“What happened?”
Words stall in my throat. I don’t know how much to say. I remember the queen standing at the window, talking about how the king wasn’t saying anything toher. But surely the king should know about this attack, too, right?
My thoughts are still spinning wildly. I don’t know the right answer. I don’t know who I can trust.
When I say nothing, the other soldier with Tycho looks from him to me and then down at my hands, then says something in Emberish.
Tycho glances at him, then back at me. “Were you hurt? Do you need to sit—”
“No.” I shake my head forcefully. “I need to get to the queen.”
“Is it Sinna? Tell me what happened.”
I step away from him. If Queen Lia Mara wants the king to know, she can tell him herself. “Princess Sinna is fine,” I say. “This is—this is nothing to do with that. I have to—”
The other soldier steps in front of me, blocking my path. For an instant, I freeze, glaring up at him, but Tycho puts a hand on his arm.
The other man glances between us again, but after a moment, hesteps aside. I hurry past them both, practically running when the hallways empty.
I don’t pause when I get to the royal suites, because I don’t want the guards there to look too closely at me either. I still have no idea what I’m going to say to the queen about any of this, and my heart won’t stop pounding.
But when I arrive, I only find my sister and the little princess, again playing Wolf and Stone.
They look up in surprise when I arrive, and I tuck my hands into the skirts of my gown again.
“Cally-cal!” they cry, like they’re both my little sisters. Nora is smiling brightly. “I told Sinna we could go outside once you got back.” She glances at the window. “You’re not as late as I thought.”
My heart won’t stop pounding. “Is the queen here?” I choke out.
“No,” says Nora. Her voice is a little hushed, and she adds, “She said she would be in discussion with the king this morning.”
I stare at her, wondering if the king and queen have grown so distant that even Nora has noticed it. I have a flash of memory of that moment when she was trying on her fighting clothes, how I realized she was growing up while I wasn’t paying attention.
She’s noticing a lot more than I’ve realized.
Just now, she’s peering at me more closely. “Are you unwell?” Her eyes narrow. “Is that blood—”
Princess Sinna gasps.
“No! No, of course not.” I swallow and shake my head quickly. “I was—I was with one of the House lords, and the carriage hit a muddy puddle.”
I’m lying. I don’t know why I’m lying.
Can I interrupt the queen? I’m not even sure what I’d say.
Alek and I were attacked by a scraver, but we survived because I have magic.
No.
And if she’s finally speaking to the king, I don’t want to interrupt that at all.
Then I consider all my meetings with the Royal Houses.
Maybe the king and queen are issuing declarations of war.
I never even had a chance to tell her what Tycho said.
I move to the window where the queen looked down over the fields. I can see Tycho and that soldier now, crossing the fields, heading for the soldier barracks and the stables. Other soldiers are engaged in training exercises in the sunlight, but I don’t recognize anyone else.
