“Apologies, my horse threw a shoe.” The lie rolled smoothly off her tongue as she rose, her seafoam silk gown falling off her frame like water. Thalia hadn’t questioned it when her handmaiden, Katrina, wrangled her into it. The gold press of her knife against her thigh echoed the coldness of her mother’s face.
The queen’s brows narrowed noting the lie. “You were expected days ago.”
Thalia ignored the stares of her mother’s scheming court. They tittered behind lace fans, their forked tongues whispering to each other, nodoubt about her absence at court. “I was checking on the towns further north. They’ve been hit harder than most with the Scarecrows.”
“I see.” The queen’s delicate nostrils flared as Thalia took a spot next to her. “You reek of death.”
Thalia was glad her back was ramrod straight, only because it kept her from falling over. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The queen raised a well-groomed brow. The setting sun filtered in through the large-paned windows, highlighting the gold and marble of the throne room. It set her mother shining, the beams bouncing off blonde hair braided neatly into a chignon, making it glow like a halo. Thalia supposed that was how her mother wished to appear: like an angel, a savior.
“Why am I here? You know I have a duty to fulfill.” Thalia steered the conversation away from the supposed scent her mother could sniff out like a bloodhound. Away fromhim.
The queen shifted on her throne, her simple crown catching the light. The two olive branches wrapped around her brow. The branches were meant to be a symbol of victory—of hope.
But hope did not shelter here. It fled when darkness came, chased out by its warring cries.
“There has been a new development with the ore,” the queen said, pulling Thalia back.
“Reina said as much. Have they found something to replace it? Some new resource we may have overlooked?” Thalia’s heart rate picked up.
The queen’s green eyes flashed. “You know the only place to get that ore is in the mountain.”
Thalia’s stomach twisted like a knife. The mountain was at the very tip of their continent, accessible only to the monsters who had killed her father and sister, who hid behind an impenetrable forest. That was why the war had gone on for so long. The humans couldn’t break through the forest, and the Vampyrs seemed able to send only a few of their kind at a time to target the farms.
“Has Marcus found something in the library, then?” Thalia pushed. She craned her head, trying to spot the head librarian among the courtiers, but she didn’t find his curly head in the crowd.
The queen hesitated, then her face hardened. “Not quite.”
“Then what—”
The throne room doors boomed open, and her mother’s adviser, Kamith, strolled in. Although his hair was shot through with gray, he carried himself like a younger man. He wasn’t unattractive by any means, and Thalia had learned to ignore whispers among the displeased courtiers that he was bedding the queen.
“Your Majesty.” Kamith bowed before straightening. “Your guests are ready for you.”
“What guests?” Thalia asked, looking between the two.
“Princess,” Kamith acknowledged, sliding his guarded gaze to hers. “Potential allies.”
Agripa didn’t have any allies, at least here in this land. The treacherous waters around Agripa made overseas journeys from other continents more perilous than they were worth.
“I thought you had something on the ore?” Thalia glanced between the two of them, picking at the skin around her thumbs.
The queen ignored her, nodding as the last of the sun’s rays fled the throne room. “Bring them in.”
Reina stepped forward, flashing a warning look at Thalia before she left with a few other soldiers. Thalia had failed to note how many guards in glinting armor lined the back walls.
The queen turned suddenly to her. “You must be on your best behavior tonight.”
Thalia resisted the urge to scowl. “I always am—”
“I mean it, Thalia.” The queen’s hand suddenly gripped her arm. “You cannot ruin this for us, for Agripa.”
Everything in Thalia went on high alert. “Why?”
Her mother made another face, displeasure on her full lips. “I have brokered a mutually beneficial deal that will help both our lands—that will end this war.” Thalia opened her mouth to speak, but her mother cut her off. “This deal, Thalia, will not be to your liking. But think of Agripa, think of yourduty. You will do well to sit quietly while this plays out.”
The queen released her, and Thalia’s heart pounded in her chest, her thoughts racing. The courtiers all quieted as the soldiers’ hands drifted nearer to their swords.
