Page 82 of Golden Queen
I reached up to check for injury.
He sighed. "No, Sera. You did not hit your head."
"What happened? I got away, and I remember I ran too hard and...I got dizzy."
He suddenly looked very angry. I was confused by the reaction. "What?" I asked, pushing myself up to sit.
He reached out to help me, moving to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Someone cut your throat from ear to fucking ear, Sera. You nearly bled out before I found you."
I narrowed my eyes, reaching up to my throat. Had those men found me at the Mouse's Ear and finished the job they started?
"That..." I struggled to piece together what I remembered. "That doesn't make any sense, Io."
"You're gods damned right it doesn't make sense. Britaxia followed a trail of blood for almost two miles. You should be dead, Sera."
I wrapped my fingers around my throat. It was whole, unbroken.
"I healed you. But it wasreallyfucking close." He still looked angry, and I finally registered that he was angryat me.
I chose to ignore it. My mind had no room for his misplaced fury.
I studied him, frowning. I had been nicked by that knife, it was true, but...
But then I remembered pulling away from the man holding me. Therehadbeen a biting pain when the pressure of the knife dug into my throat as I stabbed him.
My heart lurched as I noticed the sunshine filtering in around the closed curtains. "How long have I been here?"
"It's just after dawn. You slept for a long time after losing so much blood."
"I have to get back," I said, pushing my feet from under the blanket.
Io put a hand on my shoulder, stilling me. "It's okay. We sent word to the castle. Tatana is covering for you. She said no one will know you're not in your room."
I furrowed my brow.
"A rather enterprising young man called Set has been providing us with a lot of information."
I smiled. I should have known. "Something is happening with my uncle. He all but locked me in my chambers. And the way he unceremoniously kicked you all out of the castle...I don't trust him in the slightest."
"We thought as much. Juriae has some eyes and ears in the castle, learning what they can. But by all accounts, it seems more jealousy over the events that unfolded in the battle than anything else."
That made sense. Markus was nothing if not jealous of the bravery of others. If he learned that the soldiers had cheered for the dragon mages, he would likely end the possibility of an alliance right then and there, even in the face of war, rather than allow them to find any glory in Windemere.
Now, more than ever, I needed to take my crown. I needed to remove the thorn from the side of everyone in Windemere and...I looked at Io.
I needed to use the advantage I had with him to cement an alliance that might carry us through the coming conflict.
The weight of what I would need to do to even take my crown—marry someone and do it quickly, even if it was someone I would end up despising, crashed down on me all at once. I looked away and swallowed.
I had done a damn fine job of forgetting that as I plotted to get closer to the man at my side. Shame threatened to steal my breath as I considered the duty to my people that I had all but forgotten these past days.
And now that I knew Penjan was certainly on the move toward Windemere, I needed to re-focus. We needed Nightfall. That battle with the band of dead men proved as much.
So I told him everything I knew. I watched Io's face as I relayed the information the guard, Fenric, had given me. Some of it, like the confirmed fall of Balus, I could tell he already knew. But other things, like the Stoneteeth tribes, or the fact that the king himself sailed to Alterra, he did not.
When I finished, Io added to my information something that made all the rest pale in comparison. "We got word this morning that the Black Fleet burned Caraduin."
