Nine
Aeryn
The grand hall looked like it had been decorated for a stately celebration, glittering with an array of precious metals and glistening stones on nearly every surface.
At least a dozen candelabras, as tall as I was, held black and white lit candles. The flickering light of their flames bounced off the glimmering crystals dripping from the large chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling.
In the center of the hall sat an enormous dining table made of an ash-colored wood. It was surrounded by golden chairs embellished with vibrant gemstones of gold and silver.
The display of wealth and grandeur was a stark contrast to my cottage.
I tugged at the strapless bodice of my dress, wishing for the comfort of my worn tunic and breeches. At least I”d the sense to hack off the heels of these ridiculous shoes before leaving my quarters.
Astrid greeted me with a tight smile as Sofiya and I approached the bar to order drinks. She clutched a goblet of water, her knuckles pale.
“And she lives,” I winked, hoping to ease whatever was making her so tense. We hadn”t had an opportunity to speak since she appeared in the training yard.
“Thanks to you and Sofiya” she tipped her head, golden-red curls falling into her face. Annoyed, she pushed them back. “I could have died.”
I shrugged, reaching for the wine glass Sofiya held out. “Think nothing of it. I”m sure you”d have done the same for me.”
Astrid”s gaze flicked to the glyphs on her arms, and I bit my tongue before I could ask their meaning. Sofiya and Raina had been tightlipped about Astrid after yesterday”s training session.
I understood. Some secrets were best kept close in a snake pit like this. You never knew who was listening.
Mirrelle came over with a frothy pink drink, her eyes soft when they found Sofiya”s. “You were brave to stand up for me after what happened with Dori. You, too, Aeryn. I won”t forget that.”
“We only did what was right,” Sofiya replied.
The memory of Dori”s pale, lifeless body twisted my stomach. I took a desperate gulp of wine, but its sweetness soured in my mouth.
A disturbance rippled through the crowd. The contestants” excited chatter transformed into purrs and giggles. I didn”t have to turn to know the source of their amusement.
Nox. The name whispered through my mind in a burst of heat and longing.
Curse the dark fae for having such an effect on me. I kept my eyes on the contents of my goblet, refusing to give him the satisfaction of my gaze.
“Good evening, ladies,” Nox rumbled from the door.
I gritted my teeth against a shiver.
“Welcome your king!” Hilda whisper-hissed from behind us.
The contestants all curtsied at once and he hummed, like he was pleased with what he saw.
Somehow, I managed to dip into a curtsy, the picture of poise even as I trembled inside. When I rose, a hair before the others, his dark eyes glowed with challenge. My traitorous body responded with an ache I didn”t dare acknowledge.
Nox”s lips curved, slow and predatory. I couldn”t win this game so I returned to conversation with my friends.
The king mingled within the small crowd, stopping and speaking to each female. He carried himself with a fearsome elegance. I hated how tremendously handsome he looked in his royal suit of black with accents of gold on the cuffs and lapels.
When he arrived at our little foursome, my spine erected.
“Your Majesty, how are you this evening?” Mirrelle inquired.
“I am quite well, Lady Mirrelle. Lady Astrid, it”s nice to see you in attire that isn”t a medical gown.”
Astrid lifted a second hand to her goblet. “Thank you, Your Highness. It was ... thoughtful of you to visit.”
“You visited Astrid in the infirmary?” I asked in puzzlement.
All four sets of eyes whipped to me. “Your Highness,” I threw out quickly.
“Of course I did,” he clipped.
I lifted my glass to my lips before I made a complete ass of myself.
The king continued chatting with Astrid, Mirrelle, and Sofiya, though I didn”t hear a word of it. The insensitive rider who”d argued with me that night about getting help actually went to visit Astrid.
Probably to make sure he didn”t have to tell her parents he”d accidentally killed her. That had to be it.
A moment later, Nox put a hand at my back, excused himself, then moved past me without another word. I tried to breathe through my mouth so I wouldn”t have to deal with the spice of the smokey scent he left in his wake.
I released a shaky breath, my knees threatening to buckle. Damn him. And damn me, as well.
I risked a glance at the crowd and found more than one envious glare aimed my way. At least I wasn”t the only one affected by Nox”s presence. It was a small comfort.
I felt someone”s stare from across the room. Lorne was watching me with an unreadable expression, observant eyes peering out from beneath a fall of vanilla hair. I averted my gaze.
The king”s brother had unsettled me in a way I couldn”t quite define. I would think on his earlier words another time.
A hand grasped my arm, and I started before recognizing Sofiya. Our two companions had left us. “Steady there,” she said with a wry smile. “His Majesty seems to have that effect on people.”
I grimaced. “Is it so obvious?” I whispered as quietly as I could.
“Only to me.” Sofiya squeezed my arm in sympathy. “He”s getting under your skin.”
“He”s insufferable,” I bit out.
