Page 131 of Golden Queen
I felt crossly like stomping on his foot with my own as I stepped to his side and tried to avoid his eyes.
I was watching the other dragon riders milling about, extinguishing fires, and breaking down the tent when I felt a warm fur come around my shoulders.
I took it gratefully, gathering it around me with cold hands. The fact that it was likely one of the furs from Radella's cot sent unreasonable angersurging through me. It didn't matter that I’d slept under it in the night. It was one ofhers, and I struggled against the urge to fling it away from me.
"Are you ill?" Io asked quietly, studying my face intently.
"I'm fine," I said, still avoiding his gaze.
He didn't press me since Radella was striding our way with Aben and Britaxia at her sides. I saw no indication on Britaxia's face that she felt any discord with the general, but neither she nor Aben spoke as they reached us.
"I hope to see you in Orin soon, Aelia," Radella told me, looking as fresh as though she hadn't slept outside on the ground.
"Or perhaps in Windemere when I return," I said, injecting as much enthusiasm into my words as I could muster. I was aware of just how unjustified my feelings were. It was hard to be angry at her and maintain any shred of reason in my mind.
Radella nodded and embraced me.
I smelled her.Dear gods, I smelled her—trying to detect any of his scent on her.
You have no right, my inner voice screamed at me.
I told that voice toshut the fuck right upas I released her, having detected no whiff of that fresh, intoxicating scent of him on her skin.
Of course, as we climbed onto Veles, and Io settled behind me, the other voice inside me—the angry one that wanted to stoke the fires of my jealousy—reminded me that she could have bathed after they...kept each other warm. And it reminded me that he had not come to me, even though I knew his highly sensitive ears would have heard my scream as I woke from the nightmare.
It was none of my business what he had or hadn't done with the beautiful Radella. But he had not come to me when I needed him for the first time ever, and I wasn't sure I could ever forgive him for that.
Twenty-Four
The first sign of something wrong on the plains came as Io pointed out a dark smudge across the hills in the distance.
"What is that?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said as he leaned over and laid a hand against Veles' side. The dragon increased his speed and soon we were coming up alongside Aben, who nodded his head to let us know he’d seen it as well.
When we drew nearer, the godsgrass looked burned in a wide swath across a low, rolling hill of otherwise uninterrupted grasses.
We climbed down from the dragons and approached the marred grass. I tried to detect the scent of smoke, but there was no odor above the usual fragrance of the godsgrass. It was not burned. The godsgrass was simply dead. The long stalks were whole, but blackened and trampled down to the ground in a wide, elongated circle.
I knelt and picked up one of the fallen stalks. It fell apart, rotted and gummy between my fingers.
I sniffed at the black slime left behind and gagged. It was rot, like dead flesh and some sweet, malodorous undertone that tickled a memory in my mind.
I turned to wipe my hand on the ground behind me where the golden grass still looked as healthy as ever.
"What did this?" I asked.
I heard the squelch of Io’s boots as he strode through the rotten godsgrass. It was thick on the ground, the black sludge sliding away under his feet. "I don't know," he said absently, looking across the plains.
The hiss of steel cut through the silence as Aben drew his blade. I turned to ask him why, but he laid his finger to his lips and began inching to the side slowly, keeping to the edges of the ruined patch.
I stood as Io came to my side and began silently drawing me back toward Veles. "Stay in the saddle," he said quietly.
"What is it?" I whispered.
Britaxia, blade in hand, was following Aben through the rotten grass. They moved in sync as though they had communicated some strategy between them even though neither of them had spoken a word.
"Something...old," Io said, eyes now focused entirely on the patch of blackened grass.
