Page 28 of A Kingdom of Fire and Fury
“That’s stupid.”
Nimue smacked my arm. “It’s not stupid. You wouldn’t know, but the parents almost never raise their child. It’s all nannies and allies. I spent half of my childhood at Aurelia’s and then a few at Kieran’s. And those two, they have no interest in raising a child. It’ll only be for duty.” She wrinkled her nose.
“That makes no sense.”
She laughed. “Well, it keeps me going. Whenever that demoness hatches a child, you’ll see. I’ll be rightthere waiting.”
My renewed strength didn’t last long, and I was practically dying during training. My strength was so pathetic that even Kieran didn’t bother yelling at me when I lagged behind our laps. It was hard to worry about potential assassins when I was so sure that training would kill me first.
“This is pathetic,” Aurelia said when I finished my final lap and gasped for breath.
I raised my hand to give her a vulgar gesture and staggered toward the others. Or tried to. The world slipped out from under me. My vision went blurry. I was unconscious before I hit the ground.
When I came to, my pounding headache was back. I wasn’t sure where I was. Pain had me in a chokehold and wasn’t about to let up anytime soon.
“—stubborn…. refused to die,” a dry voice said.
“It’s admirable.”
“More like annoying.”
“Are you willing to admit…”
“I won’t get distracted.”
“You can’t just—”
“I will.”
“Please…”
The darkness took me once more. This time, when I woke up, it was to Umara’sroar. And I realized… the sound wasn’t from inside my head. And not only that… it was close. Too close. My eyes sprang open, and I jumped out of bed.
I was in the healing ward in the dragonsguard wing and outside the massive ceiling-to-wall window was Umara, sitting on the pavilion—made specifically for an emergency dragon landing. Her golden scales glittered so bright, I had to squint. Warmth pulsed down the bond, but I was too busy gaping like an idiot to focus on that as she leveled me with an intense stare and ruffled her wings. “What. The. Fuck?”
“She’s lost her patience,” Nimue said from behind me.
I spun around to see her grinning from ear to ear. “What… happened?” My legs felt like a baby fawn, and I pressed my hand against the wall for balance.
“Gareth and I told Luther, but he didn’t listen. Now Umara’s done being nice.” She snickered. “She rammed herself against the castle when we were loading you in. Only when Luther said you’d bond later did she stop.”Smugnessandworryshot down the bond. I glanced at the window. Umara opened her mouth—fire brimming deep in her throat.
“Someone open the window!” a guard yelled.
Nimue was already there, throwing open the panels.
Umara chuffed smoke her way and then leaned forward to nudge her head against my temple. After a minute of nuzzling against me, she glared at a pale-faced Nimue and then shuffled back to her spot on the porch. What a menace. I loved her for it.
Nimue expelled a breath and only moved when Umara was firmly outside the room. Then she pulled me into a hug. “Glad to see you’re up. It was touch and go for a bit, even when Umara showed up. No one’s gone unbonded for this long. I really thought Luther was going to be ash in the wind.”
“If only she’d done it.”
“Careful now, you don’t want the wrong person to overhear,” a familiar voice said.
I scowled at Kieran, who had that infuriating smirk on his face. “What do you want?”
Kieran kicked off the wall and prowled over to me. “Luther requested a private audience with you as soon as you awakened. Might want to keep that poisonous tongue of yours in check. He doesn’t appreciate it like I do.”
I stalked past him. “Whatever. I’m not a moron.” How could I be intimidated when Umara just made everyone her bitch? My lips twitched at the thought. The common area wasn’t empty like I expected it to be. Luther sprawled lazily on the couch and glanced up when I entered. My mouth dropped. “Why…”
