Chapter Six The Group Date of Doom #2
“Fair queen,” Queen Elthra repeated, “that’s more like it.”
I mentally blessed Amelia for the wide-open segue.
“You plan to marry Sir Ironclaw?” I asked.
“Of course.” The queen was surprised. “It should be obvious. I don’t let just any knight stare at my chest.” She sat back and took a long drink.
Her milky skin nearly glowed in the firelight.
When she was done, she said casually, “I heard about your afternoon confrontation. What was that about? Ironclaw’s been taking care of errands and I haven’t seen him since. ”
Queen Elthra spoke as if it was little interest to her, but I saw Amelia’s eyes fix on me. So Ironclaw didn’t tell her. How was I supposed to?
“He thinks I’m distracting Lord Draw from preparing for war.” I didn’t feel I was entirely lying. “Lord Draw and I skipped our morning drills to get an early start traveling to the ruins.”
“Well-done, Dottie, I didn’t know it was possible to divert Lord Draw from his papers.” Amelia smiled girlishly at me, her muss of black hair making her face pale in the dim tent.
Was Amelia covering for me?
I had to turn this back to the queen and Ironclaw, that was the topic of conversation, not me.
My mind raced through the monologue the queen gave at the end of book five.
She had had plenty to say about why she and Ironclaw couldn’t stay together.
I would think if those issues were true then, they were true now.
I would start there. Perhaps a new outlook would bring them closer together and put her in a position to keep Ironclaw at bay.
“You don’t care that Ironclaw’s common-born?”
She looked up from her drink, brow raised. “I would think I’m royal enough for the both of us.”
“And you don’t mind that he—”
“What?”
How did I say “slept with other women” without saying it? I settled on, “Is so independent?”
Queen Elthra frowned, her shapely lips as perfect as ever. She swirled the liquid in her cup. “True, that’s something we’re working on.” She leaned forward, her blue eyes intense. “Do you have a prophecy, Lady Dottie? Is that what you’re so clumsily working up to?”
I took a deep breath. “The Witch of Mayfair hinted that the future of your union lay in your hands...and that perhaps all was not well between the two of you.”
Queen Elthra didn’t seem surprised by the first part—she was the queen—but fell to contemplation at my suggestion that things were fractured between them.
“It is harder than I thought. If my mother was alive, she could guide me.” Elthra propped her chin on her elbow and stared into her cup as if it held an answer. “Ironclaw can be difficult to control, but it’s true. I do love him.”
The fervor in her voice surprised me. Never once did I think of their engagement as a love match.
“What do you like about him?”
“Those arms,” Amelia supplied.
“Obviously,” Queen Elthra said.
“Sir Ironclaw is very handsome.” No one could disagree. “What do you like about his personality though?”
Amelia was staring at me with wide eyes, as if to indicate I was being needlessly idiotic.
The queen smiled though. “I know what it looks like: the queen helped herself to a good-looking warrior, one to whom her army is utterly loyal, and a marriage would secure that civil devotion, but she’s going to regret it all in five years, isn’t that right?”
Don’t agree with that.
“No—”
“Oh stop, Lady Dottie. I’m very good at optics.” She assessed me. “He’s different though. With me. You’ll just have to trust me on that.”
The implication was clear—she didn’t yet trust me.
––––––––
OUTSIDE THE TENT, NIGHT had fallen. A trail of candles lit the table and a small crowd of nobility, generals, and queen’s favorites gathered.
We hadn’t dined formally on the road as a group, and the air was stiff as nobility sized up nobility.
Most women had traded their travel clothes for gowns and put their hair up.
Amelia wasn’t quite so rigid as the rest. She peeped over my shoulder as she exited the tent. “And what is the queen’s circle dining on tonight? Stuffed quail?” She sauntered to the table, grabbed a wine goblet at random, and drained half the glass.
Now that I had her for a moment, I had to find out what I could about Sorrel’s delivery system. “Amelia, the letter you gave Lord Pierce earlier, where’d you get it?”
Amelia blinked as if to jog her memory. “Oh that. One of the generals brought it over this morning. He knew you and I were friendly, but I didn’t have time to leave my station. And I’m always looking for a good way to annoy Lord Pierce.” She winked at me.
Why would a general have received my letter, and from who? I wondered if I asked that general how they got the message whether it would reveal a new link in the delivery, and then another and another, Sorrel’s magic covering up the true origin.
At some unspoken signal, everyone moved to stand behind a chair.
