Page 109 of The Kingdom's Crown

My mother's eyes remained forward, watching the doorway, and it wasn't until Camellia appeared, thin and ghost pale, eyes red and a rosy pink dress nearly hanging off of her, that I realized I'd been holding my breath.

Camellia's stride was quick and stiff, her shoulders pinched in close to her ears. There were men at her back, but they seemed as little aware of her as she did of them, as if they only followed out of force of habit.

"Do you think this summons interrupted the doctor?" Daniel whispered, but none of us knew the answer.

Camellia's curtsey was quick, head bowing, a murmured greeting passing through clenched teeth.

"Daughter," my mother said again and I thought she would dismiss Camellia as she had me, but she sat forward on her throne. "Do you want the crown, Camellia?"

Camellia blinked at my mother, head jerking back a little. "Of course."

"Tell me why?"

The whisperings of the court died. Neither my mother or Camellia were bothering to lift their voices, and the entire room held its breath to listen.

Camellia's gaze flashed to the council first, and then to me, narrowing. She forced a smile for my mother, an imitation of simpering that was more of a grimace. "To serve Kimmery with the great strength of my Hunger, Your Majesty." She curtseyed again, and perversely, the room clapped for her.

My teeth ground together at her answer. It was what we'd been told our entire lives, but it meantnothing.

My mother nodded and finally gestured for Camellia to stand aside. Camellia shifted anxiously as she moved into position, one of her Chosen leaning into her gravity, only to be pushed away with a clawed hand.

"Bryony," my mother murmured.

I stepped forward and even though I'd just heard the question, it still took me a stunned moment when my mother asked it again. "Why do you want the crown?"

My mother smiled slightly, but there was a shuttered look in her eyes. Had I already lost? Simply for wanting to be a queen who put her focus on the state of the kingdom first, for wanting to be a mother who hadtimeto look at her daughter, to make actual conversation with her, care for her?

"Because as I grew up, I loved Kimmery, and I wanted to do my duty as a woman of the queen's line. I wanted to provide prosperity and joy for the kingdom," I said, and my mother's smile tightened, so I pushed on, my voice rising. "And because now that I haveseenKimmery, I understand that love and Hunger, which I possess plentifully, are still not enough.

"I want the crown because if I want Kimmery to feel wealth, there must be changes made so that wealth travels beyond that fist clenched around it greedily. If I want the fields to grow rich with their harvest, I must touch them myself too, gift my Hunger to the ground so it might gift my people with its feast. I see Kimmery's strength being stifled, and I want to break those cages that seek to trap and smother our people's magic so that it can flourish. I want the crown so that I might rule Kimmery by serving it with every last breath I take."

The words wobbled, broke a little as I gasped for air. My mother was crying, one hand over her heart, but she was smiling too. For real this time.

There was a whoop from Owen, but the note had barely died when the polite clapping returned, a little more enthusiastic than before. Nobles were not my audience, I knew that. But there were other men and women, like Sir Weston and Jack McCallum, whose hearts were as wrapped up in the good of Kimmery as my own, and they cheered for me at my back now.

My mother nodded, rising slowly from her throne and reaching a hand out for me.

I was breathing unevenly at the relief of speaking my mind and almost stumbling forward, but I clutched her hand and brought her knuckles to my lips for a quick kiss before following her tug to stand at her side. I couldn't see the room, blind to the faces in front of me, but I turned my head and my focus cleared at the beaming smiles of my Chosen, my men. My love for Kimmery had been empty before, the notion of a princess raised to think in a straight line. It was brilliant and staggering now, and entirely bound up in those men.

My mother's voice raised high, cutting through the murmuring voices and the fading applause. "There's been a question of succession. I think it is clear now. Her Royal Highness, Princess Bryony, is eldest. She not only possesses the Hunger, she transforms it. She has Chosen. And she is my rightful anddeservingheir."

I'd been calling myself the crown princess for months, but it had never felt certain until this moment, and the resolve surged through me, a little like sexual ecstasy.

"Your Majesty!"

Oh, fuck.

Joy soured, and I opened my eyes to find Thomlinson marching forward, scowling right at me.

"Your Majesty, the princess may be eldest, but she seeks toundoKimmery. To destroy the council. This is impossible!"

"I don't want to destroy the council, I want the council to serve the kingdom rather than its own members!" I answered, taking another breath but holding it when my mother's fingers squeezed mine.

"Lord Thomlinson, my decision is final," my mother said, just a little too gently.

"If you want an uprising, girl, that's exactly what you'll see," Thomlinson hissed at me, eyes glinting. "Kimmery will have a civil war, and what good will your scrappy farmers and thieves andbeastsbe to you against Kimmery's army?"

My mother gasped, and Thomlinson grinned but only for a moment.

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