Page 87 of A War of Crowns

With a modicum of a smile on her lips, Seraphina greeted him with a cordial, “Brother, there you are.”

And the king hissed, “Don’t you dare,” from between clenched teeth.

“Surely, we can now talk about the deployment of Drakmor’s troops, Your Majesty,” she continued without pause, unfazed bythe boy-king’s venom. “You cannot possibly deny your brother and sister-in-law the aid they need to defend one of their holdings.”

King Edmund ducked his head in close and whispered against her brow, “You are not my sister-in-lawyet.I want you two fully wed before we discuss anything at all.”

Seraphina weathered him suddenly encroaching into her personal space without so much as flinching. Instead, she turned her face away from him and shared her smile with the rest of the pavilion—playing the part of the happy bride-to-be. “In the eyes of the Church, we are as good as wed,” she murmured back to the king. “Ade factobetrothal is as binding as any marriage vows, as you well know.”

She cut a glance back up at him from beneath her eyelashes when she further noted, “Which means you must agree to my terms or risk losing face in front of all your people. Not to say anything of the Church. What do you think the High Shepherd will think about the King of Drakmor himself refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of ade factobetrothal witnessed by an Oracle of the Lord?”

Seraphina watched Edmund out of the corner of her eye. She observed the way his jaw worked as he mulled over her words.

Finally, he withdrew from her personal space. The laughter that followed sounded false to her ears, but she joined in all the same—more than happy to paint a picture of unity for the sake of the courtiers watching them both.

“Sister,” His Majesty greeted her with a hand braced against her shoulder and a kiss planted on her cheek. But his lips lingeredagainst her skin even after the chaste kiss should have reached its natural conclusion, his nearness stretching on far past the point of polite.

Clearly a family trait.

Within that pause, he whispered directly against her cheek, “You think yourself rather clever, don’t you?”

“I do, yes,” Seraphina breathed back, unable to stop herself from goading the king just a little in that moment. “Thank you for noticing.”

That utterance seemed to amuse the King of Drakmor, for some reason. She spared her fellow monarch a frown when he pulled away from her and engaged in a proper peal of laughter.

Rather than press the man on his sudden hysterics, Seraphina swiftly retreated to her original perch and settled in between the bodies of Duke Percival and Duchess Edith. With her theatrics concluded, the originally planned proceedings could continue.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Your Majesty,” her godfather groused under his breath the moment she rejoined him. “Your engagement to His Majesty was never solidified before witnesses. Butthis—”

The sensation of someone watching her lured Seraphina’s attention away from her godfather’s speech and across the pavilion to where the Crow bored another stare straight into her soul.

She averted her gaze, her attention returning to Duke Percival just in time to hear him grumble out a last, “—cannot be broken. You trulyareengaged to Aldric Hargrave.”

“Good,” Seraphina softly declared. “Because that is the only way we’re going to ensure the king does our bidding.”

Our time together draws to a close.

Seraphina’s heart skipped a beat at the abrupt sound of Tsukiko’s voice flitting through her mind. She glanced across the way and sought the familiar gleam of the Oracle’s quicksilver gaze. But the Kunishi woman’s attention remained fixed on the Elmorian lawyer reading aloud the rest of their freshly proposed treaty terms.

Seraphina drew in a breath and looked toward the lawyer as well.Will I ever see you again?

It was strange, the pang lancing her heart when she considered the possibility she might never again cross paths with the Star of the East. She had known Tsukiko for so short a time. And yet, in the Oracle, she had found another true friend, like Olivia.

For a small time, silence was all that greeted her. But it was a comfortable sort of silence—a silence punctuated by the strange sensation of early summer breezes unfurling within the very confines of her mind.

They reminded her of Elmoria, those breezes. They reminded her of sunny days spent in the palace gardens, teaching Olivia how to read while curled beneath the shade trees.

Suddenly, she ached for home.

Yes,Tsukiko finally breathed in answer. In the next moment, a golden warmth flooded Seraphina in her entirety and chased away every shadow of a doubt that still haunted the corners of her soul.

A final blessing from the Lord.

She wished she could bottle that feeling. She wished she could carry it with her always. But she knew it would fade, as all such blessings did.

Tears misted her vision when Seraphina next stole a glance toward the Oracle. But that time, Tsukiko met her gaze, and those silver eyes of hers glowed with all the beauty of the very heavens when she promised,The Lord willing, we will see each other again before all is said and done.

Chapter twenty-five

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