MALACHI II

The air was crisp and cool. The night sky was lit by a waning moon that looked like a slowly blinking eye. The soft winds carried the smell of the sea with it. The breeze made the flowers and bushes around us rustle gently. I would have called it relaxing if not for my mother. She stood next to me, droning on in her loud voice. “And by this time next week we- Ky, are you listening?”

I shook my head and sighed. “I’m sorry Mother.” I turned my eyes away from the sky and stifled the urge to yawn. “I’ve been exhausted from the recent workload.”

My mother made an annoyed noise in the back of her throat. “You’ll have plenty of time for rest after your wedding. You need to stop avoiding your duties.”

I slouched and turned away from her. I knew what was coming next.

“Ky, you are the first-born son of the Bloodtide royal family. You will be king after we step down.”

I interrupted her this time. “When will you step down?”

She crossed her arms. Mother was old. She had been ruling as queen for almost two hundred years. For most of that time she was alone as well. I couldn’t imagine her stepping down any time soon. The throne suited her and tradition dictates she doesn’t have to stand down until her three hundredth year of her reign. I had at least a hundred more years to be free from the title of king, and the horrible amount of work that came with it. The throne seemed more distant to me than the moon to the earth. I pushed off a lot of my work for that very reason.

“It isn’t only about that, Ky,” she snapped.

Again, calling me Ky. I would like anything but that. I wasn’t a boy anymore.

“It is about being responsible and taking an active role in being a prince. Soon the princess will be here and you will have to present yourself to the kingdom with her,” my mother continued on.

The Princess. I had never even met her, and I would be marrying her by next week. I know I would not be afforded a true love story like a normal person. Marriages for royalty were exclusively political. My mother told me time made people fond of each other, but I wasn’t so sure. I had already experienced fondness for another. I ended it very recently as well. If my mother found out I had an affair before I was even married, she would have my head on a pike.

“Ky, are you still there?” Mother clapped her hands loudly to get my attention.

“Yes,” I sighed.

Footsteps behind us grabbed my attention though. I turned to see my younger brother. Jeremiah was a messy looking boy, his hair unkempt and his eyes bright and looking for adventure. “What are you doing out here? Lunch is almost ready.”

“Are you bothering that kitchen boy again?” Mother placed her fists on her hips. “Don’t badger the staff, they’re very busy.”

“I don’t get in the way,” he protested. He shook his head as if to dismiss the subject. What he held up caught both of our full attention. Mother gasped loudly when she saw it, her hand covering her mouth.

I almost didn’t recognize what it was. It looked like a grooved stone. The opal-like surface shone in the moonlight with brilliant blues and pinks. When he turned it in his hands, it changed colors like a kaleidoscope. The thing took my breath away. When I realized what it was, I almost gasped like Mother. It was a dragon egg. There weren’t many around after the great wars. Years of fighting with humans brought the species almost to extinction. Their deity was Soare, the god of fire. His animal was the mighty dragon. A long ago arranged marriage brought the egg as a gift. My mother inherited the ownership of it after her mother passed.

“That egg is older than both of you combined. Where did you get it?” she asked. She reached out to touch a gentle hand to the sparkly surface.

“I was snooping,” Jeremiah admitted. “It was in an old passage not many people use anymore.”

Mother shook her head. “In other words it was where you shouldn’t have been.”

“I want to try to hatch it.” Jer’s eyes landed back on the egg. He had always had a tender spot for animals. I think raising a dragon would suit him. But it would be impossible.

I told him as much. “A dragon hasn’t hatched outside of Soare’s sanctuaries in decades. You’d have to travel for days to get to one. If the egg would even survive.”

Jeremiah gave me a dirty look. His pupils turned to thin lines making his eyes seem even more harsh. “Don’t be so negative all the time. All you do is think about what can’t be done.”

Mother shook her head and took the egg from her youngest son. “I agree with your brother. I would tell you to take it back to where you had gotten it, but I know I can’t trust you. Ky, take this and put it somewhere Jeremiah can’t get it. When the wedding is all done, maybe we can talk more seriously about trying to hatch it.”

Jer sighed and threw his hands up. “You trust him more than me?”

“You’re only sixteen. Watch your mouth young man,” Mother scolded. “Now come on, we have things to do.”

As our mother grabbed Jer’s ear and pulled him along he gave me one more nasty look over his shoulder. I made a face at him and tucked the egg under my coat. You never knew who you could trust in a vampire court. I wouldn’t want anyone undesirable seeing such a valuable item. Mother looked over her shoulder just in time to see my stupid face as well. She frowned and before going back inside she called, “Don’t forget to-“

I cut her off once again. “Yes, I won’t forget to prepare for the Princess. I know I don’t have a choice.”

My mother shared an incredibly sad, knowing look with me. Her green eyes held all the kindness and understanding they could. She was part of a political marriage just as well as I will be. With that she gave me a nod and continued to pull my little brother behind her. I sighed and turned back to the pale half moon. I prayed to the goddess to give me strength.