When Claws and Swords Collide by N. M. Zoltack

Author:N. M. Zoltack [Zoltack, N. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-07T22:00:00+00:00

37

Queen Sabine Grantham

The queen watched and waited until the entire tree was crumbling to nothing but ash before she nodded for the guards to douse the flames. The smoke billowed forth terribly, but Sabine stifled any coughing fit that threatened to overwhelm her.

Her mother was now dead. She could no longer plot machinations against Sabine.

Sabine was free.

So why, then, did she feel worried yet? Her stomach was churning and not from the stench of her mother's seared flesh.

She waited until the fire had been entirely doused for her to return to the castle. All of those in attendance had already left. There had been scarcely a whisper from the entire lot. Why had they no words? The people hadn’t been vocal about wanting another death.

Perhaps they had witnessed too much carnage. Maybe they did not approve of what the queens had done. Could it be that they had forgotten their prince and no longer cared that justice be wrought for his murderer?

Sabine hesitated once she entered the keep. Her hand went to her stomach. She was not hungry, not in the least, but her dresses hung loosely on her. Perhaps she should at least attempt to consume a few morsels.

On her way to the kitchen, however, footsteps approached, and she halted as Rosalynne’s guards marched up to her. Thorley Everett, Wilfrid Frye, and Tiberius Davis all surrounded her.

“You are to come with us,” Thorley said, a bit apologetically. Rosalynne had used him to spy on Sabine, but Sabine long suspect him of this and that he cared nothing for her. There was a bit of kindness in his blue eyes this very moment, though. Did that mean Sabine should fear where they would bring her and why?

“Lead the way,” she murmured demurely.

Tiberius's face was a bit red, which helped to hide the pox marks on his face as he marched beside her. The trio was silent as they escorted her to one of the council meeting rooms.

Surprisingly, the room was empty, save for Rosalynne.

“You may leave,” Rosalynne said, rising from her seat at the head of the table.

The guards all bowed and obeyed her command.

Sabine did not turn to watch them go nor moved from her location by the door even once she heard it click shut behind her.

Rosalynne tossed a scroll onto the table. "Are the contents true?" she demanded, her tone ice cold, the perfect antithesis of the flames' heat earlier.

Sabine hung her head. She did not have to look at the letter to know what it contained.

“I… I intended to poison the king only slightly over time,” Sabine confessed. “I misjudged how potent the poison was, how quickly it would cause… I did not… That is to say my mother had no hand in this. It was my own doing. She… She may have mentioned the idea, but… I… The king never saw me. He did not love me, and I knew that when we wed, but I thought… He was not good for the kingdom. He was not a strong king, not anymore.

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