Chapter 4
Revna
I adjusted the crown sitting heavy on my head, took a deep breath, and schooled my face to impassivity as we rode our mounts—teleported with us from Bhorglid—onto the grounds of the Kryllian palace.
The building’s spires stretched thin, pointed fingers into the blue sky.
It surprised me to see the sharp lines contrasting against slopes and curves in the architecture.
The castle in Bhorglid was modeled after this one, but ours was certainly less magnificent.
Here, the stone was not stark white but a pearlescent cream color, shot through with veins of gray in some places.
Ornate patterns were carved into the marble and gilded with gold.
I sat up straighter, grateful our estimations of the weather had been correct.
We’d barely been here for fifteen minutes and already the chill in my bones had nearly dissipated entirely.
I hadn’t realized how much I missed the warmth of summer until we arrived, appearing in the forest that bordered the palace on the east side so we had a moment to mount our horses and arrive as a unified group.
The figures standing on the steps grew in size as we approached. I led the way, the four others behind me. The Queen of Kryllian stood front and center, the Hellbringer next to her. Two nobles stood on her other side, and a contingent of guards stretched out behind them.
The first thing I noticed was that he was masked.
Of course he is, I chided myself. Did you think S?ren was going to be on the queen’s right hand, the same man you cared for?
I knew better.
I forced my attention to the queen as we dismounted. She was the only one of importance today—the Hellbringer was nothing more than a distraction. Freja, Astrid, and Volkan stepped into careful bows and curtsies on either side of me.
When I turned a commanding stare to Arne, he clenched his hands into fists. After a long moment, he offered the queen a shallow bow as well.
My heart thudded in time with the song in my head. It was only a matter of time before we committed a slight against the Kryllians, especially if Arne was feeling particularly rebellious.
With a serene smile, the queen moved to stand directly in front of me.
“Your Majesty,” I said. She was at least four inches shorter than me, but despite her stature she radiated confidence.
Her blond hair was woven into a braid and wound around her head.
She wore a golden dress with no sleeves and a plunging neckline.
With the matching crown atop her head—far more delicate than the one I’d liberated from my father’s study on the day of my coronation—she exuded poise and control.
I noted a sheath belted around her waist, a blade secured there. One of her hands rested on the hilt.
She couldn’t have been older than my own mother. Her delicate features showed few signs of aging. The occasional line on her brow, the beginnings of crow’s-feet. Her face held a smile, but when I looked into her eyes, they were emotionless. A fortress of stone.
I kept my face schooled with politeness. My feelings would not escape me either, then. “Thank you for inviting us to your home. We are thrilled to be here.”
The queen’s gaze, a sharp blue reminiscent of the coldest blizzards, flickered to the members of my party. “You may rise,” she said. “We are grateful you deigned to travel to us. I am sure you must be busy, as a new ruler.”
I refused to let my smile slip, even as a dark-clothed figure moved down the steps to stand at his monarch’s side. “Signing the treaty and ending the war peacefully is my highest priority. There is nothing more important.”
For a long moment, Queen Anja studied me. The silence was broken only by the warm breeze, which rattled the leaves of the forest trees behind us. And of course, my mother’s lullaby strummed in my ears. That, I ignored.
“Allow me to introduce you to the trusted members of my court. The lord and lady”—here she gestured to the two nobles who had moved closely behind her—“are representatives in my court. Lord Agard watches over the city of Vandsted, a booming locale on the coastline. And Lady Dahl oversees the capital city in ways I alone cannot.”
The blond man and dark-haired woman both bowed, and I lifted a hand to bring them back to standing. When I glanced at the queen again, her serene smile had formed an edge sharper than a blade. Was she smirking at me?
“I believe you are more than acquainted with the general of my armies.”
She gestured to the Hellbringer, and I was forced to look him in the eyes for the first time in three long weeks.
The wolf skull helmet covered all of his features, obscuring him from anyone’s true gaze.
His hands rested in front of him, one wrapped around the wrist of the other.
His sword was sheathed along his waist, and his cloak—fuck, don’t think about the cloak right now—fluttered in the wind.
