A woman eventually leans forwards. Her hair’s as golden as sunshine itself. It falls down her shoulders but not too far as to irritate the top of her wings. “No one is allowed in there,” she says, her black-painted lips moving beneath eyes almost as dark.
“They let me in,” I say in confusion.
“You are royalty,” she says simply.
My heart suddenly aches as I remember Saragese and Marrabel flying me up there. Then it twists some more as I recall the haunted look in Jace’s eyes. The clear signs of love carved into every railing, every shelf, every intricate detail.
I wanted to bring joy to tonight’s meal and instead I’ve brought more pain. I sit in silence as a servant reaches past me to place a bowl of soup down, followed by a small plate of bread. The food tester checks it for poison, then steps away from the table. My stomach grumbles, but my heart feels too heavy for me to eat.
No one else lifts a spoon.
Leaning down to my ear, Jace murmurs, “They cannot eat until you take the first bite.”
I pick up the spoon as he straightens, then force myself to eat a nibble. My stomach in knots, I glance at Nicholas. He looks so sad… And he’s all alone. Richard has me now, but who does his brother have? I’ve never seen him laugh with anyone but us. He rarely leaves the privacy of the Royal Floor, only ever attendingevents he must. I might’ve had this idea to protect Fabia, but now I want to protect him too.
“Well,” I say, determined to spread the happiness Richard wants in this kingdom. “It’s a good thing I know abrilliantauthor. She’s written three dozen books – that’s the most anyone’s ever written in Brownston. She also draws her own covers and binds the books herself.” I glance at Prince Nicholas, trying to gauge if he’s impressed. He keeps his eyes on his plate as he tears off a piece of bread.
“Most of them are about monster fucking,” I say, trying to subtly emphasis the ‘fucking’ part. Maybe if I associate Fabia with sex, he’ll start seeing her as a woman rather than as just a guard to yell at? “Are you into monsters, Prince Nicholas?”
He coughs on the soup-dipped bread he just swallowed, then clears his throat. His cheeks red, he shakes his head.
“Oh, I don’t know,” the golden-haired woman says. “You like being dominated in the bedroom.” She preens under the attention of the other nobles before looking right at him and lowering her voice. “I think you might enjoy being caught in a spider’s web.”
“Oh! Yes, thatwouldbe a hot scene!” I say in excitement. “Fabia, do you think you could write it for him?” Then he could read it. Then they could reenact it. Then they could fall in love and have each other to lean on.This is going to be so much easier than I thought!
“How would one even fuck a spider?” Gimisi asks. There is a beat of silence as I cock my head to the side. “Just out of curiosity, I mean,” he adds.
“Um… I’m not entirely sure...” I beam. “But Fabia would know. She’sexperiencedin these sorts of things. She’s averythoroughresearcher.”
Fabia coughs loudly behind me, and I pick up my glass of water as I turn to her. “Do you need a drink?” I ask as I offer it out to her.
“No,” she says tightly. “But you need to remember to eat, Your Majesty.” She looks pointedly at the belt on my lap, and my eyes widen.
“You wouldn’t!”I say via a lifetime of friendship.
Her eyes narrow ever so slightly.“I will if you don’t finish all of it.”
I look harder at her.“Why are you siding with Richard? You don’t even like him!”
“I like that he takes care of you. So am I going to tell him that you didn’t finish, or are you going to shut up and eat?”
Turning back around, I place my glass on the wooden table and pick up my spoon. I take a few bites in silence. Then, as I chew on some bread: “I once caught her going at it with a yondu for research!”
“A yondu!” someone gasps.
A spoon clatters onto the table.
A servant steps forwards to clean up the mess.
Fabia mutters something behind me, but I can’t make it out beneath all the coughing coming from Gimisi and a few of the other ladies and lords. Chewing carefully, I swallow my food to make sure I don’t end up like them.
“A giant one?” Gimisi asks after taking a large sip of his glass.
“Oh, gods no. Could you imagine her rolling around with a giant yondu? It’d squish her!” They’re nearly one and a half times our height!
“But even the regular ones are sex fiends,” he presses.
I nod vigourously. “You don’t have to tell me; I caught her at one of their mating orgies, where she was taking six of them on at once!” They came up to her chest when they stood up on their back legs.
