Page 84 of To Wake a Kingdom

“You have been invited to join Lady Perrand for lunch, Your Highness.”

A groan sat perched on the roof of my mouth.Fantastic.

A short while later, I was dressed in a pale gray gown of a simple but elegant cut, the material thin and airy. My hair hung loose down my back in thick curls—courtesy of Marie.

I followed the guard through the winding halls of the castle to a blooming solarium, where a small wrought-iron table sat surrounded by pots and boxes bursting with flowers. The sky was gray, a dusting of snow falling on the browning grass. Two women were already seated—Lady Perrand and, to my agonized delight, Lady Elsenmoor. A smile cranked on my face, I approached and offered a tip of my head.

An attendant pulled out a chair, into which I settled with as much grace as I could.

“Welcome, Your Highness,” Lady Perrand said. “We didn’t have time to speak last night. I am Esme, and this is Angeline.” She gestured to the auburn-haired woman, who raked me with an imposing glare.

“It’s a pleasure. Please, call me Thorne.”

“What an unusual name,” Angeline said, her voice smooth and sultry. “Rather prickly, isn’t it?”

“I had an unusual upbringing,” I replied as a servant filled my wine glass with sparkling liquid. “More, please,” I said when he stopped only halfway. I had a hunch I would need a full serving.

“Yes, do tell us—a curse? You were really asleep for a hundred years?”

With a mute nod, I took a sip.

“How did you break it?” Esme asked, her icy blue eyes open and curious.

Angeline was sizing me up as she waited for me to answer.

“True love’s kiss,” I said, and Esme went wide-eyed while Angeline scowled.

“True love?” Angeline said, her lip curling. “And who did you fall in love with?”

About to reply, I stopped. That wasn’t any of her business, and I assumed my answer wouldn’t win me any friends at this table.

“That isn’t important. What matters is that it’s broken, and I’m here to claim what was taken from my family.”

“I see,” she replied, eyeing me with a different kind of interest.

“Erick told me about how you’ve lost your lands. I hope you can come to a fair and amicable resolution,” Esme said, laying a gentle hand over mine. There was only genuine concern in her expression. “Erick was very amenable to working something out with you.”

I hid my shock at this news. Though he’d said something to that effect last night, this seemed too easy. He couldn’t possibly intend to give my kingdom back. However, I sensed no cunning or guile in Esme—her belief in her fiancé was genuine. Either she was naïve or entirely too willing to see the good in Erick.

“That makes me very happy to hear.” I returned her smile, and she beamed.

“So, it was Ronan who found you?” Angeline asked, returning to the subject of her interest. She was looking at me like something she’d scraped off her shoe.

“And Noah and Em and Gideon,” I replied, knowing she was panning for information I wouldn’t give. “They happened upon my castle in their search for the king’s whereabouts.”

“And it was there they found him?”

I nodded. “In the forests on the outskirts of Ravalyn. Such a terrible tragedy. Wolves have always been frequent in the area. It’s dangerous to travel alone in those woods.”

“I wonder what the king was doing out there in the first place?” She was attempting to unravel something, and I kept my hands loose in my lap, trying not to let my nervousness show. There was no reason for anyone to suspect anything. And there was certainly no way to prove it.

“I overheard Erick talking,” Esme said, looking around to check if anyone was listening. She leaned in closer. “He thinks the blood Fae offered the king a way inside the castle, and that’s what brought him out there.”

I shivered, the hairs on my arms standing. The kinghadcome looking for me that day. Only he hadn’t gotten what he had expected. I was even more glad I’d killed him.

Maida had also lied to my face, but that had hardly surprised me.

Esme was watching me, her expression sympathetic.

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