by Elena Lawson
“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied sweetly, leaving the room with a shrug, the fabric of my skirt swirling around my legs.
Lunch was laid out on the table, a simple meal of breads, preserved meats, fruits, and various cheeses. But was that Nispero jelly? I hadn’t had the fruit in years. It was my favorite, and only grew in the far south, and could only be harvested once per year. I lifted the spoon from the dish, reaching for a slice of bread. Alaric snatched it from my hand, clucking his tongue in disapproval.
Right. Selbi stood near the wall, waiting for me to sit before she began her tasting.
Alaric pulled my chair out for me, and begrudgingly, I dropped the spoon back into the pot and sat down. My stomach growled in protest.
She began her tasting and I could barely contain myself, my knees bobbing beneath the table.
“I’ve never seen someone get so excited about jam,” Alaric teased.
I resisted the urge to snicker at him.
“Not just any jam,” Thana said, entering from the parlour, “It’s her favorite,” she said and scooped a spoonful from the pot, slathering a piece of bread with glistening orange fruit. Selbi had already tasted it, but I had to wait until Rin came through and did the second tasting. I opened my mouth to warn Thana not to eat it but could say nothing in front of Selbi. Alaric seemed not to notice.
Thana bit into the bread, and I glared at her, “It’s perfect,” she said, and then wandered into my chambers, emerging a moment later with my crown. “I’m taking it to be polished, for the Solstice Ball,” she announced before sauntering out of the royal quarters.
The moment Selbi left through the servants’ entrance on the far side of the room, Rin came in through the main entrance, escorted by Tiernan. Tiernan?
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, looking at Alaric for the answer, and back to Tiernan when my captain didn’t offer one.
“I offered to help. Kade and Finn needed rest, and I had nothing better to do.”
“And the guards at his cell just gave him to you?”
Alaric cleared his throat, “I gave Tiernan permission to retrieve him.”
“Why?”
Alaric leaned over me, splaying his fingers on the table, “Since you seem bent on keeping the emissary around—I thought he might as well be useful. Or do you have a problem with that?”
I didn’t believe him. Not for a second. He didn’t trust Tiernan, and likely never would. He had another motive, but I couldn’t fathom what it was. “No,” I told him, “I don’t.”
“Of course, you don’t.” Disappointment flared on his face before he turned back to Rin and Tiernan, “Rin, you may start.”
Tiernan made himself scarce, standing with his hands clasped behind his back near the window. The breeze tugged at his golden hair, and the hazy sunlight painted his skin bronze. Stop it, Liana. An image of Kade came unbidden into my mind, kneeled before me, teasing me, torturing me, making me say I belonged to them as surely as they belonged to me. My skin bristled.
“Rin,” Alaric said, drawing my attention back to the boy who clutched a spoon in his claw-like grip. A drop of golden jam dropped to the floor from its tip. Rin’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, and my skin chilled. His head twitched back and forth violently. He lost balance and fell—Alaric catching him before he could hit the ground. As quickly as the poison took him, it released him, and I watched his body grow limp in Alaric’s arms.
Rushing over, I called for a servant to fetch help and dropped to my knees in front of Alaric. He pressed two fingers to the boy’s throat and listened at his mouth for breathing. “He’s still alive,” he said.
“Thana!” I exclaimed, “She ate it too.”
“I’ll find her,” Tiernan said, his face drained of all color, and made for the door.
I jumped to my feet, “I’m going with you.”
“No, you are not!” Alaric shouted, laying the boy down on the rug, “Wake Kade and Finn,” he ordered the emissary, and then with a growl, “And bring me the taster. She will answer for this.”
Of course. How could I not have realized… Selbi wasn’t poisoned, which had to mean she was the one who poisoned the pot of jam. How did I not see her do it? When had she done it? I sent a silent prayer to the Gods that it was after Thana had already taken a bite.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The boy was still unconscious—his breathing shallow. The healer worked to ebb the poison’s hold on him, and the apothecary worked to discern the type of poison used.
