Page 42 of Fae Crown

What a crazy bitch.

10.MY EDGE WAS ON EDGE

ELOWYN

With how fond the queen was of her pointless, opulent parties, I’d guessed she would extend the conversation-over-morning-drinks affair into a pompous brunch—drag out the start of the first event so the sycophants mingling around the great salon would have better opportunity to blow even more smoke up her ass.

But the queen appeared downright eager to get started. Excitement danced across her face, pushing her painted lips into a wide smile.

Never in my entire life had I been more wary of a smile.

The unease that had gripped me pretty much since I first met the damn woman simmered in my gut, ready to boil over. Already, the awfulness of Rush’s violation from the night before, coupled with the two murders this morning mere feet from where I slept, had my nerves strung uncomfortably tight. I’d been trying to relax the tension in my shoulders but kept discoveringthem clenched. Add in my concern for my friends in the Sorumbra, Saffron out of my care until the Nuptialis Probatio was over, and my likely insurmountable duty to save not just an entire kingdom but dragonkind as well, and I was majorlyon edge.

By sunshine,my edge was on edge.

After the queen pointed that frighteningly delighted smile at me a few times, I was ready to jump out of my skin, and if not, to murder everyone in this entire salon save Rush, Azariah, and Octavia. I discovered my fingers inching toward the blade tucked inside my bustier before I noticed and stilled them.

Truly, more than I’d ever wished for anything, I longed to scoop up everyone I cared about and escape this horrible palace forever. I wanted never to hear mention of Embermere again. Never to imagine what the queen’s vicious brutality might conjure up next. And never to see my father again when the man couldn’t bother himself to lift a single languid finger to help a damn thing, not even his daughter.

Azariah cleared his throat another time in a soft whinny, drawing my attention back to him. The unisus was jerking his large head to and fro more often than necessary. Magnificent, he most definitely was, but he wasn’t all that subtle. The jumpiness of those big eyes of his told me he wanted to never again lay eyes on the queen as much as I did.

After a quick glance at her that wasn’t as furtive as I suspected he’d intended, he announced, “During the duration of this first event of the NuptialisProbatio, you will be isolated from each other as well as from Drake Rush Vega. Because the event will test the knowledge you already possess, you are not to be influenced or aided by anyone else.”

As I had perhaps a hundred times already today, I glanced toward Rush. With the queen in the room, he’d abandoned his seat and stood facing her. Though I willed him to meet my stare, urging him to remember our connection until my desire felt strong enough to touch him, he kept his focus trained only on her. Since discovering that he’d forgotten our time together, disappointment had become a constant companion. And yet it surged so intently that I had to tamp it down anew.

My mate stood mere paces away from me, but I may as well have still been in the Sorumbra for how distant he felt. He’d clung to me in despair a few short hours ago, what seemed like entire ages now, his touch a brittle, phantom recollection.

“You’ll enter one of five rooms to take your turn,” Azariah was saying. “When you’ve finished your test and you emerge, you’re not to discuss it with anyone else. Her Majesty does not want the results of the test corrupted.”

I’ll just bet she didn’t…

No one else could possibly be buying thisfair and impartial queenbullshit, could they?

A scan of the other contestants revealed only that they wouldn’t meet my eye either. Even Octavia kept her attention forward though she had to have felt mystare on her face. While I’d been looking at Rush, she’d carved out a few extra feet between us.

I couldn’t decide. Was she as naïve as I believed she was? As Rush did? Why, then, did her actions seem inconsistent? One minute she was willing to appear friendly with me in the open, the next unwilling to be associated with me.

“While you wait for everyone else to finish,” Azariah continued, “you may enjoy an exhibit Her Majesty has generously set up for you in the Silver Salon of Rarities and Curiosities.”

Several of the competitors gasped and hummed appreciatively. A smattering of applause followed. The queen’s smile tipped upward, and I decided definitively that smiles were the most frightening of all her looks. I preferredmurderon her face to this. At leastmurderI knew how to respond to.

“When every contestant has finished, you’ll be summoned back here, where Her Majesty will announce your point totals along with the winner of the event.”

A wave of enthusiastic chatter circled my fellow competitors.

“Whoever wins will be one step closer to becoming the next crown princess, and wife to Drake Rush Vega,” Azariah added with a smidgen of coyness to his voice that I instantly held against him. “Subject to Her Majesty’s approval, of course.”

“Of course,” parroted Natania, crown princess of suck-ups, sweet as syrup.

“During the test, you may use every tool and speck of knowledge at your disposal,” Azariah said. “Remember, contestants, fortune honors the courageous. However, if you find yourself unable to complete the test, be it due to injury, cowardice, or imminent death, you may call out for mercy to Her Majesty and someone will come retrieve you. You will, of course, be disqualified from the Nuptialis Probatio. You may, however, leave with your life.”

What kind of holy hellballs fucked-up test would this be?

“Is there anything else you wish me to add, Your Majestic Majesty?”

Majestic Majesty. I couldn’t even try to hold back that eyeroll. No one noticed as the queen smiled demurely and magnanimously—I bit down on an incredulous snort—first at the unisus, then out at her audience.

“No, Azariah, nothing more for now.”

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