Dragons, Dystopians, and Denial

Elias nodded slowly, trying to understand. Jerica took orders from the king to assassinate people, but she felt safe with Aerik. Did that mean she ran away? Was that Femola was ruthless?

"Were you still taking orders from the king when with Aerik?" he asked gently.

"No." Jerica smiled. "Technically, I was Aerik's prisoner."

Elias had to do a double-take.

"Prisoner?" he repeated in disbelief. "That..."

He scratched the side of his head with scrunched eyebrows like he was trying to piece it together.

"I mean... that doesn't seem like much of a prison to me," he said quietly, then realized this was a stupid thing to say, so he quickly added: "I assume you didn't mind it?"

Jerica laughed.

"Honestly, it was the freest I've ever felt in my life." She smirked at him. "I technically wasn't free to leave... but I also didn't really want to leave, either."

Elias pursed his lips in thought. "How long were you supposed to be a prisoner there?" he asked. "And is that why... everyone attacked you? Because you're supposed to be held prisoner?"

"Kind of," she agreed. "There's... a lot of rumors surrounding why I'm so good at fighting. Most people think I have a curse upon me, and we've convinced them all that I'll explode when I die... and no one has the guts to test if that's true. So, Femola tried to execute me by feeding me to the dragon. He's thought for weeks that I was dead, but really, I was just Aerik's prisoner."

Elias paused to take this all in. So this was how Jerica ended up at Aerik's. Femola caught her and tried to feed her to the dragon thinking she would explode upon death. Instead, she escaped the dragon and was Aerik's "prisoner."

There were a lot of implications. This meant today was potentially the first time Femola realized she was indeed still alive. Through his muggy mind, he tried to think of what this meant for her. For them. Their journey.

"So no one knew that you were with Aerik?" he asked slowly.

“Derik knew... and The Guild. But no one else,” Jerica agreed.

"Derik..." Elias repeated. "Is...?"

“Oh, sorry. My uncle. The good one. He apparently knows Aerik and they decided it would be safer for me up there with him. So I didn’t argue... much.”

Elias nodded. "How long were you planning on staying with him before you left with me?"

“We didn’t really talk about it.” She shrugged. “I... might honestly go back when we’re done in Crevon. That’s what Aerik meant when we were leaving. I CAN go home or I CAN go back to him.”

"Home," Elias repeated slowly, then turned to face her. "Do you have a home?"

Jerica prickled. “I’m not a stray dog. Of course I have a home. I already told you I live at the palace.”

"The palace," Elias repeated in thought, then paused to make sure he didn't say anything stupid. "But is it really a home, though? Do you want to live there?"