Page 190 of Golden Queen
The flat area they calledthe ridge, was bounded by the steep cliff face of another mountain peak on one side and harrowing drops to the valley below on the others. It doubled as a training yard and a landing site for the dragons and looked inaccessible on foot by any route other than the door from the palace or a steep climb to the mountain above.
"Amon would normally fly straight up to the palace here," Jhol told me as we headed back through the chambers. "But he would have wanted to let everyone know the Lord of Darkwatch was in residence with his new Lady."
"He is very cavalier about it, considering our situation," I told him, hinting at the topic I had been so keen to avoid.
"Yes, well, Amon is the furthest thing from cavalier in any situation. I trust that he sees wisdom in his actions."
I wished I had half as much confidence in Io as Jhol seemed to have. Not that I truly lacked faith in him. I just worried he might be letting his heart lead him into muddied waters in much the same way my heart had led me to be standing in the middle of the Iyridian mountains arm-in-arm with ablood vampire—on the verge of breaking my word on a betrothal contract by...marrying the Lord of Darkwatch.
Not that he had actually asked me to marry him, I realized with chagrin. He had just...assumed that I would based upon my nearly immediate acquiescence to all his plans. The thought annoyed me. I realized I was biting my own cheeks hard enough to taste blood in my mouth when Jhol looked at me concerned.
"You can trust him, you know. You need not fear. That is something I've learned in these almost forty years here. Above all, Amon will protect the people of Darkwatch from any threat."
I stopped and turned to him. "And if you saw that he was making a decision that threatened those people's safety—one that would bring war to these lands—war with his own brother—war that would ultimately lead to a fractured kingdom—one less able to stand against the real threat from the Shadowlands? Would you, then, act against him to help me make it right? Would you help me leave him before that happened?"
It was a risk to say such things to Io’s closest friend, but I was desperate and suddenly very scared being at the top of this mountain with no easy way down.
Jhol met my gaze as he considered my question. His eyes had sharpened to a clear green, almost startling in its vividness. He looked stronger somehow. The delicate lines of his face hardened to a more rugged aspect as he narrowed his eyes in consideration.
I heard his teeth click together behind his closed lips while he drummed the long, graceful fingers of one hand against his other palm.
And then he shook his head, lips disappearing into a tight line. "I would not," he said definitively. "I would know he had a good reason for making whatever decision, for whatever outcome. I would never help you leave him."
His eyes were full of regret. "Especially not after I saw him look at you as he gave me your name. I heard his heartbeat quicken in his chest at just the sight of you. I have never heard that in all these years. Even in the excitement of battle and blood lust, that stoic heart beats steady and true. Even when we found ourselves, entirely accidentally I might add, in the middle of a coven of hungry Alumbrian witches. But a simple glance at you, smiling in the middle of his fortress, had that big heart thundering in his chest. Have you not noticed?"
I couldn't answer. I had no words.
He took my arm, and we began walking again. "Oh, and there are his eyes. I have never seen even a hint of color in them. But there he was, staring at you, and I could nearly see the Alduran blue in them."
I was shocked and honored, humbled and…ashamed that I had even been considering something so vile and hateful as leaving him behind me.
We walked for a time as I felt my chest seem to cave in on itself, being drawn into where that gold fire of his now seemed haloed around my heart. My shoulders seemed to follow until I felt myself curling inward protectively.
Pushing it all aside in a desperate attempt to get enough air in my lungs, I took a deep breath and forced a smile. When I thought I might be able to trust my voice not to break, I said, "Tell me about the Alumbrian witches."
Jhol laughed. "Amon would kill me!" But then he stopped and leaned in conspiratorially. "They were traveling between Maldur and Antiope and somehow lost sight of the river on the Ryman plain. They had come most of the way to Dragon's Reach before they realized. The coven's Prime was a tall, desperately beautiful witch called Desdatule who took a special interest in the size of a..."
"Are you finding everything to your liking, Sera?" Io's deep voice cut in.
Jhol's mouth snapped closed.
The vampire looked slightly taken aback as we turned to see the Lord of Darkwatch framed in the doorway with his hands in his pockets and that wicked grin on his gorgeous face.
"I was just showing Sera the training yard." Jhol said breezily.
"And filling her head full of lies, I'm sure."
"Lies!" Jhol said with mock offense. "Accuse me thus and I shall finish telling her exactly what you did with Desdatule!"
"Scoundrel!" Io said, as he strode down the few steps to meet us. "Don't listen to a word he says. I have never even looked twice at an Alumbrian witch."
I knew he was lying, of course. The corners of his lips were twitching. But I wasn't at all disappointed by the interruption. The realization of how much Idid notwant to hear about Desdatule had come to me belatedly.
Jhol left us shortly after Io returned, saying he would leave me in the capable hands of the Lord of Darkwatch to show me the rest of the house.
He gave Io a wink and a pat on the shoulder as he left.
"I like him," I told Io when he had gone.
