Dragon Blood [Alonia's Queenslayer #2]

2

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Eli stood nervously on Rileigh's right, while the king and queen of Notrhl stood on his left. Her hand was placed on the hilt of her sheathed sword.

Her official position was Ril's personal guard, and although the title was mostly a formality which allowed Eli to roam around the do whatever she wanted, since someone like Rileigh didn't really need a guard, she did have some duties which put her a bit too close to the center of attention.

She was wearing some elven armour at that moment, and she had to beg Ril to help her get into it after she had been struggling for half an hour. It was some honorary, high-level guard armour which had little useful properties and was mostly for show; it was shaped weirdly and laced with gold, and the steel it was made of was so thin that Eli was a sure a butter knife could pierce it. But it was, luckily, very light, and although it looked heavy and impenetrable, it wasn't too uncomfortable. A full-face helmet came with the rest, but Eli ditched it because it was way too big and she looked ridiculous in it.

Ril's position was a bit weird, being both a prince and a commander, but since the King had made a miraculous recovery which allowed him to do all but fight, Rileigh fell back into being a commander and left the nobility and politics to his father, so he wore the same sleek black armour he wore the first time Eli visited Notrhl, back when she was a guard for the human king.

"Eli?" The elven king said, surprising Eli. She leaned across Ril to look at the king and give him a quick bow. Now that she had spent so much time around them, she began noticing the similarities between him and Ril. The nose that crooked slightly to the right, the way their foreheads crinkled when they concentrated... there were many similarities which seemed obvious now. But after he had become ill, the king seemed to have aged a hundred years. Wrinkles covered his once youthful face, and he seemed a lot more tired overall. The queen wasn't much better off; apparently, she had spent all of her days nursing the king back to health, and lost countless hours of sleep to stress and worry, which was obvious by the state of her face. Makeup could only hide so much. She was still one of the most beautiful creatures Eli had ever laid eyes upon, despite all that.

"Yes, my king?" Eli said, and the king gave her a kind smile.

"You can drop the formalities with me, child, I told you to call me Eylon," the king scolded.

"Not in front of the guests, sir," Eli said, although she would never allow herself to address a king who gave her so much so rudely. She owed him her life for taking her in and allowing Ril to drop all those titles and rights onto her head.

"I know you already know this, but try not to start a fight with the Reveran king. You know how much the trade routes will benefit us, not to mention everything else..."

Eli chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll leave the fighting for when he signs his name."

She pulled back into her place before the king could protest, and Ril nudged her lightly, a grin on his face.

Ril told her on several occassions that he had never really considered king Eylon his father, the circumstances couldn't allow it, but Eylon always treated him like a son. The queen was surprisingly accepting of Ril, as well, and he appreciated them both. And it was very easy to grow fond of the king, he was always kind, generous, and accepting. He taught Eli to play chess, but she still never managed to get even close to beating him.

Eli left her thoughts aside as a carriage appeared among the trees on the other side of the bridge. It felt... strange, to be standing on the other side now. Welcoming her kin to her new land.