Page 35 of Heart of the Summer Queen

My thoughts are interrupted as the doors shudder open and my maids burst in.

“Are you awake, milady?” Elona calls.

I push myself upright, my back supported by the well-cushioned pillows behind me. “Wide awake.”

“The king ordered us to ready you for your journey,” Kassia says, pulling back the curtains and allowing daylight to spill inside.

“Our journey?” Has Elaric already told them of our plans?

“To Sodryn, of course,” Elona says.

I mask my surprise by fiddling with the edge of my blanket. He must have told all the servants we’re traveling south to Sodryn, a pleasant seaside town. Better than them knowing he is cursed and we’re leaving Avella in search of a witch.

But my maids aren’t ordinary servants. They deserve the truth, and they’re already aware of the forbidden chamber containing all the missing brides and his curse. What harm could come from telling them?

“We’re not traveling to Sodryn,” I say. Though my voice is soft, it may as well be deafeningly loud with how they swivel around and stare at me with wide eyes.

“You aren’t?” Kassia exclaims. “Where in the world are you both going then?”

“It’s a long story,” I begin.

My response just causes them greater confusion.

I lean over, grab the journal which lies on the counter beside my bed, and hold it up. “It all started with this.”

“A book?” Elona says, examining its worn cover.

“Not just any book,” I say, “but the journal of the king’s father.”

Kassia blinks. “The king had a father? I mean, of course he must have, but it’s so difficult to imagine him as being anything except the Winter King.”

“It’s true. There’s even a passage in here which was written on the day he was born.”

Kassia eyes the book with awe, and even Elona looks intrigued.

“How does the journal relate to where you’re traveling, milady?” Elona asks.

I return Theron’s journal to my bedside counter, and then I tell them both everything I learned last night. How Avella was threatened by Seraphina’s fire magic, how Elaric slayed her and was cursed by her sister in revenge, how Belinda granted him an enchanted sword to save his kingdom.

After my maids finish helping me get dressed, we head outside to the courtyard. There, we find Elaric standing near a carriage sculpted from ice. A servant is at his side, bearing a sack so full it looks as if it will burst apart at any moment. When we reach them, the servant hands it to me, bowing his head. Unfortunately, it is as heavy as it looks.

“I ordered for it to be filled with food and other supplies,” Elaric explains. Once the servant is gone and there are only the two of us and my maids, he adds in a low voice, “It is best you hold on to it for now, or else the contents will become”—he glances over at my maids—“inedible. We should be gone for twoweeks at most, and unlike you, I don’t require sustenance. There is also plenty of money in there to last us for several weeks, but I would rather not venture near any towns if we can help it.”

I doubt other kingdoms will be pleased if Elaric accidentally plunges their lands into eternal winter, and if they discovered that the King of Avella was responsible, they would undoubtedly demand compensation.

Either as gold. Or blood.

Elaric opens the carriage door and holds it for me but before I climb inside, I drop the sack onto the ground and wrap my arms around Kassia and Elona, even though it isn’t proper for a queen to hug her maidservants. While I’ve known them for mere months, they’ve become so dear to me, and if our quest to break Elaric’s curse proves more dangerous than expected, I may never see them again. I wonder what would happen to them if we failed to return, and whether they’d find employment under whichever council member proclaimed himself king—after a long and bloody civil war, no doubt.

I swallow and do my best not to reveal my fear as I bid them farewell.

“You’ll have to let me know what the lands beyond Avella are like,” Kassia says. “I’ve never set foot beyond the kingdom’s borders.”

Elona gives her a stern look.

Only then does Kassia realize what she’s loudly revealed, clamping a hand over her mouth and turning bright red.

I laugh and hug her tighter. “I’ll tell you everything,” I promise.

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