Page 60 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

Not like I’d thought, at least.

The kiss he left on my cheek would have seemed chaste to most, but not to me. Not after he left another one on my jaw, and another on my neck, pressing his face there. “You smell delicious.”

Before the metal of the ring had even warmed against my skin, before I could process over his kisses or the words he’d just told me, Malik turned to his soldiers sat in the pews and motioned his head to follow after him. “Everyone, out!” he barked, and my court members flinched, standing and rushing out except Kilian and his two kids who took it as a sign to wave goodbye and disappear. “No one leaves the castle wall before being cleared,” he ordered his old Eldritch soldiers who’d stood by the whole ceremony. “Disperse all wall and castle guards back to their barracks. They are no longer needed inside the castle walls or to guard their queen.”

“What?” I gathered my skirts and followed after him outside. Latching onto his sleeve, I pulled him back. “What do you mean? Have you lost your mind?”

His pupils expanded until his whole eyes were black, dark veins crawling around them. A strange sting like spices and metal permeated the air. Skeletal hands and limbs poked out of snow and over the walls, few walked through the main gates, some threw their bony bodies into the air and over the castle walls. Crawling and limping, they all took the places that the guards had abandoned. “No one with a pulse will ever be trusted enough to be near you as long as I am here. Until this is over, the dead and their Commander will guard you.” He pinched my chin. “And you happen to be married to him. Condolences, little bird.”

Neo and a few others from the Eldritch squadron approached us and I removed Malik’s hand from my face.

“Who would have thought this,” Neo commented. “What are the odds?”

“Lower than you getting your jaw dislocated twice by the same person within a day,” another muttered under their breath. “So, shut up, Neo.”

But Neo did not shut up. “Does this make me a…concubinus? Our prince is a dry lover, a selfish one, so I’m sure you’ll be seeking me more often.”

Malik stepped forward, but I held tightly onto his sleeve as I stepped before him to say, “You have little use for your tongue, so maybe you won't miss it when I cut it off.” Looking at the soldiers who were struggling to keep a serious face on, I said, “Everyone besides Neo, leave.” Without turning, I added, “You too, Malik. Let me handle this.”

It seemed like he wouldn’t listen for a moment, but then he glanced at my finger that was now just slightly heavy with his ring and began backing away. “Keep it short. I want you for myself after.”

My face heated, but luckily, he was gone before I’d embarrass myself even more.

Once they were all gone, I said to Neo, “Respect is something I didn’t know you lacked.”

“Same goes. Was I taken in consideration at all?”

“Why would you be? Besides companionship which you know I’ve seeked elsewhere, too, what else can you offer me? Protection? Malik is not offering me protection, I can protect myself just fine. He’s giving me advantage. Tell me, Neo, were a couple of words worth losing my respect?” I stepped closer to him so only he could hear me say, “You’re well aware that every moment I’ve been with you, I’ve thought of him. Do not speak to me in public like that. Different from my sister, I see no pleasure in torture. Instant death is more pleasing.” Making sure I showed the disappointment I felt, I added, “I’ve always thought of you as my friend. Relied on you the same as if you were. Perhaps I was wrong to assume.”

“He ruins everything he touches, Thora,” he hissed, sneering. “I only worry about you.”

He was wrong. Malik had ruined nothing that I didn’t give him permission to ruin. “Next time, keep those concerns to yourself.”

“Have you told him what about us?”

Us? “What part?”

“The part where I’ve been taking your emotions away for the past ten years,” he said, stepping closer. “Is that why you have stopped coming to me, isn’t it? Because you don’t want him to know I’ve been doing that.”

“It could have been anyone, you know. Any of your friends.” I scoffed. “But I’ve always taken a liking for the pitiful and the poor, so I suppose this is on me.”

He flinched like I’d whipped him. “Thora—”

“Your Majesty,” Oryn called, coming from the castle gates. “We have a guest.”

The throne room was empty, so empty that the quietness of it all, even the movement of dust in the air, all echoed. I’d had this visitor many times before, but today, I knew she had not come with empty threats.

The massive doors groaned open, letting a flash of candle brightness in the corridor fill the space with more shadows. Her steps were heavy, the thumbs on her boots making an awful scratching noise against my grey marble floors. Iskyla was not subtle by any means. Her yellow hair was in several long braids, her face was marked with white and blue paint, and even her clothes weren’t just the ordinary leathers her people wore. No, they were from Isjordian markets. She wanted it known that she was roaming my cities right under my nose and no one had done anything about it.

“Welcome to my home,” I said.

“Your home?” she scoffed. “You’re resorting to drastic measures now. But I have to admit, marrying an Adriatian prince was not the drastic measure I was expecting. He is not just any Adriatian prince, but the famed Eldritch Commander, the general of the Battle of Two Guardians,” Iskyla’s voice boomed about the room as she strutted to stand right before the empty throne. “Do you fear me this much?”

“It seems you fear me since you came all the way down here,” I said, turning to face her and offering her a smile that wiped off her crooked one. “What is it that you want, Isa?”

“Do not call me that.”

“Why, does it hurt to be called by the name the father you killed called you?” Uncle Sigurd had not been just any king, he’d not been just any man, either. He’d been one of the best. And she’d killed him when her voice had no longer been heard in her attempts to attack my lands which had almost gotten her banished from Islines and her village.