35
Valine’s network of spies and servants was growing, and by the time she received an invitation from the queen, she’d already had knowledge of the request an hour prior. Valine had waited in her suite, nursing one of Talloh’s signature flavored waters. Upon the knock on her door, she stood regally and took the invitation, following the messenger to the queen’s chambers.
The king and queen kept separate chambers, not even adjoining ones at that, but suites that faced off from across the narrow hall of the Heaven Wing. Valine had been in this wing only once, and it was by pure chance when she’d followed Pandora’s tether to the king’s door. Like King Jericho’s door, Queen Amaris’s door was golden and crowned, though this one by a diadem of stars.
Two guards at their posts opened the doors with a flourish, both swinging open to reveal a foyer of gold and white. Wisteria climbed the ceiling and wrapped pillars, and a sun embossed table held a vase of hyacinths, lavender, and peonies—all in complementary shades of purple. The messenger bowed and swept from the chambers, the guards closing the doors behind her.
The sound of squealing hinges was a final tone as Valine entered deeper into the queen’s rooms. Only when she arrived in her drawing room, it was not Amaris who greeted her.
It was Jericho.
Valine stopped dead in her tracks when Jericho rose from Amaris’s lilac couch, the king’s fine gold and silver robe shimmering atop his black leather breeches and open-collared white shirt. His silver hair was perfectly coiffed, his steel gray eyes were hard and unflinching. A hint of a smile twisted his smug lips beneath his short, trimmed beard.
“Lady Desdemon, it’s a pleasure to speak to you in such an intimate setting,” Jericho said, folding his hands behind his back. “I hear you’ve made quite the impression on my queen.”
Valine composed herself. “You are too kind to say that, Your Majesty.”
“But it’s the truth,” he stated. “My wife thinks you are our chosen one. She tells me you have been prophesized in the stars.”
Valine held her breath, realizing the treacherous waters she was wading into.
“Is it true you have encountered arachne and phoenixes on your journey here?”
She nodded. “Yes, this is true.”
“Three is the sacred number of the Stygian Ones. Perhaps we can send you to the sands to face the serpents? Three beasts. Three trials. Three times, you will have been deemed worthy.”
He need not know she’d already fought sand serpents and survived.
Valine’s heart began to sink as Jericho took three deliberate steps towards her. His gaze was intense, the steel of his eyes cutting through her. She inclined her head to meet his domineering height and could smell the scent of citrus and musk on him. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but its foreboding was repulsive. The king drew ever closer, and Valine’s alarm flared. She could kill him, but she would be caught.
She had to endure.
“Your praise is too high, Your Majesty. I was simply lucky.”
“And who grants luck if not the gods and stars?”
Under the guise of blushing at the attention of a king, Valine looked away. Eyes trained on the white curtains that fluttered in the wind, revealing a slice of marble balcony and turquoise sea. The walls were austere, tall with blinding marble and pillars painted gold. Purple and its array of hues was the only reprieve of the stark shade.
“I’m hardly anyone special. I’m the fourth child of a lord, and I hold no lands or remarkable title.”
“But you could.”
Jericho’s voice was directly before Valine and she spun to face him. He was so much closer than before, close enough to touch. His chest was level with her eyes, and she noticed the distinct lack of a Veritasium Medallion. He however, did have a Robursium Medallion. That was a non-issue. Valine steeled herself, inhaling sharply.
“What would you think of being my queen?” His fingers grazed between her breasts, his palm splaying out—a digit hooked in the neckline of her bodice.
She stared at him open-mouthed. “Your Majesty, I cannot. You already have a queen.”
“I could have her dealt with, should you choose me.”
Valine blinked, at a loss. Frozen, she couldn’t figure out how to pull away from his unwanted touch. “What are you saying?” she asked dumbly.
Jericho reached out and cupped her jaw, his thumb skimming her lips. “I will make you queen once Amaris is deposed. All you have to say is the word.”
“Your Majesty, I am flattered, but this is treason, and…neither you nor I are available.”
