“I’ll never leave you. Not if I can help it.” He plants a soft kiss on my forehead and smooths my hair until I lose my battle with sleep, and she overtakes me.
* Cue:Killer + The SoundPhoebe Bridgers, Abby Gundersen, Noah Gundersen
88
ZADYN
5 DAYS
It’s an effort to move.
My muscles are so weak, I have to lean on Serena to help get me in and out of chairs—the numbness in my legs and feet bordering on painful.
“This will help the muscles recover more quickly.” The Matron holds up a small glass jar of the darkest amber.
“Apply that to his lower extremities three times daily, and he should be walking without aid in a matter of days. And this—” She passes Serena a vial of blue-gray powder. “Sprinkle this in his bath.”
The Matron presses her hand to my bare chest, inspecting me with clinical concentration.
“The heart is strong. How is the mind?” she asks, opening eyes strangely similar to Mar’s.
“I remember everything.” I look up at her. “Thank you for helping me get back.”
“Who am I to deny our queen?” The Blueblood elder glances toward Serena, now perched on the corner of the wooden table across from me.
“What—”
“You must know by now.” She gives her a meaningful look. “Tellme, girl, do you hear voices in the presence of magical objects? Do they speak to you? Do you hear the whispers of the trees? Do you feel the forests bending to you? What do they say?”
Serena’s face falls. She goes speechless.
“We’ve waited a long time for you.”
“That…I think you’re mistaken. I’m not a queen.”
“Ask your dragon if you have trouble trusting this old crone.”
“It’s not like that—” Serena starts, but the Matron spares her, smiling knowingly.
“All in good time, Blackblood.” With a hearty pat on Serena’s shoulder, she takes her leave.
“Do you believe me now?” I ask, leaning my elbows against my knees. Serena glances at me, pushing back her thick mass of hair.
“I would prefer to remain in denial as long as possible. Blackblood—Dragon Rider—was one thing. Queen is another entirely.” She blows out a long breath, sauntering toward the door with the vial the Matron left for me. “I’m gonna draw you a bath.”
“You know, I don’t need you fussing over me like this,” I call out to her. “I’m not an invalid,” I finish as she reappears around the corner.
“I didn’t say you were. Besides, maybe I like fussing over you.” She picks up the salve and eyes me.
“What are you doing?”
“Take off your pants.”
I nearly choke.
“She said to apply this to the lower extremities.”
“Yeah—I know what she said. I can do it.”
