A dangerous secret

Glaedr's POV:

'Egan and Eldar have now been at the Royal Residence for almost two months. Egan spends most of his days exploring, he never seems to tire of the pleasure of flying. Eldar likes to spend his time training, he trains haphazardly but he trains hard all the same.

He spends his nights training when everyone is asleep. During the day, he always seems to take care to free up all the time he needs to spend time with Egan. He also got into the habit of freeing up the times when the queen returns home so he can chat with her and enjoy her company. They both seem to treat Isalya with respect and don't dismiss her from their interactions.

If he didn't fall asleep during my sleeping hours then during those two months so he only slept two nights. He seems to use meditation to train his mind and control his magic and let his body rest.

I told you he's training haphazardly, but his control of magic has reached an astonishing level. He uses magic in a very raw way and without any subtlety but with his control and the amount of energy he has, he could well become the most terrifying magician since the disappearance of the gray people.'

Oromis remains silent and takes the time to analyze my report.

'If he is so serious, if he genuinely enjoys the queen's company and treats a simple servant with respect then why is he so hostile towards the dragon riders?'

'You mean, why is he so hostile towards us after I nearly killed his mate and you threatened to separate him from Egan?'

Oromis had the good sense to grimace but replied 'You know I'm not talking about that, they already seemed to resent the Dragon Riders to the point that Egan's dragon magic kicked in to break away from our caste for good . '

'In fact, he definitely seems more hostile towards you than me… They detected my presence as soon as I started following them but it never seemed to bother them.'

Oromis frowned 'His behavior is not rational, I can't understand this kid...'

'We don't have all the data to understand his reactions Oromis and now we can be sure he won't open up to us. They clearly seem friendly towards the elves. He appreciates the queen and it seems mutual. Although he is uncomfortable in the company of elves, he has so far displayed an impeccable attitude. From what I could see they are very easy going and seem respectful to anyone who doesn't offend them.

The two times the four of us met, Eldar was defensive, cautious and wild. But when they are with Isalya or the queen's entourage, the two are always in good spirits, cheerful, teasing and playful. When the two aren't on the defensive, they show a whole different face.

Contrary to what we feared, his refusal to submit to the authority of anyone is not at all due to his arrogance but really to a pure desire for freedom.

The queen was right Oromis, they are worth taking the risk to make an exception, both are open and rather humble for princes. They respect anyone who does not upset them or cause any trouble. You should have listened to the queen, now we can't even train Eldar and if he comes to meet Galbatorix, he won't have a chance to survive. Your banishment from Eldar to the training he should have received may cause my prince to die.'

…

'You have made your choice but for my part I will train Egan, he is really the last prince of my race otherwise the dragon magic would not have reacted and supported his declaration. You forbade the knowledge of dragon riders forever in Eldar but I can still train my prince in the knowledge of dragons. The queen will see to instructing Eldar in view of his status as a prince, his intelligence and the potential he displays every day.'

Oromis sighs for a long time and the concern and the regrets can be read on his face.

'I admit that I shouldn't have acted like this, I took his demands as an insult and I was sure that he could only have bad reasons for acting like this. I should have been more patient and took the time to better understand his behavior so I could guide him…

The queen was right Glaedr, I was blinded by my impatience to finally do my duty and my emotions took over my reason. I may be getting too old and senile for our Glaedr mission.'

'Stop complaining Oromis! Accept your mistake and do your best to guide the next dragon rider. We will have to train the one who will be chosen by the egg carried by Arya. It may be a good thing that The Old Princes is neutral, they will still be trained and I am now sure that if Galbatorix were to attack us, they will be on our side to face it and defend our home. '

'You're right, maybe it's better this way, we can train a dragon rider and if The old princes befriend ours, maybe they will end up helping us in our fight.

Not long ago we pray for a decent dragon rider to train and tomorrow we will soon have two dragons in our camp. All is not so bad in the end. I will apologize to the princes when the opportunity arises. It may not be too late to act so that one day we can help each other.

There are, however, things that remain mysterious about them. For example, they didn't want to tell us who their parents were, it's not insignificant… Moreover Egan said that they would give us a reminder of what it feels like to be the target of the dragons' wrath ... He did say dragons in the plurals.'

…

'There is something I must tell you Oromis... When emotions overwhelmed Eldar after you threatened to separate him from Egan, I sensed within him, a faint amount of the same magic as we have, we dragons. That's probably why he has so much energy.'

Oromis dropped his cup in surprise.

'I'm not saying he's a dragon! He is indeed a thoroughbred elf. I thought long and hard about what could have explained that… For me, there is only one possibility. He must have been blessed by dragons… And when I say blessed by dragons, I mean many dragons and mighty ones!

I don't understand how this is possible, but that's the only explanation I could find. The title of The old princes validated by dragon magic proves that they are both princes.

However, dragon kingship died out at least 2,500 years ago. So Egan must have been in the egg state for at least that long. No egg has ever remained so long in this state, it is necessarily a magical intervention.

I think Egan and Eldar were magically bonded by the dragons and maybe with the help of the elves as well. I'm also sure that only a king could have taken the liberty of influencing the fate of another royal bloodline dragon.

If I'm right Eldar was blessed over two millennia ago by the combined efforts of the dragons and their king. Considering his age, they must have blessed his mother since the queen confirmed that he is just under sixty, so Egan was doomed to remain an egg until he was born.

Still if I'm right, his existence is very special since he not only received such a great blessing from my people but he was also associated with a prince of our race which never happened. They are surely destined to do greater things than we can even hope to accomplish...

Oromis takes her head in her hands and I feel her mind fill with remorse.

'Peace Oromis, if I'm right then they have a destiny to fulfill, we must avoid influencing them too much. Let us do what we can to help them and we will continue to prepare for our task.'

