“I need to tell you…tell you…” Lord Lorne’s voice was growing fainter as he swayed.
The physician arrived just in time to catch the Lalsacian as he collapsed.
“Is he all right?” Adeline still gripped Lord Lorne’s arm, although she wasn’t actually supporting any of his weight.
The physician pressed his hand to Lord Lorne’s forehead, his brow furrowed. “His fever is spiking. He needs to be back in bed and resting.”
Adeline nodded. Lord Lorne had pushed himselfbeyond what he should have to stand at her side back there.
Hopefully he hadn’t pushed himself too hard. Strangely, she didn’t want to find herself a widow before she even had the chance to get to know this Lalsacian lord she’d married.
CHAPTER SIX
Adeline stood beside the casket where her grandfather was laid out in his royal finery. Her skin crawled as she forced herself to stand tall and smile serenely at those filing past her to pay their respects. With each person, she was all too aware of her own vulnerability. It would be far too easy for one of them to leap forward with knife in hand.
At her back, the guards she trusted had been joined by others among the royal guard. After all, her loyal guards couldn’t be on duty all the time. They needed sleep and rest.
But who among those guards were loyal to her, or at the very least, loyal enough to the crown that they wouldn’t turn on her? Would they bother to stop an assassin if someone tried to kill her?
On the other side of the coffin, Lord Axtol and Lord Sarlon stood as representatives of the council. Yet even after paying their respects, many of the nobles lingered in the room. All of them assessing her.
How many were already plotting? How many would support her bid to bring about peace and how many would wish to see her dead because of it?
Her fingers trembled, and she clasped her hands in front of her.
If only she didn’t have to stand alone. If only she had someone to remain at her side in moments like this.
But Jelsa was a mere maid and had remained in Adeline’s rooms. Thaddeus, too, was a commoner, a lowly steward.
Her mind flashed to Lord Lorne and that moment when he’d stood beside her before the council when she’d announced that she was married. The solidness of his arm beneath her hand had been so steady, his presence so reassuring. For a brief moment, she hadn’t felt alone for the first time since her parents died.
Yet Lord Lorne was currently lying in her bed, out of his head with fever. He hadn’t woken since his collapse the day before.
Besides, he was an enemy. Regardless of their shared wish for peace between their kingdoms, she shouldn’t count him as a true ally. He could turn on her just as easily as everyone else.
At last, the hours of her ceremonial vigil ended. Yet even then, she wasn’t free to retreat.
First, she had to meet with the council, where she was pummeled on all sides by the various lords pushing their agendas. Even those who were technically loyal to her looked at her with resignation, as if they supported her because they were loyal to thecrown, but they didn’t truly think she was strong enough to rule the kingdom.
Finally, she settled behind the desk in the king’s study and stared listlessly at the stacks of paperwork before her. Where should she start?
A knock sounded on the door before Thaddeus stepped inside. He took one look at her before he closed the door softly behind him. “Are you all right, Your Majesty?”
“No.” She hated how tiny her voice was. She peered up at Thaddeus. “I can’t do this. No one believes I can do this.”
“Ibelieve you can.” Thaddeus stepped forward before he knelt on one knee, his arm over his chest in the royal salute. “So do many others. We have seen your courage as you survived your grandfather. You will survive this too.”
Survive. There was so little joy in that word. Survive merely meant get through the day. It didn’t mean happiness. It didn’t mean smiles and laughter and all the things she’d lost when she’d lost her parents.
Perhaps survival was all she could expect out of her life.
“Thank you.” She didn’t feel better, but she forced herself to smile and gather herself anyway. Thaddeus would do his best to support her, as he always did. But there was a gulf between them that he couldn’t cross.
For some reason, that brought Lord Lorne to her mind once again.
“How is Lord Lorne?” Adeline focused on the stacksof paperwork, even as Thaddeus tottered back to his feet.
“Still out with fever.” Thaddeus’s face remained grave, etched with deep grooves. “The physician is concerned. If the fever doesn’t break soon…”
