Page 19 of Kingdom of Rot & Ruin
What was this, a trial?
“I heard you are scurrying around in the dark like the little mud rat you are. Are you too good for my ballroom?”
I kept my face carefully blank. Well, I supposed the cards were on the table. Normally, I’d try to charm my way out of a bad situation, but something about the queen rattled me, and it was more than my hatred for her. Magick sparked along her veins, getting under my skin and irritating me. She put me on edge. My hackles raised.
I vowed to keep my temper and play the game. Not only that, but play it well.
“I apologize if I strayed from my boundaries. Parties bore me and?—”
“Are you not thankful for a chance to mingle with those of higher birth than you?” she cut in, eyes sharp and just as light as her hair.
I froze, holding my breath.
By admitting out loud that I wasn’t a Noble, she was admitting I had mixed heritage. That meant she had to know who my father was, right? She knew my history! Likely she had said it to try and humiliate me, but all she did was reveal her knowledge.
Keep it together. Keep your calm.
“I was unaware I was of lower birth. My mother never spoke of my father.” I hated to throw blame at the feet of my dead mother, but it was the most neutral card I had to play.
The queen lifted one pale eyebrow.
“Noble Vession tells me you are quite intelligent, worryingly so. Don’t tell me you haven’t figured it out.”
Perhaps a little flattery wasn’t out of the question.
“Few are blessed like you,” I said softly, bowing my head to her and running a hand through my dark hair.
Vession made a grumble in his throat behind me. I’d likely get cuffed around my ear later for my impertinence.
Her chin lifted at me. “You are silver-tongued, and handsome. Your future is bright as long as you stick to the confines of your birth.”
She turned to the Nobles and primas at her side.
“I declare this experiment a success. Would you not agree?”
The word jarred me, even as her cronies nodded and smiled, congratulating her on her ‘success.’
“Experiment?” I choked, speaking out of turn without thinking.
Vession grabbed the back of my neck and squeezed, digging his nails into my skin in warning.
The queen settled deeper into her throne.
“Come out, sweetheart.”
A small figure tip-toed out from behind the queen’s throne from where he’d been hiding. A child around tenyears old kept his eyes on the ground, hands clutching onto a stuffed dragon.
The prince.
I studied his dark hair, likely from the king. He glanced up at me and I met a near mirror image of myself, but with slight differences. Instead of my dark eyes, the queen’s silver peeked back at me, tinged with green. My features were heavier and this boy carried the queen’s more delicate face. The prince’s nose was softer, and more rounded, like the queen’s.
“Easy,” Vession growled into my ear.
I was breathing heavily.
“Dearest, he’s figuring it out,” the queen mockingly said to the prince, her voice so sugary sweet I wanted to choke. “Come up here and sit on Mummy’s lap.”
The child looked understandably terrified in the presence of the stark-faced Nobles and primas, but did as he was told. He seemed old to be sitting on anyone’s lap.
