Page 99 of Golden Queen (Idrigard #1)

"I told you Jhol is something of a spymaster.

He told me that you're strong and beautiful and viciously smart—though I have no idea how he knew.

So when that summons came, and it looked like they were auctioning you off to the highest bidder, it made me a little angry.

That's when I decided to give you the dragon.

I wanted you to have claws and teeth if you had to live in a world where you were not even allowed to come into your own power without a husband.

Eroa had just hatched, and I had never seen a hatchling who looked like her.

There had not been a white dragon born in Darkwatch in my lifetime.

And Sera, Jhol never told me about your hair.

I had no idea the gift was as perfectly suited as it was. "

His smile was dazzling. It took my breath away in such a sweet, aching way to know he had been seeking to arm me even before he knew me.

"I thought I would be handing off a baby dragon to a young princess. I hoped the bond would help her navigate her way through a harsh world. I had no idea that what I was really doing was giving wings to a fierce and deadly queen who would end up being more important to me than anything."

The words further humbled me, along with the knowledge of what his gift had meant to him. I wanted to kiss him, but there were people striding down the hallway toward us. I smiled, taking his hand, trying to convey what it meant to me through the simple gesture.

His smile told me he received the message as that dimple appeared beside his lovely mouth.

"Amon, my boy!" a voice said from behind us.

I dragged my eyes away to see a short, austere looking man with steel-gray hair and a wide, friendly smile approaching us. He wore the long, black robes of a master scholar.

"Cassius," Io said, reaching out to shake the man's hand. Io turned to me, preparing to introduce me, but Cassius' eyes went wide.

"Could this be Aelia of Windemere?" the man said, pushing past Io and reaching for me.

"I am indeed," I said, returning his smile as he clasped my hand between his papery soft fingers.

"It is delightful to see you here, Your Majesty. You must come, you must see!" He turned, pulling me down the hall, his face a mask of excitement.

I looked at Io for reassurance, but he shrugged and followed as Cassius led me through a door on the right.

The room beyond was a tangled mess of green with plants on every single surface—spread across the floor, up the walls and hanging from what I was surprised to see was a domed glass ceiling that showed a cloudless blue sky beyond.

"How?" I said, noting the daylight bathing the chamber.

Cassius paused and looked up, his smile only becoming more delighted. "Magic!" he said, raising his hands, including the one of mine he still held. He beatifically gestured towards the false sky. "Magic is a wonder, my dear. But you must see, come. Come!"

He pulled me along into another smaller room where little trays and paper cups lined a long table. I saw Io trailing behind us looking highly amused as he grinned at me from the doorway.

"Here, here," Cassius said, lifting a small white cup, gingerly. "Look!"

I moved closer to see a tiny, delicate-looking sprout that had just emerged from beneath the soil in the cup.

The stem was a light tan, almost white, but the two leaves jutting off from the plant—one of which still had its seed husk cradle around it, were shimmering gold.

"Godsgrass!" I said, stunned. Chills raced down the length of my arms.

"Indeed!" Cassius agreed happily. "We have done it! This is the first sprout to ever grow outside of your kingdom! The very first, since I'll wager those southern fools are still arguing about where to plant it."

"You grew it from a seed?" I asked.

"Indeed! From your coronation! I have a particular friend at the Presarion who sent me three of the precious things by bird. We planted it only yesterday, and this is the first of them to sprout, though I have no doubt the others will as well."

I shook my head. "I half thought it was a trick—that someone had thrown the seeds out at my feet!"

Cassius laughed. "They were real enough, as you can see. We have long wondered how the godsgrass sprouts from the ground and yet has no bulb and never goes to seed. I have spent many years personally trying to uncover the secrets. Was your blood truly the key?"

I shrugged. "That's what it looked like, though I don't pretend to understand."

"Then I must have your blood!" Cassius said excitedly.

"Absolutely not," Io said before I could answer.

Cassius looked slightly abashed. "Only a little, my dear. Just a few drops, really. And if I am to confirm your mating bond, well it will only be a bit more than that."

