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Glancing down the hall, Kallie noted that the rest of the paintings were painted in a similar manner. While the brush strokes changed here and there as the artist changed over the years, the focal point remained the same throughout the portraits. Just the men and their crowns.
Based on the brilliance of the hues, the absence of cracks in the paint, and the royal’s apparel, the paintings at the front were more recent. That meant . . .
Kallie spun around.
She approached the painting across from Lothian and brushed a finger down the gilded frame. She had never seen Rian before, not even a portrait, so she only had Lothian’s and Sebastian’s features to go off when creating a mental depiction of her betrothed. Based on his portrait, the image she had made hadn’t been too far off, for Rian shared some similarities with the men in his family. The red hair, green eyes, and sharp chin all belonged to his father. But there were more differences than similarities. Unlike his brother and father, either because of a change in artist or the artist’s choice, Rian’s shade of hair was a touch brighter, a smidge deeper, bolder. In the portrait, it was more of a burned copper rather than the fiery orange belonging to Sebastian and their father. Rian’s skin was also darker, not as fair as his father’s and brother’s. Like in a portrait of his mother that Kallie had seen, it was a light brown with a golden undertone. Rian’s gaze was also softer, gentler than the hungry green glare Kallie had grown accustomed to from Sebastian. Kallie had spent over a decade studying portraits, and the brush strokes above his cheeks suggested that the painter had attempted to hide the purple bags beneath Rian’s eyes. Despite their attempt, grief bled through the pigment, making the sorrow on the young king’s face a permanent mark on the walls.
Rian was a king granted his crown before he was ready.
Her father always said that one’s misfortune was someone else’s gain. Perhaps Rian’s sudden rise to the throne would make it that much easier for Kallie to steal it from him.
Kallie tilted her head. While she had never preferred redheads, she supposed Rian wasn’t too bad to look at if the painter could capture his likeness accurately. One might even argue that he was handsome, dashing even—sadness and all. The combination of his features was both unique and striking.
But not as striking as the man who appeared when Kallie closed her eyes.
Kallie bit down on her tongue as thoughts of Graeson tried to surface. She refused to think about him or the rising pain in her chest. A couple of months with him was nothing. A mere blip in her life. It didn’t matter if they had a history (one she could barely remember). There was no future with him. She had made sure of that.
Kallie turned on her heel.
She swept her gaze over the rest of the portraits as she marched forward. Even though Vaneria had split into the seven kingdoms only one hundred years ago, the hallway of kings would have suggested otherwise. Every few feet, a new pair of eyes followed her. Hundreds of faces stared at Kallie as her heels clicked against the floor. One after another, men wore the same sharp, gold crown until a handful of portraits down the hall where there was a change. The golden crown disappeared, replaced by a simple gold ringlet encircling the men’s fiery heads. These were the lords of the Frenzian territory before the Great War and before there were kings and queens of the land.
Kallie twisted the ring around her finger. With each passing portrait, one fact became glaringly obvious: Frenzia had never been ruled by a woman. Not unlike most of the kingdoms of Vaneria—besides Pontia and Tetria, that is.
Kallie was tired of the traditions and the roles she had to play. Unfortunately, she still had a role to play to earn her seat. Winning Rian’s heart was one thing, but winning the hearts of the people might prove to be another.
Nearing the end of the hall, Kallie slowed her pace as voices, muffled and unfamiliar, seeped through the crack beneath the door. Having crept closer, Kallie put her ear against the wood.
“Does it matter, Rian?” a woman asked from the other side. Her voice was mature and as solid as the stone walls of the castle.
“Of course, it matters! I made a promise,” a man—Rian presumably—answered. Unlike the woman, his voice shook, not less confident than the woman but more strained.
With furrowed brows, Kallie pressed the side of her face firmly against the wood.
“Youmade no such promise,” the woman shouted. “Your brother did.”
Sebastian? Could Rian possibly mean—
“And whose fault was that?”
“Rian, do not start this with me. You know as well as I do that you needed to stay here. Yourkingdomneeded you here, not at some frivolous ceremony that we all know was purely for show.” The woman huffed. “That man has always been obsessed with his reputation and appearance. If he has an opportunity to show off his wealth or success, he will take it. The girl will no doubt be the same.”
Kallie’s nails bit into her palms as she listened to the woman insult her and her father. Was Domitius boastful about his accomplishments? Sure, but for good reason.
Insult aside, Kallie now understood why the king didn’t greet her last night. He didn’t want to marry her. If that was the case, Domitius was not the only king interested in upholding his reputation. Why else would he have sent Sebastian to retrieve her?
Somewhere on the other side of the door, Rian sighed. “I know, Mother. I know I had to stay, but—”
“But if you had left,” Tessa said, interrupting, “it could have destroyed our people’s faith in you, Rian.”
“I understand that, Mother. I stayed, didn’t I?”
Tessa grunted in response.
Rian continued, “If I break this promise, I could lose the faith and respect of not just our people but Vaneria as a whole. You do not wish that for me, do you?”
Kallie clenched her jaw. Her suspicions had been correct. The former queen was trying to end her son’s marriage before it even began. Kallie, however, would not allow that to happen. She had already risked enough for this engagement to lose her crown before acquiring it.
“Fine!” Tessa shouted. “But you need to understand that there is more at work here than it may seem. Your brother should not have made promises that were not his to give. We had thought we were in the clear, but here she is. At the end of the day,youare the king now. It is your problem, your choice. But I warn you, if she is anything like her father, do not let your guard down .”
