Silver Dragon by Jason Halstead Page A

feel like, to be helpless and watching the people she loved being hurt around her. Forced to watch while they were killed and desecrated. Patrina found her tears falling onto Caitlyn's hair while she tried to soothe her.
    "What's this?" Namitus asked in a light tone as he took a seat on another bench.
    Caitlyn stiffened and pulled herself away from Patrina. Patrina turned to Namitus and glared at him. "Don't make me regret the things I said to you when you were laying all but dead."
    The rogue grinned. "Too late, you already said them. I'd know better."
    Patrina scowled at him.
    Caitlyn rubbed at her cheeks and offered them a small smile. "You two act like you're brother and sister even if you're not."
    "Too many years of him sneaking about and always getting underfoot," Patrina said. "He grew on me whether I wanted it or not."
    "I'm like a creeping vine like that," Namitus admitted. "So what are you two doing?"
    "Talking. It's a girl thing," Patrina said. She turned back to Caitlyn and said, "It might not seem like it, considering Namitus here, but we don't just let anybody into our hearts. My father said he would treat you as one of his own and he meant it. It's no secret anymore that I love your brother and have every intention to make him my husband one day. The girl in Portland, Aleena, may be competition for me but it can only help that I'm embracing you as a sister."
    Caitlyn looked back and forth between Namitus and Patrina. Namitus nodded his encouragement and added his rakish grin to it. "This is so confusing," Caitlyn admitted. "Not the part about Alto. I understand that. I'm pretty sure he likes you, too. More than Aleena, I mean. No, I'm confused about my place in all of this. Why make any special consideration for me?"
    "We'd never have heard of you if it weren't for your brother," Pat rina conceded. "But that doesn't make you any less of a person. I don't know how it is in the Kingdom, but amongst the Kelgryn, every person has worth. Every person is important. We treat one another as equals because the seas don’t care who sails upon them, just as a dagger can be held in a hand accustomed to knitting or fighting."
    "This is crazy," Caitlyn mumbled.
    Namitus caught her eye and nodded. "It is," he added, "but if you're going to be crazy, you'll be in the finest company here."
    Caitlyn let loose a laugh and turned to Patrina. "Um, okay, I guess. What do I need to do?"
    "Well, first we need to teach you how to act like a lady. Not any silly Kingdom nonsense, I mean what it means to be a part of Kelgryn nobility."
    Caitlyn's mouth fell open. "What?"
    Patrina smiled. "Mordrim has sent word to the south about the mines. He believes the dwarves will rebuild them. My father wants to rebuild the city at the entrance to the mountains, Rockwood, but in order to do that, he needed a man to run it. He chose your brother. Alto will be the Thane of Rockwood."
    "That's the same as a baron in the Kingdom," Namitus interrupted.
    Caitlyn's eyes widened further.
    "Yes, I suppose." Patrina glared at Namitus for interrupting her. "And that makes you a lady of the court of Rockwood."
    Caitlyn's eyes could get no wider ; instead, they rolled back into her head and she slumped over in a faint. Patrina yelped and grabbed her, stopping her from falling off the bench.
    "You're supposed to be winning her favor so you can woo her brother, not kill her," Namitus joked as he hurried over to help stabilize the poor woman.
    Caitlyn moaned as she was propped up on the bench. Her eyelids fluttered open and she looked about the room, and then focused on Patrina and Namitus. "This is really happening?"
    "The good and the bad," Patrina agreed. "But focus on the good ; the bad will sort itself out."
    Caitlyn nodded. "I believe you."
    "Good, now let's go. There's lessons to be learned and Lady Kenna will want to see how you're doing."
    "Lady Kenna?" Caitlyn asked with a smile. She stood up and followed Patrina. "She's been so nice to me."
    Patrina