5. CHAPTER 5
Aveline
Ihad to have misheard the queen. Surely, she hadn’t asked me—a human—to travel across the Saltale Sea and assassinate the crown prince of Gothryn.
Who also happens to be the most powerful dragon shifter in the entire realm of Aeloria.
I blinked rapidly, my gaze flitting to hers.
She didn’t speak, presumably waiting for my response.
I leaned back on the bed against the palms of my hands, mind racing.
“H-How—” My gaze fell to my lap. “How do you expect me to accomplish that? I am human.”
Queen Dyata’s gaze narrowed on me. “I am painfully aware of that. I am also aware of your other…talents.”
Air caught in my throat, my gaze betraying my alarm. There was no way she could know about my tinctures. The glass bottle burned a hole in my dress pocket as if it were a tangible, living thing. I was excruciatingly aware of its presence resting against my leg.
“Don’t act so surprised. You think I don’t know about every single thing that happens in this kingdom?
I am the queen. I have taken a special interest in you, in particular.
My beautiful, powerful son is heir to the throne and has, for reasons unknown to me, fallen for a human woman.
I have made it my business to know everything about you, Aveline. ”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” I strived for false bravado.
“I don’t have time for these games,” Queen Dyata huffed.
“Faris grows agitated with the kingdom across the sea. This little show of power will only further stoke his anger against them. He will want to make his move to take their kingdom for his own. Especially now that rumors of King Mavros’s illness have reached his ears.
He will bring war to this kingdom, and we are not ready for such a devastating toll.
Our armies are stretched thin. The people of Myros are starving.
We have yet to secure an alliance with Emberfell due to Kallias’s stubbornness when it comes to you.
Trade across the sea has stopped entirely with Gothryn’s influence on both Ravenscar and Sylvaris.
We can only rely on Faedwyn at the moment—and as you know—their kingdom is sparse.
They have grain, but they will not trade it without weapons in return.
We are on the precipice of a dangerous war, and we cannot afford to send our soldiers across the sea when they are needed here to secure our hold on Myros, ally with Emberfell, and restore Majur.
The city was once home to our biggest trade, but with the docks left empty and the city now in ruins, we have nowhere to store our wares.
We need to move south to Elenwyth and secure goods there. ”
I stared up at her in disbelief. I hadn’t realized the state of the kingdom was dire, and I was stunned that she would share this much information with me. She hated me. My mouth hung open—about to reply—but Queen Dyata forged on.
“The one and only trade we still maintain across the sea…is the trading of humans.”
My blood roiled under my skin, cheeks flushing. Vireth fae needed blood to survive, and it was no secret that they preferred the taste of human blood.
“You want me to pose as a blood whore?” I asked, voice incredulous.
Kallias would never agree to this. Never.
The queen shook her head ever so slightly.
“Not all humans we exchange end up in that particular trade. You can become a servant in the castle. Get close to the crown prince. They would never suspect a human capable of anything but serving them. You could use your precious elixirs and poison him right under their noses. None would be the wiser. Stealing his dagger should be child’s play at that point. ”
“What do you want with his dagger, anyway?” I asked.
Queen Dyata paused for a moment before answering. “It is an ancient relic that belonged to our family, and we would like to see it returned.”
“Let me be clear. You want me to cross the sea on a human trading vessel, somehow avoid being trafficked into the blood trade, and poison the crown prince? Once he is dead…I can steal his centuries old relic and return to Myros. Then, and only then, you will support me marrying Kallias?”
This plan was completely and utterly insane. There was no way I could do this and survive, but I didn’t think I had another choice. Queen Dyata gave a curt nod in response.
“And if I refuse?” I raised my brow at her, dauntless for only a fleeting moment.
“If you refuse, I will send you to Sylvaris and you will end up a blood whore in the end, anyway. A human has no place as queen of Myros. You have no place with my son if you cannot prove both your own worth and your loyalty to the crown and this kingdom.”
I took a deep, steadying breath. “You do realize the chances of me being caught, imprisoned, and murdered are quite high?”
She threw her head back, her laugh echoing off the mahogany paneling that covered the walls of Kallias’s rooms. “My dear, of course I do. I would be ok with that, too.”
