Page 33 of Pawns of Salistya

‘Valare, lovely to see you again.’

I turned just in time as Qynthia came to embrace me with an affectionate squeeze. Eliasson quickly stepped away from us. Considering we had only met once, I didn’t think the Queen and I were necessarily at this level of friendship, but who was I to deny her?

Pulling away, I looked at the remaining man.

‘Oh! I’m so sorry, how rude of me. Valare, Eliasson, Slaviya, you remember Ramone?’ Qynthia asked.

The man in question stepped forward to bow. ‘Your Highnesses, a pleasure.’

Eliasson and Slaviya merely nodded.

‘Good to see you again, Ramone.’ I smiled at him, feeling that the others’ lack of response to be a little cold and snobby.

‘And this is my sister Orlandia. Orlandia, this is Queen Slaviya, King Eliasson and his wife Queen Valare,’ said Xylan, gesturing towards us.

My gaze shot to Xylan’s sister, eyebrows furrowing momentarily. Did I know her? I smoothed my features, smiling politely in acknowledgment.

Orlandia curtsied, copying Ramone’s words before standing up and looking straight at me. My eyes narrowed slightly, then widened as I took in her features. There were uncanny similarities to someone I had briefly met before, apart from the pale pink eyes and lighter skin tone. I shook my head, dismissing the thought. There were plenty of people who looked similar. I was overthinking it.

Before I could probe further, Qynthia looped her arms through mine and Slaviya’s, before making her way into the palace. ‘Ladies, please tell me dinner is ready. I’m positively starved. Not to mention I have been dying to drown myself in a healthy amount of that delicious Arloman wine. Gentleman, are you coming?’ Qynthia called over her shoulder, not bothering to wait for them.

I swung my head around to watch the men follow, chatting casually. My eyes landed on those beautiful pink ones to find they were already staring at me again, scanning the length of my exposed back and fixating on the scoop of material resting daringly on the top of my behind. I forgot to breathe when his gaze made its way up to mine, unashamed that I caught him staring at me, and in front of my husband too, if the cheeky wink he threw at me was anything to go by.

‘Valare?’

I swung my head back around to Qynthia, quickly realising she’d asked me for directions to the dining room.

‘The dining room? Straight through this first door and down the hall.’

My mind immediately jumped back to our interaction. What was this man playing at? He was staring at me like I was a prize to be won, and I most certainly wasn’t a prize. I was certainly very offlimits, not to mention married. If he kept this up with his smouldering looks though, well, this may just turn out to be the longest weeks of my life.

I needed a wine.

Chapter 14

‘Another round!’ Qynthia shouted for the tenth time tonight, raising her empty glass looking for the attendants. Rynelle stepped forward, halting his movements when Eliasson subtly shook his head. He stepped back, resuming his stance by the wall. His eyes briefly met mine, conveying his annoyance.

This wasnothow a Royal Forum generally went. I had envisioned it to be just like the last one – an awkward dinner filled with small talk as the royals attempted to pretend that their sole reason for being in the same room as one another wasn’t to negotiate trade agreements like savages. It’s amazing what a new, fresh-faced king with a seemingly good sense of humour and strong relationships with others could do to the dynamics of a room. Despite seeingglimpses of her outgoing and affectionate nature at the last Forum, in the presence of Xylan’s father, Qynthia would never have dared to turn the first night into a royal party – she had even convinced Slaviya to play a drinking game.

‘Maybe that’s enough, Qynth.’ Xylan laughed as she leant towards him, her eyes narrowing in defiance as she went, literally, head-to-head with him.

‘Xylan, honey, remember the last time you tried to cut me off?’ she threatened.

Xylan shot her a look of warning. I couldn’t help the grin that rose to my lips. I sure as hell wanted to know all the juicy details of what happened last time.

‘I’m going to bite. What happened?’ I eagerly leant forward, unfazed by the frowns of disapproval from Eliasson and Slaviya. I was too many wines in at this point to care about what was or was not correct behaviour, and Xylan was clearly nothing like his father.

‘It’s not relevant –’ Xylan started.

‘I stole one of his favourite books!’ Qynthia blurted.

Xylan groaned, running a hand down his face in frustration.

‘Oh,’ I replied, the answer not what I was expecting. ‘Is that all?’

‘It’s not so much that it was a book, darling Valare. More so, the book’sgenre,’ Orlandia piped up, mischief written all over her face.

Xylan downed the rest of his drink before looking out the window. His tortured stare made the dining room’s glass window seem like it could crack at any moment. ‘To the God Merlot, why do you insist on surrounding me with insufferable women?’

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