Page 38 of Only Flames Remain

“Exactly. I will speak with Father. Later. Please return Voirel to the gardens for her afternoon tea with Azhar?” I asked Emrys, though it wasn’t a request.

“Certainly, Your Highness. More pressing matters to attend to?” He mock-bowed, and it took everything in me not to knee him in the groin. Emrys was such a little shit.

I narrowed my eyes, a muscle ticking in my jaw as I turned and strode from the room without another word.

I didn’t owe Emrys an explanation of my whereabouts.

I would need Rensford with me when I went to speak with Father. If there was anyone who could convince him he was being rash, it would be his firstborn son and the commander of his army. I might even need Emrys at my side in order to call him off. The last thing we needed right now was to have a mad king sit on the throne of Gothryn.

We needed to minimize the rumors of his illness as it was. Word of his decline had already spread to the adjoining kingdoms. It was only a matter of time until we could no longer deny it.

Even if it were true.

I would speak with Father later…

But first, there was someone I needed to see.

CHAPTER 12

Aveline

Ihad expected the knock on the door to be Enora or another soldier from the king’s army, here to explain my indenture contract.

What I had not been expecting…was Queen Odessa Blackwater.

She stood before me with her white-gold hair spun into a crown of braids encircling her head. Nestled atop them was a glistening golden crown, bejeweled and glimmering beneath the reflection of the torchlight from the corridor.

Her gown was anything but simple. The white slip was covered in silver beads and golden gems that dissolved into a full skirt of tulle. The neckline plunged to her navel; the expanse of her chest covered in a sheer mesh. You wouldn’t be able to stand within three feet of her without accidentally stepping on the extensive skirts. Her beauty was ethereal, but her hard gaze put me on edge immediately as she remained silent before me.

My mouth hung open as if to speak, but nothing spilled forth.

What was I going to say? What reason did the queen of Gothryn have to knock at my door? I was merely a human servant, and I had only just arrived at the castle.

The queen analyzed me from head to toe, her gaze both lingering and assessing. She had small features that suited her heart-shaped face. She tilted her head to the side as her cerulean eyes finally locked onto mine.

“I know who you are.”

That one sentence had my heart suspended in my chest.

Godsdammit.

Did she know why I was here? Had I already been found out? How in the seven hells—

I swallowed hard, the bile that had risen to the back of my throat stinging on the way back down. I shook my head back and forth vigorously.

“There has been some mistake—”

The queen raised her hand to stop me. “There has been no mistake.”

This was it. This was the moment I had been dreading since first learning I would be sailing to Gothryn. I had been found out before I even had the chance to do a single thing. Before I had even moved against Prince Sorin. It had been merely a few hours, and this charade would already come to an end.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“You are the new maidservant for Prince Sorin, is that correct?” she asked, her tone indicating she already knew the answer.

“Yes?” My eyes widened. I hadn’t meant for that to come out as a question, but it was too late to bite back my words.

Her cold glare made me feel two feet tall. She was Vireth fae, her complexion an unmarred alabaster. Her cheeks were flushed with blood, her pointed ears on full display with the way she had styled her hair. I had never felt plainer in my entire life.