Page 42 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
My eyes narrowed. “Not quite.”
“And?” she asked impatiently.
I had no response. “And what?” I asked.
Her jeweled shoes tapped impatiently against the marble floors. I couldn’t help but wonder how long just one gem on one shoe would feed my entire street.
“Will you expose the secret? Can I bribe you for your silence? Should I simply kill you?”
My hackles raised, and I took a half step back.
The queen laughed, the sound laced with hysteria. “Can’t exactly do that, can we? The entire kingdom saw you ride him back in, didn’t they? You’re a clever little bitch.”
I had nothing to do with that, but I bit my tongue.
“How about we simply stay out of each other’s way?” I suggested firmly, forcing myself to make eye contact with her.
She bared her teeth at me. “I want what is best for my son.”
My eyebrow raised. “I want what’s best for my people.”
The queen flinched as if I’d struck her, then drew herself up to her full height, arms crossed over her chest. “So.So.”
There was a moment of tense silence.
“I suppose you think this means you win, doesn’t it?” she snarled.
I barked out a laugh. “You make me seem like this great manipulator, like a genius mastermind who had a plan. Let me remind you that your fireguards dragged me here kicking and screaming. I wasn’t the one who threw me up to the dragon, either.”
Rage filled me on Zariah’s behalf. I knew how he’d tried to save the girls on the journey up here. His mother hadn’t cared a wit about putting another death at his feet. “How does Zariah even put up with you?”
The queen narrowed her eyes. “He would never reveal himself to you. It’s too dangerous. Did you fuck the dragon then, to get him to do it? Behind our backs?”
I wouldn’t let her crude words throw me. “Zariah has been a perfect gentleman, dragon bits aside.” Which was more than I could say for Zion.
The queen lunged forward, grabbing me by my dirty clothes and hauling me up to her face. For such a tiny woman, she was deceptively strong. Her floral perfume invaded my senses this close, my eyes watering as I coughed and choked. Why was it so strong?
“I’ll say this once. My sons may amuse themselves with you, but eventually they will tire of you. Or better yet, you’ll drive them too far and they’ll kill you. There’s a reason we guard their secret the way we do. And when you die, I will throw a feast that will last a week, and round up twenty virgins from the mud quarter to offer to the dragon and the gods as a sacrifice. How does that sound?”
I didn’t expect the backhand to my face as she let go of me. My lips parted in shock, but I refused to grab my face or show any more signs of pain. I glared at her despite my stinging cheek, wishing looks could kill. She didn’t care about laying more lives down at the feet of her sons. She didn’t care at all.
“I remember the blood oath. Do you?” She hissed at me, producing a knife from inside of her dress and pushing the blade against my throat. Her other hand fisted in my shift, pulling me toward her.
“Dearest? There you are! I’ve been searching the corridors. Is it another night terror?”
I blinked in shock as the king walked toward us, a benevolent smile on his face and in burgundy sleeping robes.
The queen’s entire demeanor shifted into one of sickly sweetness. In a flash, the knife was gone and her posture shifted as though we had merely just shared an embrace. “My love! Of course … let’s get you back inside.”
I grimaced. How could he not hear how sickly sweet and false the queen tone was? His gaze shifted to me, widening to an expression of delight.
“Ah! Mari! How good to see you. Trouble sleeping?”
I side eyed the queen. “Something like that.”
“I had the same problem when I first came here. Walk with me?”
I tried not to run to the king’s side, away from his murderous queen.
