Page 189 of Golden Queen
He nodded, and I had the sudden thought that he was nervous I wouldn't like it. The idea that he cared enough to want to please me—after knowing me for the span of an hour—was humbling. So I told him the truth. "It is absolutely perfect!"
His shoulders relaxed slightly as he perched on the edge of a sofa arm.
"You have somehow managed to capture the spirit of a man in a room," I told him. That was precisely what the palace did. ItwasIo—dark, deep, and rich, with warmth and light that you didn't see until you started to look into the details.
Jhol showed me the rest.
Beyond walls of windows, wide, sweeping balconies jutted off from the sides of many of the rooms. They let the light of the auroras into the heart of the mountain.
Deeper in, we began passing through a series of rooms that stepped down beyond each one until I realized we were descending inside the mountain.
The balconies perched on the cliffs beyond those chambers were a dizzying height above a smaller, icy valley cut between two mountain peaks.
Jhol and I talked as we walked through each room.
He pointed out interesting details as he told me about arriving in Darkwatch to find the young and inexperienced Amon Aldur newly seated in his position as lord. "I was drawn to the place, it’s true," he said. "But I was drawn far more to the lord who refused to punish a man who’d been dragged into the Reach, accused of stealing from one of the shops in the city. The man professed his innocence, of course. And Amon demanded the proof. When the shopkeeper could only claim that another patron had seen him stealing, he had to admit that the man had not even been caught with whatever trinket he was supposed to have taken. Amon told them that there was far too little evidence to convict someone of a crime. He dismissed them all from the court, chastising the shopkeeper for wasting his time."
I smiled, imagining the sight of Io on that high seat, being expected to pass judgment.
"I have been in many kingdoms in my long life, so I can assure you that justice in even so small a matter as shoplifting, is a rare thing. I took myself directly to the young lord and told him about the high courts of Balthia. He listened, and when I was done, he asked me to stay and help him set up a judicial arm in Darkwatch. One modeled after Balthia, where a group of citizens would be convened to hear the arguments of complaint against any accused criminal."
"That is an intriguing concept, My Lord," I told him.
He tsked and waggled his finger.
"Jhol," I corrected, catching his meaning. "I would love to know more about this judicial arm of Darkwatch."
He smiled happily. "I think you and I, Sera, are going to be the very best of friends."
I agreed intensely. And the fact that he had not once brought up my betrothal—that great looming threat of King Behr—endeared him to me all the more.
The end of the series of chambers we passed through was a huge training room—complete with sawdust-filled dummies, racks of weapons, showers, and changing rooms.
"This is where Amon and his Vanguard train—his innermost circle," he added as he saw my confused expression. I had never heard him refer to his riders as anything other than hispeople.
I walked around the room, my hand itching to hold Sangui so that I could sink her into the side of one of the sawdust filled dummies set on wheels along the wall.
The sword was likely still in her box lashed to the back of Veles, though. I made a mental note to come back to the training room as soon as I could.
"You don't fight?" I asked, noting that Jhol had not included himself in the Vanguard. "Or ride dragons?" I added with a look over my shoulder.
He chuckled. "I have done enough fighting in my life to last the rest of it quite nicely. And no, I do not ride dragons. Even the unbound ones must be convinced to tolerate me. They do not like the smell of me."
"I think you smell quite nice," I told him. He did. He smelled warm and clean, with a barely perceptible softness that was still decidedly masculine.
Jhol laughed again. "Many people think so, but the dragons...they know another predator when they smell one. We are on only the most tolerable terms with each other."
"Well it's unfortunate they can't see what I see.”
“And what do you see, My Queen?” he asked, fighting a smile.
“That you are not a predator at all, but a desperately romantic hero."
He gave me an appreciative look and looped an arm around my back. "The very best of friends, indeed."
***
The last thing Jhol showed me was the wide expanse of mountain beyond the training yard where a door led to the snowy, windswept plateau beyond.
