Page 108 of Wild Flame

Her eyes narrowed, and she neither confirmed nor denied my statement. “You will apologize to her and reinstate her at once,” she ordered. “She is skilled and has been your maid since you were a child—”

“No,Mother,” I interrupted her and saw the fury in her eyes that I dared to do so, “I will do no such thing. She has beenyourservant, or rather, your spy, for years. She has been nothing but cold and domineering to me my entire life. She has been rude to myself and my other maid on numerous occasions, and criticizes my choices, and Zehvi and its customs at every opportunity.”

She scoffed. “And why shouldn’t she? In the three days I’ve been in this country, I have seen nothing to recommend it. Gaudy fashions, awful food, and a miserable climate. And this horrible palace is so outrageously opulent, it could double as a pleasure house.”

While I seriously doubted my mother had ever stepped foot inside a pleasure house, I decided not to point that out, given the other insults she had just spewed from her mouth. I shot a glance to where the guards still stood at the door and prayed they were out of earshot. I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice, trying to contain my rising anger.

“I would remind you that I am Queen of Zehvi now, Mother. This is my home. Just because their ways are different from yours does not make them wrong or invalid or worthy of ridicule.I will not have you insult them in my presence again. Is that understood?”

My heart was pounding as I spoke. It felt strange to contradict her in this way.

She glared at me. “How dare you speak to me in such a manner? As if I am a child to be reprimanded. And after I have come all this way to be here for your wedding, you ungrateful—”

“We both know you didn’t come here for me.” I shook my head. “You are here because it would reflect poorly on you and Father if you were not, and for no other reason.”

Again, she didn’t deny it. Instead, her critical gaze swept me up and down, and she changed tack. “Hilde wrote and told me of how you had let these people and their beliefs change you, but I never thought . . . Look at you.” She swung her hand out, gesturing to my wrist. “You let them mark your skin, and thatdress,” she said the word with so much scorn, I nearly flinched,“barely covers up your scars. And Hilde tells me you are already sharing the king’s chambers.”

“He is my husband, Mother,” I stated through gritted teeth. I tried not to let her words penetrate, even as each one felt like individual stones hitting their mark and bruising my skin. Taking a deep breath, I explained calmly, “The Zehvitian Marking Ceremony is binding.”

She raised a dismissive hand. “So they claim. But did thisceremonytake place in one of our temples? Under the eyes of the Nine?” She did not wait for me to answer. “No, it did not. Therefore, you are still unwed. And no doubt you have been spreading your legs for him like some common whore for weeks now. Are you certain he will even still want to marry you now that he has had you?”

I was both simultaneously stunned, and sadly, not surprised at all, at the sheer vitriol that had just come from her mouth. My defenses were so battered by her words that I thought I wouldhave to fight down the instinctual guilt and shame that usually tried to rise in me when she attacked me like this. But, to my surprise and relief, they didn’t come. I was not ashamed of what Malik and I had done. I looked down at the dragon on my inner wrist, my thoughts turning to the beautiful smile of triumph on Malik’s face the day he had seen his mark on me and mine on him.

Squaring my shoulders, I met my mother’s stare. “Malik cares for me, and wearemarried, whether you want to believe it or not. We are only having this wedding because Malik knew what it would mean to me, but it is not legally necessary.”

My mother snorted in disbelief as she leaned closer to me. “You’re not a dragon rider, Leida. And when you cannot provide him with dragon rider children, he will cast you aside.”

Her words struck to the heart of one of my greatest fears, but I ignored the pain of them in favor of retorting, “You’re not a dragon rider either, and you did just fine.”

I only had an instant to see fury darken my mother’s eyes before she backhanded me. My head whipped to the side and there was a sharp sting across my cheek. Shock rippled through me. My mother had been angry with me before, but she had never struck me. The shock was quickly followed by a creeping numbness as I slowly stared back at her.

“With no thanks to you,” she hissed coldly, straightening her skirts before a hand went to her flat stomach. “Because of you, I was only ever able to provide my husband with one useful child. I nearly died bringing you into this world, and you have been utterly useless since the day you were born. If I could claim you are no daughter of mine, I would.”

I stared at the woman before me, the woman who had birthed me, and suddenly wondered why I had ever sought her approval. I had begun to distance myself from her emotionally a long timeago, but all of a sudden, I felt that tie—as frazzled and frayed as it was—break completely.

I simply stared at her a moment longer, finding I had nothing left to say. I let the creeping numbness overtake my entire frame.

And I turned and left.

Selasi smiled at me as I approached, but when he saw my face, he stiffened. “My queen, what happened?” His gaze flicked behind me to where my mother still stood, and it darkened.

I pasted on a thin smile that would have been more convincing if my voice hadn’t wobbled as I said, “It’s nothing.”

“It is not nothing,” he argued. “You are bleeding, my queen.”

“Am I?” Lifting my hand to my cheek, I winced as I touched the tender spot. A few red drops of blood smeared on my fingers as I pulled them away. One of my mother’s rings must have cut me.

For some reason, seeing the blood broke through the numbness, and brought everything to the surface. My eyes stung with tears. I could not break down here in this very public part of the palace where anyone could see.

My chambers were too far away, on the other side of the palace, so I began walking back towards my office, giving my guards no choice but to follow. I took a deep breath and held the back of my hand to my mouth as I tried to get a handle on myself. I stared at the floor, nearly running in my haste, not wanting to see or talk to anyone as I went, so I almost ran into Malik when he suddenly appeared in front of me.

“In a hurry, siren?” he asked with a chuckle.

The smile quickly fell from his face when I glanced up at him, and then away.

“What happened?” he demanded.

“Nothing, I just—"

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