Estevan
The doors opened and I saw my mother and father next to the three councilors sitting at the table. My mother stood up hurriedly when she saw me and came towards me.
"You told me you wanted to see me, so here I am," I said.
"My son, how are you?" My mother asked as she approached, examining me with her eyes from top to bottom.
"I'm fine, as you can see, there's no need to worry, last night was just a scare."
"Not a scare, we'll find the person responsible for poisoning you and we'll kill him in the courtroom."
"Courtroom?" Charlotte asked, clearly unfamiliar with our culture.
"I wanted to talk to you, just you," she said, glancing at Charlotte before turning back to me.
"Charlotte is my wife now, she's welcome wherever I am."
"All right Estevan, I need to rest," said Charlotte as she left.
I took a step towards her, but my mother pulled my arm, I looked at her confused.
"Why are you so cruel to Charlotte?" I asked impatiently. "Ever since she arrived at the castle, you've been picking on her."
"She's not one of us, she's from Torrem, we know they hate us."
"You should have thought of that before sealing a marriage deal, I wasn't in favor of it, but now that she's here she's my wife and you may not like her mother, but you'll have to respect her as the future queen of Olimper."
The tension between us grew as my mother stared at me.
"I didn't think you'd get so attached to her, it's only the third day."
"Did you want them to be at war?" I asked her seriously.
"No, but I wish it wasn't so much about the emotion - she's the princess of Torrem. Have you ever thought that she might be hiding secrets? What do you know about her so far apart from what's under her legs?"
"Mom..."
"Listen to me!" "I didn't get to the position of queen by being naïve, your father chose me because I was the best, your wife was chosen in enemy territory, she was raised to be their leader, don't you think your recent poisoning is strange?"
"There's no way it was Charlotte, I didn't even get out of bed while we were eating, but until I got to the bedroom that's the problem."
"All right, it wasn't her, but now is supposed to be the moment you're trying to get to know her, don't dive in headfirst or you'll lose her and you're the future ruler of Olimper, you need to be as rational as possible. If you see anything strange..."
"Enough, Mom!" I asked harshly, interrupting her. "This is all madness, but thank you for worrying, I'll be rational, but you'll see that there's no reason."
"If there aren't, I'll be the first to apologize to Charlotte.
I looked at her surprised, my mother wasn't someone to apologize to, I'd only seen her do it three times."
I nodded.
"Now your food will go through two royal tasters," said my father, approaching us.
"All right."
"We have to discuss Zaim."
"Later, I'm tired now, I think it was the fever." I was already leaving before I even waited for their approval.
"You may be on your honeymoon, Estevan, but if anything happens in the meantime, you need to be prepared," said my father.
"We well know that all the other kingdoms didn't dare attack us," I said, turning around. "We've already discussed this, all the hypotheses, we're preparing more weapons in case the king of Zaïm is dumb enough, but before his ships even get close to the coast, my dragon will destroy them."
"Your Highness, if I may speak," said the advisor Marcelo to me, and I looked at him, remembering that I wasn't alone in that room with my parents, but that there were three advisors as well.
"Go ahead, Marcelo."
"The dragon riders are falling and rising every day, we can't count on the strength we have, it's still too little! Zaim's army is bigger, if they get just one more dragon they could be equal to or even stronger than us."
"Marcellus is right," said my mother. "You killed the prince of Zaim Estevan and the king won't forget it!"
Benjamin's death was something that brought back deeper memories, and at the mention of it I felt my blood boil.
"Did you want me to leave him alive?" I asked, looking into her eyes.
"No, actually I'd like them all to die, but the truce we made was necessary so that both kingdoms wouldn't collapse."
"Kingdoms... kingdoms... that sounds so cold."
"It's the weight of carrying the crown," said my father in a firm tone of voice. "You also need to learn what it's like to carry it, to think of your people rather than yourself, rather than your family..."
"You talk as if what I did was wrong" I said dismissively and glared at him "Esmeralda must be turning over in her grave right now."
"Don't talk about Esmeralda," my mother said angrily. "What we're talking about isn't about that, it's about a possible war that could explode, it only didn't explode because we controlled you!"
I looked at her with disgust.
"I should have killed everyone, now there's this stain on our family and my sister..." I stopped talking and swallowed, feeling my chest tighten "If you're afraid, know that I'm not. Let the war break out, I'll be ready to defend the kingdom and you with my own life, I'll be the one in front, but don't touch Esmeralda's name again because I know you would have left her to die, maybe it was your negligence that I didn't arrive in time."
"Don't say that!" My mother said, seeming to lose her breath.
"Take your words back now Estevan!" My father said and I looked at him angrily.
"Where is she now?" I questioned them and looked at the counselors.
You sit with these men and decide whether we're still useful or disposable and say that everything is in the name of the greater good, everything is for the kingdom, but Esmeralda could be here today, you don't want her to be!"
I turned my back and left them talking to themselves, calling my name while in the background only silence could be heard. I crossed the corridors furiously and when I came to the first window I let out a scream, venting the anger I was feeling.
I climbed up to the window, preparing to jump when he approached, and so I did when he got very close. I took a firm hold of his hardened, scaly skin and gave it three squeezes.
"Good boy, now take me to Lentroz."