiliated with whatever he was guilty of.

All I had wanted was to better understand my magic, and so I had tried to work with him, hoping that I could learn from him, but unfortunately, that seemed to have been a mistake.

“You and I both know I’m guilty of nothing,” he said.

“We know no such thing,” the Sharath said. “All we know is that you have been accused. We have your word versus another’s.”

I looked over to Thomas and could see him tensing. He made a point of ignoring me.

Why had he brought me here? What did he think that he was doing by involving me in whatever issue he had with the king? I looked from the Sharath to the king. Neither of them paid any attention to me—they were entirely focused on Thomas.

“We both know this was a sham,” Thomas said.

“Was it?” the Sharath asked, taking a step toward Thomas and tapping his long staff on the ground. “We know this?”

“We know I have not done what I’ve been accused of doing,” he said.

“What were you accused of?” I whispered.

The king and the Sharath looked at me. I could feel the weight of their gaze, and though I knew it was a mistake to have spoken, the fact that I was here tied me to Thomas in a way that meant that I had to speak up on my behalf.

“Quiet,” Thomas whispered.

“Who is this?” the king asked, leaning forward in his throne. The throne itself was a dark-lacquered chair, the armrests curved so that they looked like dragon heads, flames coming out of the mouths and spiraling downward. “Who did you bring before me?”

Thomas didn’t look at me. “A student at the Academy.”

The Sharath laughed. “You brought a student from the Academy before your king? What do you think you’re playing at, Thomas?”

“This student has a connection to the dragons. He felt the drawing of the dragons into the forest.”

He looked over to me, his gaze imploring me to speak now.

The king got to his feet. He started toward us, and it felt as if my mouth had gone dry. I wanted to speak up on behalf of Thomas because he wasn’t wrong. I had felt a pulling of power into the forest. I had felt something, but I didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t know if I had any obligation to say anything now. The only thing that I knew was that Thomas had not shared with me his purpose for bringing me here.

“Is this true?” the king asked.

“Sire, I suspect Thomas has picked anyone to bring with him. He wants to deflect the blame from himself, and so he took a student.” The Sharath regarded me for a moment. “And it appears an incredibly old one at that.”

I ignored the Sharath, holding my gaze on the king. “I felt something in the forest,” I said. I glanced briefly at Thomas before turning back to the king. Thomas wasn’t paying any attention to me, so I decided I wouldn’t pay any attention to him, either. I needed to separate myself from him, not dig myself in deeper and bind myself tighter to him “I don’t know what it was, but Thomas had me join him as we flew over the forest.”

The king took another step toward me. “Thomas brought you with him?”

I nodded. “He did. He started working with me a few days ago.”

“This one will be with him, then,” the Sharath said.

I looked over to him. “What?”

“The timing would be right,” the king said.

“What are you saying?” I asked. When neither of them answered me, I turned to Thomas. “What are they saying?”

“Just tell them what you detected,” Thomas said.

“What is going on here?” I demanded.

The king stopped in front of me, watching me. “Are you responsible for my dragons?”

I stared at him. “I don’t know what you’re asking about.”

“Are you responsible for what’s happening to my dragons?” the king asked. “I don’t know how to phrase it any simpler.”

“I don’t know anything about what’s happening to your dragons. I’ve heard the rumors like anybody else at the Academy.” I looked from the Sharath to the king. “People in the Academy talk. There are rumors dragons have gone missing. I don’t know anything about it, but I’ve detected something in the forest.”

“Detected?”

The Sharath took a step toward me, and I felt a faint stirring. It was subtle, but it radiated from him, working along the length of the staff before drifting back at me. Was he a dragon mage?

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