AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“My apologies, my queen. I did not know you’d be here,” Salome rushes to say, immediately curtsying in my presence, the skirt of her dress soaking up the snow.
“Stand, Salome. There is no need for such decorum when we are alone. I’ve told you as much.” I try to smile, but it comes out as flat as my temperament.
Salome rises to her feet, her forehead wrinkling in concern.
“You look upset, dear. Help me water these roses and take your mind off whatever is troubling you.” She smiles warmly.
“I doubt tending to roses will lift my spirits, but I’ll help you just the same, even if only to enjoy your company,” I reply, grabbing one of the watering pots from her hands. “How is Elijah?”
“Oh, as can be expected for a six-year-old. Can’t keep still. Always getting into mischief instead of cracking a book open and learning his letters.” She sighs with a shrug.
“Father was like that, too. Preferring action to words,” I retort sympathetically.
“True.” She frowns. “But sometimes I just wish my Elijah took more after me than Orville. Life would be simpler if he knew his place.”
I don’t say anything to that.
Being the bastard son of a king is a double-edged sword. My sweet little brother might live in a castle and bear my father’s likeness, but he’ll never have his name or hold a respectable place in court. That responsibility falls only on my shoulders as the only legitimate heir—a fact I know half of my court wishes they could change. They would rather have a male child on the throne, one they could manipulate and mold to satisfy their every whim, than a woman who has always known her own mind.
“I see that I’ve said more than I should. You look upset again,” Salome says with a worried expression on her face when she realizes my mood has turned once more.
“No. I’m fine.” I shrug off. “I’d rather you tell me what my brother has been up to than think about anything else.”
Salome’s face lightens up as it always does when I call Elijah my brother. It’s who he is to me, even if we don’t share the same mother.
After mine died, my father found comfort in Salome’s arms for a while. I admit that, at the time, I was bitter that my mother could be so easily replaced and forgotten. But when Elijah was born, all those thoughts that Salome wanted to take my mother’s place held no room in my heart. I had a little brother, one that I would die to protect. Especially since I saw how cruelly bastards were treated in my own castle. My brother would never suffer the same fate. Not while I was around.
My father wasn’t as careful with the way both Salome and Elijah were treated, though. To him, I was the only one worthy of his name, title, and respect, so no matter how many paramours shared his bed or bastards he fathered, they meant nothing to him. After I took Elijah under my wing and publicly claimed him as my kin, Father made it a point of hiding his affairs from me. If there were more brothers and sisters born from his indiscretions, he made sure that I didn’t get wind of it. One bastard brother was all he would tolerate for me to dote on. No more.
I wish he had been different on that account. Maybe if he had, then I wouldn’t catch myself staring into every child’s eyes in my court, wondering if they have the same blood coursing through their veins.
Thankfully, Salome indulges me in taking my mind off my woes by telling me how my little brother has been faring as we water her beloved blue roses. She tells me about all his adventures, such as climbing the castle walls or stealing horses from the castle’s stables to race with his friends on a dare. I live vicariously through my little brother, laughing away at his unruly antics, reminded of how at his age, I had the same curious rebellious streak.
“It’s nice to hear you laugh again. You haven’t been doing much of it lately,” Salome says with a shy grin to her lips.
“Not much to smile about, let alone laugh, I’m afraid.” I frown, remembering that while my little brother is living his best life, I’m stuck in rooms conversing with old men who think they could rule better than me.
“Hmm,” she mumbles. “I heard there was a council meeting today. I take it that things didn’t go as well as you would have liked?”
I nod, trying to push that horrid meeting from my thoughts.
Salome wraps her hand around my wrist and gives it a soft squeeze.
“Pay them no mind. You are your father’s daughter, Katrina. There is nothing you can’t do if you put your heart and soul into it.”
“Easier said than done when all I see are foes coming at me from all directions,” I grumble bitterly, but when Salome’s smile stretches wider instead of offering me words of sympathy, my forehead creases in confusion. “Did I say something funny?”
“No, dear. I was just thinking about something your father used to say.”
“My father, like his men, loved the sound of his own voice. He said many things, Salome. Mind narrowing it down for me?” I arch a teasing brow.
“Fair enough.” She giggles. “He used to say that a smart man keeps his friends close, but a wiser one keeps his enemies even closer. If your enemies are coming for you, then maybe it’s timeyouwent after them, too.”
“Go after them?” I laugh bitterly at the absurdity. “And how do you suggest I do that? I have no army to speak of. No money to pay or feed one even if I did. How am I supposed to go after my enemies when it feels as if the noose around my neck keeps tightening with each pull they make?”
“You may not have an army, but you have your mind. And a woman’s mind can be a frightful thing if she so wishes it to be,” she advises poignantly. “Go and seek out your enemies and let them feel how cold it is to stand in your shadow. Make them kneel before you and pledge their undying love to their true ruler in front of the masses and all to behold,” Salome explains before plucking a blue rose to hand over to me, pride and fearlessness in her gaze. “And if they should not, show them what the north can do to those who refuse to submit to the Winter Queen. Make examples of them all, before they makeyouone.”
“Winter Queen?” I raise a brow at the mention of the title my people christened me with after my coronation. “I sound terrifying.”
