Page 46 of Golden Queen
I reached up to pat Etreyiu. "Stay," I told him. He lowered his head and whickered a displeased sound, but he obeyed me as I went out to meet Io in the godsgrass.
I could see his face clearly then. His expression was fierce, beautiful, and fearsome.
My heart leapt at the sight of him in his dark armor, the very image of a legendary warrior stalking like a beast across the plains.
A blade peeked over his shoulder where he had it slung across his back. I had never even seen him with a sword. Even when he saved me that night, when I had put my knife in his chest, he had only seemed to carry a dagger.
I stopped only a few yards away and the dragon mages did the same.
The sight of Io out of the elegant clothes he usually wore was a shock. His muscular arms and legs in the tight-fitting scale armor was another nice surprise. I had not known he was built likethat.
"Queen Aelia of Windemere," Aben said, his eyes alight with some mischief. "May I present to you, His Royal Highness Prince Amon Aldur, Lord of Darkwatch and Heir to the Throne of Nightfall."
My heart sputtered as the breath seemed to leave me in a whoosh.Lord of Darkwatch, my mind shouted.Lord of fucking Darkwatch?
I knew what that meant. Everyone knew what that meant. Darkwatch, ancient realm of dragons and druids. Even as an official part of Nightfall, Darkwatch was a kingdom that ruled itself. One lord, one ruler: the Lord of Darkwatch did not even bow to the throne of Nightfall. He was as good as a king.
I met his eyes, and something warm and dark spun low in my belly.
And then wings erupted from his back. Pale, delicate-looking, nearly translucent wings rose above him, and then over his shoulder, a head appeared, followed by a mouth, open, emitting a shrill cry that made me flinch back.
Io...Prince Amon, rather, reached up and pulled the little dragon over his shoulder from where it had been hiding behind him.
"Aelia of Windemere," he said, his deep voice carrying across the fields. "A gift from Darkwatch."
He made to bring the dragon to me, but she flapped her wings, rising above his hand.
And then she came to me.
I reached out automatically, catching her as wings filled my vision. Sleek, leathery skin tipped by ebony claws, rising and beating the air. The breeze buffeted my face and hair as sharp talons held surprisingly gently to my hands and wrists.
I looked at her, my pulse kicking up a frantic beat in my veins as I held the creature before me. Pale, sleek head curving down to rounded nostrils, long, graceful body covered in shimmering, iridescent white scales, blood-red eyes boring into my soul.
As with Etreyiu, something within me cried out;Mine! She is mine!
The dragon wrapped her long tail almost possessively around my arm as she studied me with discerning red eyes.
And then I caught sight of Io, whose expression had changed. His whole face had softened almost imperceptibly. He was smiling, the curve of his lips so slight that most would have missed it.
But I did not miss that odd look of pride in his eyes.
"What does she eat?" I asked, turning to the side to peek at the sleeping head laid along the ridge of my shoulder.
The little dragon twitched her body in response to my voice, but she didn't open her eyes. She was curled around my neck, the almost fiery heat of her skin soothing muscles that ached from the tension of the afternoon.
"Charred meat, Your Highness," a young voice put in. I lifted my eyes to Taiger, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen, who had accompanied our party back to the castle. "You may need to supplement her a little as she is so young, but she will mostly hunt for herself."
Taiger had been gifted to me along with the dragon, on a temporary basis, to assist me with my new pet.
Pet.That word did not quite encompass what this dragon was to me.Friend? Familiar?
"So, she is a female?" I asked Taiger. I had made the immediate assumption that she was, but I wasn't sure whether I had based that on some innate sense of her, or only how impossibly lovely she was.
The boy was sitting uncomfortably, looking like he wanted to bolt, in one of the soft, overstuffed chairs of my sitting room. He and I had retired there after the tense assembly in the receiving room where the Darkwatch party and the Radune party assembled with the regent and nobles.
The Radune party had joined us in the godsgrass shortly after the dragons landed. The official welcome commenced when my uncle finally rode back out of the city to meet them all.
"Indeed, she is female," Taiger said, drawing my thoughts away from Markus' cowardice. "Female dragons are exceedingly rare," he added proudly.
