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Chapter23
I’d been here before, but this time, narrowed eyes scanned me cautiously, as if there was something unnerving about my presence.
A few council members slithered past me, avoiding coming too close but still poised in a way that I knew they could lash out if necessary. If directed by their queen.
They hadn’t paid me a moment’s thought at the last council meeting, but now, I was in an unwanted spotlight. And given the way the queen’s eyes were trained on me, it wasn’t hard to tell that she was responsible for fueling this new caution around me. Or at the very least, her response to my attendance here was.
Wringing my hands together over and over was doing absolutely nothing to stop my body from trembling as I stood alone in this pit of vipers.
Well, one viper.
The queen.
Her steely gray gaze landed on me standing next to Noah in a way that caused my reaction to spiral downward instantly. And I wasn’t afraid of most people. And I certainly didn’t like showing it.
But her icy yet fiery stare would have brought me to my knees had we been alone.
“Noah,” the queen’s sharp voice was the first sound we heard as we entered the double doors to another council meeting. “A word.”
Noah, to his credit, smiled at his mother and didn’t seem fazed in the least. But she wasn’t looking at him as she spoke. She was shooting terror at me.
When she did look to her son, it was to wrap her fingers around his arm and yank him to the side. That small movement was enough to garner the attention of every eye in the room. I stood where I was, rooted in place near the water pitchers I’d served from last time I was in the council chambers.
“What on earth is a new servant doing in this room, Noah? Have you lost your mind?”
I cringed at her hissing and the fact that the queen seemed not to give a rat’s ass that she was publicly questioning the heir to the throne.
“Coraline was in the last council meeting at my request.” His tone was even, features hiding all emotion. His poker face was excellent, much better than his mother’s. He leaned in closer to her, plastering a smile on his face. “The guards questioned her, and instead of telling them anything, she was almost murdered. In our courtyard. By our guards. Giving details could have spared her life, and yet she refused to talk. I’d say that’s as trustworthy a human as one could find.”
I didn’t like the way he said human, but who was I to argue at how he chose to get the queen acting somewhat decent again?
His words did nothing to temper her reaction nor the gaze she shot back up at me. Instead her eyes narrowed further and she turned to her son. I fiddled with the water pitcher on the table, debating if picking it up and holding it to block my face would make the matter worse or hide me enough from that intense glare.
Her hands curled around Noah’s shoulders and she looked as though she was merely planting a kiss on her son’s cheek. “Her treachery will be on you should anything happen,” she whispered in his ear. It was quiet enough to spare Noah from having that statement heard by the council, but it was loud enough that I caught it.
The queen turned on her heel, marching toward the head of the table Noah had graced during the last meeting, and I hung my head, playing with the platter that the water pitcher rested on. I didn’t even look up to see if Noah spared me a second glance. I knew the queen would have her eye on me, and any look I gave Noah would be noted for something if Nicole’s words about her rang true.
Not drama that I needed right now. And I knew Noah certainly didn’t need it either.
The meeting began, with the queen in charge and Noah seated to her right. The king sat on the queen’s left at the table. I noticed he deferred to her here. She only looked at him once before rising, but I noticed he had gently patted her knee. Maybe to let her know she could have this, and I found myself suddenly wondering about their relationship. What Noah’s life had been like here.
“What do we have to report on the spell that nearly threw us into ruin?” the queen demanded as she stared down each and every member of the council.
A few other staff members stepped forward and began pouring water, so I followed their lead.
The council members were silent.
Noah raised his head to his mother. “Captain Coltain and I have questioned some of the guards who were involved in much of the questioning of the staff.” I picked up Noah’s glass and noticed a bruise on his knuckles. I frowned, wondering why on earth he’d have a bruise there when he hadn’t done any hand-to-hand fighting with the guards, and why he wouldn’t have healed it himself.
“And?” his mother asked.
Noah shook his head once.
“Did you question them thoroughly enough?” She cocked her eyebrow and Noah’s jaw ticked.
“I’d say quite thoroughly. They weren’t helpful in determining the cause. As I’m sure no one will be since this magic was cast suddenly and fiercely. No one saw anything so far.” Noah clenched his hand into a fist in his lap and then loosened it.
They clearly weren’t getting along at the moment, and they hadn’t been getting along while I was locked up either, from what Noah had told me. I wondered how often that happened.
