“Thank you.” I inclined my head in a half bow, worried I’d tip over if I tried a full one again. My head was spinning as it was.
“Doyourequire anything, Ms. Bell?” asked the female guard, the one the queen called Gisela. “You look unwell.”
“I appreciate it, but I’m fine.”
“We can smell that you’re injured.” The queen’s eyes locked on my upper left arm, and I tried to shuffle Josslyn to cover it, but mybody was giving out. I’d be lucky to make it through this audience without passing out from either pain or exhaustion.
Or both.
“It’s nothing to worry about.”
She didn’t look convinced. Neither did the king as he eyed me intensely, as if he suspected I was preparing to steal the dainty crown nearly hidden in her orange-red hair.
“And your drivers?” she asked. “The guards said there were two young ladies with you. Should we offer them refreshments?”
Good manners would have me answering yes, but my battered soul screamed that Amabel and Eluned deserved nothing but the same misery they’d shown me.
“You can do with them as you see fit, Your Majesty,” I murmured, dropping my eyes to Brumous.
“Sounds like you’d prefer we threw them in the dungeon,” Gisela chuckled, and I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t agree.
“Let’s move this along.” King Julian waved one hand in a rolling motion. “When she arranged this audience, your stepmother didn’t state a purpose beyond that you had a request you wished to make. Is it for us to help this poor beast?”
“No, sire.” I shook my head, my curls rioting around my face, and I wished I would have taken time to tame them back in a low pony or bun. “I request your help forher.”
Turning Josslyn around so they could see her adorable face, I swallowed hard. I hated the idea of never seeing her again, but I couldn’t let my selfishness get in the way of her safety. She deserved a future, a bright and blessed future, and I couldn’t give her that.
“She’s four weeks old and the daughter of Arabesque and my father, Jonathan Bell, an earth witch,” I went on. “She’s a lunar witch like me, and she needs a good home.”
“Oh, how precious. May I see her closer?” The queen handed her own child off to Gisela and, without thinking, I went up the steps and laid Josslyn in her arms.
“What about your father? Does he not want to raise his daughter?” King Julian asked from much closer than he’d been, and I straightened up to find him right next to me, and I wondered if he’d leapt out of his throne as I ascended the dais, despite her guard standing right there.
Seems His Majesty truly loves his queen,I thought with a wistful smile as I rejoined Brumous at the bottom of the stairs.How lucky she is, to be so cherished.
“My father is dead,” I answered his question with quiet dignity. “Since October. Arabesque killed him.”
“You’re certain of this?” The king’s voice rumbled through the grand hall, loaded with disbelief and something sharper. Anger, maybe, or frustration.
“As certain as I can be,” I replied with a tiny shrug, laying my right hand over the mass of adhesive bandages I’d plastered over the claw wound this morning.
The whisperbind was a choking pressure that silenced the words Arabesque forbade me to say. I couldn’t tell him everything, but I could tell himsomethings, so I explained about my contract with her and what I got out of the arranged marriage that sealed her truce with King Lucian.
“She doesn’treallywant peace with the vampires. She’s only using it to give her time to plan something. Something that involves—”
I shook my head, frustrated.
“We’ll do what we can.” Queen Lilah’s expression softened, her eyes filling with a quiet empathy. “We’ll warn King Lucian, right, Julian?”
“Of course, although he’s most assuredly already aware. Anyone who has any dealings with Arabesque would be a fool not to expect a trap.” King Julian sat back on his throne.
“You know her?” I asked with both awe and embarrassment. I didn’t want them to associate me with her.
“Everyone knowsthatbitch,” Gisela grumbled.
“We also know all about this truce and the attached marriage contract, but you must understand, Miss Bell.” The king sighed and tugged at his beard. “I’ll have to tread carefully. Werewolf and vampire politics are complicated, despite our alliance.”
“I understand.” I nodded, my heart pounding. “But you have to stop her. She’s not what she seems.”
