Page 44 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

Fifteen

My hands were shaking as I approached Veles' massive flank. Despite his seeming acquiescence to the idea, I watched the head at the end of that long neck warily.

Io was just behind me as I placed my foot on a ladder made of crisscrossing leather straps that encircled his body. When I reached the top, it felt like any movement from him might send me flying off to the ground that was really, really far below.

But Veles was solid, an immovable mountain under me. It reminded me of Etreyiu’s unnatural stillness as I swung my leg over the saddle.

As Io seated himself behind me, I laid a hand on the scales along the side of the dragon's neck. "Thank you, Veles," I murmured.

A tremor went down his body, a shudder that rippled his scales from head to tail, and I knew he'd heard me.

Io ran a leather strap across my lap and secured it to the side, and then his arm came around me. He pulled me back against his solid chest, and it felt like a ripple went through me from head to toe.

He took my hand. "Hold on here," he said, wrapping my fingers around one of the leather straps. "And don't be afraid, Sera. I will not let you fall."

"I'm not afraid." I leaned back against him, my thundering heart betraying the words.

I felt his smile through the face pressed momentarily to mine, and then Veles moved.

To say that I was exhilarated would have been the understatement of the ages. My heart felt like it would literally explode as the dragon raised himself up onto his hind legs, stretching his massive wings on either side of him.

I was pressed forcefully back into Io’s chest as Veles seemed to take a long, deep breath. His muscles tensed as a moment of calm descended.

The calm was shattered as he pushed off, leaping up at the same time he swept his wings out, catching the air and vaulting us into the sky.

A scream tore from my throat as we rose.

The wind was maddening. It stung my eyes and stole my breath, but only for a moment, and then calm descended over us.

I blinked, not understanding.

Veles was still climbing, the wind catching in his wings like sails billowing, but my hair was not even rippling in the breeze and the cold, bracing wind no longer bled through my clothes.

I glanced back at Io, and he smiled with a half grin. He was shielding me from the wind with his magic.

Veles stopped climbing. We leveled out, the dragon extending his wings out on either side to catch the wind, gliding on the current. I worked up the nerve to look down from the endless blue sky to the ground so, so far below.

My eyes drank in the sight of the world unfolding under me. I hardly dared to believe it could be so beautiful from such a distance.

The city and the Mercury District were nothing but a dark smudge on the golden plains sweeping out in all directions. It was breathtaking—even if the city was an unsightly dark gray smudge on the otherwise uninterrupted golden hills.

The smile on my face threatened to make my cheeks cramp as I delighted in a freedom that I had never dared imagine being within my grasp.

I saw a streak of white to my right and followed it, realizing my dragon had joined us in the sky.

When I turned to see if Io had seen her, the look on his face was odd. He looked wistful—almost sad. "What?" I said, marveling that his shield could let our words carry so well when flying so fast.

"You aren't afraid of anything, are you?" he asked, studying my face intently.

"That's not true," I said.

He shook his head. "I think it is."

"How could I be afraid of this?" I said, letting go of the strap and waving my hand to acknowledge the wonder around me.

"You would be amazed how long it takes a dragon rider to feel half as comfortable as you are after only a few minutes."

"Well, you did say you would not let me fall—and you are holding me quite securely."

I ran my fingers down his arm, across the back of his hand, just as I had wanted to do when we rode together to that damned party.

He laced his fingers with mine momentarily and then surprised me by removing his arm and leaning back, leaving me seated alone in the saddle.

It was not scary. In fact, him releasing me only made me realize that I felt completely secure in my own seat. I would not fall.

I looked out along the powerful neck of the dragon—that creature of myth and magic that was carrying me through the sky, and felt Io release the shield a little. The wind rushed past me, filling my lungs with some deep, primal urge to shout.

So I did. I screamed my joy into the sky, feeling the rumblings of something deep inside me, something I had never been brave enough to acknowledge, come to life—searching, fumbling for the light.

I reached for that faint ghost of power, but as though it was trying to evade me, it shrank back just as Veles banked, angling downward.

Io's arm came around my waist, his shield going back into place.