"I would be glad to give you as much as you need, especially if it means your research here could lead to less hunger in the world. Don't mind the very serious looking man over my shoulder," I told the master, giving Io, behind me, a dirty look.

Io tilted his head, though I saw the corners of his mouth threatening to rise.

"Tread carefully, Master Cassius," Io said. "I would not like to have it even more widely known that my mate's blood is the key to the godsgrass mystery."

"Oh, of course not, of course not," Cassius said seriously. "We will keep it strictly confidential whatever we find. Though you must know the story of her coronation miracle has already more than crossed the continent."

I did not like the sound of my coronation miracle. It made it sound like I set out to do it when it had been no more than me submitting to the same ceremony every ruler of Windemere had undertaken since Edgeon, the First, had been crowned.

"Yes, Master, but stories are only stories until the Citadel confirms them," Io added.

"True, true. That is true enough. But there are elements to this story that we must speak of. And we should perhaps do so in a more private area."

That sounded rather ominous. I couldn't help the apprehension that dogged my steps as we followed Master Cassius to his office.

It was a cluttered, but warm and inviting space with a large desk piled high with papers. Several well-worn leather armchairs were shoved in amongst the mess.

Books covered every wall and every table surface. They were stacked on the floor nearly to my shoulders, tumbling down in piles that forced us to pick our way gingerly along a trail through the room.

When we were seated across from him at his desk, Cassius leaned forward and steepled his fingers. "Your note said you have some questions for me regarding the Arkyllan prophecy. I have compiled everything I have on it and taken the liberty of making some annotations here."

"I sent him a note last night," Io said, from the chair at my side. "To be sure he wasn't too deep in the tunnels."

Cassius nodded. "To be sure! Some of them are nearly a day's journey away even by the rail system we have in place."

"What do you look for in the tunnels exactly?" I asked, curious about their work in the mountains.

Master Cassius smiled apologetically. "Mostly Idylstone these days, but there are many secrets deep in the earth—of worlds long-since buried. Things that would positively flabbergast your senses!" The man was so excited I couldn't help but smile.

"So, what do you know about the prophecy?" I asked when it was clear he would not say more about the tunnels. Secrets, I thought with a flash of annoyance. "And did Amon's note give you the new words—the ones given to me by the angels?" I added.

Cassius' expression proved Io's note had done no such thing.

When I finished telling the old master the story of how the angels had appeared to me outside of Cold Garden, Io reached into his pocket and pulled out the parchment I had written the words on.

Master Cassius took the page and read in silence for several minutes. When he had finished, he picked up his pen and began scribbling notes onto the papers before him. He kept looking between the paper and his own notes, taking turns reading and scratching his pen across the page.

Once, he shot up from the desk and grabbed a book propped against the wall. He opened it and began furiously thumbing through the pages.

When he found what he was looking for, he took the book back to the desk and began writing some more.

When Io started to speak, the master scholar put a hand up to silence him.

After several more minutes, he finally looked up excitedly. "There is still much I do not understand. But there are things here that my brothers and sisters all agree upon. First of which is that the prophecy does indeed speak of you, Aelia of Windemere."

I wanted to get up and leave, so great was the feeling of foreboding his words elicited. Even if I had all but resigned myself to the fact already, the confirmation from the top scholar in Darkwatch terrified me.

But I did not go. I stayed—more out of curiosity than anything else.

As we listened raptly, Cassius went through the parts of the prophecy that he was certain the scholars had come to understand.

"The mother's veil is ashes," he said. "We believe that refers to your mother's death.

Just as the father's grief is poison refers to your father's suicide.

Obviously, the angel opens her eyes—that would be your birth, though none of us can agree on the timeline.

It seems the prophecy implies your mother died before your birth, but it is well known that it was after. "

"The next part, her shadow falls across the stars. Her tears fall upon the little blind rat. She remembers malice, but the child knows only the light—we have no idea what this refers to."

Io cut in. "I've given that part a bit of thought myself."

Cassius and I both looked at him in question.