Page 201 of Of Blood and Banes
A…fuckingtomato?
I turn to the direction from which it came and this time a handful of rocks the size of coins hits me square in the chest. Daeja swivels, her wings flaring out to the side that envelopes the entire width of the street, and roars with a fury that sends crowds scattering like frantic ants.
Melaina removes her cloak and wraps it over me, then pulls the hood up over my head and tucks me down in between her and Daeja.
“Keep your head down!” she whispers. “Some of these people will kill you to end the King!”
“But I’m wearing my gloves?—”
“I know! But word is getting out of what you look like, and it’s hard to miss the massive black dragon.” She ushers me quicker to the northern part of town. “And now that my father is gone, with no one yet appointed to rule the Dragon Lands? Things will only get worse…”
Worse.I don’t like the sound of that.
The next morning, after a night of tossing and turning, I wake to a knock from Melaina. When I open the door, I recognize the defeat on her face. While the council of the Dragon Lands still won’t meet with us, they’ve granted us private, guarded use of the community hall. They feed us breakfast, and while the others eat around me, I can’t find my appetite. I pull out my father’s journal and the one page Melaina shared with me from Queen Elara’s journal.
“Aren’t you going to eat, Kat?” Archie asks from across the table, his eyebrows pinched in worry.
I shake my head. My mind is the only thing hungry. Staring at the pages, I examine each letter.What did my father mean? What’s in his journal and the page excerpt from Queen Elara’s isn’t new information…what am I not reading that he needs me to know?
I set the excerpt from Queen Elara’s down next to my father’s journal and stare at the language I do know. The prophecy.
The one son, chosen to lead them all.
Wasn’t a son but a maid.
Until binds of death did that grave deed bade.
In death, blood is shed. But from blood there is life.
Restored by air and night to end all strife.
“I don’t have much of an appetite either…” Archie mumbles, pushing his food around on his plate with a fork.
“Since when?” Melaina asks, then takes a bite of an apple.
“What do you mean since when?”
Melaina laughs. “You’ve always had a good appetite.”
Archie gasps, insincere with his pained tone, “Is that supposed to be insulting?”
“No. It’s just you’ve always had a wide range of foods you enjoy.”
“Oh, yeah? Like what?”
“Remember the time you ate all those mussels?” Melaina prompts.
“Did you find it endearing?” Archie smirks, leaning back in his chair as he throws one arm over the back of hers.
She looses a bell-of-a-laugh that rips me out of my concentration. I grit my teeth, straining to block them out as I refocus back on the letters in front of me. “Can you guys keep it down? I’m trying to focus…”
In true Archie exuberance, he continues, “Ha! Itwasthe mussels that got you to look my way, wasn’t it?”
“Archie!” I hiss a reminder to lower his voice.
He flexes his arm, his scarred bicep bumping up under his shirt. “But you meant these muscles, didn’t you?” he waggles an eyebrow at Melaina.
I freeze.
