The Dragon King’s Baby

“Eckhart sent me to kidnap your baby and kill it.” Various reactions crossed the faces and escaped the mouths of those present. “Without the child, and with the devastation of losing her, your marriage would have disintegrated and Addie would have gone back to Lomena.”

“You understand you’ll have to pay for your crimes,” Seathan told her. “You will not be allowed to return to Hexe.”

“I don’t want to go back, Seathan. I’ll admit that I’m a bad person. I’ll even admit that killing your child posed no moral problem for me. But I do not want to die, and that’s what will happen to me if I return to Hexe.”

“You’ll spend several years in the dungeon here,” Conall told him. Addie opened her mouth, and he raised a hand to her. “I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, Addie. But she really didn’t do anything.”

“She was going to kill my child!”

“But she didn’t. We are not barbarians, Addie,” Seathan reminded her. “She will go to prison for the majority of her life.”

Addie stared at him for a moment, their eyes locked. Finally, she took a deep breath and nodded her head. “Too bad. I’ve read about burning a witch at the stake, but I’ve never seen it.”

Gert cleared her throat. “Ah, little princess, you would blanch at the first sight of blood.” She looked at Poppy. “You’ve been away from your people for far too long, fairy.” With that, she disappeared. Poppy’s eyes widened, Addie screamed in frustration, and Seathan yelled for the guards.

“I’m so sorry! I don’t know how she did that!” Poppy cried, near tears.

“Poppy, don’t worry. She’ll never be heard from again,” Seathan soothed. Addie put her hand on Poppy’s shoulder and squeezed, showing her she supported her.

“What now?” Conall asked Seathan.

“We set up a meeting with George and Helene and discuss this, make a plan. Eckhart must be handled.”

*****

George was furious. He sputtered curses and yelled incomprehensibly when Seathan, through a video conference call with Helene, explained what had happened and who was responsible.

“This is inexcusable! Something must be done about that mad wizard! Soon!” George finally calmed enough to speak logically.

“I agree, George. He has gone too far,” Helene added. “But I do not want a full scale war. How do we get rid of him short of war?”

“Assassination.” George smiled wickedly. He waved his hand dismissively. “Although the idea is pleasing, I know it’s not a viable solution. But I do like to pretend.”

Seathan chuckled quietly. “Back in the old days . . .” he mused, stroking his chin as if considering the option. George laughed with him, and the two men carried on a brief history of assassinations that Helene did not join. She was lost in thought, frowning and playing with a lock of her hair.

“Gentlemen,” she interrupted. “I have a plan that will dispose of Eckhart without killing him or starting a war.” The two men leaned in closer to their screens to listen carefully. After she finished, all were in agreement. Her plan would work beautifully.

*****

Eckhart smiled as the three other royals walked into his throne room. According to Helene, who had spoken with him a week ago, the other two wanted to discuss a peace treaty that would last for centuries. She even told him they were willing to bargain with him to get him to agree to the terms.

Gert had never returned even though Eckhart never heard any rumors of a witch breaking into the dragon shifter’s castle to kidnap the child. He wondered what had happened to her. His most recent and strongest assumption was that she had not been able to go through with it and had disappeared to avoid his wrath. Smart woman, he mused as the trio reached him.

“Welcome, Royals!” he gushed as he rose. “Let’s retire to my private chambers, just the four of us, and we’ll work out this peace treaty.”

Seathan spoke up. “Actually, Eckhart, we prefer to remain in the throne room with witnesses.”

“Witnesses?” Eckhart asked. He looked around and realized that the audience balconies were slowly filling. And if he wasn’t mistaken, these were not just wizards and witches, but weres, humans, and dragon shifters as well. “What is this?”

“Eckhart, we’re here today to discuss with you your abdication of the throne,” Helene said, her voice carrying over the noise of the crowd, which hushed instantly.

“Abdication? I have no such plans and cannot be forced to do so,” Eckhart told them, his face reddening as his anger began to grow.

“You’re right, Eckhart, we can’t,” George said to him, stepping forward and to the side to reveal a young woman holding a toddler behind him. “You’re fellow wizards and witches can.”

“Sybille? How did you get out of the dungeon?” Eckhart blustered.

His daughter glared at him. “The witches and wizards have spoken, Father. They no longer wish for you to be their king.”

“And who is to stand in my place? You? You’re nothing. You have no power,” Eckhart claimed with a sneer. Sybille handed the child to George, who tickled his chin. Eckhart yelled, “Do not let that human touch my grandson!”

“You have no right to make such demands,” Sybille said as she moved forward. The other royals stepped back into the crowd and watched.

“I am the king. You are nothing but a woman who married a were,” Eckhart insulted.

“You forced that marriage on me, waited for me to care for the man, and then you killed him,” Sybille reminded him. “And you are no longer the king.”

“I am the king!” Eckhart screamed. He withdrew a wand and pointed it at his daughter, screaming a spell.

Sybille deflected the spell with a thought. “You just tried to kill your own daughter. What have you become?”

“More than you will ever be, traitor,” he screamed again. He flicked his wrist, but again, whatever Eckhart had meant to happen did not.

Sybille smiled. “Father, you are finished. You can’t beat me, and the witches and wizards of Hexe will back me.”

Eckhart looked at the other royals. “Helene, we have been allies for over a decade. Will you let this harlot dethrone me?”

Helene moved to stand beside Sybille. “I’m sorry, Eckhart. You’ve made some very poor decisions in the last year, decisions that show me you are no longer a man who can rule.”

“What decisions?”

Helene tilted her head and arched an eyebrow. “Eckhart, it would be best if the circumstances of Gert’s disappearance stay between the royals.”

Eckhart sneered at her veiled threat. He looked around at the audience and saw not one friendly face. His attention returned to his daughter. “Sybille, this isn’t the end of this. You may have won this day, but I will return and I will reclaim my throne.”

“You can try, Father. You will fail.” Sybille looked at the guards behind her and nodded. They approached Eckhart, who lifted his wand. Sybille removed it from his hand and caught it as it flew through the air. “Father, you are being stripped of your magic for the time being. You are a danger to yourself, your family, and this kingdom.” She murmured a spell, and Eckhart screamed as if he was in pain and dropped to his knees.

As the guards lifted him off his knees and escorted him from the throne room, Eckhart screamed insults at all of them. He spoke spells that didn’t work, and before the door could close behind him, he had been reduced to sobs.

Sybille, who had stood erect and strong throughout the confrontation with her father, now allowed her shoulders to slump and a tear to slip down her cheeks. Helene held her in her arms as she cried silently for just a moment. She lifted her head, wiped her face, and took a deep breath. Helene murmured to her, and she nodded her head.

Helene’s voice interrupted the quiet mumblings of the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, Queen Sybille of Hexe.” Cheers erupted. Seathan and George smiled at each other as the two women held hands and smiled broadly at the audience.

*****

Addie was waiting impatiently with a sleeping Kalea in her arms when Seathan returned in the middle of that night. She rushed to him so he could hug her and Kalea in his comforting arms. “I’m so glad you’re back! I’ve been worried sick about this since you left.”

Seathan kissed his sleeping daughter’s forehead and his wife’s lips. “I missed you, my love.”

“Did everything go according to plan?” Seathan had explained Helene’s idea to Addie before he had left.