Page 80 of Kingdom of Flames & Flowers
It was too much. I stared from my mother back to Ell. My mother kept her arms crossed and her body purposefully turned away from him. Odd behavior toward the one who’d saved you from the mud quarter, wasn’t it? Ell’s hair matched mine. We shared eye color and the same facial shape.
I pointed an accusing finger at Ell. “You’re my father.You’rethe one who knocked my mother up and made her lose her chance to go to the Seat.”
Ell blushed and glared at the floor, his face going bright red. Zariah’s lips parted in shock.
I waved my arms around vaguely toward Zariah. “Uh … this is … my family, I guess.” Saying it tugged on something in my heartstrings, making me simultaneously proud and terrified. I refused to mention my brother and the queen. It felt too personal, and too raw. Maybe once I recovered a bit from shock, I could gently break the news to my mother. She deserved to know, and she deserved a chance to see him again.
Zariah’s eyebrows rose clear to his hairline.
I sighed. “My mother. My father, Ell. And Haza.”
Everyone did the proper nods and bows, and the room descended into awkward silence.
“I see mother made good on her word. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Zariah’s voice grit against my nerves. What did he mean by his mother’s word? Had he just confirmed that all this was the queen’s doing, which meant it couldn’t be anything good? I was going to explode from the tension and anxiety.
“Ell, how about you take my mother on a tour of the castle? Haza, tag along. Mother would love to see the gardens. We don’t have flowers in the mud district.” I laughed at the near absurdity of the phrase. We had plenty of flowers, just not the kind that grew from the ground.
There was no room in my tone for any disagreement. Ell and Haza shot glances between themselves, but led my mother from the room quickly, Ell with one arm around her thin shoulders. I glared at his back.
The moment the door closed, I whirled around on Zariah. “Why are you here? Zion was just at the party. Shouldn’t one of you be in dragon mode? And what do you mean, your mother set all of this up?”
Zariah raised one eyebrow, grabbing a pastry from my table and popping it into his mouth. “Zion was … not himself. He was struggling at the party. He communicated to me he needed to go flying, so he left the ball and here I am. Were you the cause of his unrest, little Mari?”
My hands balled into fists. I couldn’t break his mouth until he was done explaining things to me.
“And I told Mother you were going to be our queen, and it was high time to treat you like one. I’m pleased she took it to heart and is trying to please you.” He spread his arms wide, like it had all been a wonderful gift.
Trying to … please me? I laughed out loud, but it was an ugly, dark sound. “You’re ridiculous. I thought you were smart. Isn’t it obvious what she’s doing?”
From Zariah’s blank stare, perhaps not.
“She’s gathering everyone I care about under her nose as a threat! If I don’t toe the line, she can kill them all just like that! That’s way more effective than threatening to kill me!” My voice twisted at the end, panic setting in as I realized she could do exactly that. It wouldn’t take much to kill my mother in her weakened state—a pillow to her face at night would do it. Ell was a fireguard, and they died all the time in the line of duty. And my brother? It would be torture knowing he was secretly (or perhaps not so secretly) warming the queen’s bed.
“You’re cr—”
I stuck my finger in Zariah’s chest, stopping him. “If you say crazy, I will break your nose again. Your mother tried to kill me. She’s taken my long-lost brother as alover. None of that is a coincidence!”
Zariah rolled his eyes as if that were such a trivial thing. “Stop fussing. Maybe sometimes good things just happen.” He came around to the back of the couch, leaning down and putting his hands around my shoulders. His fingers kneaded into the tense muscles around my neck. Ooh, it felt so nice.
I jerked away. No. I was mad at him.
“Can’t relax,” I spat at him. “Too busy fussing.”
He frowned. “Mari, aren’t you being a little paranoid? Mother knows you’ll be the queen one day, and—”
“When exactly do I become queen?” I cut him off, suspicious of the answer. “After she’s dead? When is that? How old is your mother?”
Zariah laughed uneasily. “I’m unsure. One doesn’t exactly ask the queen how old she is.”
“But if you had to guess?” I pressed.
He shrugged his elegant shoulders.
Good gods. Men.
“I want all of them housed here with me, then. Ell, Haza, and my mother. I don’t trust the queen. I want everyone where I can keep an eye on them.”
