Page 88 of The Queen's Line

My fist swung, muscles coiled so tight with tension, I was ready to spring at the slightest provocation.

"Ho! Careful now." My fist slammed against a ready palm with a bright slapping sound, and the man I'd been cursing in my head stumbled back from the impact, grinning at me. "Slow down, Danny boy."

I growled, looking around, searching for any sign of guards watching us, before grabbing Emory by his loose collar and dragging him into the shadows.

"Tell me I didn't just witness a failed attempt topoisonthe girl, Em," I hissed, throwing him aside as we slipped away from the crowds between two stalls.

"Ahh, was that what that was all about?" Emory asked, eyes wide with feigned innocence. "She got lucky then."

"What she got wasprotectionfrom Aric fucking Martin," I whispered.

Emory's gaze flinched and he stared out into the hills for a moment, hands resting on his hips. I followed his stare as his lips twitched with a smile and realized there was a couple fucking in the grass.Be quiet, be calm, I chanted in my mind.

"You told me theft," I breathed, keeping my eye on the festival, on the open air around us, waiting for someone to come.

"No, I didn't. Never said what would happen. And therewassome theft," Emory said with a shrug. His head tilted as he watched me turning, waiting to be caught, waiting to be dragged off by guards or Martin, or Bryony's fucking tiger Chosen. "You never really ask questions, do you, Dan? That's why Roderick likes you so well, right where you are."

I stiffened, chest heaving, trying to get control of my breath. Emory was right. I knew as much myself. I'd been raised, shaped, to do as I was told. Accusing Martin of mishaps at the festival seemed easy enough. Taking the role of steward at the Winter Palace was promising. Finding my way into a princess's bed wasn't unappealing.

And now look at what it's all adding up to, a voice in my head whispered.

"You fuck her yet?" Emory asked. "You know, I thought your delay might've been that she was ugly, but she's a delectable little thing, isn't she? Still, maybe you won't have to in the end."

Just get back to the tent before Cresswell finds you.

I stumbled away, ignoring Emory's taunts at my back.

An assassination plot. Is this what my father's estate is worth?

"We'll speak soon, Dan," Emory said behind me as I rushed back into the melee of the festival.

The tent was quiet inside, Owen and Cosmo talking and lounging together, Lady Prudence snoozing. The quiet left too much room in my head, and I searched the room three times for Bryony before I realized she was in her private area with others, their voices soft.

"Hey. Hey, Farraque, wait!" Cosmo jumped up, hurrying over and catching me by the arm as I marched for the curtains.

"I need to speak with Her Highness," I said, not entirely sure what would come out of my mouth if I did.

"Not a good time, I'm afraid," Cosmo said, exchanging a grin with Owen. He looked back to me and frowned, shaking his head and pulling me back a step. "Seriously. She's busy speaking with her Chosen. Leave them to it."

She was alone with Thao and Wendell? Could they be trusted?Can I?

"Leave them, Daniel," Cosmo said, words growing hard.

Outside the tent, the sound of armor approaching echoed in my head. I eased back, glancing one last time at the curtain as a soft, feminine gasp sounded. I rolled my shoulders, pulling free of Cosmo's grip, and headed for a seat to wait the night out. Rushing in and spilling my guts to the princess was probably the surest way to have my guts spilled for real. I just needed time to think through all the pieces and sort out where I fit in the mix.

29

Bryony

“Oh!”

The tiger blinked a set of pale eyes, silver with blue near the pupil, and his head hung shamefully low. He was as big as Thao, perhaps a little more, or maybe it was only that his fur seemed fuller, wider around his face and a little shaggier on his sides. I reached out in an automatic impulse to touch, so fond of doing so with Thao, and then paused and clenched my fingers back into fists.

"We didn't want him to register when we came back." Thao spoke slowly, stepping forward and kneeling down so that Wendell could butt his massive pale head against his shoulder. "And in Mennary, this was a secret. Only my family and royals by marriage are given the bite of our bloodline so they might take their second nature. But Wendell and I are…we are—"

"More than lovers," I said, resting my hand against Thao's shoulder. Wendell released a low, pleased rumble and nuzzled a warm nose against the back of my hand, his massive jaw and brutal teeth brushing against me.

"It was his right to share this gift with me," Thao said, nodding. "He is first in my heart."