Page 62 of Crown of the Dunes

“Thank you.”

She got to her feet, and I followed suit. As much as I wanted to beg her to stay or crush her to my chest and never let go, I knew I couldn’t, so I simply inclined my head. Keera lingered for a long moment, before turning and heading out the door.

The room instantly seemed dim and lifeless without her presence, but it brightened infinitesimally as I heard her command the riders who had been standing guard down the hall “He is to be able to move freely within the palace. Queen’s orders.”

Chapter fifteen

Keera

Irounded the corner and nearly jumped out of my skin when I ran headlong into Calix. I hadn’t realized he had followed me when I stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence and dashed from the room, the metallic taste of magic thick on my tongue and panic that wasn’t my own making it difficult to breathe.

Now he wore an expression of confused curiosity.

“Oh… ah—” I hedged, trying to find an explanation for my strange behavior.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

My stuttering stopped, and I cocked my head. I had expected admonishment for abandoning a conversation with an ambassador, especially one I had been asking for aid. Or for him to be sniffing around Erix for a weakness he could exploit against Kelvadan. Instead, he only looked at me with concern.

“I’m completely fine,” I said truthfully.

“Good. I was worried I had done something to offend you.” He chuckled, running his fingers through his already tousled hair. “I know my manner isn’t particularly princely, but I had never thought it was quite that bad.”

I let out a huff of amusement through my own nose, and the corners of my mouth quirked up despite themselves.

“Your manner is no more improper than mine,” I admitted, finding myself grateful for his presence. While at first I had been wary of everybody around me as I navigated the politics that seemed to shift even faster than the sands of the desert, I found myself coming to rely on Calix—on the way he didn’t treat me any differently now that I was queen.

During our first ride together, a whisper in my mind had said that he was just like Hadeon, wielding practiced charm as a weapon to wheedle under my skin and find a weakness. But his friendly manner was far from polished, and after he had helped pull me back to myself after the avalanche and catching me by surprise with off-color jokes in official meetings, I found him having broken through the first layer of my armor despite myself.

Now I cocked my head at him consideringly. A queen couldn’t really afford trust, and I was loath to give it after so many betrayals, but I hadn’t been lying when I told Erix I needed friends. Prince Calix might not be the worst choice of a friend for Kelvadan.

“Thank you for checking on me,” I said earnestly. “I appreciate it.”

“Of course. If something happened to you, I wouldn’t have the pleasure of watching General Warrick turn purple with rage every time he tries to negotiate with you.”

I made another snort of amusement. “Then let’s get back to the archons and the aforementioned general.”

“I thought I might find you here.”

I sighed at the sound of Aderyn’s voice, but did not turn around, continuing to run a brush over Daiti’s golden flank. The soft scrape of the fibers and the warm smell of animals settled the roiling in my stomach. I had been so nauseous with nerves when I woke that I had barely managed to choke down my breakfast, although I had done so out of principle. I refused to leave a single crumb on my plate, so familiar with hunger that it had carved its way into my bones.

“I needed to clear my head,” I admitted, resting my forehead on Daiti’s side. He was warm and quiet, unlike the day ahead of me.

“Daiti is going to look better than you if you don’t get upstairs and bathe soon,” Aderyn pointed out. “And Neven would be disappointed after he was up nearly all night putting the finishing touches on your dress.”

At that, my heart did warm, and I finally turned away, laying my brush on the ledge by the door of Daiti’s stall. “He didn’t have to. I’m sure I could have made do with something already in his collection.”

“Excuse me, have you met my husband?” Aderyn folded her arms over her chest, her bare biceps bulging at the motion. “You know he wouldn’t let you wear any old thing for an occasion like this.”

A smile tugged at my lips, despite the nerves still fluttering in my belly. The corners of Aderyn’s eyes softened in response.

“Then I better not keep him waiting.” I stepped past Aderyn, and she squeezed my shoulder as I passed.

It was still early as I entered the palace proper and began the long climb to my rooms, but already it bustled with life. Attendants and riders brushed past each other in complex choreography, getting the palace ready to accommodate as many people as could fit in the courtyard, with the rest of the city likely to be packed in the streets just outside the gate.

Lots of preparations went into a coronation.

When I had first arrived in the city, I had found it difficult to interpret where people were going to move as they weaved between each other in indiscernible patterns. It led to me bumping into strangers as I passed, the touch of their skin setting my nerves alight. Now, people made an effort to move out of my way, some tapping their brow while others gave me sidelong looks, as if sizing me up.