“He”s also our sovereign. And a dark fae of some sort. Power like that is difficult to resist.”
I was going to say his power had nothing to do with it, but the lie was bitter on my tongue and couldn”t be verbalized. Nox exuded power like a physical force, and the wild part of me craved the heady thrill of challenging it.
He”d been right. I wanted to challenge him and was only realizing it now. I was an idiot, apparently.
Sofiya”s gaze turned knowing. I opened my mouth to argue but thought better of it and distracted myself by examining the other females in their finery.
A mistake.
With Nox making rounds, the tension among the contestants ratcheted up several notches. They vied for his attention, peppering him with coy smiles and artless flirtation. Nox accepted their tribute with an indulgent amusement that grated on my nerves.
Again, I cursed the male. And cursed myself for caring.
I was laughing at something Sofiya said when a bell chimed, signaling the start of dinner.
As he moved past, Nox paused behind me, lips brushing my ear. “Do not get too friendly with the other candidates,” he warned, voice pitched low.
Heat flooded my cheeks. I stared at my hands, clenching them to hide their trembling. By all the gods, what was wrong with me? No one should affect me this way. Yet a single touch from Nox undid all my composure.
The sea of colors made their way to the dining table. Our names were on small, folded cards indicating where to sit. It took me a minute to locate mine.
Wonderful.
With Nox at the head of the table, I found myself seated to his right. Zoriyah claimed the seat on his left, gracing me with a smug smile. She leaned into Nox, whispering something that made him chuckle.
Anger and something darker twisted in my gut at the intimacy between the pair. Had he been showing her the same attentions in private that he”d shown me? It made me feel foolish.
I focused on the servers and the things they were bringing out. Conversation flowed around the table, never quite including me. I didn”t mind, not when I had been served the tenderest steak I”d ever put a knife through.
Silently, I ate, using the skills Hilda had pounded me with over the head. Well, the table manners skills, not the conversation skills.
Questions and comments were directed at Nox, who answered each one with practiced charm. At the other end of the table, it was the same with Lorne minus the charm. When I heard Sofiya”s voice, I looked down the row and nearly fell out of my chair.
The corner of Lorne”s mouth had lifted. Well, if anyone could soften up the giant, it was probably her.
“Tell me, Zoriyah, how have your parents been doing as of late?”
The sound of her name, of the informal address, on Nox”s lips disrupted my thoughts.
“They are well, My King. Very well. Though, they have complained they haven”t seen you in ages and were thinking of inviting you to the lake house.”
She reached over and lightly stroked his wrist. “I seem to remember you enjoying the lake house. Quiet thoroughly, if memory serves.”
“Indeed,” he grinned slyly.
“Then you simply must come again,” she insisted provocatively.
I choked on my drink, coughing and using my napkin to cover my mouth.
“Problem?” Nox looked down his nose at me.
“I”ll be fine, Your Majesty.”
My cheeks were probably bright red. I hoped everyone assumed it was from embarrassment and not because I wanted to throw myself across the table and remove Zoriyah”s eyes with my spoon.
“This food is too rich for her blood, I”m sure,” she commented with false concern. “She”s probably used to eating raw potatoes and scraps from someone”s garbage.”
The wild thing I pretended wasn”t a thing at all willed me to pick up the spoon and go for it. Though the idea had merit, I didn”t think being executed for breaking the rules was a good idea.
Not interested in making a scene, I went back to my meal while Zoriyah droned on about other family members and threw out innuendo whenever she could. I hadn”t realized how pathetic and desperate she was. It made it easier to tune her out.
“What about your family, Lady Aeryn?”
“Pardon?” I paused with my fork in midair.
“I asked about your family,” Nox restated.
I set my utensil on my plate and stared at it, appetite vanishing. “I have no family, Your Majesty.”
Nox shifted to angle toward me, brows lowered. I”d assumed he knew, especially since I”d shared the fact with Sage. I didn”t like talking about it and I really didn”t like the idea of sharing my history at this table.
“None?” He seemed surprised.
“You didn”t know?” I asked tonelessly, fisting a hand in my skirt.
“No.”
Zoriyah smirked, leaning closer to Nox. “Perhaps they left her once they got a look at her. Oh! Or maybe she did away with them. Killed them with her garden hoe. Can you imagine?”
Rage blazed through me, sharp as a blade. I surged to my feet, chair screeching against the floor. Nox”s hand on my wrist stopped me from leaping over the table.
“Sit,” he commanded.
Glaring at the bitch still smirking up at me, I shook my head. “I would like to be excused, Your Majesty.”
“I said sit,” he repeated, throwing all his kingly might into it.
Shame heated my face. I was stuck, the king”s will trumped my own. I sank back into my chair, avoiding the curious stares of the other candidates as I scooted it forward.
Nox cleared his throat. In my peripheral, a muscle ticked in his jaw, betraying a simmering anger not yet cooled. Slowly, the table eased back into conversation.
