Page 41 of Queen of War and Ruin

Her shirt presses against her chest in a way I really shouldn’t notice. She glares at Gerard, her eyes fierce beneath her tousled hair.

“Nothing happened!” Lilias says. “I’m fine.”

“There’s a fucking knife on the ground behind you,” Gerard replies.

Lilias glances down at my dagger on the pine duff beside her, then sniffs.

“So?” she asks.

Gerard growls in frustration. Elrick walks over to his sister, picks up my dagger, and then holds it like he’s examining a stolen necklace to determine if the gems are real. Finally he sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose, and turns to face me. He doesn’t offer me my dagger.

“What happened?” he asks.

He sounds exhausted. I smile at him, even though he’s a spoiled, worthless asshole.

“I heard something,” I say. “I decided to investigate.”

That’s true enough, and it’s all these fuckers are going to get out of me. None of the men standing in the lamplight holding blades look convinced.

“You investigated the princess’s godsdamned neck,” Gerard snarls. “With your blade.”

I grind my teeth together, then take a slow breath.

“Your Highness,” I begin, still smiling at the prince, “if I was going to murder my wife, I would not do so surrounded by a group of armed men traveling through the wilderness.”

Elrick shakes his head.

“That’s fucking bullshit,” Gerard growls. “You’re the snake. Why should we trust a word that comes out of your filthy fucking mouth?”

The night feels very cold. Somewhere in the distance, an owl cries.

“I had a bad dream,” Lilias says.

Everyone turns to look at her. Lilias’s cheeks burn in the harsh light.

“I have a lot of them,” Lilias continues, her voice thick. “Dreams, I mean. Bad ones. I must have…made some noise. Zarek came over to wake me up, so I wouldn’t cause a scene.”

She looks like she’s about to cry. I want to drop to my knees, take her in my arms, and promise that I’ll protect her no matter what.

But I doubt that would bring her much comfort.

Anura appears from the darkness, and she kneels next to my wife. Something in my chest tightens as I watch my wife’s friend doing what I just imagined, wrapping her arm around Lilias’s shoulders and whispering to her. Lilias hides her face in her hands.

See. She doesn’t need me after all.

“Fine,” Elrick sighs.

He holds my dagger out to me, hilt first. I step into the light to take it back. Our eyes meet as I grab the hilt.

“No more sneaking around in the dark with a blade,” Elrick says as I take my dagger from his hand. “You creepy fucker,” he adds, under his breath.

“Creepy snake,” I whisper.

And then I smile at him as I step back into the shadows.

Chapter 23

Lilias