It was a long, aching moment before she glanced from his hand to his face and back to his hand. Then, as slowly as a skittish kitten, she reached out and rested her hand on his.
He curled his fingers around hers. They were so cold, or perhaps he was simply that feverish. “We are in this together. That’s what we vowed last night, and I keep my vows.”
She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, the door opened. Quick as a blink, she yanked her hand from his, returning it to rest demurely in her lap.
The physician and Jelsa entered with the tincture and tea things. As much as Lorne regretted the interruption, he wasn’t going to regret the sweet oblivion of sleep the tincture would give him.
CHAPTER FIVE
Adeline stood by her grandfather’s bedside, staring down at his still, dead form. After lingering for hours, the end had come mercifully and suddenly for a man who had caused so much pain to others.
Lord Sarlon turned to her, his hands clasped behind his back. He’d been the only lord allowed in to witness the king’s death, a mark of how her grandfather had essentially begun handing the kingdom to him rather than her. “I need an answer on the betrothal. The kingdom should not be left without a monarch.”
She didn’t miss how he used the neutralmonarchinstead ofqueen. Lord Sarlon fully intended to make sure his son was the power behind the throne, not her.
The war for her crown had begun.
Despite her trembling hands and shaking knees, she kept her chin high, her back straight as she heldLord Sarlon’s gaze. “Please gather the council in the formal reception room. I will be there momentarily to make my marriage announcement.”
A hint of a smile curved Lord Sarlon’s mouth. He thought he had her cornered and that the marriage she’d be announcing would be the one to his son. “Very well, Highness.”
He gave her a bow—the one for a princess, not yet the one for his queen—and left the room.
Adeline lingered another moment. In death, her grandfather was still and hollow, just a shell lacking the fire and power he exuded in life.
Yet even after death, he had the power to control her life. She would have to spend the first years of her reign undoing everything he’d done in the past decades.
If she survived the attempt.
With a deliberate spin on her heel, she strode from the room.
In the sitting room, the royal doctor lingered, as well as several of her grandfather’s guards.
Adeline gestured from the doctor to the guards. “Please prepare his body for lying in state.”
“Yes, Highness.” The doctor and the guards gave bows before they strode past her into the king’s bedchamber.
With that done, she left the king’s suite and walked back to her rooms as quickly as she could without appearing to hurry.
Inside, her loyal guards, the physician, Jelsa, andThaddeus waited. All of them stood as she entered, and she swept a glance over them. “My grandfather, the king, is dead.”
She should feel more emotion at those words. Something beyond this numb relief. He had been her last living relative, after all.
But being all alone in the world was better than having him for a grandfather.
Thaddeus dipped into a low bow. “Your Majesty. My queen.”
The others followed, curtsying or bowing deeply.
Her heart ached. She was both honored and strangely melancholy at seeing her friends give her this deference.
“The council is convening in the reception room.” Adeline glanced from Thaddeus to the physician. “Is Lord Lorne up for making an appearance?”
“No, but…” The physician shifted, as if he didn’t think it was his place to say the rest out loud.
“He doesn’t have much of a choice,” Thaddeus finished in a quiet voice. “You need a husband standing beside you at the meeting.”
“Yes, but I’ll do my best to minimize how long he will have to stay.” Adeline resisted the urge to glance at the bedchamber door. “Have him brought to the private waiting room.”
