Page 103 of Shifter King
"They wouldn't dare." He gave her a crooked smile. "I've captured the queen’s eye. Give me enough time, and I'll be ruling this place. Maybe not in three days. Possibly five."
She blinked. "Are you—are you going to seduce the queen?"
That might actually be easier than what he was actually going to have to do. He tweaked her nose. "You don’t need to worry about my methods. Trust me. You follow my moves. You’ll be out of here in no time at all." He chucked her under the chin and winked. "Well, maybe don’t follow my moves exactly. They are rather advanced. Just do what I tell you. Do not drink or eat anything while I'm gone."
"If I can, I'll reach Naatos. Is there anything I should tell him?"
"Tell him to be ready no later than dawn though we may be able to pass it by. Lots of hidden traps with venom injections and weighted sealed doors as well as several rapid counter measures in the event of the queen's death."
She nodded as she put this to her memory.
He opened the door again. The guards were still talking quickly between themselves. Several people hustled past, leather-clad feet striking the rock floor. "I'm ready to see the queen," he said, waving his fan. "It is exceptionally important. She won't want to miss this. And the Neyeb still isn't done."
The guard with the blue feathers woven into his hair as well as his cloak nodded. He gestured for him to come along.
Two more women hustled past, both carrying baskets heaped with thread and yarn.
Chaos had erupted within the halls, growing more and more pronounced the farther they went. Little wonder Amelia was overwhelmed with the mindreading. Just the spoken words were enough to make his head ache a little. But they were invaluable. Visitors were coming and guests. And from the discussion, it sounded as if angry messages sealed with green wax were pouring in, demanding to know why the Neyeb had been hidden. Why had other Bealorns not been given the opportunity to see her or compete? Why should this prince have the first chance?
However they had managed it, Opotwo and Chiriese had seemed to get the word out to practically everyone. Or at least enough to have sent everyone into a tizzy.
Planning a wedding in three days? Only the truly superior could manage it.
More and more people surged by, all with so many different loads and burdens. Poor people, suffering for the hubris of their leader. It really would be such a shame if someone were to make all this harder.
The guard thrust out his arm to push him back as two men bustled by with a large plank of stacked pressed fabrics.
WroOth held his hand out just enough to catch one of the bottom ones. It started to slide out as they hustled faster. The entire stack crashed to the left, falling onto a woman with a large basket of round brown loaves. She uttered a startled shriek as she fell. The lead fabric carrier tripped and sprawled as the other stumbled into the wall. Loaves rolled everywhere.
Oh dear. People should be more careful.
Not all of this could be blamed on him.
The guard hurried to help the first fallen carrier up. WroOth slipped away.
Back to that narrow little room. If he was correct, this had been one of the Shivennan rooms of balance and meditation. Ironic given what it was currently used for.
He slipped in, listening intently. As he passed one of the tables positioned near the end of the middle aisle, he silently slid it over a few inches.
Zorna still sat on her throne, but she wore different garb, darker in color with only the serpents and gryphons depicted in red and yellow. She had angled herself so that she was facing a shirtless man in a vest with a sour expression and bloodshot eyes who just had to be the prince. No love lost between these two. If he didn’t know better, he might guess there was some measure of hate. And if there wasn't any yet, he could certainly get it there.
"It will be fine," she said. "We tell them it is love. They understand that. Half of them have used it for their own purposes. They cannot argue with love."
"Love? You mean what I felt for mine? How can you even dare to suggest it for this mindreader when you know what she's done!" Gabrice snarled like a wounded animal.
"You don't have to feel it. Just pretend. You're good at that."
"I have gone along with you on countless things. I have bit my tongue. I have—"
"Is this how you speak to your queen?" WroOth stepped toward the dais, using the fan to emphasize his apparent shock. "How can you speak to her so? She deserves your respect and adoration."
Zorna's eyebrow arched. "What are you doing here?"
Gabrice stared at him slack-jawed.
"I do apologize." WroOth nearly dropped to the floor in respect. "I was waiting—"
"It doesn't matter. She's right." Zorna swatted her hand at her son. "You should speak to me with respect. Everything I do, I do for our people. The least you can do is listen. You have the chance to be the Father of the New Bealorns. Do you want the Abliatos to tear us apart again? Because they will, and you are not man enough to put us back together again."
