The Passionate Queen (Dark Queens Book 2) (22 page)

“I’m here now, and that is all that matters. Why are you here, Icarus? I know Midas is here for the crown, as is Jonas to an extent, I suspect. But you, you I have a difficult time understanding.”

The blond-haired demigod glanced down below us. I noticed movement and realized the procession was finally underway. We gently glided along, following Lena’s path.

“I do not love the queen; this is simply fact. But I would like to learn to do so. I see a kindness in her that has been long hidden.”

I snorted. “You expect me to believe it is nothing more than altruism on your part?”

His brows dipped. “Of course not. I have aspirations; I always have. I’ve yet to find a woman I love. There is nothing and no one tethering me to home. I wished adventure, and it seemed to me adventure could be had here. I’d not have stayed if I hadn’t felt that the queen and I could also learn to enjoy one another’s company though.”

Sensible. Down to earth. And without agenda.

“I hate you, bird.”

He chuckled. “You wouldn’t be the first to say so.”

Neither of us talked the rest of the way toward the picnic spot. There were parts of Kingdom I’d never ventured into before; the Enchanted Forest was one of those places.

The scenery was bucolic on the one hand, with normal-looking birds flitting through the skies. Though not a one of them sang. Which wasn’t in and of itself all that odd since most animals scurried off anytime I was about in dragon form.

Anytime I’d come to Kingdom I’d only ever visited wonderland. I found the mundaneness of the enchanted forest to be rather...disappointing. The trees were thick towers of greenery and rich, robust bark. The flowers had no faces; they were simply colored petals that danced on their stems from the breeze.

However, when stared at long enough, there was also something slightly sinister to the place.

The curl of white fog that banded about the knees of the steeds that came from seemingly nowhere. The lack of sunlight filtering between tree branches.

Something about this place bothered me. I wasn’t afraid. But I was... aware.

Lena finally stopped at a clearing a mile wide with a sparkling lake of deepest-blue water at its center. Here the sun shone on the blankets of gold spread out with baskets upon baskets of foodstuff.

I dropped lithely from the sky, shifting before I’d touched both feet down, sensitive to the unicorn’s skittish manners.

Even in human form, the animal was not blind. The soft-pink body quivered with muscle ticks, and she kept neighing, dropping her head, and shaking her horn at me, as though to make battle.

Unicorns were thought of as passive, shy animals. Shy they were, but they were far from passive.

Jonas was patting her mane; Midas had hopped off her back the moment he could.

But regardless of Jonas’ calming voice, I sensed the mare was seconds from bolting. I was one of a very few dragons who not only admired the beasts, but highly valued them. I’d never been able to draw near to one before and relished the thought of getting to do so now. Keeping my movements steady and calm, I held out my palm to her.

“I’ll not harm you, creature. In fact, I find you to be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in the whole of my life.”

But the closer I drew to her, the more visibly nervous she became—tossing her head and stomping her front hoof. I wanted her to meet me as an equal. So I stopped moving and simply waited on her. No one else moved either. I felt all eyes on us. Only after several tense seconds did I start to notice her skittishness turning to curiosity. It took her several prancing, pawing foot stomps before she tentatively took that first step toward me.

From the corner of my eye I could see Lena staring at us with bright-eyed wonder. The unicorn and I historically were known to be bitter rivals. But I’d never been much like the rest of my people, and it must have been that truth the animal sensed in me that finally caused her to take the final step and brush my palm with the sharp tip of her horn.

There was very little on this world or mine that could bring a fully-grown dragonborne to its knees, but if the unicorn pierced my hand with her horn, I’d be writhing in agony.

It was an act of trust that went both ways for us, for I could just as easily decide to eat her for a light snack.

When I didn’t move, she stepped in a little closer, so that the velvety tip of her nose rested on my palm. I smiled broadly. “You are lovely.”

At my words a strange, high-pitched whistling emitted from the mare, and I quickly realized she was humming through her horn.

“Let me try,” Midas grunted gruffly, coming at us so quickly that the sharp snap of him breaking a twig beneath his foot ricocheted like a bomb through the surreal quiet of the woods.

