I could agree that Crenshaw hated the idea of me being queen. But it wasn’t defection. It had been an attempted assassination. Not that I could convince my uncle to care about such trivial matters as my life.
Meanwhile, my uncle and I had formed a sort of unspoken truce. Since the verdict, he’d tolerated my existence and stopped threatening to throw me in the dungeons. But I was not fooled. He would not give me the Crown of Nine willingly. And until it was securely on my head, I would never trust him again.
I had moved to my old room, which was both sweet and difficult. It was nearly the same as when I’d left it. My bed still bore the same rose silk bedding. My toys had been locked up in a wardrobe, but the furniture was the same. The drapes were the same.
I’d ordered new bedding and furniture coverings, but I’d left my toys where they were. One day I wanted to be strong enough to go through them. But I hoped to not have to go through them alone.
“Have you had any word on Katrinka?” I asked.
“Not yet,” Tyrn sighed. “But I’m sure Maksim has only just arrived home. He’ll send word on your sister when he finds time.”
Over the last three weeks I’d learned that Brahm had smuggled Katrinka to Barstus the same day my family had been murdered, as soon as the royal guard had found her. He’d claimed it was for her protection, that if the assassins had known she lived they would have come back for her.
My uncle had kept her there, out of his way and out of the kingdom she belonged to. King Maksim and Queen Oleska had been raising her in secret ever since and to my knowledge had no plans of ever revealing her identity or existence to the realm. There was more that they weren’t telling me, more to Katrinka’s exile and cover-up. But I would wait until Katrinka arrived before I condemned anyone.
No one other than Tyrn and the royal family in Barstus had known she was alive until Conandra. Well, and Brahm Havish, who was now sitting in a prison cell after his appearance and testimony at the trial.
I had not been allowed to see him since they locked him away. Not for lack of trying.
Tyrn claimed to have kept Katrinka a secret for the same reason I stayed in hiding— to protect her. I couldn’t believe him. Not after everything. But, again, I would wait to decide more when she arrived.
As for my sister, I could hardly believe that I would get to see her again. It was all I could think about these days and the excitement buzzed through me relentlessly.
I would often close my eyes and imagine what she looked like, of how she’d grown, of the woman she’d become. My uncle had promised to send for her. And I had decided that if he did not keep his promise, I would go after her myself.
Although the wait was killing me.
I had written a letter telling her how urgently I wished to be with her again. But I’d asked that she only come if she wanted to. I knew how jarring it was to realize the sister you had thought dead was alive.
“If you have no word of Katrinka, then why have you summoned me, Uncle?” I asked when I could stand being ignored no longer.
He sighed impatiently again but lifted his gaze to focus on me. “I wanted to inform you that Ravanna Presydia will be residing with us as my guest. She has graciously agreed to take you on as a student and teach you the proper ways to be a queen.”
Unease tickled the back of my neck. “But I thought you were going to do that?” I didn’t trust my uncle, but I trusted Ravanna even less.
Gunter’s warning echoed in my head, as did Crenshaw’s, and I knew that even after Conandra, the Crown of Nine was still in danger.
Tyrn laughed without humor. “And what do I know of being queen? Ravanna is the only queen in the realm that controls her own kingdom. And her own army. You should consider yourself fortunate to have her tutelage.”
“I have tutors,” I reminded him. “And teachers and instructors and masters. I do not need another.”
His pale blue eyes flashed. “You do need a teacher. You especially need a mentor. And a husband. Your tongue moves without restraint. That will never suit you as Queen. When Ravanna is finished with you, you’ll need a man to help temper your shortsightedness.”
“A husband?” I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. No.No no no no no.
He held my gaze with a challenging glare. “Yes, a husband. The council wants to see you married as soon as possible. Your coronation will be the perfect opportunity to start looking for someone suitable.”
“Uncle, you can’t be serious!”
“I’m quite serious. You will have a husband within the year if you want the realm to take you seriously.”
“Because I’m a queen and not a king? I don’t think the realm will have trouble—”
“Because you are not a woman but a girl. Because you are not yet a queen, you are only a princess. One that has not even been crowned. Because this realm is looking for strength and unity and solidarity and you are a child that goes traipsing through the woods without a care in the world, as if the butterflies will protect her from all those waiting to slit her throat. If you want to be queen of this realm, Tessana Allisand, you must grow up. You must act like a queen. A husband will help with that.”
I let out a slow breath. My uncle could search for a husband all he wanted, but I would have the final say in whom and when I married.
And it would not be within the year.
