CHAPTER 13 ALEK
ALEK
Once Callyn and Nora are gone, I’m pleased to realize that they took most of the tension with them.
Servants silently enter the room, attending to the queen, pouring us fresh cups of tea and adding small cakes and pastries to the table.
Queen Lia Mara is quiet the whole while, her gaze fixed on the training fields below, her red hair gleaming in the sunlight.
It’s not overly warm here in the palace, but a hint of sweat has gathered on her brow.
She takes a sip of tea once the servants step away, but I notice that she hasn’t touched a single pastry.
She’s still a bit pale, but nothing like the shell of a woman I spoke to a few days ago.
“You’re looking better, Your Majesty,” I say quietly.
Her eyes flick to me, and there’s a hint of cynicism in their depths, like she can’t tell if I’m being genuine or if I’m mocking her.
“Truly,” I add.
“I’m glad to hear it, Alek.”
I gesture to the platter of sweets. “You’re not hungry?”
She shakes her head. “Help yourself. You’ve always had a fondness for chocolate.”
That’s true, but the only reason she knows that is because she does, too.
I’m surprised she’s not eating, but I’m not going to needle her about it.
Not now, when her mental state still seems so precarious and so much is at risk.
I ease a small piece of cake onto my plate and take a bite. The sugar all but melts on my tongue.
“Did you send word to the king?” I say. “About the lingering threats from the Truthbringers?”
“Yes,” she says. “I sent word the day we spoke.”
I mentally calculate. A courier likely hasn’t even made it to Ironrose Castle yet.
Even if the king took immediate action and determined to return to Syhl Shallow, it would take time to move troops.
Even if he got on a horse by himself— which is unlikely— it would take at least another five days. Likely six.
And that’s if he would consider returning. It’s very possible he would deem it too dangerous. He was a massive target for the scravers when he was here. None of that has changed.
The queen’s expression is a bit pained, and I know she’s reflecting on all the same things.
I doubt my news about Nakiis and Xovaar is going to be very reassuring.
She clears her throat and takes another sip of tea. “What did you and Callyn discover today?”
“My intent was to meet with other nobles,” I say. “As you ordered.”
“Should I take that to mean you did not succeed?”
“Correct. We were confronted by a scraver.”
The queen nearly chokes on her tea, though she’s well practiced in maintaining decorum, so she dabs at her mouth with a napkin and simply sets the delicate cup on the table. “Alek. I cannot believe you’ve been here for nearly an hour and this is the first you’ve spoken of it.”
I lift one shoulder in a casual shrug. “I was unsure how candid to be in front of Callyn’s sister.”
Her eyes quickly skip over my form, as if I might’ve been shredded by claws and she somehow didn’t notice. “Tell me what happened.”
I hesitate, thinking of everything I bickered about with Callyn. Lia Mara has only just begun to find her footing again. I don’t want to distress her more than necessary.
In my silence, her eyes narrow. “Just tell me, Alek.”
I obey. The queen is patient, listening carefully, and she never interrupts.
When I’m done, she says, “When Sinna and I were captured by the Truthbringers, Nakiis saved Grey’s life— and later assisted us in battle.
” She hesitates, her gaze returning to the fields.
“He tried to protect little Sinna before we even knew there was a threat.” A moment of sorrow flashes across her expression, gone almost as quickly as it appeared.
Her voice goes a bit husky, however. “If Nakiis requires Lord Tycho’s assistance,” she says, “I must do what I can to obtain it.”
My eyebrows go up. “But he wants Tycho’s magic.”
“I assumed.”
I study her for a long moment, as if we’re talking about two different things. “Your Majesty— you have already sent word to the king. If you bring magic back to Syhl Shallow, it will lure the scravers back.”
“I don’t believe the scravers are gone, Alek.” She takes another tiny sip of her tea. “Just like I don’t believe the Truthbringers are gone. When the king returns, nothing will change.”
I frown, because she’s not wrong. “How did you select your new envoy?” I say, wondering if she selected a soldier, or if she pulled someone from the nobility. Considering what I know about the Truthbringers, I can’t decide which would be the better option.
“I walked among the soldiers and gave a dozen of them different missives to deliver to various recipients,” she says. “None of them would know their destination until they opened their orders in private. Only one was sent to Ironrose Castle.”
My eyebrows go up. “And who received that one?” I say, wondering if she’ll tell me.
“Lady Elisa Ruhl,” she says. “Do you know her?”
“No.”
“She was an officer in the army,” she says. “Nolla Verin spoke for her.”
