From the Ashes by Miranda Martin

Author:Miranda Martin [Martin, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

"Yeah, right."

"It's true. I've heard it from more than a few places that he speaks with the dragons on a regular basis."

"But still..."

"All I'm saying is that we need to keep an eye on our king. Didn't you think it odd that someone would just give up the throne...?”

I looked over as the conversation faded away, my stomach tight, to see the backs of two young men as they walked away. This wasn't good. Not at all. This made four flocks that I'd visited in the past week where I'd heard such rumors about Sven. That he was too close to the dragons. That his allegiance was suspect. That he rose to the throne only because he made promises at our expense.

I'd dismissed the first rumor, chalking it up to normal political talk. After all, people would always speak of whoever was in charge. It didn't often amount to anything, just talk. A way to blow off some steam or just to find common ground with one another.

But then I'd heard it again.

And again.

And again.

Now it was at a point that it was starting to really worry me. This was exactly how little things became big things.

They started with whispers. And when the whispers were allowed to be, they sometimes turned into something more solid. Something harder to combat. Something that could end in disaster.

Emberich didn't understand that dealing with such things with brute force didn't kill them, but rather pushed them into the darkness where he wouldn't be able to see them fester and grow.

I knew better than that. But something had to be done. We couldn't just ignore them, not when they seemed to be growing rather than dying down.

I thought about that as I flew back to the capital. I didn't know how the rumors started, but I could see how they continued. I hadn't said anything about Sven's relationship with Mia and Ashur. Not about the emails or his phone conversations. Or the meeting...

But I wasn't the only one who would have at least partial knowledge of his relationship with the dragons. Even apart from Sven's inner circle, there were the guards. The staff at the palace. The numerous chieftains and other representatives from various flocks that came in to have meetings with Sven.

There were too many potential roots of the rumors to narrow it down. Not that that would help really. And what were we going to do? Tell everyone they couldn't speak their opinions? That was one of the major reasons Emberich ended up how he had. With his head separated from his body.

No, finding the genesis of the rumors wasn't productive. Sven needed to address the subject of the rumors. Even I could admit the situation didn't look wonderful. I'd had reservations myself, if it came down to it. At the very least, the optics of the relationship were bad. Not good when people were looking for something to pick apart as it was.

I needed to speak with Sven. If he didn't know about this, he needed to find out.

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