Page 39 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

My cheeks must have turned bright crimson as I darted my gaze away.

I made the mistake of looking directly at Aben Verforge, though. He looked from me to Io and then back to me, a grin of recognition spreading across his handsome face.

Petta was at one of the tables near the window, seated with her father, Lord Shadrian. He was a lesser noble whose estates were in the north near Raven’s Watch Harbor. He and Petta were being talked to animatedly by a round, dark-haired woman seated at their table.

I hadn’t seen Petta since the Darkwatch mages arrived in the city officially, and I knew she was dying to hear about them from me. She rolled her eyes exasperatedly as I rose from my chair.

Merry and Franca caught up to us as Tatana and I left the breakfast room.

"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 him how long, 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.

There was no doubt that my heart was becoming dangerously entangled in a way that I was sure would cause me a great deal of despair once he was gone.

Dinner had been much like breakfast, except that Tatana had been unwilling to come, and Io had seated himself directly beside me, not in Markus' chair but in Arkadian's, who was also still absent from the city.

He spent the entire meal trying to make me blush, seeming to truly enjoy causing me discomfort in public as he reminded me of what we had done together.

In his chamber, as he ran his lips down my throat, I admonished him, "You really must stop making me blush in the middle of the dining room."

He laughed. "But you turn the most enchanting shade of pink—just like when you come, you know."

I gasped, pushing back from him. "You lie!"

"I assure you, I do not. You flush all over. It’s very charming."

I buried my head in his chest, laughing despite myself. I should have been embarrassed, but I found it oddly hard to feel that emotion around him. He made me feel a lot of things; wanted, protected, nearly cherished. But he did not make me feel shame for wanting him or for enjoying myself.

He cupped his hands around my cheeks and tipped my face up, looking down at me. His expression was uncharacteristically solemn as his gaze slid over my features and landed on my eyes. "You are so beautiful, Sera."

I smiled, recklessly letting that happiness build up inside me until I thought I would burst from it.

When his lips met mine, they were so soft, so tender, that my chest felt hollowed out from the ache of longing that took up what felt like permanent residence inside me.

I felt my cloak fall away, not even realizing he had undone the clasp.

He started to turn me, to undo the buttons on the back of my nightgown, but I laughed. "The laces in front," I said.

He reached down to the satin laces that crisscrossed the front of my gown, shaking his head as he pulled them, undoing the bow. "You did that on purpose."

"I did," I admitted, smiling broadly.

"You really are trouble, aren't you?" he said, tugging the lace roughly, pulling me closer as he continued to undo the corset-style gown.

"Usually," I said.

He leaned down, sliding one arm behind my back and the other behind my knees, and lifted me in his arms. I let out a startled yelp as he turned, heading for the bed.

"Sh," he admonished, chuckling, but then surprised me again by tossing me onto the bed.

When the laugh burst out of me, he climbed over me and covered my mouth with his, laughing as he admonished me again. "Be quiet you cruel, heartless creature. You'll have me thrown in the dungeons."

I snapped my mouth shut but couldn't stop the smile that threatened to crack my cheeks. "As though any dungeon could keep you inside it," I said.

He laughed and the crooked grin on his face made me breathless.

I reached up, running my hand down the side of his face, letting my fingers slide across the rough stubble along his jaw, and then over the line of his perfect lips.

"You are beautiful," I said, expecting a bit of embarrassment at the admission, but it never came.

He was—ridiculously beautiful.

He was silent for a moment, and I thought he wouldn't reply, but then he smiled faintly. "Thank you, Sera."

An unexpected dart of emotion rolled through me. Of course he would know he was beautiful. I was sure he'd been told it more times than I could even imagine. So why then, did he seem so incredibly sincere when he thanked me for the compliment.

It didn't matter. It was another moment I knew would come back to bite me right in the heart later. But just then, I had what felt like an inferno licking through my veins, one that sensed the same heat from him and wanted to be consumed by it.

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him, catching his lip between my teeth as his hand went back to my laces and finished the work of undoing my gown.

I felt the chill air of the room glide over my breasts, tightening my nipples to points as he slipped the material off my shoulders and coaxed the nightgown down my body. He rose onto his knees and tossed it aside, never taking his eyes off me.

I followed him up and reached for the buttons on the front of his shirt.

He caught my lips again as he deftly undid them and let me slide the shirt down over his broad shoulders. I trailed my hands down the solid length of his arms, unable to stop myself from digging my fingertips into the swell of his biceps.