Nolla Verin again. Every time I hear her name, I genuinely wonder if she’s working to protect the queen, or if she’s determined to put her at risk for her own desires.
But maybe my doubts are obvious, because Lia Mara’s eyebrows go up. “You disapprove of my choice?”
I hesitate.
“Alek! Just tell me!”
“I . . . am unsure of your sister’s motives.”
The queen cocks her head and looks at me. “Fascinating. Nolla Verin feels the same way about you.”
I scoff. No surprise there.
But I consider this new courier, and I wonder what kind of reception she’ll find when she reaches Ironrose Castle.
The instant I have the thought, I realize what the queen just said.
When the king returns.
I study her. “Did you ask him to return?” I say softly.
Her face freezes, and she looks away.
I tsk under my breath. I can’t help it.
“I am your queen,” she snaps. “You will not judge me.”
“I’m not judging you,” I say softly— though I am. It’s likely clear that I am. I reach out a hand and rest it over hers. “The king left to take magic away from Syhl Shallow. He left to protect you.” I pause. “Lia Mara. What if he says no?”
She goes absolutely still. But then she pulls her hand out from under mine, putting a hand to her heart. She closes her eyes and swallows, silence weighing heavily on us both for a moment.
When her eyes open, they’re clear and piercing, though her voice is barely more than a broken whisper. “The king won’t say no to me.”
I think of the man who faced a dozen scravers and lived to tell the tale.
The same man who faced the onslaught of a hundred Truthbringers swarming the palace.
The same man who fought off a hundred assailants with an iron bolt through his leg in Briarlock, if the stories are to be believed.
I’m pretty sure a man like that could say no.
But before I can say a word, the queen’s expression turns shrewd, and she says, “Would you say no to Callyn if she asked you for something?”
My breath catches, but it’s barely a fraction of a second. I’m just as practiced in hiding my emotion and maintaining control.
But Lia Mara is no fool, and she reaches out to rest a hand over mine this time.
I grimace, but it shifts into a frown. Would I say no to Callyn?
No. I probably wouldn’t. I couldn’t even keep my vow to force her out of the palace.
The queen’s voice goes very quiet. “Surely you know she’s had to care for her sister most of her life,” she says. “And I’m aware of how very desperate she was in Briarlock. I saw it with my own eyes.”
I swallow thickly. Guilt flickers in my chest, and I don’t want it there.
Because I saw it with my own eyes, too— and I truly did what I could to help Callyn and Nora. But it’s more than that. I hear an echo of that bitter desperation every time she chastises me for riding a horse or calling for a servant or even just simply having coins in a pouch on my belt.
The queen speaks into my silence. “I don’t get the sense that Callyn has known many people she could trust, Alek.” She pauses. “But I believe she’s come to trust you.”
I look at the window myself. “Callyn might have trusted me once,” I say, musing. “But I’m not sure she does anymore. We always seem to end up at odds.”
The queen smiles, and something about it is a little sad. “My husband would say that fate seems determined to bring you together.”
Any other day, I’d scoff, because we don’t believe in fate on this side of the mountain. But just now those words lodge in my heart, refusing to budge, no matter how cynical I feel.
The door to the nursery swings open, and Princess Sinna comes running in, breathless, her wild red curls barely tamed. “Mama!” she says. “I counted fifteen bumblebees—”
She catches sight of me and practically skids to a stop.
“Oh!” she cries. “We have a guest.” Without missing a beat, and as if she didn’t fly into the room like a tornado, she takes hold of her skirt and drops into a perfect, courtly curtsy.
“Lord Alek! Welcome to my nursery. I am honored by your . . . your . . .” Her face twists into a scowl.
“Presence,” Lia Mara whispers.
“By your presence,” Sinna says primly.
“Your Highness,” I say, smiling. I stand and offer her a bow. “Thank you for your gracious welcome,” I say. “Did you say fifteen bumblebees?”
“Yes! Do you want to play Wolf and Stone with us?”
Before I can answer, Lia Mara says, “Unfortunately, Lord Alek has business elsewhere.”
My eyebrows go up. “I do?”
“Yes.” She pauses, her eyes holding mine. “Your duties this morning were interrupted, were they not?”
My duties . . . to see what I could discover about the Truthbringers.
“Are you still willing to find the information I asked for?” she says.
I think of that note I received from Lady Karyl, threatening the queen.
I think of everything I discovered from the scravers.
I think of Callyn, staring up at me fiercely, challenging me at every step.
I think of the fact that the queen has called for the return of the king, and that will make everything a hundred times more complicated.
But my queen is waiting on an answer, and I’m just as powerless to tell her no.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I say. “I am.”