Page 191 of Golden Queen
"I think he likes you, too," he said, studying me intently.
"Does he live in Dragon's Reach?" I asked, pointedly ignoring everything else in my mind for the moment.
"He lives in the city—in Meroway."
"Oh," I replied. I had forgotten about the city in the mountain. "Is Meroway far?"
I noticed his eyes had grown even more intent, and a slow smile was spreading as he looked at me.
"What?" I demanded.
He shook his head. "Nothing, and no, Meroway is just on the other side of the Reach."
His hands were back in his pockets as he motioned behind him. He was moving closer, stalking closer, really. Before I knew it, he was in front of me, so close I could smell him—like fire with no smoke; hot and wicked.
"Do you like it here, Sera?" he asked, looking down at me with those eyes.
"I do, very much. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful." I slipped my arms beneath his coat and around his waist, feeling the solid planes of his sides and back.
Thatsmile spread across his face—the one that had been my undoing from the start. It was a rare smile, and one I realized I had never seen on his face unless he was looking at me. The thought sent a jolt of something near panic through me. Panic that I could never live up to the way he looked at me—because I was not his mate. It would all crumble around us.
I imagined that Aben and Britaxia had reached Orin by then. Behr would have already begun calling his armies back from Windemere so that he could send them against this wonderful man who was so gods damned happy to have me in his home.
He reached down and tipped my chin up, looking at me with a raised brow. "Sera, talk to me."
“I’m worried, Io.”
“Don’t be. It will all be sorted soon.”
“Let’s go and sort it now—to the citadel.” The sooner we could have the bond confirmed—or denied—the better. Existing in limbo was impossible.
He laughed. "Everyone is sleeping. It's very late."
"How can you even tell when it's always night?"
"You have to watch the moon," he said, pointing a finger skyward. "But...when there is no moon, well then you just have to use a clock." He nodded to the exceptionally large clock on the wall.
I realized there were indeed clocks all over the palace. I felt like an idiot. Even Jhol had had a pocket watch handy.
"Take me to bed then, Io. Now that I know it's late, I'm suddenly very tired." I laid my head against his chest as exhaustion seemed to blanket me all at once.
He led me around the inside of the mountain again, holding me close to his side.
"Are there no servants here?" I asked when we reached the main hall and began to ascend a wide staircase.
"No." He looked slightly apologetic as he admitted, "I had a tendency to scare them quite a bit when I was younger—entirely by accident," he added quickly. "They didn't like the way the entire place grew dark when my thoughts did. They come mostly when I’m away. They still serve meals, but they generally wait until I call upon them."
I knew people had been scared of him, but I had somehow come to believe it was their own superstitions at play. I had to admit being unexpectedly blinded by shadow magic might be a bit disconcerting.
"I'm certain they would come back now though, if you would prefer to have servants."
"No," I said quickly. "I like that we’re alone." It was true. I hadn’t realized how nice it would be to do things for myself until I had been away from Albiyn for a while.
Io pointed out a few rooms as we passed through a long hallway; the library, his study, another sitting room, bed chambers. At the end of the hall were two identical white doors, side-by-side in the wall.
"Yours," he said, indicating the door on the right. My heart thudded in my chest until he added, "And ours." He reached for the door on the left and opened it, allowing me to pass.
He didn’t need to ask if I wanted to share his room. Of course I would not be sleeping alone. Neither of us would need to sleep alone again.
