Page 81 of Queen of Fire

The news was a relief, and I pushed back from my desk, standing, and rounding it until I was beside Saffron. She turned in her chair to face me, the same grin on her face as before and I leaned back, letting my body rest on the edge of the desk.

“You will make a fine King,” Saffron said, her voice sincere, “She will die from the poisoning eventually, but until then we will fake a sickness. Something incurable. A pregnancy lost and turned into a deadly infection — that will win you the hearts of the Kingdom at the same time.”

I nodded my head, thinking over everything she was saying and finding satisfaction in all of it.

Yes, if we could cover up Kira’s sickness as something explainable, then it would make her lack of appearances at future events much more sincere seeming.

“The problem with that is — to even begin to fake her being with child, we would have to have laid together.”

Saffron gasped, a hand flying to her chest in faux shockas she stood from her chair, tipping it over in true dramatic fashion as she did so. I rolled my eyes, her dramatics lost on me.

“You’re telling me you haven’t already?!” She gasped, and I glared at her, shaking my head in annoyance.

“I’m not an animal, Saffron.”

“Some of the noblemen’s daughters would say otherwise,” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I could not help the laugh that bubbled out of me at the silliness in her expression.

“I’ve only kissed her a handful of times, and I had drunk too much to even consider going to the royal suite the night of the wedding.”

Saffron shook her head, tutting and laughing at the same time as she patted me on the chest. Her blood red nails digging into my skin even through the fabric of my jumper, and I wondered briefly how she managed to get them so sharp. Were they filed that way? Or were they enchanted?

I looked down at her hand, noticing the sparkling jewellery that decorated her fingers and tilted my head to the side, a sapphire ring on her middle finger standing out to me as familiar.

“Where did you get that ring?” I asked, and Saffron pulled her hand away quickly.

“Oh, that one? It was your mother’s.” She smiled at me, her sharp teeth sticking out through her parted lips and making me rear back slightly, “Relax, I didn’t steal it. Your father gave it to me after she passed,”

“Why?” I asked, anger making a sudden appearance in my chest.

“I liked it,” She shrugged, holding up her hand and admiring the ring quickly before she stepped away from me, the grin coming back over her face sickeningly sweet. “Now, I must go and deal with our prisoner for a while. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“That would be difficult.” I grumbled, listening to her trilling laughter as she left my office, the door closing with a click behind her.

41

Kira

The few days after Alexandre’s arrival were filled with me being sick, sleeping, and fighting my way through royal lunches and meetings.

As I sat in the council rooms, my hands sweating despite the fact my whole body was shivering, I could not focus on a single word Cirro was saying. His voice droned on in the background as I wiped my hands on my trousers, focusing on a single knot in the wooden table to try and bring myself back to the room.

Cyrus was sitting to my left, his hand on my knee and rubbing comforting circles into the fabric of my trousers with his thumb, and I could feel his gaze on me every so often. I had tried to return his smile once, but the movement had made my head throb, and I had been avoiding his gaze ever since.

A choir of voices around the room pulled my attention,and I lifted my head, squinting in the bright light of the room. Despite the fact it was thundering and extreme wind outside, the light coming in the windows was enough to make my eyes burn, and it was definitely making the nausea worse.

Cirro was staring at me when I finally managed to look at him, a worried expression on his face, but from what I could gather, he had called an end to the meeting, and as everyone else stood from their chairs and said goodbye, I stayed sitting.

Cyrus stayed with me, his hand moving from my leg to grip my fingers in his, bringing the backs of my knuckles to his lips and kissing them gently.

“Are you okay, Sweetheart?” He asked, genuine concern lacing his tone, “You look…”

“Awful?” I offered, trying to smile. He laughed lightly, reaching up to push sweaty hair out of my face.

“I was going to say poorly,” He smirked, squeezing my hand before he stood from his chair, helping me out of my seat carefully. “Do you want to go and lie down?”

“What else have we got to do today?” I asked him, exhaustion setting in deep in my bones as we crossed the council room, barely making it to the door before I had to stop and catch my breath.

“Nothing, if you’re feeling this awful.” Cyrus sighed, wrapping an arm around my waist and holding metightly, keeping me standing upright. “Come on, we’ll get you up to bed.”

---