War Queen (Crowns Book 3) by Nicola Tyche

Author:Nicola Tyche [Tyche, Nicola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia River Publishing
Published: 2023-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-seven

Mikael stripped off his tunic. Yes, it was winter, but Salara had a fire lit in every room of the castle. For a North queen, she certainly liked the warmth. He stared at their bed for a moment, with its heaping mounds of quilts and furs. When he’d been alone, he’d only used a sheet. This woman would sweat him out of his own castle. It was a small price, though.

The truth was, he’d give anything to make her happy, would pay any price. He’d burn his castle to the ground for her.

Yet he was losing her.

He could feel it—this distance between them, her grief and her pain; she was spiraling further away from him. Even in death, the Bear had the power to take her from him, regardless of whether this ghost was real or not. And the more Mikael fought against it, the more he pushed her away.

She was the furthest from him she’d ever been, even when she was right beside him. Mikael had used the blood, and it had upset her. He’d tried to call the ghost to him, to see what Salara had seen. She had seen something.

The blood only needed to touch Salara’s skin for her to call the Bear, Soren had said. Mikael had poured it into his hand and waited. But no one came. He felt nothing, saw nothing. He went so far as to smear it up his arms and across his chest. All of it.

“Show yourself!” he’d snarled.

But nothing came of it.

Except Salara’s unraveling.

He hadn’t meant to upset her; he hadn’t meant to hurt her. She was right—he hadn’t thought of what it would mean to her. In his anger, he hadn’t thought at all. Perhaps he was too desperate to know what it meant for himself. If the Bear still remained, so did his fate.

Or perhaps he was jealous that she still clung to another man. She’d always protected the Bear from Mikael. She’d loved the Bear, and still did. And Mikael wasn’t a fool. If this was the Bear, he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep her from him.

But nor would he try to.

No. It was neither of those things.

He was angry, yes, but not because he feared his fate or sharing her love. He feared this vision was a trickster that meant to do Salara harm. He feared not being able to keep her safe, and it was an ever-increasing fear.

They still had no heir. They didn’t talk about it anymore—he’d told her they’d manage without—but it was no less a concern. It still haunted the shadows of his mind.

After his death, Salara would have to fight to keep Kharav. This had always been known, but things had been different before. She’d had Soren, and the Bear, and a formal offer of alliance from Aleon to fall back on. She’d been safely behind the impenetrable walls of the North. Now the Bear was gone, and the Aleon king had wed. She was deep within a

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