Page 41 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

Thirteen

I left him, with a great deal of effort, just before dawn. I knew I would be with him at breakfast, and I was already scheming for some way to see him outside of mealtimes as well.

Unfortunately, my uncle had returned to the city.

He was in a foul enough temper that he canceled the formal meals and had everyone served in their chambers.

The servant who showed up with my breakfast unapologetically informed me of it as she led two boys into the room with a large tray balanced between them.

After I bathed and dressed, I left my chambers to go and see what I might learn about his journey to Gold Harbor.

A stone-faced guard met me at the door and told me the regent asked that I remain in my chambers. I narrowed my eyes at the man and stepped around him, intent on finding my uncle for answers.

The guard didn't dare stop me, but he followed me down the length of the hall, where I found that the door to the stairs leading to the main hall had been closed and locked.

I whirled on the man. "We have guests in the castle. You cannot expect me to remain in my chambers. That would be the height of disrespect."

"Begging your pardon, Your Highness, the guests have left the castle on the regent's orders." He would not meet my eyes as he relayed the information.

I softened my features as I regarded the young man. He was obviously only doing what he had been ordered to do. "And Taiger, the boy who tends my dragon?" I asked.

"He and the dragon were sent away with the party from Radune, Your Highness."

"That bastard," I spat, not even caring if the soldier told Markus what I said. He had no right to send my dragon away.

The soldier looked up and down the hall before turning to me again, lowering his voice.

"I have to say I agree, Your Highness, though I hope these words won't ever reach the regent’s ears.

I fought on that field with the fae from Darkwatch.

They are not the enemies some would have us believe.

I, for one, would feel a damn sight better knowing we had an alliance with Nightfall for the coming war. "

"The coming war?" I asked, a shiver running up my spine. "Is it assured then—that Penjan will attack?"

The soldier eyed the door warily. "Walk with me if you will, Your Highness, and I will tell you all I know."

As I walked back to my chambers with the soldier, whose name I learned was Fenric, he explained all that he'd heard and guessed about the coming war.

It was more information than my mind knew what to do with.

Fenric had spent a lot of time in the service of my uncle and had kept his ears open for news.

The ships sighted off the coast were indeed Penjani scouts ahead of an armada that some estimated at upwards of a thousand ships and hundreds of times that many soldiers.

Most of them were dohtor frigates, notoriously fast ships with huge iron claw legs that their crews could use to haul them up onto nearly any coastline they landed upon.

The massive armada had been seen for the last several months, hopping from port to port, rampaging across the seas.

Fenric explained that it was impossible to visit any tavern along the coast without hearing some tale from a fisherman or merchant regarding where the elves might be heading next or what their likely final destination would be.

When Balus, one of the closest kingdoms to the west of Alterra, fell to Penjan, it became clear that they were in the Thyella Sea and poised to make Alterra their next conquest.

The Shadow King, Magnus of Penjan, led the armada himself. They brought elven shadow walkers, necromancers, wyverns, skinchangers, witches, and all manner of dreadful beasts and dead things.

They also traveled with the Black Fleet Skylleken, a band of pirates, led by Admiral Nadjin Skyllek, who was as notorious for her brutality as she was for the fact that she and her all-female crew sailed into battle topless.

Admiral Skyllek was well-known in every sea, but she had come into service with Penjan at some point in the last few years.

That, at least, was something I already knew.

Something I did not know, which Fenric relayed with calm solemnity, was that the Stoneteeth Tribe, a notorious group of cannibals, was also said to be traveling with the Penjani King's armada.

I had never even heard of the Stoneteeth, but when Fenric spoke of them, it sent dread coursing through me.

I left the conversation with the guard nearly shaking, both with fear of the war that now seemed imminent and with anger that so much had been kept from me.

I paced my chambers until the sun set, after spending an infuriating half hour arguing with Tatana about how dangerous my little excursions to Io's chamber had been. I knew she was only worried about me, but I found it hard to take that into consideration in the face of all that I’d learned.

Tatana seemed far less concerned about the threat of Penjani elves invading our kingdom than she was for my reputation, but all I could think was that there would be no reason to set me aside from the throne if it was in the hands of necromancers.

When I could no longer still my restless soul, I left the castle to go and find him.

I didn't know how I would get into the Mercury District, but I had a feeling it would not matter in any case. He would find me before it became an issue.

The city was even more packed than usual as I made my way down Merchant's Square, looking for a carriage for hire.

I thought I found one as a sleek, black buggy slowed as it passed me. But without warning, the driver cracked the whip, and the horse surged past.

I cursed, seeing no other likely carriage on the busy streets.

I left Merchant's Square, following behind a group of young people who were loudly singing the song about the old king with forty wives. Each verse named another wife and detailed her particular assets, but they all ended the same—with the poor king's overused appendage falling off.

