Page 51 of Straw and Gold
Confusion and hurt crossed her face as she sank back down into her bedding.
I sighed, putting on a small smile for her. “It’s time to get up anyway. Dawn approaches and you have some names to call into the morning sun.”
“Ór.”
Gold.
“Righór.”
Golden King.
“Currag.”
My head snapped up. “Carrot, Goldling?”
Morella lowered the list of names she’d been calling out into the chilled morning light, reaching up to fluff my hair as I walked past in my pacing. “I thought it was worth a try. Your hair is rather…carroty.”
“Keep going,” I growled, ignoring that spark in my chest at her laughter. She turned back to the cliffside edge, and I timed the light as the rays of dawn crept closer to where I stood.
“Farigh.”
Fae king.
“Badia fireann.”
Male goddess.I cringed at that one, hoping beyond hope that Céad was not spying on us right then.
“Righchdail.”
Handsome king.
My lips tilted upwards, but I kept my pace, drawing grooves in the soil as the line of the sun crept ever closer.
“Órleanab.”
Golden child.
“Coileanab.”
Forest child.
“Righdàna.”
Fated king. I rose a brow at that one, impressed with her use of combining words.
She listed off another twenty combinations before the sun hit my line in the dirt, signaling that the day’s attempts were over.
Lowering her list and shuffling to me, she sighed. “I have more. For tomorrow, I mean.”
“I didn’t expect you to guess correctly the first time you tried.”
She turned back to the rising sun. The rays of light sparkled off the rocky citrine, blanketing the valley below in a brilliant glow of gold.
“You’ll figure it out, Goldling,” I murmured, keeping my distance.
“I know,” she sighed, facing me again and rolling up her parchment. “I know. I know I will, Killian. I promise.”
I nodded, offering her my hand. We shifted into the dawn with less than seven weeks left for her to keep that promise.
