Page 161 of Golden Queen
Io made no move to speak to the man, just stood there glaring at him threateningly—in a way that made me want to throw a handful of snow at his face.
I quietly explained as much as I knew about hellhounds, though I admitted to him that it wasn’t a lot. I repeated Io's instructions to burn the bodies.
“This is not a conversation I ever imagined you and I having, Aelia,” Rhychulson told me when I was finished. It was jarring to hear him use my first name. Even in the castle, he had always preferred to call me Sera.
"I have a lot of conversations like that lately, Rhych. But we have to go now." I gave him an apologetic smile, laying my hand on his arm. "Be careful, okay. And I'll be back as soon as I can with the army we need to take Albiyn back. I swear it."
"You be careful, as well," Rhychulson said with a wary glance at the fae man behind us who I had to admit looked rather threatening.
"Oh, don't mind him," I said, giving Io a pointed look. "He just doesn't have any manners."
Rhychulson laughed as he hugged me again. "Until we meet again, Your Majesty." He looked at me almost wistfully, and I recalled his confession in the carriage that night. I felt a pang of sympathy for him, imagining that all those times when he had made jokes about being in love with me, might have been his way of avoiding a painful truth.
Perhaps he would have been easy to read if I had been paying the slightest bit of attention.
I released him and turned to trudge away through the snow toward Io.
I rolled my eyes as I reached his side. "That was rude," I said. "He is my friend."
He smiled doubtfully. "Friends don't look at each other the way that man looked at you, my darling."
I turned to begin the climb onto Veles, and Io came up behind me and leaned his face into my neck. "I didn't like him touching you," he admitted.
"Stop that," I said, pushing him back and setting my foot onto the strap on Veles' side. "He knows who you are."
"So then he should know that you are mine."
I was becoming angry then, especially at the way my body, my soul, thrilled deep down at the possessiveness from him.
The memory of how it felt to see Radella touch him, and then take him outside to do whatever it was they had done, came back to me. Instead ofassuaging my anger at his jealousy, though, it only brought my own unreasonable bitterness to the forefront of my mind. It settled right in place with the outrage over his behavior toward Rhychulson.
By the time I swung my leg over Veles' wide leather saddle and gave Rhychulson another friendly smile, I was seething with anger.
I felt Io settle behind me.
The crowd of men were all staring at us warily as his arm locked around my waist. I scooted forward in the saddle, but he scooted me back, holding me against him while I tried to school my expression into neutrality.
Rhychulson and the men were still watching, wide-eyed. Most of them had probably never imagined seeing a dragon in Windemere, even this far north. Their expressions were masks of bewilderment.
Veles rose onto his back legs and launched us into the air with a great flap of his wings. Io’s shield settled in place as I was pushed back against his chest.
"I did not do anything when you took Radella outside to fuck her in the godsgrass,” I said through clenched teeth. “So, you have no business acting like a jealous dog that I hugged my friend. It is very unreasonable, Io."
He tensed, and I felt him reach out for the length of my hair and sweep it to the side before his lips came to my neck. I started to push him off, truly angry by then.
"I did not fuck Radella in the godsgrass or anywhere else, Sera."
"Liar," I accused.
"I swear it, Sera. I did not touch her. You must know that I would not do that to you."
"It was not...you were not..." I struggled with the words to express the fact that I had no claim over him then...or now. "Why did you not come to me then, when I..."
"Had a nightmare?" he supplied.
"I knew you would have heard me."
"I could not come, Sera. Not without the guards seeing—not without raising suspicion. I sent Eroa to you. It was all I could do because back then, I was stupid enough to believe I could ever give you up."
