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I shook my head at him, “Then I won’t go as the queen of the Night Court. I’ll go as a subject.”
“And who do you think you would be fooling?” Kade asked, his eyebrow raised.
“There isn’t a soul like you on Meloran. And besides—all four royal guardians seen surrounding one female,” Finn inclined his head to me, “It wouldn’t take long for them to figure out who you are.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, “Do you forget that I spent the entire beginning of my life living as a peasant on an isle? If you think I can’t play the part, you’re mistaken. And as to your other worry, there won’t be any need for such protection, not for a peasant girl. Tiernan will escort me in—they don’t know his face—and the rest of you can watch from a distance.”
“You’re being stubborn,” Alaric huffed.
“And you’re being an overprotective ass,” I snickered at him, mostly joking, eliciting myself a half-smirk from Finn and an outright laugh from Kade.
“Liana—” he started.
“We’ll all go to the memorial. I’ve made up my mind.”
And I could have been mistaken, but I thought I saw something like wonder, or perhaps admiration flash over Alaric’s eyes as he watched me walk away.
Chapter Eleven
“Majesty?” a servant inquired as she poked her head into the parlor later that afternoon. Kade was sitting across from me and didn’t pay any mind to the maidservant—his focus instead was on the chess pieces between us. It had become something of a ritual—playing chess with Kade. We’d even taken to playing when he guarded me in the night. He had yet to win, poor thing. I didn’t bother telling him I’d played with the seven sisters on the Isle of Mist almost daily since I was eight.
“Yes?”
She stepped into the room, her arms neatly folded behind her back, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Aisling just sent word requesting to meet with you in your chambers.
A sly smile tugged at my lips, I wondered if she’d managed to glean anything from Valin. “Of course. Please let her know she is welcome.”
The servant nodded, and I felt bad not having learned her name. As I’d reminded my men, it wasn’t so long ago that I myself was little more than a lost little girl, sleeping on a bed of hay in a cottage of stone.
I rose and followed her from the room, earning myself a confused stare from Kade, “I’ll only be a second, don’t worry,” I offered him, and he went back to narrowed brows and a puckered expression, considering the glass and bone pieces on the table before him.
She spun as though afraid upon hearing me approach behind her, “Majesty,” she said, with a hand to her heart. She had a slender figure, and hair as black as ebony framing a face set with vibrant steeped tea eyes. “Is there something you need?”
I shook my head, “No, it’s only, I don’t know your name.”
She looked taken aback at the question in my words. She was new on my staff. After the incident with Thana, they had replaced every member of my staff except for young Rin—gods bless him—even after being poisoned, he requested to stay on as my taster. I was happy to give him the position.
“It’s Jaen,” she said in a small voice. After a beat of silence, she cleared her throat, looking decidedly uncomfortable, “I should—well, I should go send that message for you, majesty.”
“Yes, sure. Thank you, Jaen.”
Jaen took off down the corridor as a rat would scurry from flame.Am I really so frightening?I shrugged, heaving a sigh as I made my way back into the parlor.
“You better not have tampered with the board while I was away,” I said with no malice, “If you did, I’ll know.”
Lifting my skirts, I resumed my seat opposite Kade, who was so wrapped up in his own thoughts and focus he didn’t bother to reply. I grinned. I liked the Draconian like that, all pensive and intense. His muscles rippled with tension where I could see them along his densely corded arms and in his shoulders. If only he’d take off that ridiculous armored vest, I’d have a full view of his perfectly sculpted chest. But then, I don’t think we’d be playing chess anymore—at least, not the kind you played on a checkered board.
I swallowed back the hint of warmth spreading through me at the thought of Kade bared before me, swallowing air in a way I hoped he wouldn’t notice. I watched him consider the chess pieces before him, and I knew from where he looked what he would do, but it would be his end, he just didn’t know it yet.
Kade clenched his jaw, reaching out to move his bishop into the perfect place for me to check his king.
“I wouldn’t,” I warned, and he groaned in frustration, placing the bishop back to where it had been.
His shoulders relaxed as he realized once again that no matter where he moved, I would end the game within two turns. “You are maddening, you know that?”
I barked a laugh, “And you’re just mad you got beat by a female—sorry, that youkeepgetting beat by a female.”
Kade’s lips shifted into a coy smile. “One of these days, Iwillwin. You’ll see.”