“It isn’t verbane,” the apothecary said, biting the inside of his cheek, “It’s hawthorn ash, and not enough to kill—only enough to incapacitate.”
The healer removed her hands from Rin at the words, “If it’s hawthorn there’s not much I can do. He’ll awaken on his own when the effects wear off.”
Hawthorn was toxic to Fae, and there weren’t many of the trees left on the continent because of it. Even to a Fae-born mortal, the tree could cause harm.
“Thank you,” I nodded to them both, “You may go. And please, tell no one of what you’ve seen here.”
“Yes, majesty.”
“Of course.”
Once they were out of the room, Alaric, who was staring intently out into the day with a hand curled around the hilt of his sword turned to me, “See,” he said, “Thana will be fine. Nothing to worry your pretty head about.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, staring down at the paled and vacant face of Rin, “She had better be.”
Moments later, Tiernan re-entered the room. Kade and Finn followed with a trembling Selbi in tow. Finn released her, and Kade shoved her into a chair, sniveling. My warriors came to me, Finn took my face into his hands, and Kade laid an uncharacteristically gentle hand on my shoulder.
“Are you hurt?” Finn asked me, releasing me when I shook my head.
I turned to Tiernan, who had busied himself inspecting the pot of jam, “Thana?”
He shook his head, “I’m sorry, Liana, I couldn’t find her. The servants said they saw her recently, though, and told her what happened, so I’d expect she’ll be on her way soon.”
I nodded my thanks to Tiernan. At least Thana was alright, which meant Selbi hadn’t dropped the hawthorn ash into the pot until after Thana had already eaten it.
“Is he dead?” Kade asked Alaric, gesturing to Rin, who was still lying on the floor.
Selbi sobbed quietly from her chair, her head in her hands.
Alaric left his post at the window, moving through the room with steady strides, “No, he will live. It was hawthorn, only enough to incapacitate.” He stopped in front of Selbi and the taster flinched at his proximity.
“Where did you get the poison?” he asked her, and the calm with which he spoke was worse than if he had yelled.
Selbi raised her head, her shoulder-length hair parting like a curtain to reveal the fear in her deep brown eyes, “I—I didn’t do this,” she pleaded.
Alaric bent over, bracing his hands on his knees to get himself to eye-level with my taster, “I will ask once more, and if you lie to me again, there will be consequences. Now, where did you get the poison? Who gave it to you?”
“I said I didn’t do this!” She shouted, her voice breaking near the end.
Alaric straightened to his full height, “Finn, take Liana to her chambers, she doesn’t need to see this.”
“No!” I yelped as Finn placed a hand on my lower back to guide me from the room, “I’ll stay. I want to hear it myself.”
“Kade,” Alaric commanded, and the fire-Graced Draconian grabbed one of Selbi’s wrists, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.
“Last chance,” Kade said to Selbi, and she whimpered, trying to pull her wrist from my sentry, but he was too strong.
Her scream ricocheted through the dining room, the sound sharp enough to hurt my ears. My stomach tuned at the sound, and I swallowed back bile at the smell of burning flesh. Kade never released her wrist, but her screams eventually fad
ed back to sobbing.
“I poisoned the queen,” she said, her body shaking, “But I didn’t do this. I swear. I—I took his money and—and I put the verbane in her wine like he asked, that’s all.”
Alaric and I shared a look at the mention of he.
Rustling up my courage, I knelt beside Selbi, “Who?” I asked her.
She cried in earnest then, “He’ll kill me.”
“I need you to tell me, Selbi.”
Kade’s grip tightened on her burned wrist, “Ronan,” she hissed and Kade relaxed his grip, “Ronan gave me the poison, and told me to slip it into your wine,” she said in a rush, “But—but when it didn’t work, I told him I wouldn’t do it again. He—well he said it didn’t matter because you would never keep your crown.”
My jaw clenched, and Alaric looked towards the entry with a murderous stare, as though he could will Ronan to appear—so he could rip him to shreds. I couldn’t say it surprised me it was him, in fact, once I thought about it, he seemed the obvious candidate. I had stripped him of his position as Captain of the Royal Guard. This was his attempt at revenge.
