Page 14 of Tale of the Heart Queen

A loud bang startles us all. Linden is back to her storm cloud presence, her fist against the table where she just smashed it. She stands up, her chair tipping over in her haste. “Do not utter those words in my presence. The Heart Queen is dead. As she should be.”

Cyan smiles at Linden, not the least bit affected by her hostility.

“Oh, Linden, come here.”

He gently snags her wrist, tugging her closer before wrapping an arm around her hips and kissing the bare skin of her stomach. She doesn’t move, her posture rigid.

“Are you all a . . . unit?” I ask, gesturing between them.

“You could say that,” Cyan says.

“So who are you going to bond with? Atlas told me you’d been searching for a partner for a long time. Can you bond with more than one person?”

The question slips out, and it’s clear this is a touchy subject as their eyes all meet and then look away.

“Who are you?” I ask Anemone. “What’s your story?”

“You do ask a lot of questions, don’t you?” she replies.

“It seems you all are asking the most.”

“Hmm,” Anemone answers. “I am a citizen of Alluvion who caught the king’s eye.”

She exchanges a warm look with the king, and I believe that part of her story, but something about her claim doesn’t sit right. I scrutinize her as she tucks a piece of hair back from her face. Then I notice that her roots are black like they’ve grown out, and it almost seems like her hair has been dyed teal to mimic the people of Alluvion’s. But why?

“Tell us what happened in Aphelion,” Linden interrupts, clearly trying to change the subject, which feels a little obvious. They’re clearly hiding something.

It’s the first time my great-aunt has deigned to address me with anything but accusations and hostility, but I’m not chalking this up to any kind of win just yet. She just wants information.

“There are rumors of a battle,” Cyan says. “That things went poorly for the king during the bonding ceremonies.”

“A battle?” I ask. I’ve been so focused on returning to Nadir that I haven’t had time to digest everything that went down in Aphelion. I have no idea what happened after Nadir and I entered the palace. Gabriel revealed the truth about Tyr, and then what? I just hope Tristan and Willow are safe.

“Yes,” Cyan says. “Apparently, it turned quite violent.”

He peers at me, and his suspicions are growing by the minute.

“Did you not just say that’s where you came from?” he asks. “Surely you know this already?”

“Yes. No. I mean . . . yes, I was there, but—” I stop and take a deep breath as my lies and half-truths start to topple over each other. “Let me explain.”

“Please,” Cyan says, his patience clearly wearing thin. I’ve stumbled into his life with a lot of wild stories, and he doesn’t even know yet that I’m here to steal from him. If I’m not careful, he’ll sniff out my true purpose, and then I’m well and truly fucked. “Enlighten us.”

I tell them more about my mission in Aphelion and what happened with Gabriel and Tyr, giving them enough details to make my stories sound plausible.

“Tyr lives?” Cyan asks, sitting up, the incredulity in his voice obvious. “That’s impossible.”

I shrug. I can’t be sure the man Gabriel presented to Aphelion is, in fact, the true king, but everyone else seemed to believe it.

“And then what happened?” Cyan asks.

“I’m not sure. You know as much as I do at this point.” I toy with the fork on the table, flipping it over and over. “Why weren’t you there? Were you not invited?”

Cyan nods and sits back. “I declined my invitation. I had things that kept me here.”

“I see,” I answer when it appears he has no intentions of explaining any further.

“What does the Aurora King want with you?” Anemone asks.