He pressed a kiss to the skin where my neck and shoulder met, saying, "You belong up here, Aelia of Windemere. You were born to fly."

We landed in the godsgrass outside a camp of large canvas tents arranged in a circle. The grasses had been cleared in the center, and I could see several cook fires burning. They filled the air with the delicious scent of roasting meat.

"How many men do you have here?" I asked as Io helped me down from Veles. Dragons of every size and color were lounging around the camp, some with their necks crossed over each other companionably.

"Only forty," he replied, giving me an apologetic grin. He had apparently not traveled into Windemere with only Aben, Britaxia, and the mysterious fourth person I had yet to meet. He had an entire regiment hidden in the middle of the plains.

Speaking of Aben and Britaxia, I saw them coming from inside one of the canvas tents.

Aben gave me a look, then directed one to Veles behind us, who was now slinking across the grass in the direction of what I thought was Britaxia's red and black dragon.

As the dragon riders reached us, Aben angled between us, resting an arm on both our shoulders.

It always surprised me to see him standing even taller than Io, towering over everyone around him. He smiled down at me and then turned to Io. "Tell me, cousin, that I am not seeing what I think I'm seeing, and that you didn't both just hop off the back of that dragon."

"Impossible," Britaxia said, her mouth hanging open in shock.

I looked up at Aben and smiled. "He likes me."

"No shit?" he asked.

He turned to Io, who gave him a confirming nod. "She has a way with beasts, apparently.”

Aben removed his arms and turned. "Well, that's obvious," he added with a wry smile.

Io gave his cousin a warning glare, but my attention was drawn to another pair of scale-armored figures striding our way.

Io clasped their forearms in turn, greeting them warmly.

"Malach and Adia," he said, turning to me. "This is Aelia of Windemere, Queen of the Godsgrass Kingdom."

I reached out first to clasp hands with the woman, Adia, I assumed. She was tall and had short blonde hair, styled very similar to Io's—trim and neat around the ears and longer on top.

Her face was handsome, with a fierce beauty that came from a kind of physical strength I was not accustomed to seeing in women. "I am not yet the Queen of Windemere," I told her, giving Io a dark look.

Adia smiled at me. "You are the rightful heir, past her majority. You will find, Your Majesty, that we all consider you as such."

"Indeed," Malach added, reaching to take my hand.

His skin, the color of rich, fertile soil, was positively luminous around his bright golden eyes.

"You will find that we do not make the distinction that the eldermen of this kingdom do when they style their queen as a princess because she has not lowered herself to take a husband.

And now, presented with Her Majesty in the flesh, I can see why she has not yet found a man among these fields who can do her justice. "

Their words nearly bowled me over. I recalled Cazmiri calling me “majesty” as well, but I had assumed it was an oversight.

To be handed such honor by strangers when the people of my own kingdom so often looked down on me with derision and scorn for having had the nerve to be born a woman.

..it was enough to knock the wind out of me.

"Thank you," I told them, barely registering Malach's smooth compliment thrown in at the end.

"You have absolutely no idea how much that means to me. "

Io took my hand, not seeming to care who saw it, and led me into one of the tents.

The others filed in after us, gathering around a table in the center of the room. A huge map of Alterra was spread out across the surface, the two halves of the continent connected by the narrow slip of land at the Twilight Gap.

Io answered the question in my mind of why exactly we had come to this camp when he began to tell them all the things the guard, Fenric, had told me.

When he was done, Malach used a graduated stick to make marks on the map, starting at Balus, the island nation beyond the Thyella Sea west of Windemere. He traced several possible routes the Penjani armada might be taking.

When he was done, he straightened, slipping the stick and his pencil back into his pocket.

He gave Io a tight-lipped smile. "Any of these likely routes will have them at the southern continent by early next week at the latest. We only have general information about when they were in Balus, how long they might have needed to regroup. It could be sooner."

His words seemed to clang around my brain like a bell. Early next week. It was so soon. Even knowing Penjan was likely heading our way, it always seemed like it would happen some time in the future. Early next week was not far enough in the future.

"We have to evacuate the city," I said, to no one in particular.