Dragons Against Them (Kingdoms of Fire and Ice #2)(25)
The queen drew in a sharp breath. Without another word, she strode from the room, leaving the others to stare after her in confusion. As murmuring arose around them, Rachel withdrew her hand, the elder’s wrinkled features lit with delight. Rosalind looked from her to Jaxon, who stood frowning in the direction his mother had gone, and back.
“Worry not,” said Rachel. “You shall grow closer in time.”
“Closer to whom? The queen?” Rosalind asked.
Rachel’s smile widened. She patted Jaxon’s arm to lead her away. “I shall send him back for you once he returns me to my room.”
“Back for me? But…what is it I am to do?”
Rachel offered her a wink. “Oh, I believe you will know when the time comes.”
Chapter 12
Addie hurried after Zayne up the castle’s back staircase, doing her best not to drop the quills and rolls of parchment that bobbled in her arms. He carried two small jars of ink in his hands, and less coin than before in his pocket, after paying a young servant boy for both the suggestion of a quiet place within the castle and the boy’s word that he would send Quinn on a wild-goose chase if questioned on their whereabouts. And as her father was supposedly off scouring the woods with Tristan and their warriors for Rosalind, she hoped like crazy those coins would work to buy them a little alone time. Because she needed answers, damn it, before worry got the best of her.
They exited the stairs on the castle’s third floor and turned down a dimly lit hall. It smelled mustier up here, the far windows closed. Tristan had told her the rooms on this floor were kept ready for visiting nobles and their families. But from the silence and stale air that greeted them now, Addie couldn’t help but wonder how rarely such visits occurred.
“You were pretty slick back there with the servant boy,” she whispered. “Almost like you’ve had lots of practice paying servants to keep quiet. I probably don’t want to know how many times you’ve snuck away with a woman like this, do I?”
He stopped to push open a door and motioned for her to enter with a tip of his head and a grin. “You presume the worst, my lady.”
“Uh-huh.”
He closed the door behind them, then turned to offer her a look of innocence as they set their writing supplies down on a side table. “Truly, the rumors are exaggerated. And lining palms in the homes of royalty with coin is common practice here.”
“Good to know. Except I have no coins. Or a home, for that matter.”
“Is this not your home, Adelaide?”
“For all intents and purposes it is. It just doesn’t feel like it yet.”
She walked to the nearest window and tugged it open, allowing fresh air to enter upon the gentle summer’s breeze. From here, she could see the entrance to the castle and the thick forest beyond. And though the view was less chaotic than that of the castle’s inner courtyard, it offered her little comfort as this was still a strange land to her, and she a stranger to it.
A stranger still feeling utterly clueless about so much of this kingdom. Hell, there was a whole clan of witches out there, probably planning her demise as they spoke. It was incredibly…frustrating. Zayne crossed the room to stand behind her, and slipped his arms around her waist.
“Do you regret your decision to stay?”
“No.” She answered too quickly and knew he would see through the lie. With a sigh, Addie sank back against him, trying to draw strength from his warmth, his presence. “Regret isn’t the right word. It’s more that I’m feeling out of sorts than anything else. Things are so different here. Lifestyles, social statuses, expected behaviors. And now to find out that the people who stole me from my crib twenty years ago might be plotting a second attempt…”
“A lie, my love. A guess at best.”
“Yes, you keep saying that, but how do you know?”
She turned to face him and tried not to become distracted by the warmth in his topaz eyes. The sexy stubble on his chin. The scent of him, so close to her, just begging her to have a taste…
“Because the witches aren’t some clan of vicious, child-stealing people. Your family has fed you lies, Adelaide. Lies based upon fear and misunderstanding.”
“How. Do. You. Know this?”
Zayne stared at her, considering his words. After a moment, he moved back toward the door and collected a scroll, quill, and ink. He sat down at a chair set beside the small table and uncorked the ink.
“Come.” Quill met ink, then ink met the page. “You have undoubtedly studied your family’s origins. Now it is time you learned mine.”
Addie moved to his side and watched as his elegant script began to fill the scroll. She wanted to argue, to tell him that Tristan had already schooled her on his family’s history, but it was rare to see him so serious. If her family had truly been lying, then Zayne’s coming lesson would certainly differ from the one formerly offered to her—and the prospect of that inspired within her a new fear. If she couldn’t trust her own flesh and blood, how was she supposed to remain here, trapped within their confines, for the next few weeks?
“My father’s side.”
Zayne waved the quill’s feather over one branch of the sketched family tree. King Robert, his parents, their parents. Limited space on the parchment kept him from listing generations further removed. So far from what she could remember, it all looked the same as what Tristan had shown her.