Cursed Bones: Sovereign of the Seven Isles: Book Five by David A. Wells Page B

you was the only way to save them from defeat … and the only way to get to your ships.”
    Zuhl shook his head again. “Your motivations escape me. I don’t understand why you would risk your life for the safety of your subjects—their place is to serve you, your place is to command them, not die for them.”
    “You have it exactly backwards, Zuhl,” Abigail said. “My place is to serve them, to protect them from the ambitions of tyrants like you.”
    “I don’t comprehend you at all,” Zuhl said. “Things I don’t understand make me uneasy.”
    “Good,” Abigail said, punctuating her statement with another bite of biscuit.
    He glared at her for a moment before composing himself again and beginning a new line of questioning.
    “You mentioned Ixabrax. Why didn’t you kill him? Why set him free? How could you know that he wouldn’t turn against you the moment you cut his collar?”
    “I didn’t,” Abigail said with a shrug, “but I trusted my instincts and it paid off. He sank one of your ships for me.”
    “You gave up your one chance to strike on a hunch?”
    “Yeah, I guess I did,” Abigail said. “I met a dragon once before … she was a magnificent creature. It turned my stomach to think of her in a collar like Ixabrax, so I cut him loose.”
    “You take great risks without due consideration of the consequences,” Zuhl said.
    “I’ve heard that before … from my father no less,” Abigail said. “Tell me something, why are you doing this? What do you want?”
    “I want what everyone wants, immortality and the worship of every living soul,” Zuhl said.
    Abigail stared at him, mouth agape for a moment before she burst out laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she said, still laughing.
    “No, I’m not,” he said, looking somewhat offended by her impertinence. “Don’t you want to live forever?”
    Abigail frowned and cocked her head to the side for a moment. “Huh, I hadn’t really thought about it. Death is just a part of life, part of the natural cycle. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to die, certainly not anytime soon, but I’ve always known my life would end someday.”
    “What if it didn’t have to?” Zuhl asked, leaning in again. “What would you do for the chance to live forever?”
    “I don’t really know,” Abigail said.
    “I do,” Zuhl said. “I’ll do anything I have to.”
    “I guess that’s the difference between us,” Abigail said. “There are some things I love more than my own life.”
    Zuhl looked down at his plate, shaking his head again.
    “Why did your brother commit the bulk of his forces to defending Fellenden?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly.
    “Because your barbarians were killing innocent people,” Abigail said.
    “But Fellenden is nothing to you or your brother,” Zuhl said. “Phane is your enemy. He’s attacked you again and again, yet you declare war on me when I’ve done nothing to provoke you. Again, I don’t understand.”
    “It’s really very simple, Zuhl, you were hurting innocent people and we had the power to stop you, so we did.”
    “When doing so puts your own people in jeopardy? Even now, Phane is building his strength in Warrenton. When the spring thaw comes, he’ll overrun your forces and his Lancers will be free to wreak havoc throughout northern Ruatha, all while your forces are mired in Fellenden.”
    “Alexander’s looking at the bigger picture,” Abigail said. “If we’d permitted you to build your fleet, we wouldn’t have had a chance in the long run. He made a sound strategic decision with full knowledge of the potential consequences.”
    “Perhaps,” Zuhl said, nodding slightly. “At least such an explanation is based on reason, more so than some of his other decisions. Where is he now?”
    “I wish I knew,” Abigail said, putting her biscuit down. “He was going to talk to a dragon, last I knew, but he could be anywhere by now.”
    “ Tanis ? The bronze dragon who rules in