Page 14 of Crown of Hearts
Without thinking, I grabbed a nearby vase and threw it at the opposite wall, watching the glass break and cover the ground beneath in little pieces. The vase was probably antique and valuable. I didn’t care.
Between my servants trying to kill me and the Darwicks trying to blackmail me, I might have been better off that day of the rebellion if I’d just stayed on the damn horse and run away. Clinging to the bedpost, I sank down onto the bed, holding back tears.
Chapter 4
Cai
I pushed the food around my dinner plate. The dining table was filled with large trays of roasted meats, bowls of steaming vegetables and jugs of fine wine. Each item had been cooked to perfection and plated with precision, and I almost felt bad for not feeling very hungry. I caught my mother’s glance from across the table.
“You’ve been very quiet this evening, Cai.”
The room grew quiet apart from an awkward knife clattering onto a plate. All eyes fell on me.
“He might be sitting at this table but he’s certainly not thinking about it,” Thatcher murmured, loud enough for everyone to hear.
It wasn’t unusual for Thatcher and Gwen to join us during our private family dinners. They were practically part of the family. But tonight, I might have preferred to eat without company. My mother hid a smile as if she could tell exactly what occupied my mind. It was one of the few smiles she’d given since Father died.
She’d always known me well enough that I could never hide anything from her.
Which only made my mischievous moments as a teenager all the more challenging. But she never yelled or screamed, and fearing her disappointment became much worse than fearing her anger. She could tell I’d changed since going to war, but we’d grown closer in the time since. Before going to Everness and then being crowned, I would go on long walks with her, and we’d talk about nothing and everything. I used to look forward to those walks and the peace they managed to bring me.
“You’re right. My thoughts have been occupied with the new library we’re building in the city.”
Gwen coughed, seemingly innocently, at my words, and I sent a look in her direction.
“I think it’s a wonderful venture. Especially with the large new children’s section. We never did make enough of a priority of literature and the arts,” my mother replied.
Her illness was so sudden and unpredictable, and even though she’d recovered, she seemed more fragile than the woman she was before. But I feared losing her husband had more to do with it than anything else.
It was like all the strength had gone out of her, and where she used to spend hours on end in the garden, among the flora she adored, she now grew tired easily.
She was right about the library, however. They did have more important things to worry about back in those days. Including wars and treaties and invaders and alliances. There never truly was time for privileges like reading. But I needed to keep my mind occupied, and the city needed a new library.
Being a typical boy, I’d never appreciated my education enough during my younger years. But I could not look past the value it added to my life now. Too many of our people were illiterate because of the circumstances they grew up in. I wanted to find ways to help them grow and expand our economy. I didn’t want everyone to be held back by a label their entire life.
I understood better than anyone what it meant to have a title that kept you from certain freedoms, and I was speaking from a position of privilege, not that of a farmer who had to work from dawn to dusk to keep food on the table for his family. I could admit that my stay at Fairfrith had affected the way I viewed my subjects. And I believed it was a good thing. I’d been shielded my entire life, and I knew a library wasn’t magically going to fixeveryone’s problems, but it was a start. I forced myself to take a bite of the dinner I’d been served.
“There has been recent news from Levernia,” my mother said, drawing my attention. My head swivelled in her direction quicker than I would have liked. “Apparently there’s been an attack at the palace.”
“What attack?” I asked.
“Someone tried to kill the Queen.”
I’d stopped chewing my food as a sudden wave of nausea hit me.
“What happened?” Gwen asked before I had the chance.
“Oh, you know by the time news gets here, it’s all half-rumour, really. I believe it was one of her servants. As far as I know she is unharmed, but her reign remains under threat.” My mother looked straight at me, gauging my reaction.
Someone tried to kill Elara.
“What about her engagement? Surely that would strengthen her claim?” Thatcher piped up.
“While engagements are promising, it’s only good if you actually go through with it.” My mother’s expression suggested I’d been the one to break off the engagement with Eloisa. I didn’t tell my family about everything that had happened during my stay in Everness, and I thought, after a while, they knew better than to ask. “The new queen is not married yet.”
“What about the relationship between Norrandale and Everness?” Thatcher looked at me and I shrugged.
“I doubt Elara plans to invade any time soon,” I assured him.
