Page 14 of The Cursed Crown

Khal made no comment, but a chuckle escaped his mouth.

"We've talked of scandalous gowns, musicians, duels, and secret lovers, but you said not a word about a high queen," Rissa chided.

Though she spoke to Khal, it was Rydekar who growled an answer. "There is no high queen."

Oh, she'd touched a sensitive subject. Biting her lower lip hard enough to draw blood to keep from smirking, she pushed her luck further. "I mean, if this wife of yours is still the head of your court, she might as well be."

"Formerwife!" he howled.

Rissa shrugged. "Does she sit at the head of the table? Do the lords and ladies bow to her whenever she graces them with her presence?” With a wicked grin, she pushed. “Does she occasionally warm the king's bed?”

"You take a keen interest in what occurs in my bed, Serissa."

Now, she laughed. "Like any man of power, I suppose you think of little else than your own satisfaction. A few hard pumps before sending the ladies on their way with pocketful of diamonds, I'd wager."

In her time in her father's court, Rissa hadbedded two nobles before deciding to keep her favors to lower-born folks, who were more likely to work for it.

A burst of wind was the only warning she got. The next instant, Rydekar's hand was clasped around her neck, her ring digging into her sensitive flesh. He clutched it, hard. Too hard to find her breath. His eyes stared into hers, their cold glint rivaling the light of the fading moon.

Then he crushed it, thumb pressing on her artery, his fingers digging into the back of her neck.

Fear. He wanted to see fear in her eyes. She gave him none of it. Just a challenge.

Rydekarlet go. "Pray you never find out, child. I'd take pleasure in breaking you."

A reasonable woman would have let him win. Let him think he'd bullied her into submission this one time.

She snorted. "Oh,Rye. You wish you could."

She dug her heels in the flank of Khal's horse, and they walked farther uphill, reaching the summit first.

That was whereshe saw it for the first time. A valley waking with the sunrise, flights of birds a-singing over an endless silver lake, and beyond, a castle plucked right out of her dreams.

The ivy-infested, eight-towered black and white edifice reflected on the frozen surface of the lake seemed both untamed and refined—a forest in a castle, or a castle built around a forest. She couldn't tell which. She knew one thing, though. She hated Rydekar for having found it first. This place belonged to her, and she to it. Just the sight of it moved something in her prickly, hardened heart.

The Old Keep, they dared call it. It wasn't.

It was the Fairy Courts.

Rissa unmounted the horse wordlessly, her steps rushing forward as if in a trance.

Fairies were creatures of flesh, bones, blood, and magic. Every part of her resonated, dancing, singing, and screaming at her to reach the shores sooner.

She had work to do there. The keep needed her. It wanted her.

She grimaced, feeling Rydekar approach. If he ruined this moment for her, she'd bathe in his blood, never mind the consequences.

"Beautiful, is it not?"

"No." It wasn't beautiful. Butterflies, ladies, and swords were beautiful. "It's powerful."

The king nodded, and kept watching in reverent silence.

Perhaps he wasn't that bad after all.

Then, he offered her a hand.She hesitated, expecting a trick.

"You'll get there faster on a horse."

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