Page 46 of Kept

Her eyes widened. “I… Thank you.” She frowned suddenly, and anger entered her tone. “I couldn’t believe my eyes yesterday. Green Guards were murdering innocent people in the street. Just…letting them burn.” She shook her head. “I want no part of that. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“You already are.” I told her where to find the cloth and then sent her off to make bandages. Hefting my basket higher on my hip, I resumed walking up and down the rows of cots. The lowpeople smiled at me and murmured their thanks. Knights struggled to stand and bow until I sternly told them to sit their behinds down and rest. For the first time since I became Queen of Nor Doru, I felt like a queen. The title wasn’t about crowns or dresses or elaborate feasts in the Midnight Palace.

It was this—caring for Nor Doru’s people. They would never accept me as their queen, no matter how hard I tried.

I stumbled and almost went sprawling over a cot. The knight occupying it gave me a startled look.

“Are you all right, Your Grace?”

“Yes,” I said, my heart pounding. Heat touched my cheeks. “Just clumsy. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”

“You didn’t, ma’am.”

I forced a smile and moved on before he could rise. I handed out the rest of the food in my basket, assuring several elderly Lar Katerins they would see their homes again.

But I was lying, and they knew it. They scented my falsehoods. Every lowperson on the lawn knew I was a liar. A pretender.

The enemy.

I froze, my blood pumping hard in my veins. And then bells rang in my ears, the doleful clang so loud it blocked everything out.

Everything except Midian’s voice as he laughed in my head.

“Forgive me, Your Grace, I don’t mean to interrupt while you’re playing benevolent lady of the manor.”

Tears burned my throat. I had to get to Varick.

“Why not the priest?” Midian asked. “Ah, I forgot. You’re as big a whore as your husband, spreading your legs for the general.” He stepped around the last cot at the end of the row. His pale hair streamed over his shoulders, and his dark-blue mantle swept the ground.

My gut twisted, disbelief pounding through me. He couldn’t be in Lar Budina. He was trapped behind the Thicket. He can’t be here.

He smiled. A beat later, he stood right next to me. He tapped the side of my head. “Ah, but I’m here.”

Another beat, and he reappeared at the end of the row of cots. My throat thickened, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks.

He gave me a look that was almost apologetic. “I did tell you I’d never have to leave.”

He’s not real.

He tilted his head. “Now, Given, you know what happens when that particular thought enters your flighty little head.”

A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and Valen of Lar Keiren growled in my ear. “Hello again, little doll.”

Midian gestured toward me, as if to say, See?

“D-Don’t!” I cried, squeezing my eyes shut.

Mistake.

I knew it the second I did it, but it was already too late. I opened my eyes and screamed as Varick’s father loomed over me. His breastplate bumped my chest. I scrambled back, and he lunged, releasing a deep, barking growl as he snapped his blood-stained fangs an inch from my face. I screamed and scuttled backward, and he kept coming, barking and biting like he meant to gouge my face. His hot breath scalded my cheek.

A panicked, high-pitched scream ripped from my throat. My legs struck something hard, and I went down, landing on top of someone.

“Your Grace!” A male squirmed under me. Blankets and bloodied bandages flashed in my vision as reality and illusion collided. I was crushing an injured male, his pained gasps mingling with Valen’s cruel laughter. Heart in my throat, I tried to extricate myself from the mess of blankets.

Valen seized my arm and hauled me to my feet. A second later, he flung me to the ground. I hit the frozen grass hard, a cry knocked from my lungs. Could he kill me? The wild thought clawed through my mind as I flipped over and tried to get my knees under me.

A booted foot landed on my skirts, and then Valen bent and grabbed a fistful of my hair. He yanked me up, and I screamed as individual hairs ripped from my scalp. He jerked me against him, my back to his chest, and spoke in my ear.

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