To Kill a Kingdom(47)
Kye nodded as though that was a valid point, and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Still,” he said. “It’d be nice for you to have backup in case Galina isn’t fond of your plan to manipulate her kingdom.”
“Your confidence in me is heartwarming.”
“Nothing against your charm,” he said. “But do you really think she’s going to go for it?”
“Everything you just said is exactly against my charm.” I knocked his shoulder with mine. “Either way, it’s worth a try. If there’s any hope that Queen Galina can help me sidestep a marriage alliance with someone fully capable of killing me in my sleep, then I’ll take it.”
“You say that like Galina isn’t fully capable of killing you when you’re awake.”
He had a point, of course. Kye always made a habit of having points, especially where dangerous women were concerned. Still, I left him behind with the others, because as nice as backup would be, there’s not a chance in hell Galina would let a pirate into her palace.
I look down at my shirt to check if my buttons are fastened, just in case – there are certain sins that won’t be tolerated – and stand up a little straighter. Comb back my hair with my hand. I already miss my hat and my boots and everything else that keeps the Saad with me even when she’s docked.
But Galina really does hate pirates.
She trusts me more when she can see the prince of gold rather than a captain of the sea. Though there are a lot of things I will never understand about her, that isn’t one of them. I barely trust myself when I’ve got my hat on.
“She’s waiting for you.”
A guard steps out from the shadows. He is covered head to toe in red armor, not a single slice of skin on show. His eyes float aimlessly in a sea of red fabric. This is what it’s like for most of the guards and household staff. Never any chance of being touched directly.
I eye him cautiously. “I was waiting for you,” I tell him. “The door looks too heavy to open all by myself.”
I can’t tell if he smiles or glares, but he definitely doesn’t blink. After considering me for a mere second, he steps forward and brings his hand to the door.
The room is different. Not just from the rest of the palace, but from how it was the last time I was here. The marble walls have turned charcoal and are thick with stale ash and the smell of burning. The ceiling sprawls to endless heights, ribbed by grand wooden beams, and the color is gone from everywhere but the floor. It’s the only red thing, polished to shine.
And in the far corner, on a throne shaped like a bleeding heart, the Queen of Eidyllio smiles.
“Hello, Elian.”
The guard closes the door, and Queen Galina beckons me forward. Her black hair glides down her waist and onto the floor in tight coils. It’s woven with rose petals that shed from her like tiny feathers. Her deep brown skin blends into the satin dress that begins at her chin and ends far past her toes.
She holds out her hand for mine, fingers spread like a spiderweb.
I consider her for a moment and then raise an eyebrow, because she should know better. Or at least, be aware that I know better.
The legend of Eidyllio says that anyone who touches a member of the royal family will instantly find their soul mate. The secret of Eidyllio, which only the royal families of the hundred kingdoms – and Kye’s family, apparently – are privy to, is a little different. Because the gift, passed down through the women of the family, does not help men find love, but lose their will completely. Overtaken by endless devotion and lust until they become mindless puppets.
I take a seat on the plush sofa opposite the thrones, and Galina drops her hand with a smirk. She leans back and stretches her legs out onto the tiles.
“You came to visit,” Galina says. “Which must mean that you want something.”
“The pleasure of your company.”
Galina laughs. “Neither of us has pleasurable company.”
“The pleasure of your company and a mutually beneficial bargain.”
Galina sits up a little straighter. “A bargain, or a favor? I much prefer favors,” she says. “Especially when they place princes in my debt.”
Sakura’s face flashes across my mind, and I think back to the bargain I made with her. My kingdom, for an end to the siren plague. “I’m in enough debt with royalty,” I say.
“Spoilsport,” Galina teases. “I won’t ask for much. Just a region or two. Perhaps a kiss.”
Usually I entertain this game of cat and mouse for a little longer. Let her toy with me through thinly veiled threats of skin on skin, as though she would ever dare turn me into one of her playthings. On a normal day, we would pretend. I, to be scared she would touch me. And Galina, to be brave enough to consider it. But the truth is, that for all of her faults – and the last I counted, there were many – Galina takes little joy in her abilities. It even caused the king to turn against her when he grew tired of protecting her secret for a marriage that offered no intimacy.
Galina didn’t hold his hand or stand close enough for their skin to touch, nor did she share a bed with him on their wedding night or any other night that followed. They slept at distant ends of the palace, in separate wings with separate servants and ate very much the same way: at opposite edges of a table large enough to seat twenty. It was information we shouldn’t have known, but once the king had a drink, he was more than vocal about such matters.