Page 70 of Her Dark Reflection

I’d lose the face I’d come to believe was mine, the face that had won me a life that was beyond anything I could ever have thought possible. I had power, influence, I made decisions that mattered, and a host of people waited on my every whim. I was no longer the little bastard girl whose mother forgot to feed her. When I entered a room, all eyes turned to me. No one ever forgot I was around. The thought of giving all that up was insufferable.

Draven’s words whispered through my mind.What a perfect villain you’d make.

I could never explain away the transformation from my glamoured face to my real one. And it would take anyone with half a brain only a few moments to begin connecting dots that would lead from an enchanted face to a dead king.

Then what if I killed Gwinellyn?

I drained the glass, the heat burning down my throat and settling in my stomach with a friendly warmth that thawed the frosty edge of my troubled thoughts. After eyeing the bottle for a moment, I poured myself another.

I could do it. The timid creature barely lived anyway. Tortured little princess, demeaned and ignored, and all tied up believing in her own worthlessness. It would almost be a kindness.

I drew the cover back over the mirror and closed the cabinet as I nursed my glass. Drinking in the middle of the day. I was turning into my mother. Padding over to one of the windows, I stared out over the gardens to where they fell down the hillside, giving way to the sprawling city beyond. Even on a day so full of sunlight, the mountains in the far distance were hazy, ghosts haunting the horizon. I thought of the fall spawn creature in Dovegni’s dungeon. Were there more like her out there in the Yawn?

Scanning the grounds, I gave each person I picked out a once over, not moving on until I was satisfied that they weren’t a man in black. There was too much I didn’t know about Draven, about his intentions, about how he might respond in different situations. About how I would survive being married to him. Any choice felt like a gamble on long odds.

An attempt to deceive him felt like the longest odds of all.

What if, what if, what if.

Ifluffedatmyskirts, rearranging them over and over as I awaited my guest. I was seated in my private drawing room, not wanting to overwhelm him with a reception in the state rooms, and I picked at a spread of cakes and sandwiches as I waited. His arrival at the palace had just been announced, and I wondered what was going through his head as he was led through the lobby and up the winding staircase. My note gave no clues about why he had been summoned to the palace; he must be having a nervous breakdown as he considered possible explanations. Maybe he thought the queen would want to reprimand him herself for his illegal trade in plants with magical and hallucinogenic properties.

I smiled in amusement at the thought, imagining how he would be ringing his hands in a panic, and considered pretending that was indeed why he was here. But I had a favour to ask, and playing a prank wasn’t likely the best way to begin asking it—especially when I would already have a whole lot of explaining to do.

‘Cotus Yvenou to see you, Your Royal Highness,’ a footman announced.

‘Good. Send him in,’ I replied as I straightened up and folded my hands in my lap.

Cotus entered the room with his shoulders stooped, head down, and a cap clutched in his big hands. He bobbed a bow, then another two for good measure, and cast a covert glance up at me.

The glance caught and held. His eyes bulged. His gaze roamed over my face as he straightened up slightly, blinking as though to clear his eyes. ‘Rhiandra?’ The question was hushed, like he barely dared to ask it.

‘Yes,’ I said, smiling. ‘It’s me.’

His mouth fell open slightly. ‘But… your face… what happened to you?’ He shook his head, like he was shaking water from his ears, then glanced around the room. ‘What are you doing in the palace?’

‘It’s a long story. Let’s go for a walk.’ I moved closer to him and lowered my voice. ‘The walls have ears here.’

As we made our way to the gardens, I waved off my attendants, bidding they go and do something useful. Cotus watched me like someone had smacked him over the head and he was still seeing stars as I ordered people around and swept through the hallways with the confidence of someone who knows exactly where they are going, but he refrained from asking any more questions until we were safely outside and walking through the thick, golden light of the late afternoon.

‘Where should I start?’ I asked.

‘Last time I saw you, you were covered in burns.’

I resisted the urge to sigh. Of course, his most pressing concern would be with my appearance. Never mind that I was a queen. ‘I was healed with druthi magic.’

‘But you look… I’ve never heard… how could…’ Each attempted question trailed off unfinished and he glanced at the ground, rubbing his neck.

‘I am well known to the Grand Weaver,’ I said with an air of finality. It wasn’t an answer to any of his unasked questions, but I hoped it would hint at just enough to satisfy him, or at the very least that he would be too uncomfortable to press further. Dovegni and his guild were shrouded in enough mystery that maybe, just maybe, Cotus might believe him capable of magic far more powerful than the average druthi.

‘And now… I’d heard rumours about the new queen, but I never thought…’ He fell silent again, and I could feel him gaping at me, but I stared straight ahead to better hide my irritation. If only he could just spit out what he wanted to say and stop stumbling over himself.

‘I came to the palace as a maisera, and King Linus fell in love with me.’ My words were blunt and matter-of-fact. ‘It was quite the whirlwind romance,’ I added, reminding myself that I needed to sell him a story, and it would be far more convenient for him to believe that I had been swept away by a fierce love, and not that my path to queen had been carefully planned and deliberately tread.

‘Of course. It must have been. I’m… sorry for your loss, your husband… may his flight be swift.’

I watched a small bird flit across the lawn before us, proudly puffing out his red chest, his tail flicking back and forth behind his head. He caught sight of us and turned a small, black eye on me. ‘And now I must rule until his daughter comes of age,’ I said. ‘Which brings us to why I asked you here.’ I stopped and glanced around. I chose this spot because there were no trees or hedges within earshot, nowhere someone could eavesdrop. ‘I need your help, Cotus. You’re the only person I can trust.’

‘You know I’d do anything for you,’ he said, his face earnest, and I smiled. Perhaps it was wrong to leverage his feelings for me, but I needed someone whose loyalty I could be sure of.

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