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“Then cease arguing with me and ready your wolves, Virki.” The queen beamed at the hall. “Take heart: the heir of Jorvandal, from the word of my son, is more prone to negotiate and find peace than his father. True?”

It took a moment before I realized my mother spoke to me.

I gave a brisk nod. We’d never spoken of Thane. She did not deserve to hear of him since her command nearly forced my bloodlust to slaughter the prince. But she was not wrong about his character. Thane would be king of Jorvandal, and the kingdom would be better for it.

My uncle stepped closer to the dais, but Gunter blocked his approach, a snide sort of grin on my old friend’s face.

Virki glowered at the queen, his voice low. “If the council voted upon her death, you would never have followed through, isn’t that right?”

“Perhaps.”

“You would overrule the council’s vote?”

The queen simply leaned forward, holding my uncle’s stare. “The benefit of wearing this.” She pointed to the circlet on her head. “Do not forget that, Virki.”

Elisabet straightened and looked to the hall again. “This news is more cause for celebration. The souls of the fallen are no longer left for Jorvan corruption.” A few tentative shouts and cheers followed. “And our Lyra has proven what lengths she will go to protect you, your families, and your loved ones who dine in Salur.”

More whoops and hollers followed.

With that, Elisabet came to my side, squeezed my arm, and spoke low, “Leave the hall, go to my chamber. Both of you. We must speak.”

Without another word, Elisabet abandoned the feast.

“What in the two hells was that?” Emi said in a low hiss.

Games, cousin. I stepped off the dais and held out a hand for Lyra to take, guiding her off the step.

Emi frowned. “Be sure you play them back.”

“I don’t know what happened at Stonegate,” Brynn said, voice low. “But is the king truly dead?”

Lyra took a breath. “Yes. We knew it would be a matter of time before word spread.”

“You killed him?” Gunter’s eyes brightened.

“What do you think?”

“Fadey,” Auki grumbled. “That bastard is everywhere.”

“Yes, and no one in Stonegate knows there is another melder,” Lyra was swift to say. “If Jorvans come for me, it is as the scouts said. They come because they believe I killed the king.”

“Then we better stop them first if they try,” said Brynn.

We must go, I said to Lyra and tugged on her hand.

“We expect to know everything,” Gunter called after us, laughing when I left him with nothing but a crude gesture over my shoulder.

—

The queen’s chamber was warm from a blazing fire in her onyx stone inglenook. Dried herbs kept the air fresh with lavender and meadow blooms. More rooms made up her wing, but once, it had been shared.

A lock still bolted my father’s study shut.

Guilt for destroying him likely kept her out.

Elisabet stood near the flame, the blaze lighting her sapphire eyes like a poisonous inferno.

“I’m certain you’re curious why I told such tales.” She looked at Lyra. “It is simple: you will now be both feared and revered within these gates.”