Page 9 of Haunted

I turn away from her, pretending to be proper. I don’t know if she wants me looking at her bare shoulders. “Yes, Your Highness.”

She scolds me with her tone. “Caedryn.”

I scowl, trying to figure out the empress’s intent. She’s being open with me, bold even. Direct.

I can be bold too. I have to be bold. Even so, when I open my mouth, I’m surprised at my quip. “Would you rather I was spouting sonnets?”

She glares at me.

I bite back a sigh. She wants truth, so I’ll give her truth. I just hope she doesn’t kill me. “Men don’t speak to you. They answer you.”

The young half-emrys healer with silky brown hair touches the empress’s injured shoulder. A barely decipherable wrinkle creases the empress’s features, and when she speaks, her voice is calm despite the healing burns. “I thought you were different.”

I stare at the ceiling. How does she want me to answer her?

“I give you permission to speak freely when we’re alone,” she says. By this, that doesn’t include servants or healers apparently.

I turn to face her. “What freedom of my speech would you like to hear?”

Her face is void of emotion. “I have no confidants.”

“Your dragon?” I suggest.

Neifion has always been my confidant, from the moment he placed his dragon stone into my hands. Brazenly, I study the olive-green dragon stone around the empress’s neck. It’s smooth and matte, like polished steel, and allows her to communicate with Aerona mentally.

“Aerona fills a need in that regard, but I long for a veritable, half-emrys companion.”

She supposes I can be that companion?

Nesta’s eyes are closed as she presses both palms to Empress Rhianu’s shoulder. Deep into the task, Nesta is fully occupied. The empress doesn’t grimace, but I know the pain of flesh knitting together. She curls her lip against her upper teeth, an endearing move that throws my composure.

Blood pulses in my ears. “I don’t understand, Your Highness.”

“Be truthful. Say what your heart feels.”

I scoff. “And end up contradicting you, causing you to put my head on a pike?”

Her captivating eyes round. “Do I need to put your head on a pike?”

“Why do you use my discernment to taunt prisoners?” I blurt.

“Ah, I thought so. That’s when you became a mindless drone. I didn’t appoint you chancellor because I wanted someone who follows me without question. I want your opinion. Your blatant honesty.”

“What if I told you the prisoner felt remorse?”

“Then he would have died swiftly,” she says.

I work to hide my disgust even as my skin crawls. “What of his family?”

“What of them?”

“They need compensation,” I say. “Their father is dead.”

Nesta finishes, and as her hand comes away, I see no trace of the stab wound.

The empress pulls her cloak on. “I don’t reward those in league with delinquency.”

My heart tries to race, but even while supporting my passionate opinion, I will myself to calm and angle away. I am a fortress of peace among a world of injustice. “You make no effort to be a virtuous leader.”

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