Queen of the Blazing Throne by Claire Legrand

Author:Claire Legrand
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2020-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

6

In the still, perfumed rooms of her palace apartments, Obritsa waited for Artem to speak and fought the urge to squirm.

She hadn’t squirmed since she was a small child, too terrified of Sasha’s array of punishments even to risk scratching her nose—­but Artem’s astonishment was rapidly transforming into an anger she had never seen directed toward her.

At last he spoke, his voice quiet and thin. “You agreed to do what?”

“You heard me,” Obritsa said coldly.

“Yes, I did. But I would like you to say it again, so you may hear the words aloud and understand exactly how ludicrous they are.”

Obritsa fisted her hands in her skirts. The night’s events had frayed her patience, but she reminded herself that she’d had at least a little time to acclimate herself to the danger of what lay ahead. Artem had had none.

“I told Lady Ludivine that I would travel to Shirshaya,” Obritsa said, keeping all inflection from her voice, “and discover where the missing children are being taken, and what’s being done to them there, and why, and then deliver this information to her.”

“Shirshaya is a bleak and brutal territory,” Artem said. “At this time of year, it will be dangerously cold and will grow colder by the day.”

“I am well aware of Shirshaya’s climate. I’m a Kirvayan, just as you are.”

Artem rose from his chair, paced for a moment, then ran his hands through his hair and returned to his seat. His restlessness alarmed Obritsa; Artem was a creature of stillness. She was not used to seeing him so thoroughly shaken.

“And Lady Ludivine,” Artem continued, “is an angel.”

It was perhaps the most remarkable piece of information they had learned, and yet Obritsa kept her voice mild. “Curious, isn’t it? I would never have guessed, to look at her.”

Artem threw her a withering look. “Do not make light of this, Obritsa.”

“I shall make light of whatever I wish, and if I order you to do the same, then you will obey me.”

“I cannot allow you to do this mad thing.”

She wished she were older, if only because she would not feel so small and frail beside Artem’s furious bulk. She sat as tall as she could manage.

“And how do you intend to stop me?” She was small, but her words were sharp. She spat them like the clean slice of arrows. “Will you chain me to your side? Will you beat me until I submit to your will? You could, you know. You’re stronger than I am. You could beat me easily, but you would have to do a very good job of it indeed, for Sasha beat me, too, as you well know, and taught me how to bear it.” She could no longer sit still and rose to glare down at him—­though, even standing, even slumped as he was, she only just surpassed him in height. “That’s what you’ll have to do, Artem, and even then, it may not work.”

Her words did just as she had intended. Artem’s expression crumbled beneath the weight of her gaze.

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