I slipped around Lord Parable to claim one by Draw.
He touched me on the waist in greeting, the merest of whispers.
His black hair fell in a cloud to his shoulders, still a bit windswept from the day’s ride.
I thought of my hands on his bare chest that afternoon, him on his knees before me, and I felt my cheeks go pink.
There was light chatter while we waited for the queen to exit her tent, which she did on Ironclaw’s arm. Draw bent slightly at the waist, as did a man on my other side. I belatedly bobbed my knees in a curtsy.
When had Ironclaw gone in to meet the queen?
I didn’t see him go through the door. What did he do, roll under the edge of the tent?
I hope he was brief in his remarks to her.
Something told me he would be—how could he admit he had planned to meet another woman in the night (me) and that he confronted her (again, me)?
What an absolutely stupid plan that had been.
The couple made a sweep around the long table, nodding and greeting each courtier. When she came to me, Queen Elthra held out her hand for inspection. The mood ring I’d given her was perched on top, yellow as a canary.
“Your Grace. Fully satisfied this evening.”
Her blue eyes darkened with wry humor, and she glanced at Ironclaw. “Indeed.”
For his own part, Ironclaw looked as surly as ever. He kept to the queen like a shadow but looked over my head as if I wasn’t there. Fine by me.
The queen addressed her solicitor. “Did you have a good ride today, Lord Draw?” Her face was grave, but I sensed a thread of laughter beneath it all.
“Always, Your Grace. And I trust my cousin has kept you safe another day?”
“For the past few minutes at least.”
A pained expression crossed Ironclaw’s face. “I had matters to attend to.”
“Yes,” she said. “Always something to track in the woods, I know.”
The queen moved on, addressing individual members of the court or allowing them to bow to her as she made her way to the top of the table. She swept her ice-blond hair back from her shoulders before sitting daintily. We followed suit.
The first course was a shaving of rabbit over mashed carrots and thyme.
The queen took one bite, then set her fork down. “What did my royal court get up to today? Lord Draw, Lady Dottie was telling me you took her to see the Ruins of Lissa.”
Was she...trolling me? Why would she bring that up in front of everyone? I hadn’t said so explicitly, but I thought Amelia’s ribbing made the tone of the afternoon clear.
I rushed to swallow my bite half-chewed, panicked, but Draw responded easily. “Lady Dottie and I rode ahead to discuss the witch’s predictions. It seems everything is going according to plan.”
Queen Elthra took a sip of her wine before answering. “It had better. We’re within range of the Dark Mage’s arms more and more.”
I didn’t like that reminder. It felt too soon to worry about battles and, most especially, the ending of the book.
With the advancement of the coming confrontation, I needed to ensure the plot didn’t swing fully toward a military outlook.
Sorrel said romance, and though I was still absolutely pissed at her recent revelation about Sara, I agreed with her.
Queen Elthra had turned back to Ironclaw. She ran her fingers across her bare chest, the blue velvet of her gown striking against her pale skin, and his eyes followed.
And I thought I’d be able to draw his attention long enough to sway him. It was laughable.
I had been shocked that she had said she really loved him. I had thought it was a matter of convenience and desire, but, for the queen at least, it was more.
Which meant I was nearly back to square one.
She wasn’t the problem. He was. Queen Elthra was looking to bring him to heel just as much as I needed to.
Whatever the reasons verbalized in her monologue at the end of the series, she must have been driven there by Ironclaw’s behavior rather than any specific concerns on her part.
Perhaps a change in atmosphere would inspire him to do more, see what he could lose.
“There is one thing, Your Grace.”
Elthra’s blue eyes flashed back at me and Draw stiffened. Perhaps that was too forward. For her humor and understanding in private, Queen Elthra had to be a blistering blue flame in public. I would do well to remember that.
I spoke on, everyone at the long table watching me. Amelia licked her lips of more wine. Jerrald’s brow was furrowed as it always was. “The Witch of Mayfair had told me that as we get closer to the final battle, relationships must be at their strongest.”
I saw a click of understanding in Queen Elthra’s eyes. I was trying to help her out. She glanced at Ironclaw to make sure he was listening.
“Relationships?” she said lightly.
“Romantic pairs,” I said. “The fight ahead will test us and if our relationships aren’t strong, the Dark Mage will fracture them, weakening our cause.”
Everyone at the table paused midbite to assess me. The Master of Horse looked like he was going to snicker while Lord Parable’s eyes had bugged. Ariana though, remained composed.