Page 53 of The Masked Princess

A third guard stepped forward, forced the ambassador’s head up, and plucked his left eye from his face.

At a signal from King Nelan, the guard brought the eyeball to the table for inspection as the other guards pushed Selveg to the ground and stretched his arm out, pinning it to the floor.

The king took the glistening and bloody eye, twisting it back and forth in the candlelight, before holding it out to Annalise. “What do you think, Your Highness? Consider this my third gift to you.”

She answered his unspoken challenge and gingerly took the eyeball from him, not sure if she should be grateful for the excuse to not watch Selveg lose his hand or completely horrified at what she had to do instead.

She inspected the bloody organ for a moment before handing it off to a servant. “Thank you, Your Majesty, for your restraint and wisdom,” she said with as much composure as she could muster.

His smile was wolfish, as if he was already plotting and planning his next show of strength and brutality. “You are very welcome, Princess Annalise. I look forward to spending more time with you in the coming days as our nuptials approach. We have much to learn about each other.”

For once, Annalise wished she was wearing her mask so she could have something to hide behind.

CHAPTER 41

Annalise waited nearly an hour after the eye-gouging incident before excusing herself on the grounds of being exhausted after a long journey—the last thing she wanted was for King Nelan to sense squeamishness in his new bride, as she suspected that any perceived weakness on her part would be promptly exploited for his own entertainment. She’d only spent a few hours with King Nelan, but Annalise already sensed that if she needed a skin of iron in her father’s court, she would need a skin of diamond to live under the thumb of the Rhinnean king.

After she’d thrown up much of her dinner from the delayed shock, Annalise mentally girded herself for the rest of her life. If the Rhinneans only respected brutality and strength, then she would be the strongest queen they’d ever seen—ruling with a firm but gentle fist. It may be a different strength than what the Rhinneans expected, but she would not let them break her, and she hoped that perhaps with time and a good example, her future husband would soften.

Late in the morning of the next day, the head butler gave Annalise a tour of the castle. The smooth stone walls, giant tapestries, and coordinated red and gold color scheme were quite impressive, as was the sheer number of fireplaces. As the butler explained and Annalise had already experienced, the winters were bitterly cold in Rhinnea, and there was more than enough wood in the surrounding forests to keep the fires burning.

Soren followed behind them, his face tight and mouth pressed into a flat line. Prior to finding him waiting outside her chambers with the head butler, Annalise hadn’t seen Soren since the evening before.

As they neared the end of their tour, the butler led her down a long hallway to a pair of large wooden double doors, which he informed her led to the castle library. When Annalise expressed interest in entering, the butler bowed and stated that he would wait for her in the hallway. Soren followed her into the library, and the Rhinnean guard who shadowed him elected to sit on one of the overstuffed armchairs near the entrance and propped his feet on a table.

Annalise had spent several minutes wandering the library and marveling at the rows of tall bookcases when she heard giggling. She followed the sound and, upon turning around a corner, found King Nelan whispering to a noble lady she recognized from the night before. The woman wore a low-cut dark green silk dress with gold embroidery across her bodice and gold trim on her sleeves. King Nelan had one hand on her small waist, and never moved his eyes from her decolletage.

“Good morning, King Nelan,” Annalise said.

The couple startled and jumped apart. At a glance, Annalise took in the woman’s starry eyes and pink blush and could guess at what King Nelan had said to her.

“Oh, hello, Princess Annalise. I didn’t realize you would be in the library today,” he said while looking everywhere except directly in Annalise’s eyes. When he saw Soren, his mouth twisted into a frown. “Where is your guard, Captain Kierson?”

“At the front of the library, last I saw. He wasn’t very interested in walking through stacks of old books.”

“Your butler offered me a tour of the castle so that I would feel more at home. He said that it was your idea,” Annalise interjected, desperate to say anything that would distract King Nelan. She remembered how he and Soren sized each other up the previous day, and, considering the king’s bloodthirsty display the night before, she wished to avoid any conflict between the two. She dipped into an elegant curtsy. “Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty.”

The distraction worked, and King Nelan turned his full attention to her. “I am glad that you’re making yourself at home, although I’m surprised you’ve taken such an interest here, of all places.”

“What do you mean, ‘here’?” Annalise looked around, but couldn’t see anything immediately off-putting that might keep her away.

“The library, of course.”

“I love books. I spent many an hour in our library in Dovelan, although as much as it pains me to admit it, I believe your collection is even more impressive than ours,” Annalise said as she ran her fingers over the leather book spine nearest her.

King Nelan frowned and leaned closer, peering at her as if she was an inscrutable mystery. “Do you mean to say that you can read?”

Annalise jerked back, stung at the disbelief in his words. “Of course I know how to read. Why would you think otherwise?”

“Many Rhinnean noblewomen never learn. They may be taught the basics when they are still girls, but reading is considered a masculine thing to do, and they know their role in court is to be beautiful, to make advantageous marriages for their families, and to bear children. Those who prefer to entertain themselves with stories employ a servant to read aloud to them.”

“I… understand,” Annalise said, without actually understanding anything.

“I’m glad; perhaps you’ll learn to fit in well here after all. If you’d like, I can show you a few books that I believe you’ll enjoy?”

She batted her eyes at him as if she wasn’t seething inside. “Yes, thank you, I would appreciate it. Your library is so large I fear I’d get lost without some guidance.”

“Of course. I am glad to be of assistance, my darling fiancée.” King Nelan offered Annalise his elbow, and she took it; the other lady had long since disappeared in a swish of skirts.