Page 118 of Golden Queen
I explained about biting Mordred, and the strength and rage that had followed—how I’d felt my body healing itself.
I watched their expressions go from curiosity to horror, and then back to clear astonishment.
"He said they had not finished the binding, but I don't know whether or not he was lying. I...I accidentally crushed his neck before I could question him further." I looked down, feeling horror and shame at the things I had done in that blood-fueled rampage, despite the things those men had done to me.
"Well, that's...uh…" Aben began, but then he laughed. "Well, it's pretty badass," he finished with a look of pride directed at me.
Io stood and reached down for my hand to pull me up. On my feet, I did my own assessment of my injuries and belatedly remembered the stitches I ripped loose from my eyelids. My hands went to my eyes, searching gingerly for the wounds.
"What is it?" Io asked, pulling my hand away and looking at my eyes, worriedly.
I didn't care to add to the agony that all my injuries had seemed to cause him, so I shrugged it off. "I thought there was something there, but I was mistaken."
He reached up and ran a fingertip along my lash line. I heard his sharp intake of breath as his fingers found the remains of the scars.
"They stitched your fucking eyes closed?"
I reached up and took his hand, but I was shocked to find his skin was icy cold. I dropped it with a start. His nostrils flared and his mouth tightened into a thin line.
"I will kill them all," he growled so low I could barely hear the words.
A heavy, somehow oppressive wind kicked up the hair around my face as Io turned and began moving in the direction of the balcony. Each foot he laid on the roof tiles sounded with a loud crack as the tiles splintered under his feet.
"Io," Aben warned. "Calm yourself, cousin. You can't take on the entire Penjani army." He stepped in front of Io and put a hand on his shoulder.
A sharp crack sounded, and Aben pulled his hand back with a hiss of pain.
Io pushed past Aben, and I had the sudden thought that he might just be able to take them all on after all. The very air around me tasted and felt of him. And he was angry—soveryangry.
I rushed to catch him, standing in front of him and placing my hands on his chest. He stopped, his eyes sliding down to me. They were wild, alive, and far away as though he didn't see me at all. I felt the roof tiles rumble under our feet again.
"Io, man, she's fine. You're going to bring the fucking roof down under us!" Aben said, clutching his hand to his chest as though it still pained him.
Flames licked up from Io's palms. They looked strange and muted as though seeing fire through dark glass. They began snaking up the edges of his arms, singeing the material of his rolled-up shirtsleeves. Something of that shadowy face of death began to show through his skin, and his shoulders rose harshly as his breathing quickened.
"Do something, Aben!" Britaxia hissed.
"I'm trying, Tax."
I reached out, taking Io's hands in mine.
Aben lurched forward. "Watch out!" he said, reaching out as though to break the contact between my hands and Io's. He stilled as I pulled Io's burning hands to my face and held them there.
"I'm okay," I said. "See?" I guided his hands across my face and down my neck, showing him that I was whole, trying to prove it with the feel of my unbroken skin.
Slowly, he relaxed. That faraway look in his eyes receded, and he focused on my features. His breathing slowed, and he began to move his hands across my face himself.
The rumbling in the roof tiles ceased, and the weird flames on his hands lessened until they were only a faint golden glow.
He cupped my face and pulled me towards him, leaning his forehead against mine. He let loose a shuddering breath. "I will never let anyone hurt you again, Sera. I swear it."
"I know," I said, laying my hand against his cheek, feeling the coarse stubble that covered his jaw.
And then he released me, dropping to one knee in front of me.
I reached for him automatically, but he pulled his sword from its scabbard and held it point-down in front of him—as though offering it to me.
I tentatively reached out my hand, unsure what to do. I looked to find that Aben and Britaxia had pointedly moved to the edge of the roof with their backs to us.