The unicorn screeched, her silvery eyes bled through with thick bands of bloodred and she whirled, running off in a mad dash.

Furious at the idiot, I reached for his neck with fingers that suddenly sported several thick claws, but Lena’s hand quickly covered mine, and she gave it a gentle squeeze before saying, “That was brilliant, Ragoth.”

Jonas grouched, “You idiot, Midas, now I’ll never get her back.”

Midas merely rolled his eyes and headed in the direction of the picnic, but I couldn’t seem to move. My heart thumped wildly in my chest with the realization that Lena still hadn’t released my hand.

Her lips were right there. As if sensing my turn of thought, she held perfectly still. A gentle, wildflower-laden breeze stirred the curl on her shoulder, teasing me and drawing my eye, making me want to snatch it up and wrap my finger through it.

The air between us grew thick with unspoken words, but I read her thoughts in her gaze.

Icarus quickly clearing his throat finally broke us from the hypnotic spell.

“The picnic, my queen.”

“Oh yes. Yes.” She snatched her hand away, adjusted herself, and shyly glanced down at her feet before moving off toward the baskets of food.

“You’re a foul creature,” I hissed at Icarus when I walked past him, who merely chuckled.

“Fair’s fair, dragon. You’ll not get her all to yourself today.”

Aphrodite

“I
’m boooooored,” Calypso grumped and tossed several kernels of popcorn at the see-orb. “Boooooo. Hiss!”

I smiled patiently. “What are you talking about? The picnic is going splendidly, and did you not see the heated exchange between Zelena and Ragoth?”

“Yes.” The sea elemental rolled her quicksilver-colored eyes, the octopus tentacle blue hair writhed agitatedly around her shoulders. “Yes, I did. And now I see this Icarus brat being all noble and kindhearted, and it makes me want to barf.” She stuck a finger in her mouth. “Zelena’s getting her head turned by a pair of pretty eyes and a nice arse.”

Chuckling, I agreed. “He does have a nice ass. But honestly, my love, things are going well. I do not think Zelena has forgotten all about our Ragoth.”

Her look was unimpressed. “Yes, well, I’m about to reach through this orb and pimp slap some sense into her. Seriously, can she not see the dragon’s ears steaming? No, this will just not do. We need to make him appear more heroic.”

“Caly, dear, I’m the goddess of love and I’m telling you things are going splendidly. There was never anything wrong with a little good old-fashioned jealousy mind play. She’s making Ragoth work for it, and I for one am proud of h—”

“Oh goddess”—she slapped a palm to her face—“you’re exhausting and absolutely too devious. I’m ready to see some monkey loving happening; time to rev this engine up.”

Smirking, she got to her feet and dusted off her buttery fingertips on the sleeve of my pristine white gown. I glared at the offensive oily marks.

“Calypso!” I growled.

“Oh, poo, I’ll make you another one. Now, time to make things just a wee bit more interesting.”

“Caly, leave them be.” I rubbed at the spot with a napkin dipped in soda water; it really didn’t work.

“Well, look at that, a pond. How beautiful. How rippled and pretty that water is.” Her smile grew wider and far more Machiavellian than it had a right to be, “Oh my, I wonder that they didn’t realize that a sea monster lived within its briny depths.”

“Sea monster? Briny depths?” I shivered, wondering what horrors she’d spew forth from it. “Calypso, it’s naught more than a puddle. Don’t do what you’re thinking of—”

“Too late.” Her laughter sounded like the tinkling of sea bells, and I gazed on in horror as a nasty thing of legend and fury came crawling from its depths.

“Good gods,” I breathed.

Sitting down cross-legged, she nodded. “Yes, now things are going to be fun!”

~*~

Zelena

T
he picnic was going well, I thought. Icarus made a fine companion, listening to my silly stories with the type of smile that seemed like he was really enjoying himself. Interjecting comments now and again to let me know he was actually paying attention, and flattering me sporadically so that none of it felt forced or heavy handed.

Those statements could not be said of Midas, who every three seconds interrupted our talks by commenting on something or other that happened to him a long time ago that was either clever, witty, or heroic. Or so he thought.

