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Allera slammed her fork down so she could glare at Soren. “I do wish you’d stop calling him that. I assure you, his birthright is quite legitimate. I might’ve been young, but I was there the night he was born… The night my mother died. And you insult her memory more than you do him every time you use that horrid word. He may be an insufferable little ass at times, but he is not a bastard.”
I slid her a sidelong glance. “Thank you, Sister,” I said before frowning. “I think.” Because I believed the whole insufferable ass part could’ve been left out.
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“Just because you’re a Donnelly now,” Soren started, narrowing his eyes at her. “Doesn’t mean—”
But Brentley cleared his throat. “I would advise you to avoid saying anything that might cause me to blacken your eye again.”
“Wait.” Vienne perked to attention. “You blackened his eye, Brentley? I thought that had been…?” She turned my way.
I smiled and shook my head. “No. Regrettably, I’ve never had the pleasure. But I certainly would have if Brentley hadn’t hit him first.”
“Why?” Vienne asked, glancing worriedly around the room. “What did he do?”
I got the sense she didn’t like being left out of the information circle, so I answered, “He found Allera’s defense of me to be too impertinent for his taste, so… He threatened to rape her.”
“WHAT?” Vienne whirled to gape in horror at her husband.
He snarled at me before focusing on Vienne and rolling his eyes with an aggrieved sigh. “It was in jest.”
“Hmm,” I murmured distastfully. “I’ve never joked about raping a woman.”
“Neither have I,” Brentley broke in.
I turned toward the king. “Your Majesty, have you—”
“No,” Caulder boomed, “and please leave me out of your bickering. It grows tiresome.”
“Indeed,” Yasmin supplied, lifting her chin with a lofty air as if she thought she was better than the lot of us. “Not a single one of you has remarked on how pale I look today. I was sick all afternoon, casting up my accounts, you know. Why, I might even be increasing, but does a single person here care? No, you’re all too busy—”
“Increasing?” Caulder broke in, his face exploding with surprise as he turned to his wife.
“Yes, I—”
But Vienne gently placed her hand over Yasmin’s and kindly murmured, “Darling, you’re not increasing.”
The queen scowled. “And how would you know? You’re not a healer. One pregnancy doesn’t make you an authority on the subject.”
Vienne nodded and offered her a brittle smile before she said, “Yes, but you told me just yesterday that your courses had started, and women don’t have those during pregnancy.”
Yasmin scowled and opened her mouth, but Allera leaned forward to add, “Vienne’s right. It’s highly unlikely you’re pregnant if you’re currently bleeding.”
Casting the entire room a nasty glance, the queen sat back in her chair. “Well, I was quite ill, anyway.”
Smiling fondly, Caulder took her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “And thank the Lord you are better now. I hate when you get sick.”
As they cooed sweet nothings to each other, I ate faster than I’d ever eaten in my life. But I was disappointed to find that Vienne was still only half finished with her meal by the time I completed mine.
What was wrong with her? Wasn’t she as eager for our chess match as I was?
I wanted to think she was. But then again, in all honestly, it might only be a mercy game for her. She seemed like the type who would jump in to keep someone company when they appeared to be lonely. Not that I was lonely, but I had been beginning to feel very alone until she’d spoken.
The woman was an angel like that. I had to wonder why my mark had chosen someone so damn sweet and considerate. Maybe the priestess who’d given me the tattoo had been drunk and botched the whole thing up, pairing me up with someone who actually wouldn’t suit me at all.
“Are you ready?” she finally asked, jerking me back to the present with a snap, and making me realize I didn’t care if the priestess who’d applied my tattoo had messed up or not. Merely gazing at Lady Vienne made my blood heat with excitement. Thus, she was the one I wanted, whether she was meant for me or not.
I straightened, fully alert, and nodded my assent, standing when she rose from her chair. But we barely got within ten feet of the chess table when a maid entered with a whimpering babe.
