Page 62 of The Nightmare Queen

“That’s a loaded question.” I say but he doesn’t look satisfied with that response. “We are here for a purpose and then we are going home.”

“Please be more vague.” He groans, frustration filtering into his tone. “I deserve to know, E. We all do.”

I toggle between telling him or keeping him in the dark. Telling him puts me at risk for him trying to stop me, but not telling him puts us at risk for not being able to work together behind enemy lines. He waits patiently for my response and after several minutes I decide to give him at least an idea of my real reasons here.

“Justice.”

Ezra’s stare hardens on me. I can see the gears turning in his brain trying to piece together what I meant. I plop myself down on a chair where I can recline into it, my right leg crossing over my left and he takes the seat adjacent to me. We sit in silence for the next several minutes during which I figured out the rest of my men must be sleeping. Finally he looks up at me, “jus…tice…” he says slowly.

“Justice.” I repeat.

“That all I’m going to get out of you?” He asks. I nod, my fingers dragging across my lips pretending to seal them shut. “Hmph.”

"You don’t trust me.” I repeat the words hanging heavy above our heads. He doesn't say anything as my feet carry me away from him. With my hand on the doorknob, I turn over my shoulder to look at him once more. “That was a statement.”

I walk back through the painted hall, Rorin’s staff averting their eyes as I move past them. I follow the same path I took with Bennett a little more slowly this time. My eyes snag on the entrance into the gardens we’d flew past earlier. At the time I was only interested in finding my men and making sure that they weren’t locked away in some dank cell. But now, now no one is here to stop me from perusing them.

Can’t hurt to look right?

The doors open out onto several paved pathways, each one lined with different flowers. I take the path straight out in front of me, the hedges filled with white gardenias. The deeper in I go the more I realize it’s a labyrinth complete with hidden alcoves that no doubt are filled with secret debaucheries. The walk ends at a stone circle, looking around I see the mouths of the other pathways framing the center stone.The heart of the gardens, my mind figures. From where I stand, If I look up, I can see clearly into the suspended glass hallway that leads to Rorin’s room. And if I look down I can see that the center circle showcases the Kingdom of Vellar’s sigil - a bright six pointed star.

A shiver ripples through my spine as it stares back at me, the gold glinting harshly in the setting sun. I shake it off, not allowing my fears to settle in. They’ll have to kill me before I allow my own fears to overwhelm me while in the home of Eiser and Mareese. Ahead of me there is a stretch of hedge that catches my attention. It’s devoid of color from this angle, looking like a black hole, beckoning me. On my way to it, I notice an inscription on the stone surrounding the sigil, warning people to walk around it and not over it probably to prevent the metal from tarnishing.

Fuck you, I say in my mind, spitting on the sigil as I stomp over it. Not as satisfying as it will be to kill the king and queen, but it settledmy discomfort for the moment. Entering the dark path I notice that the flowers crawling up in a chaotic display are black baccara roses.

That’s a funny choice of flower to have in a Vellaran garden.My fingers run lightly across the petals of the flowers native to my kingdom. One’s that are usually showered all over my court. Their darkened hue makes the hedges appear like they’re bleeding in the evening light. “I see you’ve taken it upon yourself to explore our court.” My heels ground themselves onto the cobblestone while I tilt my chin over my right shoulder.Queen Mareese. She’s in the same iridescent dress as earlier that hangs loosely on her tall and frail figure. She stands a few feet from me, turning to face the flowers as I am, her hands folded behind her back. “Rorin always did prefer the darker side of things. Even flowers.” She adds. I’ve still yet to verbally acknowledge her but she doesn’t seem bothered as she continues speaking, “I thought it such an odd choice when he requested the black baccara, but seeing you here now it all makes sense.”

I pluck one from the hedge, “does it?” Her dress swishes on the stone as she moves to stand next to me.

She has a tight smile plastered onto her face. "They’re native to Obsidian, are they not?” She asks.

“Obsidian’s native flora are not why you came to talk to me.” I reply, keeping my response curt.

Irritation flickers on her face. "Clever girl. After your little…display in the council room I found it imperative to know you. My son has, after all, just let a rather unpredictable force inside of our walls. I’d like to have your assurances that we won’t regret this.”

You won't have time to regret it – you'll be dead.I want to say. My hand comes up to tuck a stray hair out of my face and behind my ear. With the barest tilt of my wrist I flash the rune in her direction, as I’d hoped it would, her gaze snags on it. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep the promises I madeto the princeling—” Her hand darts out, snatching my wrist and cutting off my words.

“He d-didn’t…” She stammers and I can feel the heat pricking underneath the rune where her grip has tightened. “What deal did he make with you witc—AH!”With a hiss she drops my hand like a hot coal. Her attention switching to where she's been burned by the seal’s magic.

“The promise I made to the prince is for his knowledge alone. You’ll have to find it in yourself to trust me. Or don’t - up to you. But,” I let my Wield take over just enough to blacken my eyes, “as you saw from my ‘display’ earlier. I have no issues taking the situation into my own hands. In case you need a reminder of Rorin’s and my privacy.” Her fear is palpable, her magic useless against me.

“Eveera?” My power pulls back at his voice and the queen and I both look up to see Rorin standing a few paces from us. His face filled with mild worry. Who that worry is directed at is a mystery to me, but I imagine it’s for her.

Vitriol fills her gaze. “Maybe your mother was right to hide you. If I had a monster for a child, I’m not sure I would want them out in the world.” She snarls.

Rorin moves to my side standing close enough that our arms brush against each other. “How lucky you are that your court is so…bright. I hear monsters enjoy the dark…I’d hate for them to seek you out.” Her face pales while I turn into Rorin’s chest, our fingers on instinct locking around each other’s, his free hand comes around to my lower back and I raise on my toes putting my lips against his ear. I speak mind to mind, but to her it'll look like I'm whispering. “She knows about the runes.”

He leans into my touch, the position on my back turning more possessive as he holds me. “Does she?”

I nod against him slightly, “Funny - she thinks I am the one who manipulated you into this agreement.”I lower myself back flat on my feet, flashing a cloying smile her way before pulling her son and myself out of the gardens.

Rorin paces the length of the room while I tilt the bottle of this sickeningly sweet wine to my lips. My arm extends the bottle up and out to him which he snatches from my hand and takes a long swig of. He drops it back into my lap and continues his pacing. The motion is serving to only make me dizzy at this point.

“How did she find out about the runes?”

I shrug, taking another languid sip of the acrid wine. “She caught sight of the rune when I was tucking my hair behind my ear.”

“So you flashed it at her.” It wasn’t so much a question as it was an annoyed realization.

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