Page 87 of Prince of Never

A bell started ringing frantically.A maid raced passed us from the bottom of the garden, looking frantic, and my eyes followed her as she disappeared into the castle.‘What’s going on?’I asked.

All hint of amusement had dropped from Ves’ face.‘The queen is here.’

Chapter 36

Imogen

TheUnseeliequeenhaddefinitely been on my list of problems, but I hadn’t thought to be dealing with her again so soon, and so alone.But there I was, standing in front of my mirror again while Sarah fussed around me.I had planned to go to the queen in what I was wearing—or running away entirely because the Shadowmire seemed like a much safer option—but Sarah had intervened with a squeak and rushed me back up to my room.

I stood in a grey dress, almost silver in colour, with billowing sleeves and a black bodice.A necklace of silver, obsidian and diamonds lay around my neck and I had no idea where Sarah had procured them from exactly.

‘I look like an imposter,’ I said, a pit forming in my stomach.

‘You look like the lady of this castle,’ Sarah said firmly.

‘What am I supposed to say to her?Why is she here if Tarian is at the palace?’I asked, my voice tight with anxiety.Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so nervous, shouldn’t have cared what she thought of me, but she was Tarian’s mother.If I had any hope of a future with her son, I had to at least try to be civil to her.

Though that didn’t mean she would be civil to me.

‘Just try not to antagonise her too much.I’m sure the master won’t be far behind her once he learns she’s here,’ Sarah said, her words doing nothing to ease the knot in my stomach.

‘Right,’ I said, swallowing hard.‘I suppose I can’t keep her waiting any longer.’But escaping still seemed like a much better option to me.I looked at the drawer in my bedside table, my teeth sinking into my lip.How bad could the queen really be?Still, I’d feel better knowing I had at least some form of exit strategy.I opened the drawer, taking out the small golden talisman Solas had given me and quickly stuffing it into my pocket before smoothing out my dress and heading towards the inevitable.

I held my head high as I pushed through the door into the sitting room to find Queen Moriana seated at a tea table.Her dark eyes, so like her son’s, fixed on me the moment the door opened, and the weight of her gaze sent a chill of fear down my spine.I quickly dismissed the feeling, reminding myself that I wasn’t going to let her scare me.It irritated me that I’d cleaned this room, had fluffed the cushion on the chair she was sitting on.Just because I’d been forced into servitude didn’t mean she was any better than me.And I wouldn’t let her treat me like I was just some dalliance to Tarian.

That gaze travelled over me slowly, and she arched an elegant eyebrow.‘So it’s true, you are Seelie after all,’ she said, a faint note of disgust in her voice.‘I thought I knew the extent of my son’s weakness at this point, but here we are at a new low.’

I bristled at her words.Insulting me was one thing, but how dare she speak of Tarian that way?She was hismother.And she was disappointed in him because he had more to him than the darkness she insisted on cultivating?Because he chose love instead of empty hatred?‘Well, not everyone can be as prejudiced as you,’ I said, my voice dripping with mock sweetness.

‘Prejudice,’ she scoffed, rising to her feet and moving towards me.‘Such a human concern.This word is built on hierarchy and if you’re going to be a part of it, you need to learn your place.’

‘My place is by Tarian’s side,’ I said, lifting my chin.

The queen threw back her head and laughed, each note of amusement chipping away at my confidence, tightening my chest.‘Tell me something,Aurelia, do you love him?’

A strange feeling came over me, tingling at my skin.

She’d called me by my fiorainm.

But no one knew my fiorainm.

No one except Tarian.

‘Yes.’The word was dragged out of my throat before I’d even known I was going to say it.

‘Nowthatface is priceless,’ the queen said gleefully, clasping her hands together.‘You thought he loved you, but he gave your name up.How long had he known it before he told me?’

Despair trickled down my throat, turning my stomach as the realisation struck.Tarian had told her my fiorainm.He’d warned me that they had power, and like a fool I’d trusted him.I thought of the way he’d disappeared, gone to the Unseelie Palace, just as Ves had said.To see Briyala.To see his mother.

‘Tarian has been working his whole life to secure his throne.Did you think a little distraction like you would keep him from it?’the queen said as if reading my mind.‘I wanted him to kill you, but this works, too.In fact, I might even prefer it.Now, kneel before your queen, Aurelia.’

That strange feeling washed over me again and my knees hit the floor hard in my effort to avoid the magic’s pull.I clenched my teeth so tightly my jaw ached and creaked.Anger like I had never felt before burned though my veins like liquid fire, and my hand trembled with the force of it.Tarian had got what he needed from me.He’d found a way to make sure I could be controlled.Had he found it was impossible to break the mate bond after all and decided this would be the easiest way to make sure I couldn’t be a problem in the future?I thought about how quickly he’d offered to take me to see Haddock, thought of that ledge in the mountains, the way he’d slowly opened up to me, gifting me little slithers of trust that I’d treasured and hungered for, offering him more and more of myself in exchange.

Until I’d told him my fiorainm.How could I have been sostupid?

My heart cracked a final time, shattering into tiny pieces.Ithurt.

‘Speak, Aurelia,’ the queen said, looking down at me with a wicked gleam in her eyes, her head cocked slightly to the side, as though she was dissecting me for further study.‘I can’t enjoy your reaction if you keep your thoughts all to yourself.’

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