Page 76 of Golden Queen
"Aelia," Franca said, attempting to keep her voice low. "You should ask the Darkwatch mages to take a turn around the garden."
"We could make it a picnic on the lawn!" Merry added, bouncing on her toes.
“Oh, please, Aelia," Franca begged, clutching her hands together in front of her in excitement.
I looked at her, raising a brow. "Franca Adiela Mandelian," I said, using her full name as her father did when he was displeased with her, "Aben Verforge is much, much too old for you."
"Pft," she said, smiling brightly. "I reach my majority in less than two years. We will just have to have a long courtship. You know he’s technically a prince, right?"
I couldn't help but smile at her childish enthusiasm. I had not considered Aben's official title, but as Io's cousin, I probably should have realized he might be a prince as well.
"Please Aelia! I will not do anything to embarrass you! I swear it on my mother's bones!"
"That's not what I'm worried about," I assured her, but Merry laughed, and I realized they both knew they had won.
Without even waiting for another reply, the two of them bounded off as I bit my lip, watching them go.
"You should not let them anywhere near that very large man," Tatana said, but she was also smiling at the girls as they raced away down the hall.
"I won't, but he's harmless," I assured her. Franca was sixteen and Merry had just turned seventeen. Even if I didn't think Aben Verforge honorable enough to steer clear of them, I knew Io would make sure of it.
When Tatana and I returned to my chambers, I sent a servant to Io's room with the lunch invitation, and another to Taiger to invite him to come and bring my dragon.
I felt restlessness and no small amount of excitement that I would see Io again so soon—if they would accept our rather childish invitation to have a picnic in the garden, of course.
When the servant returned with news that the Lord of Darkwatch had accepted enthusiastically, I had to hold in my excitement until the woman had gone. I did not want the news of my infatuation with him to spread through the castle so that it would be the first thing Markus heard upon his return.
"Can I..." I began, stumbling immediately on the words. I tried again. "Is it alright if I come to your room tonight?"
Io looked down at me from where he was walking by my side. The others were all behind us, just down the garden path, arranged on soft white cloths with a picnic lunch spread all around. Franca was batting her pretty eyes up at Aben Verforge, and Merry had surprised me by seeming immediately enchanted with Taiger and my dragon.
Taiger was holding the white dragon in his lap, impressing the young noblewoman who was likely three years his senior, by teaching her about dragons.
"You know that I would like that very much, Sera," Io said, keeping his voice low. "But you also know how dangerous that is for you."
"I know how to not be seen, Io."
He was silent for several moments. "Let me come to you," he said.
I shook my head, even as a thrill to think of him in my bed raced through me. "Tatana will be there," I said regretfully.
"Then you should wait. Come to me in the city after I leave the castle."
Another thought intruded into my mind, one I had, perhaps, been too afraid to consider. "How long will you be here...in Albiyn?" My heart kicked up unpleasantly in my chest as I waited for his answer.
"I don't know," he said. "I cannot stay long. I have duties in Darkwatch."
I wanted to press him, ask himhowlong, but I ultimately decided I did not want to know.
I looped my arm in his and straightened my spine, taking a deep breath. "Well then, no time to waste. I will see you tonight."
He chuckled, and I felt his arm tighten, pulling me just a bit closer as we strolled down past the hedges and statues of the pretty garden path.
When I darted out of the servant's corridor and into the hall, he was standing framed in the open door with that breathtaking mischievous grin on his face. He must have known I was coming, right at that moment. I wondered if he had been able to hear me with his fae hearing, fumbling down the hall in the dark.
He pulled me into the room, closing and pointedly locking it behind us. Then his lips were on mine as if he could not wait another moment to kiss me.
It was gratifying, since I'd felt every step I took to his chamber was too slow, too heavy, as I ached to see him, to be alone with him, to touch him.
