Page 13 of Knightfall
The men’s eyes flicked to Quinn and he nodded, then shrugged.
I didn’t know what the shrug was about. Or why he didn’t speak.
Judging by the gleam in his eye, he was getting a kick out of watching the awkward hatred in play.
No one said anything after my statement, and my eyes finally landed on my last husband.
Declan McCarthy was a halfling. Half-human, half-fae. He was the bastard son of the Sedarian queen. She’d had him when her husbands were all abroad with the navy. No one knew exactly who his father was, or what type of fae he was, other than powerful. And too sarding smart. He used to speak like he was a walking book, with long sentences and technical words that could put me to sleep in an instant. Originally, Declan had been sent over to minimize the bastard child’s interaction with the real heirs to Sedara’s throne. But his adeptness had caught my mother’s eye. Helped him make her list.
Declan was handsome, in his own way. He had blond hair and ice blue eyes. He didn’t make my heart ache like Connor or make me cross-eyed with lust like Ryan. He definitely didn’t have that edge of dangerous aggression and amusement that drew me to Quinn. Declan was … safe. He would have been the perfect gentleman. If I had married him instead of running away.
But I hadn’t. And four years was a long time. For all I knew, he’d grown into a monster.
Declan pushed back his blond hair and stared down at me with pensive blue eyes. “What beast?”
I was startled he actually spoke civilly to me. “I’m not sure.”
“What group is sending it?”
“I’m not sure.”
He tilted his head and gave a smile that sent ice down my veins. “So, you ran four years ago, have diligently avoided capture, and suddenly appear here to warn Avia about a supposed plot against her. A plot for which you can provide no details?”
“I—”
“Send her to the dungeons.” Declan jerked his head at Quinn, who locked his hand around my upper arm.
“Either you’ve suddenly become stupid, or you have an ulterior motive,” Declan stated.
“Or,” Connor’s voice rang out of the shadows, “maybe someone’s found a way to get around the shield. Maybe she’s not Bloss at all.”
Chapter Four
Quinn yanked me sideways, but before he could drag me off, my mother’s personal butler, Jorad, appeared.
“Her Majesty, Queen Rella, would like the Crown Princess Bloss to attend to her in her chambers.”
“Her chambers?” my eyes went wide. “Why’s she in her chambers?” My heart skipped a beat and my face grew pale when Jorad didn’t answer.
Mother never stayed in her chambers. She was always up before dawn and worked long into the night. Meetings. Audiences. Meetings. Repeat.
I’d expected her to appear and berate me. I’d expected my fathers to trail behind her like ducks, like they always did, and shake their heads in silent disappointment over me.
Something was horribly wrong.
I kicked Quinn in the knee, surprising him enough to release me, and I ran. I ran through the palace, buzzing past servants and around maids with mops and laundresses carrying curtains and sheets. I ran past nobles, and dignitaries, and anyone in my path until the way became a blur because worried tears filled my eyes.
I stopped in front of my mother’s chamber, biting at my cheeks and blinking back the moisture in my eyes. I could not cry in front of her. A queen could not cry. A queen showed no emotion.
Ryan skidded to a halt behind me and had to reach over my head and put an arm on the wall to prevent himself from crashing into me. His hulking form would have smashed me to bits if he had.
Behind me I heard a click as a secret panel opened in the hallway and Connor and my other ‘husbands’ poured out of a hidden passage, muttering and cursing.
I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. Ryan didn’t say anything, just loomed over me, watching. The look in his eyes was pensive, calculating. He was weighing my emotional response and what it meant.
I could see the question in his eyes. Why would the woman who’d run from her family give a shite if something was wrong with her mother?
Sard. This is why my mother said no crying.