'Glaedr, even if what you're saying seems plausible, it's also completely far-fetched! If you have to define probabilities on the chances that your theory is correct then what are the chances that you are right?'

'There are too many clues that coincide… The draconic magic present in an elf, the affair between two ancient princes, the draconic magic that responds to Egan's statements, the draconic wards of Eldar the fact that no one seems to know where they come from and that they justify their silence by the existence of secrets too dangerous to be revealed...

There can't be so many Oromis coincidences, I'm pretty sure, no magic other than dragon magic could accomplish such a thing'

I feel Oromis' remorse at having lost such a student when he realizes that I must be right and I do my best to console him...

-----

Islanzadí's POV:

The past two months have been refreshing. It has been almost thirty years since I felt this feeling of peace.

Eldar and Egan are from a company like I have never known, they are simple, transparent, funny and incredibly endearing, they have qualities that only our children show before gradually losing their naivety and their purity to adapt to our society.

Yet they are far from naive and innocent, especially Eldar who has one of the sharpest minds I have ever encountered of any age. He has also shown that he is capable of savagery and courage to make a dragon rider pale.

I never thought I'd get attached to this insolent little one when we first met. Yet they are always there when I get home and they know how to relax me and make me laugh after a day's work. They know how to listen to me seriously and have never shown the slightest desire to take advantage of the opportunities that the friendship of the queen that I am can offer. They are just happy to spend time with me.

They are the first I have met who have no desire to take advantage of me. In general people who come into contact with me do so for two things. Either to enjoy the benefits of having a good relationship with the queen or out of desire for my body as a woman. Of course, no one approaches me just for that, but there is always a part of them that seeks to take advantage of me, even though that part of them varies in intensity, it still exists.

They were perhaps the first people outside of my family to appreciate my company and to accept me without ever expecting anything from me in return.

As I explained to Eldar, the elves are masters in the art of only showing others what they wish to show and to do this, you must also know how to analyze the behavior of others. As queen, I had to push this mastery even further, there is almost no one who can hide their intentions from me. We all have micro-expressions, bodily gestures, and many other things our bodies do to express our emotions and intentions. We can learn to reduce them as much as possible, but we cannot erase them entirely.

It's been a long time since I learned to read everything that the body expresses in order to have the upper hand in political debates. It's also how I could see that Eldar was honest and I was able to trust him when he can't speak the ancient language.

Thanks to my ability to observe I could quickly see Eldar's interest in my body and even if I am used to being desired, to feel this from him quickly made me feel uncomfortable and I even thought about avoiding him but strangely he never wanted to woo me.

I watched Eldar all the more to understand this phenomenon and I could see that he shows the same interest in almost all other women. What's even weirder is that he's popular and he knows it, he'd have no trouble finding a partner who wants to engage him intimately. However, he showed no interest in being intimate with anyone. Eldar overflows with desire to the point of not being able to prevent himself from ogling all the women he meets, but he has never shown the slightest desire to go further.

Glaedr's spirit came to meet mine and snapped me out of my thoughts.

'Good evening Glaedr, what brings you to me? I would like to ask you a question, if you will enlighten me.'

'Good evening queen Islanzadí, I was able to observe The old princes during their stay and I think I have discovered something. I've spoken with Oromis and we think you absolutely need to know. However I can answer your question before that.'

The seriousness of his tone alerted me and for a moment I was afraid of what he had to tell me.

'Very well, I am not reassured by your introduction but I will take the opportunity to ask you my question before you give me your report.'

I then explain to him my observations of Eldar's lust and the remark he made to Egan telling him that it was his fault that he was subjected to this emotion.

'How could Egan influence the lust of Eldar?'

Glaedr blinked several times and a silence settled. When I was starting to lose patience he finally replied:

'I don't know if I should reveal such an inconvenient fact but since we won't be able to guide him, I suppose you should know. Dragons live in clans and young males are subject to strong lust during their youth. The females are not affected so much by this lust because they are less numerous than the males and they are the ones who choose their partner.

To come back to our case, it has already happened that young dragons sent on missions suffer these heats to the point that it affects their dragon rider. When there is no dragon present and the young dragon has no way to vent her frustration, she generally transfers herself to her dragon rider who must deal with this frustration.

Egan is in a novel case, he has never seen a dragon female, so he can't even feel lust. That's not to say that this lust isn't in him, all young males are subject to it, only that he can't feel it or express it. Eldar is now in contact with females...

I'm not going to lie to you, it's not encouraging, Egan is not about to meet a female and this lust will increase. If for the moment Eldar masters himself perfectly, it will become obsessive as the years go by. It could even become dangerous…'

….

'Thank you for answering me Glaedr, I will talk to him about it to find a solution. I'm listening Glaedr what did you want to tell me?'

He summarized their discoveries, the content of their discussion and the moods of Oromis.

'Thank you for bringing me this information Glaedr, we absolutely must do everything not to divulge its secrets. I will come to visit you tomorrow and we will do whatever it takes to protect these secrets.'

'Thank you Queen Islanzadí, if we managed to learn so much and find out what he hides so quickly then we can doubtless fear that Galbatorix will one day find out too. He won't stay hidden from Galbatorix's sight forever, and when he finds out about him, he'll investigate him. He may take a long time to discover his secrets since he will have no proximity to him to observe him. But no matter how long it takes, there will come a day when Galbatorix will understand the truth and the day he does, he will do anything to make it bend to his will.'

It was with a savage expression that frightened her advisers that the queen replied.

'They will not become Galbatorix's slaves as long as there remains a living elf in my army to defend them!'

A mental rumble answered him.

'My prince will not become a slave to anyone as long as there remains a breath of life in me!'