But a wave of heated dizziness crashed over her, stealing the strength from her limbs and catching her breath in her chest in a way that made her struggle to breathe.
Lorne’s gaze narrowed, and his brow furrowed. He shifted his hand from her chin to press his palm to her forehead. “You’re burning up. Are you feeling all right? Adeline?”
“I…I think I’ve been poisoned.” It was the only explanation for how suddenly this sickness had come on. She’d felt fine all day.
Her limbs shook with a sudden, cold tremor that crashed hard on the heels of the flashing heat.
After all their precautions, all their diligence, she was going to die just like her parents had. Killed by a traitor from her own kingdom.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The jolt of fear washed away whatever exasperated fury Lorne had been nursing. What did his annoyance with her—made more fondness than true anger after hearing her explanation—matter when she was dying?
Lorne gathered Adeline up in his arms. She was shivering, as if caught in a snowstorm, and he cradled her close against his chest. “You’re going to be all right.”
She tucked her head against his shoulder, her grip tightening.
He turned, shooting a look at his father. “She needs the fleech dragons.”
His father nodded as he hurried to open the tent flap, holding it open as Lorne ducked through, Adeline in his arms.
“I’ll fetch a horse.” Orvyn burst out of the tent on Lorne’s heels.
“The queen! The queen has been poisoned!”
The shout came from the group of Kelvernese lords and guards who had come with Adeline and stopped a hundred yards away.
Lorne spun to face that direction, even as several of the lords and guards sprinted toward the tent. Behind him, there came a shout of “Protect the king!” from the Lalsacian guards.
This war could spark all over again at any moment.
Likely the intent of the lord who had poisoned Adeline. Lord Sarlon was lingering back, strolling forward but not joining the surge to protect his queen. After all, he wouldn’t want to die in the battle he was in the process of starting.
Adeline wiggled in Lorne’s grip, a clear sign that she wanted to stand. He set her down, and she took a tottering step away from him, somehow straightening her shoulders. She lifted a hand, her voice rising to carry over the hubbub. “Halt, everyone! No one is attacking anyone.”
Her voice sliced with enough conviction, enough command, that the Kelvernese guards and lords staggered to a halt only a few yards away. When Lorne risked a glance over his shoulder, the Lalsacian guards had halted as well, although they had pulled his father into their midst.
That left Adeline and Lorne alone. Just two people standing in the gap, trying to prevent the war from resuming right then and there.
“Lord Sarlon.” Despite the shivering he could seestill quivering her body, Adeline’s voice remained strong. “How did you know I was poisoned?”
Farther up the hill, Lord Sarlon crossed his arms, a slight shift to his feet giving away that he felt anything but calm. “You are clearly unwell.”
“Am I? And you could tell that from way over there?” Adeline waved her hand. Then her gaze dropped to her hand, her eyes widening. “It was your ring, wasn’t it? There’s a mark from when you gripped my hand. You poisoned me.”
The Kelvernese guards and other lords were glancing between Adeline and Lord Sarlon, something almost like dawning comprehension crossing their faces.
Lorne stepped slightly closer to Adeline. How much longer would she stay standing? Everything in him wanted to sweep her back into her arms and spirit her away to Lalsacia where the fleech dragons could heal her.
But if he did that, war would break out. There was no telling how Lord Sarlon and his cronies would spin the Lalsacian crown prince abducting their queen.
“Did you kill my parents? Or was that my grandfather’s doing?” Adeline’s gaze remained fixed on Lord Sarlon.
If Lorne hadn’t been looking at Lord Sarlon, he wouldn’t have seen the start, the way the lord’s eyes swung away just for a moment.
Lord Sarlon had been involved in killing Adeline’s parents. He’d helped in starting this whole war in thefirst place, and he was trying to kill Adeline and prolong it now.
Gently resting his hand on Adeline’s lower back, Lorne faced the Kelvernese. “Lalsacia didn’t kill Crown Prince Elric and Princess Delia. We never wanted this war. But someone in Kelverny did.”
