Infinity Read Online Free Page B

him. I wanted to go hang out with him, I really did. We had barely had any time together this year, with the war and all, and I knew we needed to reconnect. I wanted to reconnect. But I had so much stuff to do that I wasn’t sure that I had time right now. We’d let too much stuff slide while we were hammering out my aunt’s surrender.
    “Come on. I promise you’ll have fun. You need to get outside for a bit. Take a break. Now that your aunt is gone, you can take a little time off.” Winston grabbed my hand and gave it a tug, not pulling hard but still trying to get me to follow him. “We can spend some time together.”
    I looked back to the pile of reports. I really shouldn’t go out. I had responsibilities. I needed to meet with the goblins that were finishing the last of the repairs on my palace. I’d told them to finish my tower last, to restore the rest of the palace first, and they were almost done with everything now. I was looking forward to finally getting back in my own bed again. Then, after I met with the goblins, I needed to start laying down firm plans for what we were going to do for the memorial we had planned but had never gotten around to starting. Not to mention all the reports I needed to review. I glared at the pile next to me. I had a lot of stuff to do and none of it was what I’d have called fun , but I still had to do it anyway.
    I didn’t have time to go out for a flight with the big black dragon I called my boyfriend—no matter how much I wanted to do exactly that. I was a queen, and I had responsibilities. Lots of responsibilities. Probably more responsibility than anyone with any brains would normally give to a seventeen-year-old girl.
    “But—” I started.
    “Go,” I heard a deep voice say from behind me. I turned to find John of Leavenwald standing behind me, his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.
    He was another thing I needed to deal with. After all these months of avoiding each other, we really did need to figure some stuff out. Like how to deal with the fact that he was my father. Or how we were going to come to terms with the fact that the Fate Maker had killed his son—my half brother, Eamon—before I managed to banish the wizard into the Bleak.
    To be fair, if my brother hadn’t kidnapped me and then tried to sell me to the Fate Maker, he would probably still be alive, but I figured it was better if we all tried to forget about that part.
    “Go on.” John waved toward the remains of the forest where the dragon’s aerie was located. “You need to get out of here for a bit. You’ve been working yourself to exhaustion each day. You deserve a small break. Both of you do.”
    “There’s work still to be done, paperwork to go through. Military dispatches. I need to meet with the—”
    “I’ll handle it.” John of Leavenwald waved at the doorway again.
    “But—”
    “Allie,” Winston cut in, and I turned to see him staring from me to John.
    “All of these things are supposed to be my responsibility. I’m the queen. Keeping everything running smooth is my job,” I insisted.
    “I said I’ll handle it.” John stepped close and tapped his finger against my chin. “I negotiated a peace treaty with your aunt in your stead. I think I can handle the construction workers and a meeting about the war memorial.”
    “Then there’s the—”
    “The briefings from everyone else can wait until you return,” Winston said.
    “Exactly.” John nodded. “Now, as one of your royal advisors, I’m advising that you get out of here. Go have fun for a bit. Quit worrying about running the world and go be seventeen for a few hours. And while you’re out clearing your head, maybe you can think about the festival next week. The work will be here when you get back.”
    “Festival?”
    “To celebrate your birthday. We delayed it because of the peace treaty talks, but the people will want to do something. Now that the war is over, they’ll want to celebrate, and