Page 4 of The Princess's Chosen

I sighed, and the Hunger was threaded through as Cosmo licked into my mouth, warming my veins and clinging to both our skin. I eased away from the kiss slowly, lowering one hand down to the floor and forcing the magic out of me with a soft push. It didn't go as easily as when I came, like the Hunger knew it hadn'treallybeen satisfied with just a kiss, and it left me with a heavier, drowsy feeling as it bled out of me.

And then my grandmother gasped, porcelain clinking together, edges repairing with little chimes and scratches as Cosmo and I settled with me stretched beneath him on the couch. He raised his head, winking at me as I blushed, and then he rolled to fit against the back of the couch. I propped my head up on the heel of my hand and looked to my grandmother. Her eyes were on the floor.

"What have you—How did you do that?" Grandmother asked, leaning slowly forward to lift the plate from the floor.

Not only had I repaired the plate, replacing the pink rose pattern with silver and gold vines and blossoms, I'd also accidentally turned the crumbs of toast and jam into a pile of fresh strawberries.

"How did you think we repaired the palace?" I asked, trying not to smirk at the openly shocked expression that washed over my grandmother's face. She paled and sank back into her chair, the plate of strawberries resting in her lap.

"Our magic…" She lifted a strawberry up, running a thumb over the seeds and the bright green leaves.

"You didn't know?" I asked, watching her marvel at the simple fruit. Not that I'dknownI could make strawberries out of jam, only that I knew the Hunger could create seemingly out of its own whims.

Grandmother raised the berry to her lips, eyes widening as she took a bite and juice spilled onto her lip. She hummed and stared down at the fruit in her hand and then back at me. "I want you to tell me everything that's happened since you arrived in the north, Bryony."

2

Bryony

“Iwish I'd seen it before," Grandmother murmured, staring up at the glass roof of the greenhouse. "Not that I don't believe you, dear," she said, patting the back of my hand.

One palace tour and my relationship with my grandmother had transformed practically full circle. At least enough so that when she called me 'dear,' it didn't sound like she was thinking of strangling me.

"I understand it's hard to believe," I said.

Grandmother held my arm for support, the long journey through the palace tiring her by the time we'd reached the greenhouse. Cosmo was still with us, and Thao and Wendell were outside chasing geese in their tiger forms for sport.

"I still don't really understand how it works," I admitted. "Was I the cause of the rainstorm that hit the north after the festival? Or did I affect the fields differently?"

"Did you choose the design?" Grandmother asked absently, pointing out the panels of stained glass that lit up the plants of the greenhouse floor with colored rays of light.

"Mm? No, those are new. I don't really notice when most things happen. I just throw the magic out so it doesn't force my Chosen," I said.

"Forcethem? Bryony, the role of the Chosen is one of honor."

"The only choice in the matter isours, Grandmother! It isn't right! Especially not when our magic can make them aroused."

"You are still very prudish for all your accomplishments," Grandmother muttered, shaking her head.

Cosmo snorted, perched on the ledge by a large fern with his sketchbook in his lap, eyes glancing up as he grinned at me.

"You disagree, young man?" Grandmother snapped.

"Prudish isn't a word I'd use for my princess, Your Majesty," Cosmo said with a respectful dip of his head. "She simply puts great store in the comfort of others before herself."

I bounced nervously on my toes as Grandmother stared at Cosmo with her usual, fierce squint.

"Mm. I suppose." I beamed at Cosmo briefly before sobering as Grandmother turned to stare at me again. "I still have concerns. You can't simply storm over the council—"

"But, Grandmother—"

"You have no right to speak over me, and you know it," Grandmother said, stilling my tongue with an arch of her brow. "But I think I'd like to be present for a meeting regarding the taxes. We can't waive them indefinitely; you know this. However, the council may have reigned with too much freedom here in the north. I've found Lord Roderick an amenable and reasonable man in the past, but he is still only a man, and they tend to be creatures of ego."

I refrained from commenting, but I caught Cosmo's smile out of the corner of my eye.

"You haven't taken their little spy into bed, have you?"

"Ugh. No, Grandmother."

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