The Hellbringer was entirely unchanged from when he’d sat in my bedroom, taunting me.
I wanted to kick him in the balls.
Queen Anja must have seen the slight narrowing of my gaze because she visibly brightened. “How lovely to witness such a heartfelt reunion.”
It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. The man before me had once said I was incapable of hiding my emotions, and I wasn’t about to prove him right.
It seemed laughable that he’d been in Bhorglid, unmasked, just a few hours ago. If he hadn’t been wearing gloves, I would have tried to steal a glance at his nails to see if any dirt remained beneath them.
It doesn’t matter if he buried Frode, I reminded myself. He’s the one who killed him.
“There will be time for pleasantries later,” the queen said, turning and beckoning us to follow her to the palace doors. “My servants will show you all to your rooms and then we’ll reconvene for a meal in the gardens.”
The Hellbringer walked quicker than the rest of us. He was the first to escape through the doors, and the queen let out a quiet chuckle. I was so focused on lifting the hem of my skirt that I almost missed the queen’s murmur. “It’s easy to see why he was so taken with you.”
I stopped so suddenly that Freja ran into me. I didn’t apologize, simply stared at the queen. The smaller woman leveled a sharp smirk in my direction. Hesitantly, I resumed our walk. The song in my mind skittered like a prey animal making a desperate escape. Still, I kept my face impassive.
“I have no idea what you mean,” I said smoothly. Could she hear the catch in my voice, the fear living there?
S?ren’s own words echoed back in a wave of memory. No one can know. This thing between us…if the queen found out, she would use it against us both.
But who had told her? Had the Hellbringer regretted our relationship so thoroughly that he ratted himself out? Or had someone else learned the truth of our time together and told the queen, allowing her to tighten S?ren’s leash, too?
It was impossible to know.
“Don’t bother lying, child.” She raised a brow. “We’re just getting started.”
I didn’t tell Freja and Astrid about the queen’s accusations.
As the servants showed us to our rooms—all in the same corridor, thankfully—they chatted cheerfully, and I was loath to bring down their good mood.
Arne also walked alongside us every step of the way, though I couldn’t tell if it was because he was afraid to get lost in the palace’s never-ending hallways or because he wanted to make sure we didn’t say anything out of his earshot.
Arne and I were over, but discussing my once-romantic relationship with the Hellbringer in front of him would light a fuse we couldn’t afford right now.
Not when everyone needed to be on their best behavior.
Freja, Astrid, and I shared three rooms that were each connected to the one next door by a shared bathroom. I’d been directed to the middle one, which was the largest, but promptly switched places with Astrid. It was easy to see she wanted to room next door to Freja, but she was reluctant.
“Think of it this way,” I signed to her. “Anyone who tries to assassinate me will find my most loyal bodyguard there instead.”
Her grin was unparalleled.
While they freshened up, I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The queen had flaunted her knowledge of my relationship with the Hellbringer. She hadn’t brought him to stand on the steps with her because he was formidable—she’d done it because she knew it would make me uncomfortable.
And that meant these were hostile negotiations.
I’d suspected as much, but the confirmation simmered in my chest. From the moment the Hellbringer kidnapped me, Queen Anja had been in power. She was willing to help me claim the throne because our goals aligned. But what was her goal?
And how did she have so much knowledge about me? For a moment, I wondered whether she was a Seeing One, secretly able to see visions of the future. It was possible, but those with the ability joined the Seeing One caravans from a young age, becoming wandering people.
I turned the pieces of the mystery over and over in my mind. The Hellbringer had told me during our time together that the Kryllian army could have annihilated our people and ended the war years ago. Yet the queen insisted on continuing to fight, never pressing their advantage.
Now, when I sat on the throne, she was suddenly willing to negotiate peace. But what did she want? And why did she believe I was the one who could offer it?
When a pair of guards arrived to escort us to the gardens for dinner, Volkan raised a questioning eyebrow at me. I wasn’t sure what emotion showed on my face, but I shook my head and held my hand low in front of my stomach to hide it from the others while I signed, “Later.”