I reeled back. “Don’t bite your tongue on my behalf.”
Queen Dyata scoffed. “It is a risk I am willing to take. And if you are serious about my son, it is a risk you will take as well.”
My gaze fell to my lap once more. I clasped my hands together, picking at the nail Enora had painted with the new polish formulation I had created mere days ago.
It had taken weeks toiling away at the apothecary to get the color and consistency just right.
“If I go…if I agree to do this…will you put a hold on Kallias’s betrothal to Astryn? ”
Queen Dyata’s gaze darkened, but she masked her features as I lifted my eyes to study her.
“No.”
“Then what incentive do I have to go? You could just as easily be attempting to get rid of me in order to marry Kallias off once I am out of the picture. I could succeed and return only to find him already married!” I jumped to my feet, my anger rising in my throat.
She was at least a head taller than me, and I was thoroughly cowed beneath her searing gaze.
“That’s right, I could. Therefore it would be in your best interest to get moving and to follow through with these plans as quickly as possible. And if you speak a word of this to anyone—reveal that this was my plan—I will ruin you.”
She tucked a chestnut lock behind her pointed ear, revealing the glimmering, dripping diamonds adorning her skin.
Before me was the most powerful woman in the entire kingdom.
In the entire continent. She had me in the palm of her hand, and she knew it.
She could send me off to the Floating Isles on a whim, never to be heard from again.
“And what will I tell Kallias?” I stood beneath her withering gaze; my jaw set as I crossed my arms over my chest.
“He is aware that you will be traveling across the sea to visit an uncle. The perfect timing for you to get out of Majur as the tensions reach a boiling point. He has agreed, wanting you to be safe from this mess.”
“He knows I will be sailing to Gothryn?” My voice sounded agonized even to my own ears. How could he agree to this? Gothryn was our enemy.
She shook her head. “He believes you to be sailing to our former partner in trade, Sylvaris. Where you would be safe. The Veil of Shadows and the Witchwood stand between you and Gothryn.”
I inclined my head and spoke through my teeth. “Which is of no consequence when they have wings.”
“My dear, you will not even be on their radar. The Blackwater princes have much more pressing things to attend to. A human in their castle won’t draw their attention or their ire.
It is simply commonplace. Your strength might not be of a physical nature, but you do have strength in your cunning.
Where they will be expecting someone to take the crown prince down in battle, you can take him out with your wits from the inside. ”
I swallowed hard, a lump forming in my throat. It wasn’t the worst plan I had ever heard, but I still wished it wasn’t me that had to carry it out.
“And when I kill the eldest, won’t the second in line simply ascend the throne? How is this to our advantage?”
Queen Dyata sighed as if she were speaking to a petulant child, her patience wearing dangerously thin.
There was nothing stopping her from revoking this…
opportunity…and sending me off, anyway. Kallias wasn’t king yet, and he didn’t have the power to secure my position here.
I had avoided the politics of court thus far, but if I were to be queen one day, I would need the Ashbourne’s on my side.
I would need their support, as would Kallias.
“The second in line, Emrys, is unpredictable. Immature. He thirsts for his brother’s throne, but he wouldn’t know what to do with it, even if he held it.
Mavros does not trust him and would never agree to pass the crown to him.
He has a reputation that spans across kingdoms. He is not the threat we seek to neutralize.
In the wake of Sorin’s death, their kingdom will be thrust into chaos.
That is when we will make our move. When they are at their weakest.”
I swallowed back the stale taste that had enveloped my mouth.
My eyes danced back and forth beneath her gaze as my mind raced.
How would I pull this off? It couldn’t be something obvious like jimonsweed or nightshade.
It would need to be something that they wouldn’t be familiar with but also was not exclusively native to our kingdom.
No other kingdom had the motive to assassinate their prince the way we did.
It would need to be difficult for them to tie it back to us.
Moonflower, perhaps? Or maybe crushed black hellebore, though the taste might give it away. The henbane I had found earlier this morning came to mind, but I shook my head. That wouldn’t work, henbane was only native to this continent—it didn’t grow in the west.
“And the dagger?” I asked, gaze rising to hers once more.
“What of it?”