Page 96 of A Kiss of Flame
‘My lady Ylena,’ he said with a bow. It was not an answer, but he didn’t have an answer.
Ylena narrowed her eyes. They were slivers of ice as they fixed on him. Roland held his ground.
‘Mother, we do not have time for this,’ Maryn said irritably. ‘I need to send word to the College of Winter and Roland?—’
‘Time? Heal her or what use are you? And you—’ She turned on Roland again. ‘You brought this upon us. You sheltered that treacherous whelp and let him take the princess. You let this happen, either by negligence or design. I name you traitor, Roland de Silvius.’
He was almost surprised to realise he had expected this too. She wasn’t wrong. Not in principle, just the reasons she stated.
He had chosen Elodie, and Wren, over his duty to the crown and kingdom.
‘My lady,’ Lynette began to protest. ‘Listen to Sister Maryn. We need to send word to the College of Winter and beg their help. They will have an answer. Surely the Grandmaster should be the one to?—’
‘I don’t want to hear from you either. Your husband will take his place as Grandmaster. That’s about as high as you could hope to climb, Lynette, so hold your tongue and be grateful. You two, knights, Paladins, whatever you are.’ She waved her hands to Olivier and Anselm. ‘Escort de Silvius to the dungeon. Now.’
‘Mother, you can’t do this,’ Maryn argued in vain.
But she could. Of course she could. She was Lady Ylena, a princess of the blood royal. She was now the one and only regent and her queen was laid low, incapacitated by magic. Elodie was in her power. All she needed to rule Asteroth completely was Roland out of the way.
And now she had that too.
He could denounce her, but what good would that do? All she wanted, she would argue, was to protect her niece, to defend the crown.
And to place Wren on the throne.
The one thing that could not happen.
Suddenly sending her to safety with Finnian seemed more than inspired. He had to hope they would stay far away from Pelias.
He needed to warn them. He only hoped they were safe somewhere. Hestia wasn’t talking. Leander couldn’t. Yet.
He was sure that Ylena would get to that soon enough.
Anselm and Olivier were joined by Yvain, who had been curtly summoned and looked as deeply uncomfortable as they did. They didn’t relieve Roland of his weapons. What good would that do anyway? He could fight his way out but then what? They were his friends, his men. He couldn’t draw weapons on them.
Before they led him away, he returned to Elodie’s bedside, bent down and kissed her forehead. No one stopped him. Not even Ylena.
‘I’ll find a way to help you,’ he whispered. ‘Hold on, my love. I will always find a way.’
They led him away in silence, embarrassed and lost for words, down through the dungeon to a small and simple cell. Yvain opened the door, failing to meet Roland’s gaze.
‘This isn’t your fault, Yvain,’ Roland said softly, as he stepped inside. ‘And… she’s not wrong. I failed Elodie. I failed everyone.’
His old friend shook his head. ‘This is wrong. You know it as well as I do. And without you, we’re lost, Roland.’
‘Yvain.’ Roland rested his hand on Yvain’s shoulder. ‘You have to guard her now. The queen is more vulnerable than ever. All the knights need to look for a cure. Whatever the maidens say might help her. Our enemies knew they could not control her on the throne. So they took her out of their game. And now they’ll look for Wren so they can play another.’
Though no one had asked for it – they had not poured that indignity on him at least – Roland unbuckled the sword belt and held out Nightbreaker. Yvain visibly paled and took a step back.
Roland thrust it towards him again. ‘You need it. If you’re Grandmaster.’
‘We both know I’m not. No matter what they say.’
This was not good. He was a Paladin. Events may have shocked him, but he had taken vows when Roland had. He needed to be stronger than this.
Instead, Roland put the sword down between them and Yvain’s gaze followed every movement. He still didn’t bend to pick it up though.
‘Lynette says…’ he began but his voice trailed off. ‘Roland, what do we do?’
