Page 90 of The Awakening of Essensia

Ressa frowned. “How’d you come to that conclusion? That sounds exactly like the right sort of person.”

He shrugged. “Would be too obvious.”

Vaelira let out a small laugh, the tension in her chest finally easing.

Ressa leaned back against the wall, stretching her legs across the bed. “I still think you’re hiding something,” she said, looking pointedly at the golden dagger strapped at Vaelira’s hip.

“Who isn’t?” Fang said, jabbing an elbow into Ressa’s side. “Now that you mention it, who was that woman I saw sneaking out your room the other morning?”

Ressa smacked his arm. Vaelira rolled her eyes. “You’re both insufferable.”

“And yet here you are,” Fang said, his grin returning.

She laughed with them both, her hand resting on the dagger, the cold of the metal biting into her skin. She didn’t move to leave, and neither did they.

20

No Faith

“May His Majesty recover swiftly.”

Lord Emeric Lereaux’s words rang across the table. He began every council meeting this way now, as if it were mandatory.

The High Chancellor sat directly opposite Elijah, his usually shrewd face smoothed into something resembling prayer. Since being passed over for Regent, Lereaux had pandered to the Queen more with each passing day. This empty phrase was only the beginning.

“Yes,” Queen Mairese said, her eyes sliding towards her son. “One can only pray that it is not the same sickness that took his father, King Lucien, from us.”

At the far end of the table, the Noble Representative Lord Osric Holtane, shifted in his seat. It creaked under his massive weight.

Only the Queen could draw that sort of parallel aloud. Anyone else would be accused of treason.

Since his father had taken ill, his mother had been making too many mistakes like this. If Elijah had been appointed Regent, things would already look vastly different.

“The Three see all,” said Priestess Sorellia Dastane. Her white curls framed a pointed chin, her voice full of performative piety. “The King’s faith is strong, as is yours, my Queen. May they shine their grace upon him.”

Elijah resisted the urge to scoff. He couldn’t remember his father ever setting foot in a chapel by choice.

Lord Rhain Corven, a spindly man and Master of Coin, cleared his throat. “If I may be so bold, I feel it is of great importance—”

“You may not,” said Queen Mairese.

Lord Corven lowered his gaze.

“I have called this meeting to address the rise in violent behaviour within our great city walls,” the Queen continued. “No more than an hour ago, Master Kolborn was brutally murdered.”

Elijah straightened. “I presume the culprit has been apprehended?” he asked, turning to Lord Rennin Calder, the High Arbiter.

“There was no culprit,” said Calder, his shrewd eyes flicking to the Queen. “The official report will state that it was a tragic accident.”

“It was a demon.”

“Demons cannot enter our sacred city walls,” said Priestess Sorellia, in a tone more suited to soothing an infant. “There is nothing to fear from them.”

It was a monumental force of will that kept Elijah’s expression neutral. Across the table, Lereaux’s mouth twitched.

“If it was not a demon or an accident, what was it?” asked Holtane. He dabbed at his sweat-slicked brow with a handkerchief and tucked it into his waistcoat. The gold buttons strained against his expanding gut.

“Another reckless peasant,” Queen Mairese said dismissively.