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Teigra furrowed her brow. None of this made any sense. This whole courtship had been the queen’s idea! But now it seemed she was trying to warn her off of it?
Teigra searched her mind. What would Aurelius do? What devious little plan would he concoct if he was in the queen’s position?
Then it came to her.
The equation she’d spoken about with Calix—about how he couldn’t have courted any of the local girls, as no one would believe that he’d suddenly fallen for them.
That was true.
Or at least, it had been.
But now that the public had seen Calix return to the world of romance? If Teigra was replaced, would people really care? Particularly if the new girl had the right name and the right face and the right hair?
Particularly if that girl comes from the right polity, too?
Her blood pressure rose. So that was it? The queen intended to do the same thing that had happened to Ms. Securia, all those years ago? Boot out the Mestibian girl and find a more suitable local? Because Teigra was just that replaceable?
Well, let’s see about that!
“Gyges!” said Teigra, releasing the queen’s arm. “Your roses look simply divine this morning.”
“Oh, thanks, Tiggy!” said the giant. “Ardor certainly ’as been kind these last few weeks!”
“How wonderful to hear,” she said with an easy smile. “And how have you been since your wedding? It was such a lovely service.”
“Oh, it’s been wonderful, lass! The whole thing still feels like a dream. But you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”
The blush came easily to her face—as easily as the names of the dozen other sellers they passed, alongside the details of all their problems and hopes. All their family squabbles about uncooperative children and jealous siblings.
The small details of small people. The kind that the queen couldn’t possibly know or care about.
And all the while, the same question came constant: when, oh when, would the young lovers be betrothed?
When they reached the end of the row, she returned to the queen’s side. “Your Majesty, you must forgive me. I entirely interrupted you.”
The woman smiled with her mouth alone. “It was nothing, child. Nothing at all.”
66
AURELIUS
My Darling Dagger was a shithole, filled with a ragtag mix of brawlers so rough that even the Brothers wouldn’t take them in.
The sort of people who never got hangovers because they never got sober.
The sort of people who didn’t remember a face and didn’t give a damn about your story.
And Aurelius was one of them now.
He didn’t know how many he’d drunk tonight. It didn’t even make sense to separate “tonight” from “last night” from “tomorrow.”
It was all just time—time counting down until he sucked up his pride, went back to Fabulosa and took the fucking deal, paying whatever price she set.
It was three weeks until the next bronze moon. Three weeks until it would all be over.
He could probably stretch it another week before going back to her. The Black Night Festival would be held then—the big blow-out of the summer season.
One last night of debauchery and freedom...
