Page 51 of Her Dark Reflection

A hissing caught my attention, and I realised my attendants were clustered down the corridor, whispering to each other.

‘Get out of my sight!’ I snapped, my anger at Linus whipping out at them, and they scurried away, shooting glances at me over their shoulders that ranged from offended to smug. I watched them go, my mind whirling. Who had told Linus I’d dressed myself up for my visit to the keep? Was it one of them? Would any of those silly young girls really be bold enough to whisper such nonsense to the king about his wife?

And if not one of them, who?

Myfingersdraggedoverthe spines of dozens of books, occasionally snagging on one and pulling it from the shelf before continuing on. I had an armful of heavy tomes already, all sporting such riveting titles asCustom, Law, and MonarchyandThe Three-Pronged Governance of Brimordia. Essentially, if it was sure to be dreadfully boring, it wound up on my pile.

I had taken to sitting in the library to read, since sitting in bed usually led to me dozing off with the book I was meant to be studying splayed beneath my head. There was a particular hard-backed chair in the library that served me best, as it offered little comfort and no path to sleepiness, and the room itself was prone to drafts.

After addingThe Lawful Crownto my thrilling pile of prospects, I crossed the room, dumped the books on a table and sat before a page of notes. They covered an array of subjects, from succession laws to ballroom etiquette to the political history of Cabrilla the Fair, Brimordia’s only ever reigning queen. It was difficult to narrow down my study, since I wasn’t sure what would be useful to me. All I knew was that I didn’t want Dovegni ever making a jab at how little I knew about my new role again.

After my visit to Misarnee Keep, the guild had thrown in their support for my elevation to queen consort, so at least he’d given me what I needed. And after a few demure and beseeching visits to the sanctum, the Grand Paptich had finally relented as well. But my position still felt shaky to me, like everyone was scheming to be rid of me, so I was studying anything and everything that might help me sink my claws in and hold on tight. They would have a hard time getting rid of me.

Well, that was the reason I gave myself for spending so much time reading anyway. It had nothing to do with the incendiary arguments that had begun to plague my marriage, ignited whenever I so much as took a step out of doors. After all, what need had I to go anywhere? I was living in the lap of luxury.

‘Hello,’ a small voice said, and I looked up, pleased to have an excuse to leave off reading a dense passage on the Yaakandale rebellion. Gwinellyn was standing at the end of the aisle, her hands twisting in front of her.

I’d seen her occasionally since Linus had married me, at dinners usually, where she would sit silently with her eyes fixed on her plate while her father completely ignored her, but we hadn’t spoken more than a few words since the strange interval we’d spent hiding behind the wagon at the Burnings.

‘Hello, Gwin.’ The short name she’d given me when I first met her in the infirmary slipped out of my mouth before I could think better of it, but she smiled.

‘I haven’t seen you here before. It’s nice, isn’t it, being surrounded by all these books?’ She drifted along the shelf and ran her hand across the spines like I had been doing only moments ago, but whereas I was resentful, she seemed almost reverent. ‘It’s my favourite place in the palace.’

‘I would have guessed the gardens.’ I’d glimpsed her in the flower beds often enough.

‘Oh, I do like the gardens as well. So long as my speaking tutor isn’t there.’ She let out a quick laugh, then fixed her eyes on the ground. ‘I’m hiding from him now.’

‘If this is your favourite place, won’t he think to look here?’

She pulled a book from the shelf and ran her hand over the leather cover. ‘I don’t think he knows. All he knows about me is how hopeless and useless I am and how I’ll never make a good queen if I can’t even address a room of people.’

Was that sympathy turning at my mouth and furrowing my brow? Sympathy for a royal princess, so privileged that she had a special tutor teaching her to speak, and so beautiful that songs had been written about her snow-white skin, sympathy for a girl who was going to marry the handsome Prince Tallius and have her life unfold before her without ever knowing true hardship, like hunger or cold or some vile old man’s prick poking around between her legs.

‘He sounds awful. Why can’t you get a different one?

She clutched the book to her chest and said in a small voice, ‘Father says it’s good when my tutors are hard on me.’

A realisation settled over me, one I’d known in theory but hadn’t truly felt until this moment. I was her stepmother. I was hardly old enough to be her stepmother. And if I’d been asked to hazard a guess at how she would receive having a stepmother, I would have bet money that she’d hate me. But looking at her now, at the way she kept glancing hopefully up at me, I had the sense that she didn’t hate me at all.

‘Well, I won’t snitch on you. You can sit with me if you’d like.’

She beamed, and the expression lit her face in a way that almost made me jealous. She was definitely far too beautiful forsympathy. Taking a seat, she glanced over the books splayed all about the table.

‘Are you looking forward to your birthday ball?’ I asked as I shuffled my notes together and turned the pile face down.

‘I’m so grateful to all the people who are putting so much time into planning it.’

Not what I asked. ‘But?’

She fiddled with a book, curling a page headedRevolutionary Tensionsbetween her thumb and forefinger. ‘Everyone will be looking at me.’

I leaned back in my chair and considered her. ‘Isn’t that half the fun?’

She shrank a little, like a flower touched by frost. ‘Yes, it will be. So much fun.’

‘You’ll wear a beautiful gown and dance the night away with your golden prince. And the whole kingdom will be aflutter with how lovely you are.’ There was an edge of bitterness to my tone. ‘The bards are already singing your praises and you haven’t even had an official public appearance. Imagine what they’ll say once you’re sixteen and out in the world for all to admire.’

‘That I’m awkward and clumsy,’ she said, her voice so quiet I almost didn’t catch it. ‘Or that the whole court watched me fall twitching on the floor.’

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