The Silent Dragon: Children of The Dragon Nimbus #1 Read Online Free

supporters. We will rule this land together, without interference from a weak and indecisive council. My father will be allowed to give us advice. No one else.

CHAPTER 3
    “Y OU DO NOT WANT to be late to this Council meeting, Your Grace,” Fred, King Darville’s bodyguard, said as he poked his head into the royal office.
    “Yes, yes. A moment more. I need to dispatch this letter . . .” Darville signed the document with a flourish, folded it, and lifted a candle to drip wax for a seal.
    “Your Grace, the twelve lords of the Council of Provinces gathered half an hour ago,” Fred reminded him.
    Darville sighed as he pressed the great seal into the puddle of wax. “Fine, fine. Will you take this to the courier waiting by the river gate?” He held the paper out to his longtime friend. Fred had been with him for almost twenty years. Since before his marriage. They’d fought rebelling lords, rogue magicians, and invading armies together. They had few secrets.
    “Her Majesty Queen Miranda of SeLennica?” Fred raised his eyebrows. “Shouldn’t this go to her ambassador?”
    “Not this time.” Darville didn’t want to explain. The entire court would know soon enough that Coronnan’s neighboring queen had asked his advice and negotiation in a betrothal between her daughter, the Princess Jaranda, and the heir to the crown of Rossemeyer—Darville’s nephew by marriage.
    There were only a few royal children in the newest generation who could be used as pawns in the ever-changing game of alliances and trade agreements. Many of them were too closely related by blood to marry and beget children together.
    “I’ll see you safely in the Council Chamber, then I will deliver this,” Fred said. He turned the letter over and over, examining the seal for imperfections.
    “No need. I’m safe enough in my own palace.” Darville gulped the last of the beta arrack in his cup. Dregs of the barrel. He nearly spat it out, but the alcohol warmed his gut nicely. He could face the lords now . . . maybe one more cup. He reached for the decanter and found it empty.
    Oh, well. He’d manage.
    “The Council Chamber is on the way to the river gate.”
    Darville grabbed the magic-imbued glass Dragon Crown from its mount beside his desk. The Coraurlia, forged by dragon fire, designed by master magicians, twinkled in the light filtering through arrow-slit windows, sending many-hued swirls twining throughout the glass. He frowned at the heavy symbol of his authority. His head ached just thinking about placing it on his brow. He hadn’t had enough to drink to dull that pain.
    Fred frowned at the empty cup as deeply as Darville frowned at the crown.
    He lifted it into place and felt a slight jolt of energy flow through the top of his head to the back of his eyes, a not-so-subtle reminder of the protection against magical attack that the crown gave him.
    Then he buckled on his dress sword and hastened out the door, Fred close upon his heels.
    A broad stone staircase led downward from the center of the landing outside his door. A narrower set of steps continued upward to the family apartments along the far wall.
    The angle of the sun peeking through the narrow, eye-height windows told him that noon approached, rapidly. He was more than late. In nearly twenty years of ruling Coronnan, Darville had never missed a Council meeting. Today, if he was lucky, the twelve lords would still be there, waiting for him.
    He stepped lightly down the middle of the worn staircase, not bothering with the railing on either side. Almost running, he felt as if he flew a-dragonback, the wind of his passage tugging at his queue beneath the crown.
    “Your Grace, slow down,” Fred panted, several steps behind the king. “I’m not as young as I used to be.”
    “We’re the same age!” Darville called back, not slowing in the least.
    “My point exactly.”
    Darville’s light indoor shoes hit each new step firmly. Five steps, ten more to go. Six,