The Painted Queen by Monica Boothe

Author:Monica Boothe [Boothe, Monica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peniel Press
Published: 2023-09-25T00:00:00+00:00

eighteen

In the carriage, Alec slides in next to me instead of across from me this time, and I find my shoulder nestled softly next to his. The whole ride home, his thumb moves in gentle circles on the back of my hand, each one more intoxicating than the last. It’s almost enough to take my mind from it—the Naraan, the trouble I’m in. Almost.

Alec chatters for a bit about the festival but then slows down and eventually falls silent. I know it’s my sullen mood. I haven’t managed to cover it well—or even at all. I used to be good at this, pretending. It was, after all, my job, and I took pride in it. But it’s been over a week now of being Aurore without a moment’s break, and I’m just so tired.

When the carriage comes to a stop, Alec says nothing, even as he helps me out of the carriage and holds my hand all the way down the hall and to our chambers.

It’s only when I’ve closed the door behind us—Edwin having set a pair of guards on the other side—and we stand alone in our parlor that he speaks. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry,” I sigh, trying to look sleepy rather than wrung tight with anxiety. “It’s just been a long day with the Council meetings and all…”

Oh no. The Council meetings. It falls over me all over again the meeting I held with the three representatives this morning that ended with Helena screaming and the Renyan Representative storming out. And then the meeting this afternoon with Edwin and the Adari Representative to address eight new riots that had broken out along the borders last night. The other two representatives were supposed to have been there, but given their outbursts earlier, I’d excluded them from the meeting.

I run my hands over my face but suddenly stop, startled by the faint jingling sound that accompanies the movement.

Oh, that’s right. The Laraaian bracelets.

Alec’s warm fingers close around mine then, and he slowly draws my hands down from my face. His eyes are flecked with worry. “Are you sure that’s it? Are you sure it’s not…”

I hold my breath during his pause, terrified of what he’ll say, of what he’s figured out, of what he’s come to suspect.

“I don’t know,” he says with a shake of his head. “You were happy tonight. We were having fun and then…Was it something I said or—”

I interrupt him because this much I can say in genuine truth. “No, Alec, it’s not you. You were wonderful.”

But that doesn’t seem to ease him. His frown only deepens. He’s studying me with an unnerving intensity. I can feel my secrets unraveling under the weight of such a gaze.

“The Laraaians—” I sputter. “It was the Laraaians that suffered most during the years of exile. The years I lived in Irodia. And they will suffer most if I don’t manage to keep the peace in Caspar. It’s hard for me…” I pause. “It’s hard for me to walk among them as I did tonight, to look in their faces knowing what I do.

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