"No! Don't touch me!" I yelled at Murtagh when he tried to help me.
"Amarantha, what's wrong?" he looked at me like I was crazy.
"How could you do it?" I stared at his eyes.
"I didn't have time. It was the only way to stop Nasuada's helpers from attacking us." he said.
"But send them her head?" I cried "No! That's what crazy people do! That's what…monsters do!"
"You're overreacting." he said "Look, I saved your life. I killed Nasuada even I didn't want to! Her helpers could have killed us all…but I managed to scare them away."
"Couldn't you do it…I don't know, differently?" I said.
"Why do you care?" he said "Well, I guess I should have let them kill us all…if that would have made you happier?"
I stared at him for a moment, still sitting on the floor. The pain was fading away a bit, but I knew it would be back as soon as I moved. Maybe he was right. Why was I feeling so bad about it then?
Nasuada seemed to be a good woman when I first met her. But that was before Murtagh. Oh. That didn't sound nice. Would I go mad after all of this? Maybe. But then again, Murtagh was probably in love with her at some point. This was harder for him than for me.
But he did it all to save me. That meant much. It really wasn't time for making panic about that tiny little detail. The Empire was without their queen and Murtagh was still the king. We had more important things to worry about.
"I'm sorry." I said "I guess I was overreacting. But now I know you won't give up the idea of being the king."
"You're right." he said "I made my decision."
"Right." I sighed. This made perfect sense. The king could only be a person everyone is afraid of. And who's more dangerous than Dragon Rider who killed his own wife? Of course, no one had to find out she tried to kill me.
"I didn't plan it." he said "But it ended up being very convenient. But there's something I have to ask you."
I managed to get up from the floor slowly, letting him take my hand.
"Yes?" I said.
"I want you to be my wife and stay with me." he said "Despite me being the king."
"I've told you my opinion about that." I said. He took my hands and looked deep into my eyes.
"Amarantha, I assure you I won't let anything happen to you. And this is something that I want." he said "Maybe, for a second, I wanted to do it for wrong reasons but now I'm sure…"
I glared at Gerald who was standing in the corner of the room, watching our show silently. Somehow I was sure he said something to Murtagh about this whole situation. He wanted Murtagh to be the king.
"Why?" I asked Gerald, moving away from Murtagh.
"What?" he looked puzzled. I couldn't really tell was he just pretending or not.
"You know what." I said accusingly.
"No, I don't." he said casually.
"Okay, play the stupid! Why do you want Murtagh to be the king?" I said.
"Because that's what he is." Gerald smiled.
"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow "Didn't you think how dangerous that position is?"
"It's not more dangerous than not being on that position." he said "Do you really believe the enemies would leave a Dragon Rider alive?"
"But why would they want to kill him if he's not the king?" I started to feel tired again, but I couldn't let this go.
"You really don't understand anything, do you?" there was something strange in Gerald's voice. I would say he was making fun of me.
"No, I don't. Enlighten me." I said. He was making me angry.
"The leader of the Empire has to be powerful. It's just how it works. People won't listen to someone who doesn't have the power." he said "But since there is no one more powerful than a Dragon Rider…everyone who wants to rule will have to kill the Rider to prove himself."
"Oh." I said "But if Murtagh is the king…what about me and the kids?"
"You'll stay with him." he said "As a queen or not. It's your choice."
"But if I go with him…and become a queen…" I swallowed hard "Then everyone will know Murtagh's weakness…me. I can't even protect my mind!"
"I told you I won't let anything happen to you." Murtagh put his hands around my waist and I jumped a bit because it still hurt no matter how gently he hugged me.
"I would just distract you from your other duties." I said quietly.
"You don't have to be the queen." he said "I can hide you anywhere you want…"
"No." I shook my head "I don't want to live in the shadows. Besides, people already know about me…They would never believe I left you…or they would be suspicious."
"She's right." Gerald said "You can't hide her. Just like you can't hide your son."
"I don't want you to show our son to the people of the Empire." I looked at Murtagh.
"But I want to do it. I want everyone to know I have a son, not like…" he suddenly stopped.
"Like what?" I put my hand on his face but he moved away from me.
"Nothing." he said.
"No." I said "They already know that so you don't have to show him to them."
"But they need to see him so they would believe." he said "They don't know were those just rumors or not. There have been many things told about us."
"Just because you want to be different from a particular person, you don't have to act stupidly." I said.
"I'm not acting stupidly!" he was getting angry.
"I won't let you to endanger our son." I said "Be the king…but leave us out of it."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" he frowned.
"I want a house somewhere safe far from everything." I said "You can rule in your castle, but after you finish your tasks come back to us, like coming home from work."
"But the king doesn't have a fixed timetable!" he said "People might need me."
"Then I don't know what we will do." I said.
"Amarantha, why don't you want to stay in the castle with Murtagh?" Gerald said "You don't have to be the queen…but you can live there."
"I told you…it's dangerous." I said "Everyone can get in my mind…including enemies."
"But you don't know much about the politics and things like that." he said "There's nothing valuable they could get from you head."
Huh. How nice.
"And what about all private moments? My kids? My life?" I was a bit upset. Not valuable. Right.
"That's not really interesting. If you live there, everyone will know about you and the kids." he said "Besides, we can remove some of your memories."
