The queen had stopped across the room, a slender finger dragging along one of the broad-leafed plants in Elora’s room.
“Better than alright,” the queen said. “I come bearing great news and couldn’t wait another day to share it.” She paused for dramatic effect, awaiting her cue. So Elora gave it, inchingcloser in her seat as if she couldn’t wait to hear. The queen’s smile was vicious. “The traitor has been apprehended.”
Suddenly, Elora was grateful for the chair beneath her, otherwise the realm surely would’ve bucked her right off the edge.
She couldn’t believe her ears. He actually did it, that future husband of hers had actually found and captured her greatest abuser. Man or not, perhaps the prince wasn’t so bad after all.
“That’s…wonderful news, my queen. Thank you. Thank you for telling me.” Elora was breathless, her mind skittering like mice in the larder at the first sight of the cooks. “Do we know when they’ll be returning?”
“Shortly. Perhaps within a week, based on the last letter the prince sent.”
Elora’s insides were still tumbling, this time for different reasons. “And what of his mission regarding his father? The wedding?”
“There have been no updates on that front yet. But rest assured, the wedding will continue as planned. I am certain of it.”
If the queen was correct—and she struck Elora as the sort of person who always was, even when they weren’t—then that meant she would be future queen sooner than later. After all, Queen Signe had already told Elora that once the prince returned, they would begin planning immediately, with the goal of having them wed by the month’s end, if not sooner.
Elora tried not worrying about that now though.
All that mattered was that her torturer had been caught. She would have her justice.
“And…” Elora tested her voice, the queen’s overpowering presence making her waver with uncertainty, even though they had already discussed this part. But she needed to ask again. Needed to hear her say it. “You’ll still leave his sentencing to me?”
“As the future queen of Irongate, I see no better opportunity for you to practice one of your royal obligations. Don’t you?”
There was nothing she wanted more.
Elora bowed her head in acceptance.
“Well, that was all for now, Princess Elora. I’ll leave you to your nighttime routine.” Queen Signe clasped her hands at the waist of her black gown, and spun toward the door. But then stopped. Over her slender shoulder, she added, “Quite the wedding gift from your betrothed, wouldn’t you say?”
Bile, hot and rancid climbed up the back of Elora’s throat. But she swallowed it down. Met the queen’s poisonous grin with a grateful one of her own.
“Yes. He is proving himself to be a fine future husband.”
One of the queen’s eyebrows cocked, and Elora knew she had made a mistake. “How very amusing. I wasn’t aware it was the prince who needed to prove himself and not the former prisoner.”
The words pierced her like a spear. Elora spluttered to find the words, to apologize, to take back the insult she had accidentally given.
But before she could, the queen was gone.
It was only then, in the solitude and comfort of her room, that Elora’s senses returned to her. She had done nothing wrong. This was just the queen’s way of reminding her of her place, which she seemed to do upon exiting any conversation with anyone.
Elora wouldn’t let it get under her grey, undead skin.
She would be Queen of Irongate soon enough, and then Queen Signe’s subtle threats would mean nothing. Elora would reign.
Chapter 12
The Monster Inside
KESTREL
They traveled across the desert for days—maybe weeks—over flat wastelands and through heaping dunes that the larger sand-gliders struggled to get up and over without additional men pushing and pulling on all the ropes. Kestrel learned they had to rely on the whims of the desert winds to guide them, as well as the crew’s astute sailing.
With the feel of the wheel under her hands, she had never felt more alive.
But she couldn’t stand at the helm the entire time. Micah and her took turns on their sand-glider, and although the rest should’ve been a welcome reprieve, she found herself dreading it every time.
