The Orchid Throne by Jeffe Kennedy

Author:Jeffe Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

18

When the summons to attend the queen arrived, Ambrose gave me a small salute, otherwise not budging from his lounging position on the bed he’d adopted.

“Don’t move just yet,” Sondra instructed, frowning at me.

“Darling,” I said, keeping an eye on the heavily armed guard who’d popped up through the trapdoor and had a sword ready. “While you’re holding a very sharp knife, he has a very sharp sword. I think that wins.” Ambrose had also produced a tonic to soothe my throat—and woo a queen—that worked better than anything he’d given me before. He ducked explaining where it came from.

Sondra trimmed along the comb, letting the hair fall into place. “Better. See? You still have plenty of hair.”

I stood, brushing off stray trimmed hairs from my shoulders. Not that the dark hair would show against the black leathers I’d dug out of the trunk the guards brought up, struggling to lift the weight of it up the ladder. The clothes had been packed away in layers of silk and spilled wood shavings. Cedar, Sondra had told me, to fend off chewing insects. Go figure.

Still, I wouldn’t question the gift—they were clothes worthy of a warrior and a king, whoever they belonged to—only the reason for it. The guards only shrugged and said we’d asked for clothes, here were clothes.

We had more of an argument over the manacles. “You get your audience with Her Highness Queen Euthalia,” the captain of the guard informed me. “But you won’t be allowed to bring Her harm. That’s the price. Pay it or not.”

“It’s temporary,” Sondra urged, giving me a pleading look. “And worth it, yes? You promised a chance to hold the torch.” She glanced at the guard and back to me. “You’ve never backed down from a challenge, Conrí.”

So I set my teeth and allowed the manacles to be locked on me. I couldn’t imagine how I was supposed to woo a queen when I wore chains, but then I had no idea how I was supposed to woo her at all, so the manacles didn’t change all that much.

Except that they made me feel small, weak, and worthless again. Hearing the clink of the metal, feeling the cold weight of the iron locking on—it brought back that day when we knelt in the court of Oriel for our “trial,” Anure gloating on my father’s throne.

It hadn’t been the worst thing that happened. What came later exceeded that day in pain, suffering, humiliation. But kneeling there, in our own palace, beside my father—the king of Oriel!—with my sister missing and our nobles kneeling in ranks behind us …

It left the taste of ashes and rage in my mouth, and it was all I could do not to jerk up my wrists and bash that guard in the jaw. But I didn’t. I paid the price of my obedient capitulation.

Yet again.

“You’re next,” the guard told Sondra. “Remember that you’ll be meeting with the Flower Queen of Calanthe, not visiting the kitchen to scour pots.”

“Oh, hey—great advice!” Sondra replied brightly.

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.