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Then again, if we can’t come up with a way to stop Ulla, neither of our lives is likely to be very long.
“I know that,” I tell her evenly.
She nods, but her face is neutral enough that I’m still not sure we’re talking about the same thing. “I only know them in passing. The queen is friends with Lady Delmara, but she wouldn’t be if she knew she was responsible for what happened to the crown prince. The whole family has been reclusive since then, but the king especially seems to have retreated.”
Zaina crosses her arms over her chest and Khijhana presses her massive head to Zaina’s leg, a sign that she recognizes the stress in her as well as I do.
“She killed the crown prince?” It shouldn’t surprise me.
I have a vague recollection of a boy with curly brown hair teetering around his father’s legs. And now he’s dead, because of her.
“I suspect so.” Zaina traces the navy stripes on Khijhana’s head subconsciously. “She was furious that he married before she had the chance to orchestrate it to her advantage.”
“And now the younger brother is up for marriage.” His masquerade ball is on the front page of every newspaper we’ve seen.
“Well, it would be an opportunity to get an edge on Madame…”
Even knowing she’s joking, I can’t suppress a scowl at the idea of her with another man. “Indeed.”
She gives me the barest hint of a smirk. “I must confess my weakness for gangly, pustule-faced boys who flirt with all the courtiers. It’s truly a shame I’m both married and dead.”
A small answering smile forms on my lips, but it’s chased away by a frustrated growl. “What does she have to gain from ruining the lives of every monarch she can get her hands on?”
I’m talking to myself as much as Zaina, but she responds anyway.
“Besides the obvious, you mean?”
I shake my head. “She has wealth and influence already, and even she has to have loftier aspirations than power for power’s sake. What does she plan to do with it all? What is she really after?” I pinch the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb, trying to dull the headache forming between my eyes.
These are questions we’ve asked before, questions without easily discernible answers. Instead of the clear lines of play I see in a chess game, everything looks murky from here.
Zaina shakes her head after a moment, looking as frustrated as I feel. She crosses the room to stand just in front of me, and I wrap my arms around her waist.
“I honestly don’t know. I suppose that’s what we’re here to find out.”