Kade let Selbi’s arm go, and she held it close to her chest, careful not to touch the ring of charred skin, “I don’t even have any more verbane,” she mewled, “I didn’t do this.”
I believed her. She wouldn’t admit to one crime and not another, especially when one was enough to see her hung from the gallows. And it was hawthorn, not verbane used in this case. Though that didn’t explain why she wasn’t poisoned too.
The only other person who touched the jam pot was Thana. Alaric looked at me with a pained expression on his face, and I hated him for what I knew he was about to say, “Go find Thana,” he told Kade and Finn.
The two Draconians exchanged confused looks, “What for?” Finn asked.
Alaric took a deep, shaking breath, “Just find her… and send Silas up here. His sentries will have to arrest Ronan. If I see the bastard, I’ll rip his fucking head off.”
“It’s not her,” I told Alaric once the others had gone—Kade and Finn to find my handmaiden, Selbi, escorted by Tiernan to the dungeons, and Rin, carried to the infirmary by the servants. “It’s impossible. She’s been with me since birth, Alaric,” and then I added in terms he would understand, “If she had wanted me dead, I’d be buried on the isle.”
Ronan, on the other hand, had wanted me dead.
Silas was in a state of shock, outraged at the discovery that someone on the council would attempt to assassinate a descendant of Morgana. Though, he admitted, he’d never like the bastard, and would be happy to see him hang for his crimes. He left to gather a few sentries to aid in helping him apprehend the former captain. I knew Ronan wouldn’t go quietly and was immediately exhausted at the idea of announcing his betrayal to my court.
“I know,” he said, his jaw taut as he raked a hand through his hair, “I don’t want to think she’s to blame either, but it’s the only plausible explanation.”
“It’s ridiculous.”
Finn and Kade returned, “She was poisoned,” they said together. “We found her near the gardens, unconscious. She’s in the infirmary with Rin, but she’ll wake,” Finn added.
“What do you have to say now?” I asked Alaric, rising from the settee, “You were wrong,” I added before he could answer.
He nodded, “That doesn’t explain how she could make it all the way down to the gardens before the poison took its effect. And why Tiernan wasn’t able to find her earlier.”
“So, she poisoned herself, then? Is that what you’re saying?” I asked him, incredulous, unable to contain the rolling of my eyes, “Just stop, Alaric. Thana had nothing to do with this.”
“Whoever is responsible, they wanted you incapacitated, but not dead. And the Draconian who attacked us the other night could have killed you but didn’t. If Ronan is the one behind these attacks, then you could be safe now he’s been imprisoned… but if it isn’t Ronan, or if he’s working with someone else, the threat remains,” Finn said—the first sensible thing I’d heard in hours.
“What do we do?” I asked, posing the question to no one in particular. Finn had only just recovered from the attack not two moons past, and I shuddered to think what would happen if the Draconian returned to finish what he started… or what could happen if there were more than one of them this time.
“We take you someplace safe,” Alaric said, raising a hand to silence me when I opened my mouth to protest, “Only until we’ve sorted this out. A couple of days, at most. I promise. One of us will remain at the palace at all times. And if anyone asks, you are in your chambers, preparing for the Solstice Ball. It will be as though you never left.”
I couldn’t argue with him. It wasn’t only about me anymore. It was their duty to keep me safe, but it was my duty not to forcibly put them into harms way. I wouldn’t have any of them hurt because I stubbornly refused to go when all the signs pointed toward danger if I stayed.
“Very well,” I agreed, wringing my hands in the fabric of my gown. “A couple of days, and no more.” Excuses for my absence would only hold out for so long.
Chapter Twenty-Five
We left the palace under cover of darkness. The four of us took to the skies, me in the arms of Finn, and Alaric carried by Kade and looking wholly undignified. It would have been too simple for anyone to track us had we gone on foot.
They described the place where we headed as modest, but secluded—and secluded was what we needed.
