Page 53 of A Touch of Shadows

‘You’re Elodie’s daughter.’

No, she wasn’t. She couldn’t be. She didn’t even look like her.

‘She never said that. She just… she raised me but I don’t… I’m not…’

He held up a hand to silence her and she was horrified to find herself obeying. The words died away in her throat. ‘It’s undeniable. Just looking at you… You are the daughter of the lost queen and, unless we find her, you will take the throne.’

The pronouncement stole her breath. She didn’t look anything like Elodie. She knew that. But she did look like him and…

Oh. Wren closed her eyes. He wanted her on the throne. Of course he did.

‘I can’t do that.’

‘You don’t have a choice in the matter. It is your duty.’

No choice?

The shock inside her boiled away. And turned to anger.

There was always a choice. Elodie had taught her that too. No one else got to decide for her. ‘If I am her daughter, and your daughter, and she was married to Prince Evander of Sidon, I’m not even legitimate.’

He looked up sharply and she knew she’d made a dreadful miscalculation. Elodie had always been so calm and kind. Wren knew she must have gotten her temper from somewhere and now she could be seeing where. Anger filled his eyes, making them black as midnight. And far too like those in her own reflection. She shrank back in her seat as he rose slowly, every movement filled with threat.

‘Your blood by your mother is the only thing of consequence here. Whoever sired you is of no consequence. The queen was lawfully married but better that you don’t carry the Ilanthian taint.’

The Ilanthian taint? Oh Finn must have had an exemplary upbringing hearing phrases like that from his guardian’s mouth. Wren ground her teeth together while the world seemed to plummet away beneath her.

‘No one will dare question your birthright anyway. Once the regents’ council makes the proclamation that will be that. All the same, it’s no good handing people weapons against you. Never say it again, do you understand?’

She swallowed hard on the lump in her throat. Why couldn’t he have been kind? Loving? Why couldn’t he have swept her up in his arms and told her she was the child he had always wanted? That was what happened in stories, wasn’t it? Tears burned in her eyes and she blinked them back. She wouldn’t show him. She wouldn’t let him see.

‘You just want me on the throne, no matter what. For your own ends.’ Her voice shook but she forced the words out. ‘If you think to have a queen you can control?—’

For a moment the anger in him cracked and she saw a flicker of shock, surprise that she could even think such a thing. He almost laughed, but the bitter twist of his mouth wouldn’t allow it.

‘No one has ever been able to control a queen of Asteroth. I am not about to start on that fool’s errand. The council will decide but I can already tell you that you might as well get used to a crown, young lady. You are dismissed.’

CHAPTER 31

WREN

Wren couldn’t get out of the room fast enough.

One minute Roland was calling her a queen, and the next he was dismissing her like a servant. How dare he?

Lynette was still waiting outside and Anselm was a little further down the corridor, but she pushed by them both and ran before the threatened tears spilled from her eyes and made an absolute fool of her. She was doing that just well enough by herself. They didn’t follow her, she noticed, and felt a strange sense of gratitude. Back in the healers’ hall, her room had already been stripped, but her book was still there waiting for her. She grabbed it, holding it against the locket, close to her heart, and fought to stay upright. All the air seemed to have left her body and she couldn’t pull any more in.

‘I don’t know,’ said a voice outside. One of the healers, she supposed. She didn’t recognise it. ‘You’d imagine most girls would be delighted to find out they were really a princess.’

‘It must have been a dreadful shock though, if she really didn’t know.’

‘Do you actually believe that?’ The first voice laughed. ‘I don’t think so. She knew. She had to. If Queen Aeryn really did raise her, she would have prepared her. I think it’s an act. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s just another fraud.’

‘I can’t imagine one could take in the Grandmaster himself. He’s been notoriously hard on pretenders.’

‘Yes, but this one’s supposedly his bastard daughter, isn’t it? Suits him, I’m sure.’ And they laughed. Nastily.

Wren stood frozen to the spot, praying they would keep walking and not look inside. She didn’t want them to see her, to know that she’d heard them. She just wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. That was what people thought of her then. That was what people were already saying.