Fireblood (Frostblood Saga #2)(35)
The dark stone edifice loomed, casting a deep shadow over the circular gravel drive. Trepidation quickened my breathing as the carriage rolled to a stop. I’d dreamed of this moment, but the reality held sharp edges and hidden dangers. The queen was no longer a figure of imagination, but a ruler with complete authority here. I’d put myself entirely in her power and had no idea what she wanted from me.
To cover my anxiety, I hopped from the carriage, ignoring Kai’s proffered hand, and strode beside him to the open doors. Guards with silver-and-gold helms, each with an intricately worked halberd, stood at attention on either side of the entrance. Kai must have been well known, because they didn’t even blink as we entered.
Shields and weapons covered the walls of the entrance hall. Richly carved tables in a reddish wood held porcelain vases with fragrant white flowers, their heavy blooms bowing their stems.
A courtier appeared and led us down a long sunlit hallway, up a set of winding tower stairs, and past two guards who opened a set of doors leading into a spacious room with a gilded chandelier and silver torches. A red-and-gold carpet echoed gold-fringed drapes the color of garnets, which bracketed doors open to a stone balcony. The breeze perfumed the room with heavy floral scents.
The room was sparsely furnished aside from two sturdy thrones, both of them gold and upholstered in red brocade.
No throne of molten lava. No dark, insidious presence lurking just out of sight. I didn’t know whether to be disappointed or relieved.
A thin, dark-haired man in a red satin robe occupied the smaller throne. It had to be the queen’s husband. Kai had mentioned him on the ship, but it took me a few seconds to remember his name: Prince Eiko. He faded into the background next to the queen. My attention grazed over him and honed in on her.
Hair as dark as polished walnut flowed in an elaborate braid over her shoulder. A strong, well-shaped nose dominated her face. An elegant neck curved into square shoulders, which were left bare above the bodice of a cherry-wine gown. Reflexively checking for signs of possession, I noted that it was impossible to see the veins at her wrists from several yards away.
Her fathomless eyes came to rest on me.
A thrill ran through me, sending jolts of energy through my body and lifting the hair on my arms. Dream had become reality. I stood only paces away from the queen of Sudesia, ruler of the Firebloods, descendent of the original ruler blessed by Sud.
And yet, it wasn’t pure happiness or elation that I felt, but fear. Kai had said the queen had sent for me, but he wouldn’t say why. Pestering him for answers had proved futile. I had come willingly, with an agenda of my own, but I was putting my safety completely in her hands. She had all the power here, and I had none.
She beckoned us forward.
Kai had taken my hand at some point and woven it through his arm. He led me to a spot several feet from the throne and stopped. He bowed low at the waist, and I sank into my best curtsy, the one Doreena had made me practice over and over before my first dinner with the Frost Court.
The queen just stared at me silently. I felt her assessment in my bones.
Her attention shifted to Kai. Her nostrils flared, and when she spoke, each word was like a stone dropping into a still pond. “What have you done?”
Kai took a breath before answering. “I did as you instructed, Your Majesty. I found a way to avoid the Tempesian blockade, and then I infiltrated the Frost Court to find her.”
“And this is the girl?” She flicked her hand at me.
“Her name is Ruby Otrera,” he replied evenly.
Her expression remained stony. “Your task was clear: Find the girl, relay my offer—that she would eventually receive an invitation to Sudesia if she served as my spy—and then leave her in the Frost Court.”
My head whipped toward Kai. He’d been sent to recruit me as a spy? If he’d been looking at me, he would have seen the rage in my eyes, but he was looking down with uncharacteristic deference. “I did what I thought was necessary to save her, Your Majesty. Our… my plan was flawed.”
I wanted to grab him and shake the truth out of him. Instead, I clenched my fists and stared, as the queen might reveal more if she thought I couldn’t understand Sudesian.
“How so?” the queen asked coldly.
“She wasn’t safe.” His eyes flicked up to gauge her reaction, as if he knew this was an important card to play. “Frostblood assassins tried to kill her. They spoke of a group called the Blue Legion, whose aim is to return things to the way they were under King Rasmus.”
She huffed. “I see no reason to believe that the new king is any different than the previous one.”
Frustration burned in my chest. I yearned to shout that she had no idea what she was talking about, but instead bit the inside of my lip until the skin throbbed.
“We cannot trust her,” the queen said.
“Your Majesty,” said Kai softly, “I must remind you that she destroyed the frost throne and killed their king.”
Not true. It had been Rasmus’s obsession with the Minax that had led to his own death—not that correcting the Firebloods would win me any points.
The queen scoffed. “Yet she spared his brother, his successor. And then she remained in his court willingly. If she were a true Fireblood, she would have killed as many Frostbloods as she could before her own life was taken. Her only value to me was in her proximity to the king—a Fireblood spy in the Frost Court—and instead you offer me a girl with stale information.”