They told Tiernan nothing—against my better judgement, but Alaric said he couldn’t risk anyone knowing where we were going, or even that we’d left at all.
Finn adjusted me in his arms, tucking my legs around his waist. “Comfortable?” he asked me, wrapping his arms around my middle. I was glad I’d accepted Alaric’s cloak before we left, even with it, the chill of the night was almost enough to set my teeth chattering. At least in that position, tucked close to Finn’s expansive chest, we could share body heat, and I sighed at the warmth as it seeped into my skin.
“Much better,” I crooned, nuzzling my cold nose against the bare skin above his vest.
He pressed me tighter into him, planting a soft kiss in my hair, “We’re almost there, look,” he whispered.
I turned but saw nothing that looked like a homestead. We were miles away from the palace now, having flown for nearly an hour. We passed the last sleepy village a while back. Since then it had been nothing but forest.
We were nearing the shoreline on the eastern edge of Meloran—so much different from the western side’s tall cliffs and rocky terrain. The forest broke way to sandy beaches that seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. Waves gently lapped at the shore, and there, squatting in a copse of trees near the water, stood a cottage.
It was small, no more than the size of my parlour back at the palace. Moss covered its thatched roof, which looked to be in need of repair. The structure beneath was made of stone brick, and the mortar looked like it had seen better days. We dropped to the ground in front of the door, and I nearly tripped when Finn lowered my feet to the earth, off balance from the long flight.
“It belonged to my mother,” Alaric said, leading us inside, “No one else knows where it is. You should be safe here.”
The interior was pleasantly surprising, and larger than it looked from above.
Kade lit a fire in the hearth—the task taking him seconds—bathing the room in an orange glow. It was an open space, with a sitting area, a small kitchen, and a long settee pushed close to the fireplace. There were two other rooms, one to the right and left, which meant one had to be a bathing room, and the other, a bedchamber.
I fell onto the settee, a plume of dust rising around me, and leaned in to feel the warmth of the fire.
Kade came to sit next to me, and tugged me onto his lap, “You’re like a damned icicle,” he exclaimed, “Finn, you idiot, you should’ve said something. We could have traded.”
“I’m fin—” I started, but then Kad
e used his Grace to warm me and I quivered in delight, a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan sliding out.
“There you go,” Kade said, and tucked one of his hands under my rear, making me gasp at the instant relief from the cold—and the primal desire he was awakening between my legs.
“One of us has to go back,” Finn said from somewhere behind us, “Question Ronan.”
“Kade,” Alaric said, “You’ll head back first, and when you return, I’ll go with Finn and you’ll stay here with Liana.”
“Does he have to leave right now?” I whined, pulling him tighter against me to make the warmth last longer.
Kade laughed, his ochre eyes glinting in the firelight, “I should.” He disentangled himself from me, giving my rear a playful squeeze, “You’re all mine tomorrow,” he whispered in my ear before he stood. My stomach flipped at the promise in his words.
“I heard that,” Alaric scolded, but said nothing more to his sentry before Kade was back out the door, wings spread, soaring back the way we’d come.
“Try again,” Finn said, popping a few more berries into his mouth, “Think cold thoughts.”
But the water stayed water, no matter how hard I tried to turn it to ice. “This is pointless,” I stated, beyond frustrated. It was late morning, and we had been at it since dawn. It was Alaric’s suggestion I used the time we had in seclusion to coax my Grace into emerging without the prying eyes at court. “I can’t do it.”
“Not with that attitude,” Alaric said, entering the cottage with two rabbits hanging limp from his fist. He set to cleaning the animals, getting a pot of water to boil over the fire. Seeing him do such a mundane task was strange and made me wonder what his life was like before he enlisted in the Horde armies, and before I threw him to the wolves at court.
Finn moved behind me, and rubbed the ache out of my shoulders, “Try one more time, if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.”
It was hard to focus with Finn’s hands kneading me into a trance, but I tried setting my hands back down on the table next to the clay bowl. I took a deep breath and pulled from within my core, picturing a force like a great ever-spinning ball of ice like Finn told me to.
