There’s a suffocation of noise and a pause in the air when Queen Kaila stops before us. Lu bends her waist into a stiff bow, and I drop into a hurried curtsy, my pulse racing. “Queen Kaila, forgive us. We didn’t know you were outside. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.”
“Oh, you didn’t,” she replies, her umber gaze skipping across us like stones.
Anxiety churns in my gut as we stand there awkwardly. Every breath I take clings to my lungs, the frigid humidity coating my mouth and pressing dingy exhales across my skin like I’m clogged in a cloud.
The thick fog suddenly feels like an enemy, rather than a boon that kept Lu and me better hidden on the trek back to my room. It’s the air closing in on us, an opaque mist shoved down from the sky as if the gods want to trap us.
The gray-blue of Queen Kaila’s gown shimmers beneath her thick cloak, the hood drawn up over her straight black hair. There are three guards escorting her, the one to her right holding a torch in his hand. Their armor is worn down silver with the sigil of Third Kingdom molded to their chests, a proud insignia denoting their coasts with the rising fin of a predatory shark stalking beneath a line of ocean water.
Kaila pushes back her hood, and though no crown sits on her head today, she looks no less queenly than before. “What luck, that the two of us should run into each other like this.”
I only smile politely in response, but despite my calm exterior, my heartbeat is sprinting. The only luck this is, is the bad kind. Uneasiness has quickly drenched my spirits, my mind racing with what the implications might be of her seeing me. I don’t know Kaila’s character, barely know the main facts about her.
I tried to put all things Third Kingdom out of my mind a long time ago, but I wish I hadn’t. I wish I’d studied up on this woman, because right now, every instinct is telling me that Kaila is dangerous. I overlooked her at the dinner, her entertaining brother taking up more of my attention, plus Midas’s demanding presence and a certain brooding king.
Kaila is here on Midas’s invitation, but I have no idea why he specifically invited her. But maybe the more important question is, why did she agree to come?
“Interesting that you should be out at this hour,” Kaila muses. “I would think that King Midas prefers you safe inside the castle.”
Quickly scrambling, I say, “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to take a walk outside. Ranhold’s night air is dense tonight.”
“Indeed. I too wanted to take a walk. I find it mentally stimulating. You can hear so many interesting things at night.”
My shoulders go stiff, and I feel Lu’s attention sharpen on the queen. Kaila must feel it too, because her gaze flicks over for a second before she once again settles her attention on me. “Walk with me?”
I blink in surprise, my hands fisting into my skirts. The last thing I want to do is walk with her, but there’s absolutely no way I can deny her, because we both know it wasn’t really a request to begin with.
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
When we both step aside for Kaila to lead the way, she cuts Lu a saccharine look. “You’re dismissed.”
Lu opens her mouth lik
e she’s going to argue, but I subtly shake my head. I don’t want her to get herself in trouble or hurt. Queen Kaila is making my nerves strum with a steady chord of alarm, and I don’t want Lu anywhere near her. She may be a warrior and the perfect spy, but I’ve dealt with my fair share of royals over the years.
With a loaded look at me, Lu nods tersely before she turns on her heel and strides away. Her steps are silent, dark silhouette disappearing into the fog like a forgotten ghost fading into the ether.
Now alone with Kaila and her guards, the queen begins to walk, and I dutifully match her steps, my palms sweating nervously beneath my gloves.
“Strange,” Queen Kaila hums.
Goddess, I don’t want to rise to her loaded bait, but I can’t not. Verbal trapping is a royal’s favorite pastime. Instead of learning to wage war on a battlefield, they’ve learned to do it in court.
“What’s strange, Your Majesty?” I ask, trying to keep my tone light, despite the way my throat tightens.
“That you should be accompanied by a soldier from Fourth Kingdom, instead of your king’s guards.”
My ears ring with the dangerous pitch of her words, temples pulsing with the underlying threat I can sense in their inflection.
Yep, I should’ve paid more attention to her.
Along my spine, my ribbons stiffen, the satiny lengths bracing against my skin like an animal backed into a corner, hackles raised and poised for the strike.
“My other guards are waiting for me,” I lie. “Actually, I should probably get back to them before they come searching...”
Kaila gives me a look that lets me know she sees right through my pathetic attempt at leaving. “Come now, Auren. I can keep a secret. I keep lots of them, in fact.”
Well, that makes me feel not at all better.