Page 16 of A Tale of Ice and Ash
She raised a singular eyebrow.
“I hear you had some trouble with one of your servants?”
“Oh, that. Yes. Silly girl kept dropping things and looking at me strangely. You know that way, that some of them justlook?”
As if they’re terrified?“I have an inkling.”
“Yes. Anyway. She had to go.”
“Annie, was it?” He was trying to conjure her image. Was she the small, dark one? Pretty, beautiful eyes. She’d been at the castle for two years. He didn’t know much about her family, but if she was willing to work for his mother… she’d have to have a good reason.
He cursed himself for not knowing more about the situation. Snow would have known. She knew everything about everyone.
His mother waved a hand. “I don’t know.”
“Did you give her severance wages, at least?”
“Of course not, dearest. It was the girl’s own fault.”
Cole shouldered the bitterness rising on his tongue. He’d have to slip her something before she left, or have Niamh deliver it in his stead.
“If you say so,” he said quietly, not wanting to agree, but knowing the futility of arguing. He withdrew the necklace from his pocket, his palms hot.Please work.“For you, Mother,” he announced.
The queen’s eyes gleamed. Why was that the only time he saw such passion in her gaze, when it caught the light of a jewel? “It’s beautiful,” she said. “Wherever did you find it?”
“A secret,” he said. “Shall I?”
She turned back to the mirror, lifting her hair for him to slip it round her neck. His breath hitched as it fell against her skin.
Turn black,he begged it.Work. Be real. Tell me she’s under a curse, that she’s not really like this, that something else is at play.
The white, pearlescent stone glared at him, and it took everything in his power not to crack right there.
“Cole, dearest? Is something wrong?”
“Nothing, Mother, only I’m not sure it does you justice.”
She tore her gaze from her reflection to pat his cheek. “You are a sweet boy. The finest treasure in my collection. Are you hungry? Shall I send for some food?”
Cole did not want any servants subjected to her unnecessarily, and any appetite he’d had had vanished once his hopes had shattered.
His mother was not under a curse. She was truly everything they said she was.
What was he going to do now?
