Page 51 of Of Blood & Bone: The Young Queen

The lead rider bows his head. “Yes, Majesty, I can see that. I apologise for any intrusion. Do you wish for myself and my men to accompany you and the Emissary back to the castle or would you like us to ride ahead?”

“You may leave now,” I instruct him, “the Emissary and I were just getting ready to return to the castle and shall follow you presently.”

He bows his head again. “As you wish, Majesty,” he replies before turning his horse around and commanding the rest of his men to follow him.

“Your Grand Master is either an overly caring sort of fellow or overly suspicious. Which is it?” the prince asks as he watches the soldiers ride away.

“My Grand Master is a greasy, conniving, controlling, underhanded thorn in my side ever since I became queen,” I reply. “He’s had his suspicions from the day you arrived in Ardvalla and is most annoyed he isn’t privy to our discussions. At the last Harvesting I suspected he tried to cheat the processon behalf of his nephew. I have no doubt he still harbours some machinations to make the odious fellow my king and is most nervous regarding your continued presence here.”

We mount our horses and he looks thoughtful. “Perhaps we should employ an increased measure of discretion when conducting our relationship,” he suggests.

“Perhaps we should,” I agree, as I reach for his hand and pull him towards me. I press my lips to his and caress his cheek with my hand. “Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can declare our betrothal and I can make you my King.”

He kisses me and smiles. “Hopefully.”

***

On my return to the castle I find Kes waiting for me in my chamber and she looks slightly tense.

“Kes, what’s the matter?” I ask.

“There's nothing really the matter, my Queen,” she replies, “only the other Ellerban soldier is conscious and has requested an audience with you.”

“With me?”

“Yes.”

“Has he said why?”

“No, only that he must speak with you as soon as possible.”

“All right, I suppose I can go and see him presently. However, I sense you're not entirely happy. So, tell me what's bothering you?”

She shakes her head. “It's not something I can put my finger on exactly, but something about this other Ellerban soldier bothers me. He is greatly healed today, the extent of which I've never seen anything like before. It's almost as if there's an unseen force at work, helping him to heal, and it unsettles me. Plus, when he awoke, he knew exactly where hewas and requested to see you. I don’t know how he knew where he was or that you are the queen and when I look into his eyes, I feel he is looking into my soul.”

I'm surprised by her words and even more so her demeanour, as I've never seen her so rattled before.

“Is that such a bad thing?” I ask.

She pauses for a moment before replying. “There are worse things, I suppose, like not being seen at all. However, I feel he sees everything, even the things I might not wish him to see.”

Suddenly, I understand. Something in this Ellerban soldier has made her feel vulnerable and Kes doesn't do vulnerable. I place my hand on her arm. “The prince speaks very highly of him,” I assure her. “I'm certain you don't have anything to fear from him.”

She places her hand on mine and nods but remains silent, letting me know she doesn't wish to discuss the matter any further. So, I decide to push on with other business.

“I shall accompany you back to the Khaleeni camp and see what this soldier has to say. However, there are two matters we need to discuss and one of them needs to be addressed urgently.” I signal for her to join me beside the fire, where I pour us each a glass of wine.

“The first matter is the procurement of some pennyweed.”

Her eyes go wide and a broad smile breaks out over her face. “Am I to presume things are developing with the prince?” she asks.

I take a sip of my wine and return her smile. “Yes, you can presume things are developing with the prince and I have agreed to his condition to be the one to harvest him.”

She chuckles and raises her glass. “Well good for you and good for the prince. I take it you will be needing the pennyweed sooner rather than later?”

“Yes, as soon as possible. I have agreed to wait until his soldiers have sufficiently recovered before we wed so they may stand for him at the wedding. Considering they’re recovering faster than anyone could have anticipated, I envisage the wedding can take place sooner rather than later.”

She takes a sip of wine and nods. “I'll get on to it immediately. The sooner you are safely wed to the prince and the threat from Greythorne is neutralised, the better.”

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