Page 76 of The Curse of a Kingdom
Nava tightened her hold around his forearm, winded by the wave of sorrow that pushed through the bond. She took a shallow breath. “If she was being targeted while living here, he betrayed her before she took you away. He didn’t protect her from whoever killed her and then hid the truth from the people.”
They stared at the tree. Even this far from the party, the music drifted in the air, reminding her why she’d run away from the crowds. Even though she wanted to keep learning what he had been up to when away from her, something else boiled beneath her skin. A primal need to be closer to him.
“The tree has been dead for twenty years,” he said.
“You mean thirty-one years?”
He turned to face her and let go of a deep sigh. “Yes, it’s still hard to wrap my head around the time change.”
Nava wondered if they kept this conversation, they might fool nature from calling upon them. “I know it looks dead, but it's not.” She squinted at the tree, and there she saw it, white and yellow waves of magic vibrating out, pulsing with magic.
“What do you mean?”
“I can sense it’s alive—vibrating with energy.” She smiled and focused on it. The light of the moon bathed the shapes of the branches, and there in the silhouette, Nava spotted hundreds of small black dots peppering the twisty shapes. “It’s one of my Beekeeper superpowers,” she teased, though it wasn’t a lie. It had been one thing that was unique about her. The way she could see nature’s waves. “And I can also see it’s budding.”
Arkimedes’s head snapped back to the tree, his eyes widening. “I see nothing.”
“I mean, they aren’t opening yet, but I see the start of leaves—maybe even late-summer flowers?” She was not sure why she felt such excitement about the prospect, but her heart soared at the idea of bringing this news to him.
“Nava,” he gasped, bringing her attention back to him. His voice didn’t sound as elated as she’d thought he would be by the news. “In the life I don’t remember, were we married?”
“W-what do you mean?” she stuttered, not liking where this conversation was going. Her neck pickled with the quick building of anxiety. This had better not mean what she was starting to think.
His brows dipped. “Did we get married back on the Grey Island?”
They hadn’t even talked about it . . . much. Though she had hoped it was the next step. More of a symbol than anything. “No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not!” She took a step back, and the pleasant heat that had been present in her body the entire afternoon came alive in another way. “And do not talk to me that way!”
“This tree has been dead for twe—thirty years because the queen of this kingdom was murdered.”
She swallowed and stepped back one more step. This was going the way she didn’t want to go.
“I told you, it’s linked to the new queen. It hasn’t budded for anyone until you arrived here. I was here last week, and it was dead.”
“What makes you think that means we are married? Your father has ten women with him. Surely one of them kicked this tree back to life.” And she knew she was reaching for excuses when the truth was pulsing in her mind. She, the soulmate of the Crown Prince of this kingdom, had arrived a week ago.
“He has five women,” he corrected, “and they have been with him for over a decade. So no, what are you hiding, and why?”
She needed to get them out of here before she ended up trapped into being a queen, which was not something she wanted at all. She took another step back, her heart drumming. “I recommend you to track everyone who’s entered this palace in the last week since she has the possibility of giving your father another child, and then we can leave this place and be in peace.”
Arkimedes strode forward, and she hit the hedge with the side of her body. “I have been thinking of you for months. I can’t get you out of my mind for even a moment. If we weren’t married, were we in love?”
Nava swallowed the thick knot in her throat, which felt like it lead to her stomach. “Yes.”
He placed his hands on each side of her head, and she squirmed at the intensity in his eyes. “You can’t keep pretending to be with Devon. We need to tell my father, and you will become my bride here.”
“Arkimedes. Can you even hear what you are saying? The king took you from our home and conveniently left me behind. He knew who I was when Devon and I arrived. He was ready to have us killed. I’m just a human, and everyone in this kingdom hates humans.”
His lips parted. “Not everyone hates humans, Nava.”
“I’m not a queen.” She had to steady herself, to not lose her calm. “I’m a potion—I mean, a Beekeeper, and we need to protect the forests from the Zorren. Being king and queen is not a part of that.”
“It’s a part of who I am,” he countered; however, his eyes glazed over. His expression changed as if a fog had come down his mind.
“Ark,” she breathed. Her body shook with something primal spreading over her like a tsunami wave.
