The Hidden Sister | Book 1 of the Dragon Queen Series (BUY ON AMAZON!)

۵ Chapter Three ۵

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Chapter Three
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⌇The Queen's Veil⌇

All eyes laid bare on Ashai as she walked through the village. Ser Topaz, the Honest of the Voiceless Savanna had finally spoken. And now, Ashai's secret was everybody's secret.

Some cursed her name beneath their breath. Others told tales of lies and disbelief. Many were quick to cast their eyes in other directions to avoid her gaze.

Una Fairweather could not match her eye. Ashai desperately longed for a familiar friendly face, but it was not gifted unto her.

She gazed into Ser Topaz' bright yellow orbs, full of pain and regret. "You didn't have to say anything, they needn't know."

"-My Queen, they must know who their rightful leader is." He justified. "I knew the time would come, and you'd be the one to lead the Kingdoms. I raised you as one of the Veil's children, and today you rise again as heir to the Rose Throne."

Ashai furrowed her brows. "You say I am heir to the throne. You say I am heir to the entire kingdom of Aevahaven." She panted with bated breath. "Yet, I know nothing of my parents nor my heritage, nor the Rose Seige that ruined my so-called family." She shook her head. "How am I to make a good Queen, when I know nothing of my kingdom?"

Ser Topaz thought for a moment, and then smiled softly. "But you will. You have much to learn, it's true, but you will learn, and you will rule." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Like your good father before you, and his father before him. You will rule the Dreamfyre lineage."

Ashai looked up into his amber eyes. "You told me my father's house name was Percevale."

Ser Topaz smiled. "It was...once." He glanced down and gently brushed her arm. The sun began to set in the silver sky, and thick snow clouds formed above them.

Ser Topaz took her hand and led her to a clearing, a bit further from their huts. "You are the dragon's daughter."

Ashai furrowed her brows, and snatched her hand away from him. "The dragons...are dead..." She sighed in disbelief.

"-King Elys Percevale," he paused and placed his index and middle finger to his forehead, "may his spirit burn bright in the Enderlands," he cleared his throat, "was a direct descendant of the Dreamfyre and Icethorne lineage. His father, Adaios Percevale married the great Queen Doreah Dreamfyre. Your father was the son of a dragon," he breathed, "and you, are the daughter of a dragon."

Ashai hugged herself, and laughed at his words. "I am the daughter of a dragon?"

Topaz grinned. "Her bright blue blood runs through your royal veins." He gestured to her arm, the cut beginning to scab over. "She rode the sapphire she-dragon Zassa, before the beast was murdered, and thus became the death of the dragons."

"Death?" She frowned.

"-My chocho said the people could not bear to see more bloodshed, and with dragons came war between the two dragon-rider houses." He began. "Some were slaughtered, some fled the capital into Desolace and other areas unexplored. Most of the beasts were killed in the Poison Fang War - where mages of the North, East, South and West all bound together to rid the world of the 'magic-thieves' once for all." Ser Topaz hung his head. "I remember the day the last dragon fell from the sky, burning from the inside out. His wing membranes burned through, as though they were lit cords." He adorned, and shook his head with a deep sigh. "It was a terrible day...I had only seven years."

Ashai felt his sadness, disappointed herself. "So, I was right. The dragons are gone, Ser."

Topaz gave a short smile and gazed up into the sky with a breath of enlightenment. "Five years ago, reports in the West of dragon sightings hounded the Chief of The Queen's Veil - the Dragon Princess hatched three buried eggs."

"And what of them, Ser. How did they die?" She asked, intrigued.

Ser Topaz gazed into Ashai's silver eyes. "They didn't, my Queen. They're still alive."