AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lifted the ring, and settled it onto my middle finger, feeling it pulsate with some unknown force against my skin. I shivered, clutching my hand to my chest.
Never take it off.
A clatter had Finn and I spinning to face the entrance, but it was only Alaric, wide-eyed and breathing hard, his face red as the evening sun.
It took the better part of an hour to explain what had happened in the chamber belowground. They had too many questions I couldn’t answer and grew frustrated at hearing the same response of ‘I don’t know,’ after each one they asked.
“I believe what you’re saying is true,” Alaric told me, “As difficult as it is to believe... But what I need to know is if there is any truth to what thisvoicetold you.”
“It was Morgana. I know it was.”
He raised his hands in a placating gesture, “We all know the Mad King is dead, Liana, and has been for two millennia.”
I fell back onto my bed, pinching the bridge of my nose to attempt to stop my head from pounding, “I know.”
A servant knocked on the door then, and as one, our three heads turned at the sound.
“Begging your pardon, majesty, but Thana has arrived.”
The Solstice Ball was to begin in mere hours, and I still hadn’t bathed. One glance in my dressing-table mirror and I knew combing the knots from my long silver hair would take an hour on its own.
“Send her in,” Alaric told the servant when I neglected to say anything. “I’ll stay with you while you get ready. Finn, you can go get yourself cleaned up. I doubt anyone will try anything in such a public place, but I’ll need both you and Kade there just in case.”
Finn nodded to his captain and left the room at the same time Thana entered, without so much as a goodbye. Guilt weighed upon my shoulders at what I had forced him into.I should never haveorderedhim the way I did.
“Where have you been?” Thana shrieked upon entering my bedchamber, “I’ve been worried to death.”
“The queen had some matters to attend to away from court,” Alaric offered as an excuse for my absence.
Thana’s hands landed on her hips in a dramatic gesture, “Oh, youspeakfor her too now?” she said sarcastically.
I rose to wrap my handmaiden in an embrace and felt some tension ease out of her limbs, “I’m sorry I had to leave while you were ill. Are you feeling better?”
She pursed her lips, pulling away, “I’m fine, child.” She pulled my arm, spinning me in a circle before her, “But you are an absolute mess. This will take me hours to fix. Where did you have to go, a pig farm? You’re filthy. And that hair—” she gasped, “You’ll be lucky if I don’t just cut it off to save us some time.”
“You will do no such thing,” I told her, “I quite like my long hair.”
I reached up to comb out some tangles with my fingers, and Thana cocked her head at me, her face seeming to pale. “That ring,” she said, pointing to the dragon’s eye stone on my finger, “Where did you get it? It looks so familiar.”
“It was—” I started but stopped when Alaric elbowed me in the ribs. I didn’t like keeping secrets from Thana but didnotfeel like dealing with Alaric’s wrath tonight. I would tell her the truth some other time—or show her the chamber beneath the palace. She would be in awe of the beautiful statues even if she couldn’t hear the original queen’s voice.
I showed her the ring closer, letting her get a better look, “Just a trinket,” I told her, sighing.
She reached for it, but halted her hand a hairsbreadth away, “It’s beautiful,” she exhaled, shaking her head as though coming out of a daze, “And it’ll look beautiful with your gown.”
Chapter Thirty
Thana was right of course; the gown Darius had designed for the ball was breathtaking. It was a deep crimson, beaded and trimmed with whorls of black and gold. Tight-fitted in the chest and around my waist, flaring out delicately at the hips to accentuate my curves. Another masterpiece. No surprise.
Thana had piled my hair at the nape of my neck—after what felt like hours of merciless brushing, leaving a few gently curling strands to hang near my face. She had ringed my eyes in feather-light line of coal, and a smattering of powered gold. Alaric watched the entire transformation from beginning to end, seeming to grow more uncomfortable as the minutes passed.
“What do you think?” I asked him, eager for a second opinion. Tonight, I would not only be rejoining my court from days spent absent but also revealing a Grace.
Alaric cleared his throat, clasping his hands together at his front, “Perfect, as always.”
I beamed. “You clean up quite nicely too,” I told him, winking over my shoulder at him. He had the servants bring up his clothes, and though he still wore black, as was customary for the Royal Guard, he had added a bit of flare. He wore a long gold-trimmed jacket over his vest which seemed to make his shoulders even broader and brought out the light in his eyes.
Thana had nothing but questions to throw at me as she readied me for the ball. When she had asked me if I had made any progress in developing my Grace, I had told her it was a surprise and I would show it to everyone later. She had smiled ear to ear and had demanded I tell herimmediatelywhat my Grace was. But I hadn’t decided which to reveal and made her wait in pouting suspense like the rest of the nobles at court.
