Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)(31)



Auster opened his mouth to protest, but I cut him off.

“Besides, it’s not like I’m going alone. Serilda, Cho, and the rest of my friends will take good care of me. They have so far. I trust them to protect me, and you should too.”

Auster stared at Serilda and Cho, who were still talking to the gladiators-turned-guards. Pride filled his face, softening his stern features. “Serilda and Cho are two of the finest guards to ever serve Bellona. If anyone can protect you from this Bastard Brigade, it’s them. But that doesn’t mean that I still won’t worry.” He paused, as if he was having trouble voicing his thoughts. “I already lost one queen. I don’t want to lose you too, Everleigh.”

Auster had never been verbose, and the months of torture he had endured at Vasilia’s hands had made him even quieter. So I knew what an effort it was for him to share his worry.

I squeezed his arm. “You won’t lose me. I survived my first session with the nobles. Dealing with King Heinrich will be as easy as baking a pie in comparison.”

He smiled at my joke, but his eyes remained dark and troubled. I smiled back at him, but my expression was as forced as his was.

“I will do my duty and hold the palace until you return,” Auster said. “Be safe, my queen.”

He bowed low in the traditional Bellonan style, and I returned the gesture with a formal curtsy. Auster straightened up and gave me another tight, forced smile, then headed over to talk to the gladiators-turned-guards, along with Serilda and Cho.

Footsteps scraped on the stone, and Paloma strode over to me, with her mace propped up on her shoulder. “You ready for this?”

I sighed. “I feel like you ask me that every single day.”

“Because there’s some new challenge or crisis or devious plot that you have to deal with every single day.” She shook her head. “Being the queen’s personal guard isn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be. All I do is stand around and watch while you try not to lose your temper with people.”

“So sorry to bore you,” I sniped.

“I haven’t gotten to fight anyone in weeks. Not like the other gladiators have,” she grumbled, and the ogre on her neck actually pouted a bit.

Many members of the Black Swan troupe were now working at Seven Spire. Theroux had taken over as the kitchen steward, Aisha was the head of the bone masters, and several gladiators moonlighted as guards. Serilda hadn’t disbanded her troupe—it made her and everyone else far too much money to do that—so the gladiators and others took turns working at the palace and putting on the usual weekend shows at the Black Swan arena. Paloma was clearly longing to return to the action. Couldn’t blame her for that. She had been a gladiator long before we’d become friends.

“You should forget about being nice and let me crack a few skulls.” Paloma hoisted her mace off her shoulder and swung it back and forth like a clock pendulum, making the spikes whistle through the air. “A couple of whacks upside the head would make the nobles fall in line.”

Calandre and her sisters chose that moment to walk by, so of course they heard Paloma’s words. Calandre sniffed, while her sisters let out their usual shocked gasps. I gave them a reassuring smile, but Calandre arched her eyebrow in response and shepherded her sisters into one of the wagons.

My fake smile twisted into a very real grimace. “We’re not in the arena anymore, which means that you can’t whack people with your mace, and I can’t run them through with my sword, no matter how much I might want to,” I said, muttering the last few words.

“Oh, we’re still in the arena. You just have to fight with words now, instead of weapons.” Paloma thought about it. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m right and that it’s terribly boring. However do you stand it?”

I gave her a sour look, but she grinned, as did the ogre on her neck.

We watched while a few final things were loaded onto the wagons, and then it was time for me to be loaded up as well.

Auster had suggested that I ride in a plain enclosed wagon like everyone else, in order to make it more difficult for any would-be assassins to target me, but I’d refused. It would have made me seem weak and cowardly, especially since I’d been holed up in Seven Spire since the night I’d killed Vasilia.

The people needed to see their new queen looking well and strong, so I climbed into an open-air carriage at the front of our procession. Cho was in the driver’s seat, with Paloma riding beside him. Serilda, Sullivan, and Xenia were following in the wagon behind my carriage.

Cho looked over his shoulder at me. I nodded, telling him that I was ready. He slapped the horses’ reins, and the carriage jerked forward. Even though I’d been expecting the violent, rocking motion, I still almost slid off the slick leather seat. At the last second, I managed to latch onto a metal bar embedded in the side of the carriage and hold my position.

I couldn’t help but think it was the perfect example of how I was barely holding on to everything right now, including the throne.

But this trip had been my idea, and there was no turning back. The palace gates opened, and we left Seven Spire, crossed the bridge, and entered the city.

The trip to Andvari hadn’t been formally announced, also to help cut down on would-be assassins, but so many wagons leaving the palace at once made people curious, and they trickled out of their shops and homes to line the streets and watch the convoy roll by.

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