Page 114 of Golden Queen
I wanted to shout a warning that he would be burned, but the silver fire only curled around him like gentle hands as he stalked across the chamber.
His face was bloodied and sweat poured down his cheeks. Still, he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
The dragon closed her mouth and the flames died away in an instant, throwing the room into muted flickering light from the few things that were still on fire around us.
His eyes scanned me for a heartbeat as he sheathed his blade. Something like despair crossed his features, followed by raw anger that leapt like black fire in his eyes. I felt the air thicken as a shadow seemed to cross his features. The faintest tremor rumbled through the ground beneath me as his magic billowed out around us like a shroud. The room darkened around us until all I could see was the shape of him in front of me.
"Fucking bastards," he hissed angrily, looking at my arms.
He reached out to smooth the hair back from my forehead, and the world brightened again. When he spoke, his voice was deep and sorrowful. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get to you, Sera."
I tried to smile at him, but I wasn't sure if I managed it. His face was so stricken, his expression like a reflection of the pain running through me.
"You came.” My voice was so hoarse it barely made a sound.
I tried to reach up to touch him, but I was stopped abruptly by the chain. He took my hand and leaned down, pressing his lips into my palm and closing his eyes tightly.
The sound of swords clashing outside the hall made him open them. "We have to go," he said.
He broke the cuffs around my wrists, releasing me from the table, and then shrugged out of his dark jacket. The dragon bounded over the side and disappeared to the floor as I struggled to sit.
He helped me up, avoiding the arms that had done at least a partial job of healing themselves. Only a small amount of blood oozed from the wounds.
It seemed like the healing had stalled though. Unlike the ones on my abdomen and chest, where the skin seemed to be mostly whole again, my arms were still grotesque and painful, and my feet still throbbed. Whatever insanity had fueled me in the moments after drinking the necromancer's blood seemed to be entirely gone.
Io wrapped his thick coat around me, cradled me against his chest, and gingerly lifted me. I gasped as the movement sent pain lancing through my arms and my still ruined feet.
"I'm so sorry," he said, laying his lips against my temple. "I'll heal you as soon as it's safe."
"I'm okay," I said, my teeth beginning to chatter as a dreadful cold seeped into me.
He huffed a dark laugh. "You don't always need to be brave, you know. You are decidedlynotokay, but you will be."
I laid my head against his chest and tried to relax. I felt like I was twisted up into a knot, like my ruined muscles were still so tightly wound that they all cramped. I could not seem to release the tension of so many hours.
I tried to hear the reassuring beat of his heart, but I found that my body's shaking concealed the sound.
"Is Penjan here?" I asked as the sound of someone dying violently filtered in from the hallway.
"They are," he said. "Those are your soldiers, though, Sera." I could tell he regretted having to tell me they had turned on me, but I already knew. They were the ones who'd put me on that table for the necromancers.
"I'll get you out," he added, reassuringly.
I knew he would, but I had no time to dwell on how as we went through the door. Aben and Britaxia stood with swords in hand in a corridor littered with the bodies of royal guards.
"We need to hurry," Britaxia said sharply. "They have nearly breached the fortress gates."
Penjan would be in the castle soon then, I realized. A bolt of fear went through me at the first realization of what a precarious position we were truly in.
"Your Majesty," Aben greeted me with a smile as we reached his side. I didn't miss the look of shock he tried to hide as he took in my appearance.
"Let's go," Io said, picking his way through the bodies of the fallen guards.
A white blur flew past us, forcing Britaxia to duck out of the way as my dragon sailed down the long tunnel.
We followed in her wake, Aben and Britaxia in the front, swords out, guarding us as we hurried down the corridor.
We reached a long staircase that opened onto the Hall of Kings, the crypt that lay under the cathedral and the castle, stretching for a mile or more in all directions. The marble sepulchers on either side of us with their faintly glowing gas lit flames blurred into each other as we passed.
