Page 107 of Brighter Than Gold

I pushed one of the enormous oak doors open into the hallway, not giving the footman enough time to do it for me, and I marched into the hall. The flourish of handmaids and lady’s maids surrounded me, but the pretty, golden-brown hair of one of the girls stopped me dead in my tracks.

“Briar!” I lunged for the girl and wrapped my arms around her tightly. She let out a nervous giggle as she hugged me back. I felt instantaneously better as I clutched my friend.

“You’re back!” I exclaimed, putting her at arm’s length so I could search her pretty face.

“I am, Your Grace. Does that suit you?” There was a tear in her eye.

“Are you insane!” I pulled her back into my arms, so happy, so relieved to see her well again.

I hurried back to my quarters, and I pulled Briar into my bedroom with me. She’d insisted on helping me dress in my nightclothes, and I’d rung and had hot cocoa brought in for us. We lit a small fire and talked for nearly an hour. My heart burst seeing her happy. I was touched to hear Nyx had been to visit her every day since they’d returned.

“And how areyou?” she asked once I’d peppered her with about a million questions. I swirled the thick hot chocolate in my cup looking for the answer.

“I’m fine, it’s all very different now that we’re back at the palace. It’s a difficult adjustment.”

“I can only imagine. But just so you know, the staff speaks highly of you.”

“They do?” I don’t think I knew how much others approval would mean to me. I wasn’t nobility, not really. I was like them in truth.

“Absolutely. They say how kind and patient you are, and pleasant. Not all of the royal ladies here are necessarily pleasant, if you’ll excuse my candor.”

“Well, I’m sure their complimentary opinions of me have changed since they found out where I’m really from,” I said snuffing my own relief.

“Yes, but it’s been quite the opposite, hasn’t it?” she said with a laugh.

“The opposite how?”

“With everything that’s been going on.”

“What’s been going on, Briar?”

“The conversations people are having now, the confessions they’re making about having an uncle or a grandmother from the North. Reyah, your admission has taken the lid off of some arbitrary, taboo box and allowed people to finally talk about their heritage.”

I was stunned, completely anchored in my seat. “You must be kidding, Briar…”

“You didn’t know any of this?” she asked, shocked. “People aren’t so afraid to hide who they are anymore, not now that a Queen is willing to admit where she hails from. It’s happening across the Realm; people are tired of hiding and pretending and feeling ashamed.”

“People hate the North, my family and others did appalling things, damning things.”

“Well, you’ve become a symbol of atonement, Reyah.”

It was impossible for my head to fit all of these pieces together. Five minutes ago, I knew that the whole Realm thought terribly of me because of my bloodline, and now Briar was telling me that my disgraceful secret had become some sort of beacon for others, something good and uniting.

“You look like you’ve just been trampled by a horse,” the lady’s maid said apologetically.

“Ifeellike I’ve just been trampled by a horse…” Briar continued to watch me work through it all. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? Why didn’t Kaspian tell me?” I asked quietly.

And that thought stung. Surely he’d known the public perception had shifted. Surely he’d been told what Briar had just told me. Why wouldn’t he have wanted to share that with me, knowing my insecurities? Knowing how despicable I felt about my heritage, how much guilt I carried with me for not being honest with him before we married.

“Are you all right?” Briar asked, reaching out and taking my hand.

I shook my head, dazed. “Yes, I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologise. I’m sorry you’re only just finding out now.”

“Me too.” There was a muffled silence as I delved deeper into my head.

“All right, tell me something good. Are you happy to be back home with, His Grace?” Briar asked chipperly, attempting to shift the mood in the room.

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