Island of Glass (The Guardians Trilogy #3)(95)

“Good morning! Oh, Riley!” Annika swirled in. “You’re beautiful! Oh, how pretty. Do you like my dress? Isn’t it wonderful?”

She did a spin, sending the skirts flying out, all sea green and silky. “Sawyer said it’s like my eyes, and yours is like yours. Sasha’s is so pretty and blue. Everyone is in our sitting room. We’re to wait until they come for us. We’re going to meet the queen.” She took a breath, focused on Doyle’s face. “You’re happy! I can see your happy. You’re with Riley!” She threw her arms around him. “You must get Riley a ring now.”

“I’ll work on that.”

“Will I do the stand-up at your wedding?” she asked Riley.

On a laugh, Riley stopped feeling awkward in the dress. “You bet your ass.”

“Come, come. There’s more food. And coffee.”

“Coffee? How’d you get coffee?”

“Sasha asked.” Grabbing Riley’s hands, Annika tugged. “We have only to ask.”

“I missed that memo.”

In the sitting room the others stood, Sasha in flowing blue velvet, Bran in the dignified black of the sorcerer, Sawyer in brown tanned pants and a hip-length jerkin over a cream-colored shirt.

“Nice threads,” he said to Riley.

“Middle Ages prom dress.” She studied him as she beelined for the coffee. “You got a Han Solo deal going.”

“I know, right? I’m digging it.”

“So, sorry I had to change and run last night, but Doyle’s caught me up. Nerezza’s like a bitch cat with nine lives, and the stars don’t go up until we finish her off.” She gulped coffee. “And so a pilgrimage to the sword stone, an Arthur the Young twist. Then we freaking end this thing.”

“That sums it up,” Bran agreed. “May it be so simple.”

“I need my weapons,” she began, then turned when a young man in trews and doublet stepped to the door.

“My ladies, my lords. Queen Aegle requests the honor of your presence.”

It wasn’t every day you met a queen, Riley thought as they followed the page up the wide stairs. It wasn’t every lifetime you met the queen of a magick island who’d ruled for more than a millennium.

She’d expected the huge double doors, but had assumed to find them guarded. Instead they were flanked by glass urns of flowers.

She’d expected a kind of throne room, and the size met that description, along with what seemed like acres of clear glass floor. But the decor struck as simple—flowers, candles, colorful fabrics—and a throne, clear as the floor—more like an elegant chair than royal.

Then again, a chair of gold and jewels might have seemed simple compared to the woman who graced it.

She was radiant.

Topped by a diadem of jeweled glass, Titian hair spilled luxuriously over the shoulders of a white gown. The tiny clear stones scattered over it sparkled like diamonds. Perhaps they were. Her beauty stole the breath. Luminous perfection in a sculpted mouth, in vividly green eyes, and high, keen cheekbones.

When she smiled, Riley would have sworn the light shimmered.

The three goddesses stood at her right side. On her left sat a massive white wolf with eyes of bright gold.

Annika swept into a fluid curtsy. “Mother of magicks, queen of the worlds, Aegle who is radiance, we are your servants.”

“You are welcome, Children of Glass. You are welcome, Guardians of the Lights.”

She rose, glided down the three steps from the throne, crossed to them with her hands outstretched. She took Annika’s, kissed Annika’s cheeks.

“Wonder of the sea, you have our love, our thanks. Traveler of time and place.” She kissed Sawyer. “You have our love, our thanks. Child of the moon.” And Riley’s. “You have our love, our thanks. “Warrior of forever, you have our love, our thanks.”

She moved from Doyle to Bran. “Son of power, you have our love, our thanks.” And last to Sasha. “Daughter of visions, you have our love, our thanks. I would give you more than this, but your journey is not yet complete. Will you finish it?”

Sasha answered as Aegle’s hands still held hers and the words rose up in her. “We will travel the path of the gods to the circle of power, and beyond to the Tree of All Life and the stone and sword. We will fight the last battle, light against dark.

“I can’t see who wields the sword, or if the sword strikes true. I can’t see the end of Nerezza, or our end.”

“You cannot see, but you will take the journey?”

“We’ve pledged to it,” Bran answered.

“It’s an oath,” Annika added, then looked at Sawyer.

“All in.” He kissed her temple. “Ah, Your Majesty.”

“We could stay here.” Riley drew Aegle’s attention. “The guardians are on Glass, and the stars, and it’s within your power to move the island to another place, even another dimension. We could stay, potentially without interference from Nerezza for a couple of centuries. Or so I’ve read in several records.”

“You are a scholar and a seeker, and what you say is truth. Is this what you would wish?”

“No, I just wanted verification. No disrespect.”

“I would give you time. You would enjoy learning more of us, more of this world. Digging.”