Page 8 of Veiled Flames
My brother laughs so hard he bends forward, and his arm falls from my touch.
“Is that so funny?” I adjust my bodice, trying to ease the stabbing pain of the corset’s bones.
He straightens and gives me a quizzical look. “Are you beingserious, sister?”
“Of course.”
Making a face, he shakes his head. “That’s beyond absurd.”
“Why?” I raise my chin. “You yourself stated that I’m far more suited to the role. I know the history and geography of the Seven Kingdoms of Light. I better understand both diplomacy and battle tactics. In fact, I bested you in every subject taught by your pedagogues.”
I bested both my brothers in combat training too, especially Olifer who has always been frail, but there is no need to be a braggart, or to rub my brother’s nose in the truth like a puppy.
“Come.” Alfryd raises his arm again. “Father’s waiting. There’s no time to spin your tales of fancy, like you did when Olifer and I were children.”
“Tales of fancy?” I rest my hand on his arm again.
As we walk, my slippers painfully crush my toes, fueling the ire bubbling inside me. I hate that he compared my perfectly valid idea to the fairytales I told my brothers when they were young.
“My suggestion was real,” I say. “My statements werefact.”
“Perhaps.” He shakes his head. “Perhaps if you were a man.” He shrugs. “With the Prime Klerick’s blessing, it’s possible that I could abdicate for Olifer. But you are agirl, and the meresuggestionof you sitting on the throne is laughable. And against the laws of succession.”
I unclench my jaw. “When you become King, you could change any law you desire.”
“But I do not desire it,” he says sharply. “Besides, it’s more than a law, it’s a Tenet of Othrix.” His arm stiffens under my fingers. “Is this the thanks you give when I offer a compliment, sister? One day I will be King. You best learn your place.”
Retorts threaten to burst from inside me. I know my place all too well. But my anger remains trapped inside the tight corset, and my rage is left to bubble against its boning and fabric, like underground caldrons of mud that erupt from the depths of the earth in the barrens beyond the Seven Kingdoms.
Luckily, there are no such portals to the Darkness in Achotia.
“Sister,” Alfryd says more gently, “you are blessed withotherways to serve the King.” His pace quickens, and I’m forced to match it, amplifying the pain in my feet. “In fact, your service is why Father seeks an audience with you now.”
I’m shocked and excited that the King wants to see me. Instead of leading me to the banquet hall, Alfryd guides me toward a small reception room at its side, a private space reserved for my father and his most honored guests. A place I have never seen in my life before now.
Alfryd leaves me at the door, and my belly rises in my throat. Why does the King want to see me? Does he know I took SkyStallion today? Does he mean to scold me himself, instead of leaving that to Nurse?
A large fire crackles and snaps, and Father stands before it. His tall, solid body leans forward, and both his hands rest on the stone mantel like he’s searching for something lost in the flames. Three of his spaniels, I know not their names, raise their heads as I enter. But they quickly return to their naps as if they too know I’m no one worth noticing.
The room is lined in the finest stonewood panels and decorated with tapestries and paintings depicting hunting and battle scenes. The furniture in here is large and bulky, and the air is scented with ale and stormgrass smoke. I’ve never been inside a place so unabashedly masculine, and it fills me with a sense of power, like I’ve been admitted to a secret club.
“Your Grace,” I say, thinking he did not hear me enter.
Father pushes off the mantle and turns toward me.
I curtsey.
“Good,” he says.
I lift my gaze. Was that praise for me? Is he complimenting my curtsey?
“You look very well in that gown.” He steps toward me and stands with his legs spread. Firelight glows around him as his gaze travels over my personage, like he’s surveying a section of his property.
And that’s exactly what he is doing.
“Thank you, Your Grace.”
He drops into a large chair, covered in worn, deep brown leather. Placing his hands on its arms, he leans back, and the dogs position themselves at his feet. Situated, he continues to study me as if I’m a creature from a land far flung from the Kingdoms of Light.