“So, the rumors are true?” Jericho’s hand tightened on Valine’s jaw to the point of pain, and unlike with Malik, she did not trust this king. “You’re fucking him?”
Valine swallowed, stared at the King of Talloh, and lied. “Yes, and I don’t think he would take too kindly to you touching what is his.”
It seemed it was then that the silver chains Valine had wound around her throat gaped enough for Jericho to notice the marks that marred it. “It seems I was mistaken. I imagined you would be better than a bastard king’s whore.”
Valine gritted her teeth and tore herself away from Jericho’s punishing grip.
“You are meant for so much more than a plaything. You are prophesized by the gods. You should be my queen.” Jericho’s voice became zealous, an unhinged light in his gaze. He advanced on her, backing her to the wall. “By right of the gods, you are mine, and I could take you if I wished.”
Jericho reached for her, and Valine leaped back, hitting solid stone. She felt like a caged animal, and she didn’t know if she could close her eyes and endure or fight it out. She’d used her body to get to a mark before, but now there was something cheap to it, and Valine refused to let this man touch her. She would kill the king here if she had to. Screw the plan. If the king was found dead in the queen’s chambers, who is to say it wasn’t the queen who did it?
But she couldn’t.
His hand went to the slit in her dress, foreign fingers brushing the skin of her thigh. He was pulling it up despite Valine’s own hands shoving back down and away. He resumed his pursuit, and Valine readied to retreat into herself so as not to ruin Malik’s carefully forged plans. His fingers brushed the lace of her underwear, and she began vanishing away.
“I’ll fuck you right. I will make you forget his name and bring you to nirvana.”
“I would caution you to stop.”
It wasn’t Valine’s voice that broke the tension of the room. It was Amaris’s. The queen entered the room, splendid in gold, her shoulders covered by a short cape of white. Her hair was piled in springy coils atop her head, her star diadem perched there.
“I think it is time you left my chambers, husband,” Amaris said the last word like an insult, the venom on it stinging in the air.
Amaris was like a radiant savior, composed and determined, glowing in the afternoon light while stars winked around her aura. She held her chin high, and her green eyes turned hard as gems, her defiance a beacon of hope.
It reminded Valine eerily of the mythos of Nylantia when she crowned Bela, patroness of destruction and ruin, as her consort, cloaking her in stars for all of eternity so that all would know the love she had for the daemon.
Jericho backed up and pinned Valine with a glare. “No one will believe you,” he whispered as he passed her, shouldering against the queen. “Cunt,” he hissed as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
If she hadn’t already planned to kill the king, she would’ve on this encounter alone.
“I’m so sorry, Your Majesty,” Valine breathed. “I received an invitation. I thought I was meeting you.”
Amaris sighed. “You are correct, I did send for you. However, I didn’t realize Jer would accost you, and for that I apologize.”
“He…”
“He propositioned you and offered to have me killed, correct? And then when you turned him down, he was going to force himself on you?” the queen guessed. Valine nodded, and the queen sighed. “I knew this day would come. I should have known when he discovered the stars spoke of you.”
“I don’t understand. How are you so calm?”
“I am a queen, Valine. And one day, you will be, too. Just not to this kingdom.”
“How are you so certain of this?” she inquired, worrying her fingers.
“Because I have seen it. It is foretold.”
“What are you going to do?” Valine asked, switching topics, suddenly uncomfortable with the line of conversation.
“As I have always done. I will continue to rule and hope to foster better relations between our kingdoms. Jealous kings seek war, but powerful queens endure.” Amaris paused. “And you will endure.”
It was an echo of what Valine had thought during Jericho’s advance.
“I don’t mean to be discourteous, Your Majesty, but why was I summoned?”
Amaris sat on the lilac sofa Jericho had vacated, and she motioned for Valine to take a seat. She did, perching on the edge of a matching ottoman. “I summoned you,” she said regally, “for tea.”
And with that, she rang a bell and a servant arrived, carrying a silver teapot, steam curling from the spout.
“Do you take milk? Or sugar?”