“The cock crows twice ere the break o’ dawn! The old king wakes but his cock is gone!” They sang, laughing, with their arms thrown over each other’s shoulders.

We were heading in the direction of the Mouse's Ear, where I knew Anetta would lend me her carriage. I still had no idea how to get past the Mercury District gate, but I thought the courtesans might have an idea about that as well.

In the end, I wasn't paying enough attention. I didn't see the same black carriage roll past again, slowing just a little, or that a man had stepped down from the door. He had his hand over my mouth and a knife at my throat before I knew what had happened.

"Scream and it's over for you," he said, letting the cold blade press into my skin. I felt a warm trickle run down my neck.

He pulled me toward the carriage as I darted my eyes to the group, now well ahead of us, still singing. They were not paying any attention to the lone figure behind them being held at knifepoint.

A hooded figure sat on the driver's box stoically staring forward. Inside the carriage, the shadowy figure of a man waited with his hands outstretched, ready to take hold of me.

I knew if I went into that carriage, I would not make it out. I tensed, digging my feet into the gravel. "Please," I said softly, letting my voice tremble. "Don't hurt me."

The plea was enough to make the man relax ever so slightly, judging me for the weak, helpless female that I had just revealed myself to be.

I waved my trembling hands in front of me, trying to keep my balance as I watched my feet. I placed my hand over my heart as though breathless.

"Move," the man said gruffly, pushing me forward. I felt something hard digging into my back that I prayed to the gods was a belt buckle.

Just as we reached the door, I caught sight of the face inside the carriage. I wasn't at all surprised to see that it was the long-faced man who'd tried to take me on Antevemer Street.

His eyes were small and beady in the lamplight, his expression hard to interpret, but the excitement in those odd little eyes was unmistakable. He looked giddy, almost childish.

An odor wafted from the carriage door. It was acrid and metallic, clinging to the back of my throat. It made me want to gag.

The lips of the long-faced man began to curve into a triumphant smile as the man at my back pushed me forward. I made my move in a heartbeat that seemed to unnaturally stretch out before me.

Reaching up to my chest, as though overcome by fear again, I pulled my blade from the sheath inside my coat and pushed the point back, under my own arm.

The sharp Obeskan steel went through my captor's midsection as easily as the mellitrium had gone through Io's chest.

I heard an oomph and momentary biting pressure on the blade at my throat before the man's arms fell away.

I pulled my sword from his gut and kicked off to the left, sprinting across the road and between two buildings. I turned right between two others, and then immediately left again.

I pushed myself past the point of endurance as I zig-zagged through the streets, trying to make it hard for them to follow me.

I didn't stop when my lungs screamed with every breath or when I became aware of wetness on the front of my shirt. I felt dizzy, like the road was rising up to meet me a few times, but I stumbled on, slowing incrementally as I went, but never stopping.

I passed startled pedestrians, their eyes widening as they saw me. One woman gasped, her mouth gaping open as I raced by. I thought perhaps the blood from the nick on my throat was a little more than I realized.

I still didn't stop though. I only continued running, leaving the startled people behind me as I ran for...where?

I reached the rear entrance of the Mouse's Ear and relief coursed through me.

I doubled over, sucking in a breath and coughed. Pain lanced through my chest, and I was horrified to see drops of blood splattered across the ground.

I knocked loudly as the world tilted to the side.

I moved with the topsy-turvy earth and felt my back hit something solid just as my feet went sliding out before me through the gravel.

I didn't remember hitting the ground, but I must have, because I came to awareness as someone picked me up.

"Sera, what happened?"

I knew that voice, but it was angry. I struggled to tell him I was sorry.

"Ran too fast, srry." My voice sounded strange—wet. As I tried to speak again, liquid filled the back of my throat. Rising.

I couldn't breathe!

Panic took hold of me as the world spun overhead. I could see the sky, the brilliant sparkling stars, and the edge of a few trees—but the world was turning in very odd ways.

And I still could not breathe.

A gurgle came from my throat and then the world was spinning a brand new direction. Pressure built behind my eyes as darkness overtook my vision.

Something hot poured out of my mouth and I sucked in a rasping breath, feeling like something was wrapped around my neck, choking me. I could only get a little air around the obstruction, so I tried to reach up with my hands to remove it, but my arms were just...gone.

Nausea roiled through me as I landed on something soft. A bed? A couch? A cloud?

Anetta's face swam before me. And then Io's beautiful one took its place, and I no longer cared if I could breathe or whether I had arms.

He looked terrified, so I tried to smile at him to let him know I was alright.

"Don't you fucking dare, Sera. If you die, I swear to the gods I will burn this fucking city to ashes."

Wasn't that sweet of him? He loves me.

And then darkness swallowed me as warmth rose up, cocooning me in soft, peaceful oblivion.