Chapter 6 #2
I wondered if there was ever again going to be a time when an unplanned introduction did not send dread through me with the precision of a practiced archer. Because I had a suspicion I knew exactly who this scholar was. It would certainly explain the mischievous glint in the queen’s eyes.
“Queen Revna, meet S?ren Anselm. The finest scholar Kryllian has seen in generations.”
S?ren turned to face me, finally. He still wore the same fake smile, one of docile curiosity. He bowed low at the waist, another act that made me want to cringe away. Who was this man? Certainly not the S?ren I had known.
“Your Highness. Pleased to meet you.”
“Rise,” I said. No matter how much delight the queen would take in my acting, Freja and Astrid could not know his true identity.
I kept my voice even. The song raged within all the while.
“Lovely to meet you as well, S?ren. Her Highness made mention last evening of the rich history of the Fjordlands that you and your fellow scholars have gathered over the years. I’m eager to learn more about it. ”
His fake smile slipped into a smirk. “Perhaps you’ll do me the honor of a dance later this evening and we can both share our unique findings.”
“We’ll see whether the time allows.”
Volkan stepped up to the dais, offering me his hand as he bowed. “Would you do me the honor of a dance, Your Highness?” When he glanced up at me, his expression was clear—this was an offer to escape.
Thank the gods. “Of course.”
He escorted me to the dance floor, ever the gentleman, and we began to waltz—Volkan had insisted that I know at least one formal dance now that I was queen, and I’d held my memory of doing the same steps with the Hellbringer in the prison behind my gritted teeth while the prince taught me.
The past few weeks had lent themselves to many a dance lesson, and I fell into the muscle memory, allowing him to lead.
The steps were far different from the traditional dances I’d grown up with and learned by heart, but my body was experienced with intuiting rhythm and moving with it.
I caught sight of Arne glaring in my direction from across the room, nursing a glass of wine.
It was easy to brush off his displeasure.
My friends were already upset with me—but Arne was not my friend any longer.
His opinion was the least of my concerns, so long as he behaved himself while we were here.
For a moment, it was peaceful. I forgot about S?ren, about the treaty, about the secrets I was keeping from my friends. Twirling in the prince’s arms, I thought of what it would be like if every day were like this, if every event was full of laughter and ease instead of—
Volkan’s lips migrated to my ear. “You know how badly Bhorglid needs this alliance.”
I did my best not to stiffen visibly. Mother’s lullaby began to pick up tempo, overlapping with the musicians. “No one understands that better than I do, Volkan.”
“I know.” He sighed. “She has something up her sleeve. Something more she wants. I’ve been puzzling over her refusal to start negotiations all day, and it’s the only thing I can think of that makes sense. She had a motive when she ordered you trained, and it hasn’t turned out the way she planned.”
“The only unexpected part of the Trials was my Lurae,” I said, careful to keep my voice low. “But she suspected I had a Lurae from the beginning. So that can’t be it.”
“I don’t know what it could be. But I do know this: she’s going to ask more of you because she can.
Even if it isn’t anything she needs. I’ve known the queen a long time—have sat in on diplomatic meetings with my parents and Anja since I was a child—and while she puts on an arrogant act, she’s also clever and conniving in ways no one anticipates. ”
We turned with the dancing crowd, and exhaustion threatened to suffocate me.
“What do I do, Volkan? My father spent my whole life using me as a pawn—making an example out of me, proving he wasn’t afraid to punish any Nilurae because he punished me.
Am I doomed to that fate? Forced to dance for these rulers if I don’t want my people to suffer? ”
For a long moment, we spun in silence. As the final bars of music played, he said, “You’re queen now, Revna.
As a princess, you had far more freedom.
You could think about yourself and what you wanted.
You didn’t have to marry me because you didn’t want to.
Now? You carry the fate of a country on your back, far more than you ever did before.
“When you won the Trials, you didn’t win your freedom. You’re on a leash now—one held by the people. If you allow them to fall, then they will take you with them. Are you prepared to tumble over that ledge?”
The couples around us began to separate, Volkan’s words a dagger to my heart. I wanted to draw my blade and shove it through his ribs. I wanted to collapse onto the floor and curl into a ball while the people I loved wrapped around me like a shield.
