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“Do you want braids?” Malachi asked her.

“You can make braids?”

“I am two-hundred and forty-two years old. You seem to forget.” He drawled.

“Perhaps because you don’t act your age,” she told him.

So she woke up as the lioness it seemed.

He divided her hair into two sections to make the braid.

“I should probably cut my hair,” she said noticing it had grown too long and was difficult to take care of.

“I like it long,” he said.

“Even more reason to cut it.”

This woman. He knew after last night she would try to resist him more.

“You didn’t tell me you were inventing things again?”

She paused looking up at him through the mirror. “Don’t worry. It is no weapons. Although if you decide to take me as your queen I should make those too.”

He frowned.

“To protect your clan, I mean.” She said. “After all, those weapons were made for protection.”

Remembering her father, he felt a sting in his heart again.

“So now you want to protect my people?”

As if not realizing what she said, her eyes widened slightly.

“Well, if I want you to protect my people, I have to protect you,” she explained.

He knew that wasn’t the only reason now. She had grown to like some of his people but to him, she was still insisting on showing her bad side.

He continued to take care of her hair, knowing about wanting distance himself. If he was so torn with his instinct, he could only imagine what went through her mind. He was after all the one who terrorized her people, he could not blame her for how she felt.

She watched him curiously again through the mirror. Her eyes searching, even more than when he was chained and she was supposedly studying him. At least she was curious now.

When he finished the braid and let it fall among the lower section of her loose hair, he asked for pins. She opened the drawers in the dresser and gave him a few pins.

“Who else have you braided for?” She asked.

He paused, remembering his sister’s chestnut hair in his hands. A thickness settled in his throat and he tried to swallow it. “My sister,” he replied his voice betraying his feelings.

He focused on her hair, but he could feel her piercing gaze through the mirror. He hoped she would ask no more.

“I used to braid my sister’s hair too,” she said instead. He looked up to meet her gaze but her eyes wandered as if recalling something. “The day I lost her, I was the one who insisted we go out. I wanted to help our parents help our people so I took Corinna with me.”

She looked down at her hands, trying not to peel them again. Malachi felt the thickness in his throat grow bigger. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said.

She gazed at him, “that is what they told me.”

“They are right. You didn’t take your sister out to get hurt. You would do anything to protect her.”

“How do you know?”

“Because…” his eyes stung. He would do anything to protect his sister. God! He suddenly had difficulty breathing.

“Because what? If I didn’t take her out, she would be safe now.”

His hold on the pin tightened and his knuckles turned white.

“Maybe. But you didn’t take her out to get hurt,” he repeated, the frustration in his voice clear.

“It is still my fault,” she said.

“It is not! There are certain things in our lives that we can’t control but… we would never do anything to deliberately hurt our siblings. How is it our fault? Why?”

He realized he was getting agitated and let out a deep breath to calm down. “I did not take my sister out to get hurt. She was already hurting. I just wanted her to be happy. Yes, I made a misjudgment perhaps… I don’t know but if she stayed, if I did nothing then she would still hurt. Am I wrong?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Then why… does it feel that way?”

She shrugged. “It just does,” a tear fell down her cheek. She wiped it away quickly.

“It shouldn’t,” he said, looking at her with a frown. “It was not your fault.”

“If I did nothing wrong, then you did nothing wrong too.”

They looked at each other through the mirror for a while then she turned in her chair. She took his hand in which he held the pin, forcing his fingers to open. He looked down realizing he had stabbed himself with the pin. She gently pulled it out with a frown.

“It is enough that one of us has this habit,” she smiled faintly.

Holding his wrist with one hand, she turned to the dressed and pulled out what looked like a napkin with the other.

“It is going to heal soon,” he said trying to pull his hand away.

“Just be still,” she said holding him firmly.

She bandaged his wound with a frown. He knew it wasn’t a beautiful sight to see that he had made a hole in his hand. She tied it up tightly and then he dropped his hand.

She gazed up at him, the blue in her eyes peeking behind her lashes. He had never seen eyes so intense. “I will see you tonight,” he said, feeling somehow exposed. He had not meant to say all of this.

He left her feeling strange like something was lifted off his shoulders. He didn’t feel judged or blamed. He didn’t feel like speaking about it would evoke bad memories for the other person, as he avoided doing with his mother. He had kept it all to himself. But Ravina understood him. Her situation was similar.

Malachi went to the courthouse to speak to his men. Saul was already there, taking care of some matters. He ignored his brother and went further to find his most trusted men. He instructed them to find Corinna.

“Who is that?”

Malachi turned around finding Aaron behind him.

“Ravina’s sister.”

“I already looked for her,” he said.

Malachi blinked surprised. “She doesn’t seem to be with dragons. I have looked through all dragon clans.”

His brother was truly invested in this. He knew he also carried guilt.

“But… while looking, I found that some are working behind our backs. There are attacks on humans.”

“What attacks?”

“Some clans are attacking humans. The humans have skilled fighters now so I couldn’t go out and confirm what villages have been attacked but there are dead and injured dragons.”

Saul came to the hall, with a frown. “Did you know about this?” Malachi asked.

“What?”

“The attacks on humans?”

He sighed with a shake of his head. “I knew this would happen. When you take a back seat, the other clans will take matters into their own hands.”

“And when was it wise to attack humans and possibly lead danger to our homes? Humans are much more developed now. One wrong move and they will find out where we live.”

“I am not saying it is a wise move, but people are frustrated,” Saul said.

“Alright. Let’s stand together on this. People have broken our rules so we need to stand together and show that there are consequences. We can’t make ourselves look weak.” Aaron said.

“Call the messengers and the leaders for a meeting.”

Aaron nodded.

“Not you,” Malachi said, then looked at Saul.

Saul’s eyes burned into his but he didn’t defy him. He was already upset that Zoila thought it was time to go home and left. Being a princess, she wanted to keep some of her dignity and not look so desperate by staying here for too long.

Saul had wanted him to convince her otherwise and ask for her hand but Malachi was not going to do that. Of course, he didn’t tell his brother about his plans of making Ravina his queen when the time was right but Saul had his suspicions.

Malachi left the courthouse and decided to see what was going on for himself. He took a flight. He knew it would be dangerous but he needed to see the evidence if he was going to meet with the leaders. He needed to know what damage they had caused.

Flying as high as he could, he looked and watched the towns and villages, noticing the ones that had been attacked. It reminded him of the days he had caused such destruction.

“You reap what you sow, King Malachi.”

He did pay dearly. That day, he should have not let Ravina’s father walk away. He should have tried for the peace the man wanted. Had he tried harder, then perhaps there would have been no weapons and no war.

Feeling sick and knowing that the sight of this would bring back nightmares, he went back. There were more attacks than he expected. He needed to deal with this.