“Oh, did I happen to mention the time I stumbled upon a pile of basilisk—”

“Jewels!” Jonas snapped, tearing a hunk of bread in half. “Yes. So you’ve said, about twenty times already.”

Midas smiled. It wasn’t really a smile though, more of a lip pull that showed his teeth. I imagined if he were a dog, his fur would be ruffled and he’d be growling by now.

Speaking of growling...

I looked around for Ragoth; halfway through the picnic he’d gotten up and wandered off. And I hated to admit it bothered me, but it bothered me.

I picked at the cheese wedge on my plate. I’d eaten very little. I wasn’t good at making idle chatter with many. I preferred to speak with one or two people at most; it was easier that way. Being forced to entertain three at once was making me feel emotionally drained and exhausted.

All I wanted was to go back to the safety of my castle. But then I thought of being trapped in my room, and that wasn’t at all what I wanted either.

The truth was I wanted to speak with Ragoth again. I wanted to catch up on our past. I knew about him.

A little.

I knew of his paramours, and the places he’d visited. Trips to Olympus and such, and there’d been rumor of his having fought off a Cyclops who’d come through the gardens with the intention of hieing off with Zeus’s royal fleece.

“Do you agree, my queen?” Midas asked with a heavy drawl.

“Wha—” I jerked, pulled from my thoughts as I realized I’d drifted off again. Icarus nodded back at me, his eyes gentle and making me feel a little less discombobulated. I had no idea what they’d been talking about. I clutched at my stomach, curling my fingers through the fabric. Forcing out a pinched smile, I nodded. “Yes...yes, I suppose.”

Gods, what was I saying yes to?

“See, I told you.” Midas shrugged indolently. “As I said, Jonas, gold is far superior than jewels.”

Good gods, did the man never think of anything other than money?

Ic snorted, tossing a broken shard of twig down by his booted foot.

I looked back into the woods. Why hadn’t he returned already? Surely he’d been gone an hour, if not longer.

Had he changed his mind about me? About us?

The thought made what little food I had eaten turn sour in my stomach.

“Would you like me to go get him for you?” Icarus leaned in, asking softly into my ear.

I sighed, hating to be so transparent, and fluttered my fingers across my breeches. This was utterly ridiculous. I was surrounded by beautiful men, one of whom didn’t actually make me want to drive a rusty stake through my heart (like that fool Midas did), and I simply couldn’t focus.

Giving him a wimpy smile, I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. I just hope he doesn’t get lost.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. He is a dragon after all.”

“You have a point.”

The warm glide of strong fingers upon the back of my hand caused me to glance down. Icarus was touching me. He hadn’t made much of a move on me before now.

I lifted a brow in question. Points to him for not snatching his hand away as though he’d been caught doing something wicked.

“Queen Zelena—”

He did have a nice voice, deep and full of a throaty timbre. With the way the setting sun cast its golden rays around him, he made me think of something regal and heroic. The peculiar thing about him was that in no way did I find any part of him to be artifice.

As impossible as it was to believe, and as jaded as I’d become, I really did suspect that Icarus was one of a rare few truly good men.

I could be content with him.

“—how do you and the dragonborne know each other? I suspect you met long before this tourney.”

From the corner of my eye I could visibly see Midas perk to attention. Jonas, however, was lost in his own world; he’d called a rabbit mouse to him—a cute, furry, teeny tiny little thing with the most enormous ears—and was currently whispering sweet nothings in its ear.

Jonas was pretty enough, but there simply wasn’t much up there. Which I suppose was exactly what I’d asked for; little had I known, though, just how taxing it was to deal with someone so vacant between the ears.

I sighed. “Well, I suppose it’s impossible to deny our history at this point—”

The next thing I knew I heard a piercing shriek erupt through the forest. The sound was very distinctly feminine and hurt so bad to hear that all I could do was clamp my hands to my ears and groan in despair.

The men surrounding me however were not writhing in agony so much as in ecstasy. The stood to their feet, every last one of them with dazed, expressionless looks in their eyes as they marched in drone-like procession to the source of that sound.

“Stop!” I screamed, heart pounding and pulse racing with anxiety and nerves as a sudden horrific image of something terrible happening to Ragoth pierced through me. “Don’t go that way! What are you doing?”