Alexia
When the doors opened, there were only two men around a round table.
Acácio's eyes were fixed on me, the door closed and I bowed to them.
"Your Majesty," I said.
"Let's cut through all the formalities, we have important things to discuss," he said and I straightened my posture, looked at Estevan standing in the middle of both of them and saw the map on the table.
"Tell him, Alexia, what you think of that dragon's attack."
I nodded and looked at Acácio, taking his voice.
"I believe that dragon was sent by General George"
"From Torrem," he said seriously.
"Yes. My agreement with Princess Charlotte on the ship was that I would pretend to be her for a week, long enough for her to run away and marry General George, no one knew her face outside Torrem Castle and they had similar features."
Acaio let out a sound with his lips.
"She didn't want to marry Estevan?"
"No, she was in love"
"Women are emotional"
"Or too rational, I wouldn't want to marry me either if I just followed the rumors I'd heard around," said Estevan, making me bite my lip to hold back a smile.
"What did she give you in return?"
"Freedom" I said to him "A chance to live the way I wanted and for me it was a good deal, so while I pretended to be her for a week, Charlotte renounced her name and an entire kingdom to marry George and live in the shadows, but she made it clear that if I decided to stay in Olimper or if something went wrong, if they discovered my identity she would come after me and kill me"
"So yesterday's dragon"
"I'm not sure, but it looked like George's dragon to me"
Acácio nodded thoughtfully.
"So everything that's happened is your fault"
"Dad..."
"Yes!" I said firmly, "If it was Charlotte's doing, she's clearly declared war on me."
I sighed and looked down at my hands.
"Knowing her as I do, I know that she won't rest until she gets what she wants and that the longer she takes, the angrier she gets." I lifted my face and looked at Estevan, I didn't want to admit that I was afraid that my stay in Olimper would bring war, but I was also afraid that I would leave the kingdom and it would still be attacked.
"So you're the root of all evil, you can't stay in Olimper!"
I looked at Acácio, the tension growing in the room as my heart pounded.
"There has to be another way, getting rid of Alexia is not the solution!" Said Estevan: "One of my dragons is dead and the other, who knows where he is. We only survived yesterday because of her."
"We wouldn't need to survive if she wasn't here," said Acácio, returning to square one.
I wanted to say that I was going to put things right, but I didn't know how.
"We have to find a way to protect ourselves"
"Witches" I said and Acácio looked at me as if I were crazy, I continued "the time I stayed in Zaim I was able to witness their power and ..."
"No!" Acácio let go quickly.
"But..."
"I said no, witches are treacherous beings!"
"Not all of them," I said.
"So you talked to one" He looked me in the eye.
The whole conversation seemed banal, Acácio was a small-minded, closed-minded man with no vision of the future.
"Don't let anyone know or they'll want your head"
"Just as if they knew I was born a maid and not a princess" I said, teasing him, my tension growing, my chest quickening and my blood seeming to boil.
"There's something that might help," said Estevan, cutting us off. He took out of his pocket what looked like a piece of leather and handed it to Acácio "This could protect our army against a new attack."
Acácio frowned, clearly confused.
"What's this Estevan?"
He handed it to me, and what had once looked like cloth became perceptible to me at the slightest touch.
"Dragon skin," I said and looked at Estevan in shock.
His eyes looked gloomy and then I knew that yes, this was the skin of his water dragon.
"The skin of a dragon is the only skin that is resistant to fire and cliffs..." He seemed to have difficulty speaking, yet he continued: "It is more resistant than any shield any kingdom can have."
I put the dragon skin back on the table in disbelief, feeling strange, feeling bad as if I'd desecrated it and Acácio picked it up from the table and put his hand on its fabric, he walked towards the fireplace and lit it, waiting for the fire to rise a little before throwing it in.
We watched as it didn't burn, dissolve or change its appearance.
I still didn't feel right about using the body of a dragon to equip the army, I knew it was a good idea because it would protect hundreds of lives, especially from the attack of other dragons like yesterday, and I knew Estevan's attitude was noble, but it was Acácio's eyes that worried me.
I knew that he was nowhere near as right in his thoughts and intentions as Estevan and I feared that he would desecrate the sacred by turning everything into ruins. I looked at Estevan worriedly and saw that he didn't look happy either, he was serious, his eyes turned to the flames in mutual silence.
"That's it" Acácio smiled broadly, the flames of the fireplace seemed to glow in his eyes. He stood up and hugged Estevan with euphoria: "We're going to revolutionize ourselves, we'll never suffer such an attack again, and it's all thanks to you. You always make me proud, Estevan"
He pulled away, Estevan's eyes not looking excited.
"We'll keep this secret under lock and key and we'll make the army more powerful, we'll go down in history as indestructible and powerful!"
Acácio left the room, leaving me, Estevan and the silence as he closed the door.
"It's a great idea Estevan, if you'd exercise it"
"I know you're thinking it, but I won't let him start killing dragons to strengthen the army!"
"And your father listens to you?" I asked incredulously, raising my voice.
"Alexia, I had no choice, hundreds of people died yesterday!"
"This is no longer a safe place for Silver," I said and he looked hurt by my words.
"He wouldn't do that!"
"Coming from your father, I don't know what to expect"
"We can go to the dragon island, there must be a lot of dead dragon bodies there and..."
"Shut up!" I shouted, interrupting him and feeling my blood boil, I glared at him "I don't know where the dragon island is and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"
A tension grew between us, I looked at the unburned skin over the fireplace and at Estevan again.
"I can't deny that this will save lives" My eyes filled with tears, so this was the side of Estevan that he did whatever it took, this was where his fame came from and the memory of him saying that I wouldn't have loved him if I had met him before. I closed my eyes for a moment, my head was throbbing, everything felt suffocating. I looked at him for a moment and said:
"You don't have to wonder why your dragon abandoned you, there's the answer!" Estevan said nothing, his gaze seemed hurt by my words, I turned and walked away, leaving him alone.