“So you don’t think I ask too many questions?”

“Of course you ask too many questions. You can’t help yourself. It’s in your blood.”

“It is?”

“You take after your grandfather. Ailean constantly asked questions. As if he were shooting one arrow after another. However, unlike him, you actually expect a response. And wait for one. That’s how you make that talent your own.”

Brannie came in from the back and sat on the table, her legs immediately beginning to kick Celyn’s chair. Something he’d always found annoying.

“Looks like we won’t have to deal with Annwyl again if she tries to go off and kill Elina’s mum.”

“Why not?”

“Éibhear’s Mì-runach friends are here. Their whole purpose is to run headlong into inevitable death. They can handle Annwyl.”

“You do remember that Éibhear is your cousin?” Bram asked.

Brannie grabbed a piece of fruit from a bowl on the table, took a bite, shrugged.

“Gods, this family,” Bram sighed.

Kachka walked toward the Great Hall doors, this time without her buffalo. She was covered in blood.

“Oy,” Celyn called out to her. “Do you need a bath? One of the servants can get that for you.”

Kachka stopped, stared at Celyn, her mouth slightly open. “Lakes and streams all around this property and you make your workers fetch water so you can clean yourselves?”

Celyn and his sister said together, “Yes.”

Kachka turned toward the servants busy cleaning up the blood she’d left on the floor. “You do not deserve this treatment,” she told them. “Fight your oppressors! Stand up for yourselves!” When the servants only stared at her, Kachka’s lip curled in disgust. “Sheep!” she accused. “All of you are sheep!”

“Mmmm,” Brannie sighed. “Sheep. I am a bit hungry.”

“You’ll ruin your dinner,” their father warned. “And we’re having that feast tonight.”

Princess Agrippina entered the Great Hall, and Bram stood and immediately went to her side. “Princess. I hope your room is to your liking.”

The Iron She-dragon nodded. “It’ll do.”

Brannie rolled her eyes, always a bit put off by the Western dragon. But even Celyn had to admit, the female could be a bit of a snob.

“Excellent. And where is King Gaius?”

“Oh, he’s out at the training fields, helping that one-eyed Rider.”

Celyn’s back snapped straight at that and his sister chuckled, so Celyn reached over and shoved her off the table.

“Ow! You mean bastard!”

Using a ladle, Elina poured from the large cask of water outside the training ring into the battered pewter mug that Gaius Domitus was holding. Well . . . she tried to pour water into it. Instead, she ended up pouring water onto Gaius Domitus’s foot.

“Horse gods of hell!”

Gaius Domitus laughed. “It’s all right.”

“It’s not all right. I was looking right at it!”

“Here’s a trick.” He took her hand and wrapped it around the mug. “Before you pour anything, you hold the cup in one hand and then you pour with the other. By touching the cup, you allow your remaining eye to better gauge distance.”

She ladled up more water and tried again. Some went down the side of the mug but most made it in.

“See? My suggestion is that you practice grasping things. Cups. A sword. Your bow. Door handles. Anything. The more you use that ability, the easier it will become. Don’t be surprised in the beginning when you miss things. But over time—”

“I know, I know. Over time, I will adapt.”

“You will. I promise. I won’t say it will be easy. And it can take a bit longer than some think it should, but before you know it, you’ll be able to compensate for the loss. Now, I leave in the morning for a meeting in Kerezik while my sister is staying behind for her safety—”

“I will kill anyone that looks at her.”

“No, no. That’s not necessary.” The dragon smiled. “I only mention my trip so that when I get back we can practice more. I promise you, Elina, this will all become easier.”

Elina let out a breath. “Thank you, Gaius Domitus. I truly appreciate all you have done for me this day.”

“Well, Elina Shestakova of the Black Bear Riders of the Midnight Mountains of Despair in the Far Reaches of the Steppes of the Outerplains, it was my eternal pleasure.”

“Pleasure?” Celyn said, suddenly appearing beside them. “What pleasure? Are we having pleasure?”

Gaius Domitus smirked, but Elina had only one question. “What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Just checking on you, seeing if everything is okay. You are my guest.”

“I am?”

“You are now.”

Celyn studied the Iron Dragon King standing before him. He was missing an eye, but Celyn had already heard from most of his female kin that the black patch the dragon wore “only makes him more attractive.”

Something that Celyn had never cared about . . . until this moment.

“Everything going all right?” Celyn pushed.

“Everything is fine. Gaius Domitus has been showing me how to handle missing eye.”

“Great. Great. I see he also got you an eye patch.”

“No. That came from crazed She-dragon with hair like fire and no sense of boundaries.”