Page 82 of The Princess's Chosen

Cosmo stopped and turned to me, face guarded and body stiff. He took slow steps closer, appearing as though at any moment he might turn heel and run from me, or from the warehouse.

"If this is too much—"

"Of course it's too much," he hissed as he reached me. "Isn't it?"

"I don't know. I am…"

"You're numb," Cosmo accused, frowning and studying me.

"I wish," I muttered. I huffed and rolled my head on my stiff shoulders, eyeing him carefully. "Will this change how you feel about me?"

Cosmo's jaw clenched, and he looked down the street we approached on. The trail of thieves was thinning now. They were all waiting inside for me.

"It changes how I see you. But I don't know that it changes how I feel," Cosmo said.

I wanted to reach for him the way Aric had with me, but I was too afraid of myself. Cosmo lifted my hand from my side and raised my palm to his mouth, kissing the flat of my fingers and meeting my eyes.

"I can't say that I don't understand why this is happening. I just wish it weren't," Cosmo said, then he folded my hand over his and kissed my knuckles.

He'd soothed himself in the process more than he had me, but I squeezed his fingers before he left, letting Griffin take his place at my side.

"Are you all…" She trailed off as Cresswell and Thao passed us, carrying a weakly thrashing Emory between them, his feet trying to dig into the ground but only skidding and dragging along. Griffin's eyebrows rose and she turned back to me. "A show of force?"

I nodded, finding my tongue heavy and dull in my mouth.

"Good. I have a man or two I can trust to—"

"No. I will do it," I said, wishing I sounded stronger. I was certain, I was uncomfortably prepared, but my voice was just over a whisper.

Griffin took an assessing glance over me before nodding once. "Good. I will be at your side. If you hesitate, falter, even trip, I will join you."

She reached her hand out between us and I shook it, both of our grips tight. If there was one person who could commit this act with me, it might be Griffin. She was my right hand in the court, and we were both women under scrutiny and burdened with these men's doubt.

Still, I would manage it myself.

"Here," Owen said, taking the bag he'd carried off his shoulder, pulling the flap open.

The Hunger, the new and violent version of my magic, gnawed on my lungs and crawled through my ribs as I reached inside. There was magic left on my weapon, the strange half wreath of dagger-sharp leaves, and I'd used it earlier to fashion the piece into something new. Moonlight struck the leaves, their edges dulled by a remaining trace of blood, and I raised the piece up to my head, settling it carefully into my hair with the combs I added. A crown for a king. I'd dressed to avoid attention, borrowing a maid's skirt and one of Cosmo's shirts, but I wanted to remind the crowd waiting for me of both of my identities.

"A warrior queen," Wendell murmured, his smile shy and a little injured looking.

"Come and find me when you are done, Mistress," Owen said, tilting his head to try and catch my eye.

I nodded absently, and they stood at either side of me as we walked toward the doors, both of their hands touching my back briefly until we crossed the threshold and they moved into the crowd.

The warehouse had an odd collection of furniture—old crates stacked high, and beautifully crafted tables and chairs gone crooked after being abandoned. The room was full but not crowded, and for the first time I got a sense of exactly how large this community was.

"Is this all of them?" I asked Griffin.

We were heading for a platform built of crates, and Thao and Cresswell waited there, Emory kneeling between them, their hands both keeping him upright and holding him in place.

"It's more than just Rumsbrooke," she answered. "There's some small courts here too, a few country folk. I think it's anyone who might've had time to hear word of you calling the meeting and still make it in time."

That was both good news and bad. It meant I would be making a dark impression on a larger group of people and hopefully avoiding more attempts like Emory's in the future, but also that word of my rise as king had already spread too far.

My Chosen stood close to the platform, ready to intervene if needed. Aric had men at his back as he promised to, one of whom was the bartender from the Wing and Rook. They were there as another line of defense, and he nodded to me as I caught his eye.

Voices stirred through the massive room as Griffin and I approached, echoing around the rafters, birds and bats shuffling in their nests.

---