“You have always been a pawn,” he said quietly, lifting my frozen hand from his shoulder. “And if you care about your people at all, then you will become one again in order to keep them safe.”
A deep voice interrupted us. “May I have this dance, Your Highness?”
I turned to see S?ren’s outstretched hand, accompanied by a raised eyebrow.
There was nothing I wanted less than to dance with the man who killed my brother, who broke my heart until the pieces were too fine to be put back together.
But Volkan’s reminder made it clear—there was no room left to think of what I wanted anymore.
If this dance might help solidify an alliance we desperately needed, then…
“Of course.” I took S?ren’s hand.
When the music began again, I ignored the swooping in my stomach as he pulled me tight to him and led me to the beat.
I waited for him to say something, but we moved in silence.
I swallowed. It took all my strength not to notice every inch of our bodies touching now.
Not to notice the warmth radiating from him, a comfort against the cool air filling the room.
I spared a brief thought of gratitude that this song was not a waltz and therefore required every ounce of mental energy to follow the steps without stumbling.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to ignore S?ren’s pine and fresh snow scent.
Had he been to the wastes recently? Is that why he smelled the same as he had in the prison? He must have, if the body he buried two days ago was truly Frode’s. I wanted to ask him, instead biting my tongue until the taste of iron spilled.
“This is going far better than the last time we danced.” S?ren’s voice held a hint of humor, but his shoulders were stiff. The fake smile had returned, a mask far different from the one he wore on the front, but a mask all the same. “You haven’t stepped on my toes once.”
We turned with the crowd of fellow dancers. The ballroom was full to the brim, and I saw Freja’s worried expression amid the gathered citizens. My emotions, scattered and intense, strummed the strings of an instrument I couldn’t see; one only I could hear.
My response to S?ren was automatic. “Wasted opportunity,” I replied.
“Has Volkan been teaching you?”
“Who else?” Before he could speak again, the words spilled out of me. “What kind of game are you playing?”
I couldn’t force myself to look into his eyes, but I saw his jaw clench. “You’ll have to elaborate.”
He released his hold on my waist and spun me, the skirt of my dress flaring out.
A bloodred stain against the nearly white stone floor.
“I mean,” I said as I caught my breath, his hand settling against my hip once more, the pressure from each of his fingers sending a bolt of lightning through me, “the treaty. You spent six weeks holed away in the wastes, complaining about your duty. Why is the queen so hesitant to commit now?”
“I told you last night—I don’t know.”
He moved his other hand to my waist as well, then lifted me off my feet while he spun.
I gasped, clutching his shoulders. Now, though, I was forced to look into his eyes.
They were as deep and familiar as I knew they’d be.
I held my breath. It was the only way to keep from falling into the comfort of his presence.
“I still think you’re lying.” A thread fizzled in and out between us, thicker than the ones connecting me to everyone else in the room.
I heard the smile in his voice. “I don’t lie, Princess. Remember?”
How much of an unmendable scandal would it cause, I wondered, if I kneed him in the groin right now?
On the next spin, my eyes caught with Volkan’s. Thinking of the prince’s reaction was enough to put me off.
The music slowed to a close and I stepped away quickly. My palms tingled from where I’d been touching him. I curled my hands into fists to keep them from shaking. “I remember everything.”
I returned to the dais nearly an hour later, when the ball had just passed its midpoint.
Exhaustion clung to my limbs. While all the Lurae in Bhorglid were afraid of me, the Kryllians instead seemed fascinated by my unprecedented power.
I’d been dancing with men and women alike since leaving S?ren behind on the dance floor.
My vision was beginning to blur with flickering strings, and I knew if I didn’t sit down, my fragile hold on my Lurae was bound to snap.
The queen hadn’t left her seat all evening, only speaking briefly to those who came to her. A few minutes ago, she’d instructed a page boy to fetch S?ren. He now stood to the side of her throne, speaking to her quietly.
When I came into earshot, she held up a hand to silence him and turned to me. “I have decided,” she said, voice calm and cheerful despite the edge to it, “what I require in order to proceed with the treaty.”