Fae Heir: A Fae Fantasy Romance (Royals of Embermere Book 1) by Lucia Ashta

Author:Lucia Ashta [Ashta, Lucia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

18 BLOOD OATHS AND ENCHANTING ILLUSIONS

Several days after my talk with the queen, Rush and I had settled into a routine. During the mornings, I sat and observed while he sparred with other drakes and contenders. We then took lunch together, during which he schooled me on the ways of the court while his suspicions about my evident ignorance grew. In the afternoons, at my insistence, we explored the palace and its grounds. In the evenings, we joined courtiers in one grand room or another, where it became increasingly obvious that their skills at backstabbing and scathing criticism were unsurpassed.

Remaining as inconspicuous as possible, Pru followed me most places, never part of the conversation unless I involved her. Never part of anything of her own volition.

The more familiar our routine became, the more it unsettled me.

The queen intended for me to sit around with my thumb up my ass while she indulged in the palace’s opulence. While her people beyond the court lived in squalor, she happily anticipated my upcoming murder.

And I was supposed to just wait to accept it once it arrived.

The queen clearly didn’t understand me at all.

She’d guaranteed that I couldn’t escape; there was no way I’d have the death of so many on my conscience. I had no doubt the queen would follow through. But I also refused to whittle away the time until my end. It might be true that here everything was different, and I had even less power than in Nightguard, where I’d feared I hadn’t had enough.

But every obstacle could be overcome. Every challenge solved. It was a matter of mindset, determination, and the ability to kick some royal fucking ass. It simply had to be. It was the only alternative I’d accept. I was too young to die, too fierce in my heart to go down without kicking and clawing all the way.

The queen’s plan for my death would almost certainly involve more than she’d told me. But no matter how much or in which way I asked Rush for information about what she’d told him in private, he refused to share. The more I pressed, the more he clammed up, the more distant he became.

I was isolated and alone, being prepared as an offering to a queen with a putrid heart. And my supposed father? I’d only seen him at the far end of whatever hall Rush led me around during our forced evenings together. He never took me near the monarchs though, not even when I requested it. Whatever the queen ordered him to do involved disassociating me from the only potential ally I might have. The king was glaringly too weak to do anything about it, if he even noticed or cared at all.

“Come sit with me, Pru,” I called out to the air around me. I rested atop a chair at the edge of a sparring ring. I had no idea where the goblin was but she was surely watching me from somewhere.

This field was far removed

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.