And only once she was alone and in the comfort of the gardens, did Elora finally allow herself to cry.
Chapter 25
The Queen’s Magic
KESTREL
Micah led Kestrel into a dining hall so grand, so immense, that if they were to sit on opposite ends of the table, they’d have to shout just to hear one another. More impressive than the endless mahogany table in the center of the room though, was the extravagant display of food atop it. There were a variety of breads and cheeses, the golden platters crammed high with freshly picked fruits she’d never seen before, and steaming stews that made her mouth water.
However, in the center of the table, rested a roasted pig head that made Kestrel’s stomach churn. She stopped walking around the table. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t tear her eyes away from the lifeless gaze of the dead creature staring back at her.
Growing up, she and Thom didn’t eat any animals—and now that she knew the history of the Animali, she understood why.
To have such a gruesome display here seemed so…so barbaric.
“Best if you just ignore it,” Micah said, leaning into her ear. “That’s what I do.”
She heard the lump in his throat, but by the time he stepped around her to grab his own plate, if he had shown any other signs of distress, they were gone. Micah pranced around the room on the pads of his feet, grabbing rolls and fruit and anything that seemed to please him. Surprising her, when he was finished, he held the plate out to her.
“Try these. They’re likely the least offensive of the cuisine prepared for us today.”
Kestrel took the plate, examined it, and plucked a bundle of small, dark blue orbs up by a sickly, thin branch. “What are these?”
Filling his own plate now, he glanced over his shoulder. “You’ve never eaten blueberries? Well you’re in for a treat!”
Ultimately, she set them back onto her plate. But Kestrel was still eyeing them suspiciously as she took a seat farthest away from the pig. She wanted to try new things, but the carcass on the table was distracting, and she wasn’t sure if she could trust her stomach to be able to handle uncertainty quite yet.
So instead of starting with the blueberries, she began nibbling on a piece of white cheese.
“Will anyone else be joining us?” she asked him.
“You mean Leighton?” Micah threw his body into a chair beside her, one leg kicked up over the armrest. “Nah, not for lunch. The queen summoned him and Princess Elora to do some planning for his coronation or wedding or something. But I’m sure he’ll be done by supper.” He bit into a peach, juice dribbling down his chin as he talked around his bites. “Best not to get too attached to him though. He is engaged, after all.”
“I’m not—that’s not why?—”
He raised an eyebrow that said he didn’t believe her one bit. Which was fine. The fewer people who knew about Leighton digging into Thom’s imprisonment for her, the better. She wasonly eager to find out what he’d learned, but maybe the wait would be worthwhile. Give him more time to dig into the queen’s plans for him.
“And your other brother—well, one of your other brothers—Efrem, doesn’t he eat?”
Micah shrugged. “Only when he remembers to. He takes his guard duties quite seriously, but I’m sure he’ll join us at the end of his shift.” Sinking his teeth into another bite, he crooked his eyebrows at her. “What’s the matter? Am I not good enough company for you?”
Kestrel rolled her eyes at him, and they spent the rest of the meal playfully bantering with one another. They mostly talked about Irongate, how his favorite thing to do in the city was to sneak into festivals unnoticed and dance the late hours away as a commoner. Or how his favorite thing to do outside of the city was to cross the Hingsol Lake and sneak into the Skogar territories to watch the migration of the bighorn sheep. Or how when castle-life got really boring, he loved to sneak into the cellar and taste the finest wines from Skydust and Arebal Farms.
Mostly, it sounded to Kestrel like Micah simply enjoyed the sneaking around bits. He had a thrill for doing things he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
“Don’t you ever worry about getting caught?”
The grin that split his face was devious. “Little bird, a professional never gets caught.”
By the time Marion entered the dining hall, Kestrel was entirely stuffed and had almost forgotten she was supposed to be joining the queen. Micah bid her farewell and told her he’d see her at supper. As she rose from the table to follow Marion out of the dining hall, Kestrel secretly looked forward to hearing all about the shenanigans he’d gotten himself into in the meantime. She had a feeling her next activities wouldn’t be quite so enthralling.
Marion led Kestrel down a few quick corridors, walking past the throne room which gave Kestrel some semblance of her bearings, before stopping at a large bloodred door at the end of another hallway.
There were no windows down this way, and Kestrel knew before Marion could even open the door that it would be ominously dark inside. What she didn’t expect was the eerie gust of wind that billowed from the room and wrapped around her like a noose.
Even Marion shuddered.
“The queen’s waiting for you inside, my lady,” Marion stammered, refusing to so much as glance inside.