I sat there, quietly fuming, trying to collect my dignity. With nothing else to do, I picked up my fork. The delectable food was now ash in my mouth.
“Oh, look at the poor thing,” Zoriyah patronized. “Maybe you should let the little farmer go back to her room. Really, she shouldn’t even be here. Her name wasn”t actually drawn. I”m surprised that the captain on horseback didn”t kill her. From what I hear she crossed a line with him, one I would never tolerate if I were Queen.”
That captain on horseback. She didn”t know it had been Nox.
I was debating what to say when I felt the tip of something sharp poke into the exposed flesh of my thigh. My gaze slid to the king. Something flickered in his eyes. A warning.
Zoriyah snapped her fingers and one of our servers came over to pour more wine. “Her family members could be criminals locked up or on the run. It”s a disgrace, really,” she speculated, voice dripping with contempt.
I was incapable of ignoring it a second longer. If Nox wasn”t going to stop her vitriol, I had to. It was either that or kill her with my silverware.
Ignoring the king and his dagger, I wiped my mouth, put the napkin on my plate, and regarded the tactless twat across from me. I”d test her in a way I knew she would fail.
“My grandparents,” I spoke evenly, “both sides, were killed fighting for the crown in the Bellwryn War. I believe that war resulted in your family taking much of the wealth from Bellwryn as a reward from the former king.”
I”d learned some things about her family at this dinner. Primarily, Zoriyah”s surname was Chancery.
“Like your family didn’t benefit, you cow,” was Zoriyah’s response.
“You’re right. I believe it was the queen”s personal secretary who came to my parents to share the news that the only family they had, other than their daughter, was dead. In thanks for their service we’d been awarded a fifteen-acre plot of land in Greenhollow.”
The memory washed over me in waves, bitter and cold.
“Only fifteen?” Nox asked.
“The secretary said any more would be too much for their frail bodies to harvest so he was really doing them a favor. You see, my parents had blood poisoning from working in the armories to help feed weapons to the war machine. They’d handled too much iron. Or inhaled its particles. Both, perhaps, but I don’t really know.”
I dared a glance up, noticing how Nox”s jaw clenched at my words. His reaction gave me a spark of satisfaction. At least he wasn”t entirely heartless.
“He left and my parents spent the next three years teaching me to grow things while they slowly wasted away.” I stared down at my hands, at the calluses and scars that told their own tale of hardship.
“We grew enough to trade for medicine and a few comforts. But no healers could undo the damage already done. None that we could afford, at least.”
Nox made a low sound in his throat, disgust marring his handsome features. Whether it was directed at me or the kingdom that had failed my family, I couldn”t say.
Xerag, the brown-skinned female to the right of Zoriyah, set her goblet down, shaking her head. “How old were you when they died?”
Her question was soft. There was no malice in her tone, only gentle curiosity. She wasn”t overtly friendly, but she didn”t seem to play the games most of the others enjoyed playing.
Silence hung heavy over the table as I paused. I didn”t want their pity. “Ten.”
“And the land?” Nox asked, his voice tight. “What became of it after they passed?”
I gave a bitter laugh, decorum starting to slip away. “It was seized in lieu of taxes we could never pay. By the grace of the gods, it was sold to a family in Greenhollow who allowed me to work it and earn it back. Now it”s mine again.”
Zoriyah rolled her eyes, a sneer twisting her lips. “How theatrical. I”m sure your sob story will earn you points in your sad little village, but spare us the dramatics. Many died in the wars. Many lost loved ones.”
Anger flared, hot and bright, chasing away the grief. Stay calm, I told myself.
“And how many loved ones did you lose?” Xerag asked pointedly.
Zoriyah clamped her mouth shut and I thought I might try to make friends with Xerag.
“It wasn”t my intention to be theatrical,” I looked at Nox. “I simply wanted to see if Zoriyah was capable of compassion, which would be one of the most important things the kingdom would demand from its queen.”
Then I leveled my stare back on the Queen of Mean. “I don”t want the role, but more importantly, you don”t deserve it.”
She inhaled sharply, fists landing on the table.
“Find your heart and change my mind,” I challenged.
Shoving back from the table, I stood on legs that trembled beneath my skirts. The room spun and tilted around me, a dizzying kaleidoscope of color and sound. I needed air. Space. Escape.
Without waiting to be dismissed, I fled. Murmurs and exclamations followed in my wake, but I didn”t stop. Not until the solid oak of my chamber door shut out the rest of the world.
Only then did I crumple, sobs wracking my frame as the memory of my parents” final days resurfaced. The sting of loss felt as fresh as the day they”d drawn their last ragged breaths.
At some point, I drifted into a fitful slumber. Tossing and turning, dreaming of days when I had what felt like a home. And of a voice whispering to rest easy, that all would be well.
And for the first time since my world fell apart, inexplicably, I dared to believe it.