"Oh, great! Erase my memory!" I rolled my eyes "They'll discover I have visions."
"Well, perfect!" Gerald smiled.
"Huh?" I probably missed something, but what?
"They simply won't believe what they see." Gerald said "They will think you're hiding something and that you are more powerful…because there must be some special reason why the Dragon Rider fell in love with you. Besides, everyone knows the story about Selena and…"
"Don't say that!" Murtagh suddenly yelled "We're not like them!"
"I know." Gerald said calmly "It's just something people will assume. You'll be safer than we thought."
"And what if they discover the truth?" I said.
"They won't…or it will take them some time. I'm sure of it." he said "People are afraid of you, believe me."
I thought about it for a moment.
"Alright." I said "I'll live in the castle. But there is something you have to promise me."
"What is it?" Murtagh asked warily.
"Promise that if this idea fails and we're in danger…that you'll get us all away and never try to be the king again." I said "And…promise me that you won't become the new Galbatorix."
"I guess I can promise you that." Murtagh smiled.
"Good." I said. He kissed me.
Two weeks later the pain was finally gone and I was feeling great. I was playing with the kids in their room while Gerald and Murtagh were planning how to take over the throne again. We had decided already the big thing would happen in a week.
"Mommy, I want to be a princess!" Elisabeth said.
"Aww, honey. You already are a princess." I smiled at her.
"Mommy, will you buy me a new dress then?" she smiled.
"Sure, honey. Anything you want." I said.
"Can I get a sword like daddy has?" Max looked at me. Tell me I just didn't hear that. Great.
"Why do you need a sword, honey?" I said.
"I want to defeat the bad guys!" Max said.
"Oh." I said "Who told you you have to defeat the bad guys?"
"Daddy." Max said. Ah, yes. Why didn't I just assume that? I seriously had to talk to Murtagh. I wanted our son to be away from weapons and magic, but maybe it was better that he could defend himself. But he was still too young.
"You'll do that when you grow up." I smiled.
"But Daddy said…" Max said. Oh, no. There we go with Daddy said…that couldn't be good.
"What did Daddy say?" I tried to keep the smile on my face no matter what the answer was.
"I'm going to get a dragon! Like Daddy's dragon!" Max was very excited.
"Oh, really?" my attempts to keep smiling failed. But hey, at least I tried.
"Can I have a dragon?" Elisabeth looked at me. I didn't know what to say. How to explain it to her?
"Honey…" I started to say something stupid, but I ended up saying something even more stupid "You can't have a dragon because…girls don't have dragons."
"Why not, Mommy?" she looked disappointed.
"Well…ask Murtagh." I almost laughed, but at least I remembered to use Murtagh's name. I didn't want to remind Eli on her real father. And I wanted to complicate Murtagh's life a bit because he had said stupid things to Max.
After some time Murtagh entered the room and Elisabeth ran to him. She stopped on a safe distance and stared at him.
"Why I can't have a dragon?" she asked. Murtagh looked at her first in surprise, and then he looked at me. I gave him the nicest smile I could. He almost frowned, but Eli was still waiting for his response.
"Umm, Elisabeth…" he looked at me again, probably reading my mind to see what I was up to "Girls don't have dragons."
Oh, good mind reading. But I really didn't know was that the truth or not. I haven't heard of a female Rider so…maybe it wasn't possible. But for Eli it was impossible for sure because her father wasn't a Rider. Not that I was really sad about it. It was better like that.
"Why not?" Eli asked.
"Because…you don't need a dragon." Murtagh smiled uneasily.
"Why not?" Eli crossed her arms. The scene was so hilarious, but I was proud of my daughter. Murtagh's eyes kept searching for me, but Eli didn't move.
"Well…you see…" Murtagh never looked so unsure about anything.
"Why can Max have a dragon and I can't?" she said.
"You can share?" Murtagh said and I laughed. He didn't really mean that. But Eli was still there.
"Can I get a sword then?" Eli asked and I gasped. This wasn't funny anymore.
"Honey, you don't need a sword." I said, walking over to her and taking her into my arms. Murtagh let out a sigh of relief. I smiled at him.
"Why not?" Eli said. Now it was Murtagh's time to grin at me.
"Girls don't need swords." I said.
"Why not?" she said.
"Because we have boys to protect us." I said.
"Really?" Eli frowned "But they are stupid!"
I laughed. Murtagh and Max glared at me, but I couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes Eli was so right.
"Why do you think so?" suddenly asked Murtagh. I was worried he would do a wrong thing, but he didn't sound angry. Just curious.
"Because they can have everything fun and we can't." Eli said.
"Fun?" I asked.
"I heard Murtagh telling Max about…dragons, magic, fighting…" she said "I want that!"
"Eli…these are just stories." I said and frowned at Murtagh. What else has he been telling to my son? And how I didn't know about it? Not a mind reader, huh.
"But I want…" Eli wanted to say and I pressed her closer to myself.
"It's alright, honey." I said "We'll think about it when you grow up."
I was hoping it was just an idea she would forget after some time. I still wanted her to have everything Max had, but just reasonable things. No magic, no swords, no dragons…the list was getting too long. I sighed. Murtagh smiled at me.