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Stolen Moments
ChapterSeventy-Six
The Lady
“This is all very well and good,” Emperor Hyperion huffed, staring down at her from his throne, “but I have yet to hear how that led to where we stand today. The complete destruction of Kostos. The ruination of the Kentari countryside. You stand on opposite sides of a war that has ended thousands of lives and ruined tens of thousands more, and yet you sound like no more than two lovesick children!”
Riona shot a glare at the traitor, still standing beside the dais. The sun hung low in the sky, and its rays turned his hair a rich, deep auburn. Caelan smiled at her, but it wasn’t the smug, goading grin he had worn that morning, when she had first been escorted into the throne room. In fact, it seemed almost…mournful.
If she didn’t know better, she might have thought he was capable of feeling such an emotion.
Riona turned her attention back to Hyperion, and the movement caused the chains around her wrists to jangle. After she began recounting the story of their meeting in Innislee, the Emperor had permitted her to stand on the condition that she allow the guards to bind her wrists and ankles. Part of her had wanted to point out how foolish he was to fear that she would try to escape in front of a room full of witnesses, but her shoulders had been aching so much from the guards’ merciless grip that she had opted to hold her tongue. The humiliation of wearing chains was better than the pain of being forced to kneel on marble for hours on end.
“This is only the beginning, YourImperialMajesty,” she said, shooting a dark glance at the guard who had corrected her that morning. “If you want to understand why your perfect spy broke from your ranks andmurdered my husband, you must understand the depth of his obsessive, misguided love for me. There is much yet to share.”
“The only person here with an obsessive love for you is yourself,” Caelan responded lightly, eliciting laughter from the gathered nobles. “You’ve been more than happy to talk about yourself for the better part of a day, and still you insist on more.”
“Youwere more than happy to interject when it suited you.”
An impish grin spread across his lips. “That’s because I enjoy the sound of my own voice. I don’t pretend to be some righteous, noble figure so I can sleep at night.” His gaze swept over her from head to toe, taking in the fine jewelry and layers upon layers of silk skirts. “Unlike some.”
“Caelan, that’s enough,” the Emperor warned. “You are far from blameless in this. Queen Riona, how much time do you require to recount the rest of your history with my former spy?”
She paused, considering. “Three days. Maybe four, if he insists on throwing around more childish insults.”
“Better insults than blades,” the traitor quipped with a glance at the dagger she’d thrown, still lying on the dais steps.
“I see. Guards, escort her back to her chambers. Lord Percival, you may accompany her, if you wish. If not, one of my men will show you back to your room.”
Riona turned toward Percival, who was still standing on the edge of the crowd with the rest of the courtiers. She had purposefully avoided looking at him while she told the story of her exile from Rivosa. She hadn’t wanted to see the disgust in his eyes when he learned how hard and how deeply she had fallen for Caelan. But now, she found only sorrow and sympathy on his face, and shame caused a flush to rise to her cheeks. His pity was worse than disgust.
He bowed to the Emperor, picked up Riona’s crown from where it lay on the tile, and gently set it on her head. His warm gaze never left hers as he said, “I’ll go with Riona, Your Imperial Majesty.”
The Emperor waved a hand in dismissal, and the guards gripped her arms to drag her toward the exit. Riona jerked out of their grasp. “I can walk by myself.”
They all looked to the Emperor, who nodded. The guards didn’t reach for her again, but they hovered close at her side as they made their way out of the throne room, another half-dozen men falling into step behind them. Percival shouldered past the one closest to her and stopped in the middle of the great hall, turning to the man in the lead. “Release her from her chains. She has cooperated with all your Emperor’s orders, and she poses no threat to you.”
“She smuggled a dagger into the throne room and tried to kill a man with it. She has forsaken what little freedom His Imperial Majesty was kind enough to extend to her.”
“Oh, listen to the lord and release her,” a voice called from behind them.
They all turned to find Caelan leaning against the doorway to the throne room, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. The gash in his doublet gaped, revealing the slender crimson line where the dagger had nicked him. He pushed off the door frame and stalked toward them, a wicked grin on his lips. Although he addressed the guards, authority dripping from his voice, his attention was solely on Riona. “If she had any more weapons on her, she would have used them on me already.”
Percival studied the traitor as one of the guards stepped forward and removed Riona’s chains. Questions swam in his eyes, but he had the grace to remain silent as Riona smoothed the wrinkles in her gown and slipped her hand into the crook of his arm, ignoring Caelan completely. “Shall we?”
He nodded, and Riona led him in the direction of her chambers, the guards trailing behind them. She could feel the weight of Caelan’s stare on her back, prickling between her shoulder blades, as they left the great hall. Despite everything that had happened since those secret meetings in the Royal Theater, she could still feel the tether pulling taut between them. No matter what they did, how badly they hurt each other, they could never be free of it.
She and Percival walked through the light, airy corridors in silence, their reflections limned in the red-orange light of the sunset streaming through the windows. After what felt like an eternity, Riona said, “You’re wondering how I could love a man like him. How even now, I could be so heartless as to love the man who murdered my husband.”
Percival shook his head. “You are many things, Riona, but heartless is not one of them. I came to support you, not to judge. You owe me no explanations.”
She did. Even if no one else understood their twisted, broken relationship, she had to make Percival understand. “We are the creatures of cautionary tales, he and I,” she breathed, her voice soft with sorrow. “We are what happens when one does not forsake the heart for the good of the people and the country. I don’t believe I will ever stop loving him, but I will never allow him to win this war. We are enemies by necessity, Percival. Not by desire.”
He set a hand atop hers. “You don’t have to forsake your heart, Riona. Look at Mercy and Tamriel. Look at Celeste and me. You could rule together.”
“No. There is too much spilled blood between us. This will not end until one or both of us is dead.”
“Then I shall await news of your victory,” Percival said with a small smile, “and pray that it does not destroy you.”
