Page 226 of Golden Queen
That flower, pressed between the pages of some random small book I had stolen from his library, was tucked into the breast pocket of my nesericum silk coat. This one was bleached a pale gray on the inside and the color curled around and over the lapels making tangled vine shapes.
I would likely not have the opportunity to wear clothes like that again for a long while, so I chose what I considered the finest of all the ones he gifted to me...for the last of it.
And I left the rest behind.
I exited the palace through the front doors. There was very little need for guards in such a peaceful land at the top of the world, so there was no one around to see me.
I made my way in the direction of the dragon nursery and those massive caves.
Everything counted on Veles—and my ability to make him understand that I had to do this to protect his master.
The further I climbed up the rocky path around the side of the mountain, the more impossible my plan seemed. By the time I reached the top, I felt like all the resolve that was driving me had been left somewhere below. I was an empty, exhausted shell.
I carried on despite it, making my way to the Dragon's Rest.
The caves were hot, the air stifling from lava and the breaths of so many dragons lying asleep in the deep recesses of the mountain.
I walked down the central pathway, illuminated only by faint light from the aurora-streaked sky behind me.
I tried not to think how many dragons lay in the shadows to either side—how many hungry beasts who did not know me would be awakened by my footsteps on the uneven cave floor.
Veles did not sleep in the shadows, though. Like the king he was, he lay in the center of the chamber in the last vestiges of the starlight, with his neck crossed over the back of his silvery-scaled mate.
As my feet scuffed on the stones beneath me, I felt a warm wind from my right.
I turned to see a massive pale-green head with bright yellow eyes silently creeping toward me out of the darkness. Its lips were pulled back to reveal twin rows of long, pointed teeth.
A warning growl from Veles sent the green dragon's head darting back into the darkness of the cavern.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached him. He swung his big head around to rub against my shoulder, setting me off balance so that I stumbled back. "Hello, Veles," I told him, reaching out to touch his scales along the side of his massive jaw. "I need your help."
Veles made a low growl in his throat. I had to jump back a step as he shook his head like a dog shaking water off its fur.
He turned away, resuming his position across Freya's back, and closed his eyes.
"Please Veles," I whispered. "It's the only way I can protect him—the one way he ends up surviving what comes next without shattering himself into pieces. Carry me, just one last time. Please."
Veles faced me again and growled—a hissing, snarling sound. He bared his teeth, so much longer and sharper than the green dragon's had been.
He opened his mouth, and I saw through wavering, heated air, bright churning embers at the back of his throat. A ruthless, hot wind stung my cheeks.
I would not be deterred. "Please," I begged, a sob wrenching from my chest.
Veles only opened his mouth wider in warning.
"Go ahead and burn me, you stubborn fucking beast, because if you don't, I will make you take me!"
He eyed me as the flames began to swirl and eddy in the back of his throat.
And then he shut his mouth abruptly and turned, sliding away into the darkness.
His wingbeats echoed through the cavern a moment later, and I knew he was probably already halfway across that wide expanse that spread off into the gloom.
I fell to my knees as a desperate sob tore through me. I felt my knuckle bones crack beneath my teeth as I struggled to hold it inside.
And then warm air ruffled my hair, and something enormous bumped against my head.
The green dragon had returned. I was preparing myself to be eaten, swallowed whole in one bite, when the low, rumbling sound of...pity made me open my eyes.
