Page 80 of The Shrouded Queen
“Not if you catch a whiff of my scent.”
A deep growl built in the back of his throat. “Don’t talk about things you don’t understand.”
“What do you smell, Keir?” I took a brazen step forward as the wind blew through, ruffling my short hair and carrying my scent straight to Keir’s nose. His chest stopped moving. He was holding his breath. I tried not to see that for the small victory that it was. “Why would it stop you from killing me?”
“It won’t,” he said, voice tight.
“Yes, it would. Why?”
“You have no idea what you’re even asking.”
“So explain it to me.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw as he glared at me, lips a firm line. He glanced at my forehead, at the impossible markings that ached even now. Those gold eyes of his were hard, giving nothing away. But despite his best efforts, his chest rose on an inhale.
A small thrill zipped through my blood. “Whatever King Zaid did to you,” I said softly, “you didn’t deserve it.” Keir would’ve only been around ten years old at the time of the invasion. No matter what sort of man he’d grown into, no child deserved war.
Keir’s gaze seared into me, and it was like looking into two bright suns. I had that odd probing feeling again, as if he could somehow see within me. I let him.
He took a step forward, bringing us within an inch of each other, and his hand landed on the door beside my hip. My heart lurched into my throat as his body heat seeped into me. I craned my head back to look up into his face. Cold, throat cut up with blue markings, everything about him harsh and forbidding, all except those gods-damn eyes. Those were warm and encompassing, and they were focused on me as acutely as I was focused on them.
Click.
The door behind me swung open, and I staggered back. Keirhad turned the knob beside my hip. I managed to catch myself on the doorjamb before I tumbled inside.
“Don’t come to the Lunar Feast,” he ordered, voice like gravel.
“Why not?” I demanded, desperate for a single explanation. If not about my runes, thenanythingwould do.
He didn’t bother responding. Just turned on his heel, boots tromping as he stalked away.
With a sigh of frustration, I slammed the door.
He had smelled something wrong with my runes, but he’d still called meMajesty, so he didn’t know what it meant. He didn’t know who I was—or, rather, wasn’t. But it didn’t explain howIcould have runes that were not black.
In fact, for all his raving about my ignorance, he hadn’t offered a single thing to rectify that. How could I know something if he wouldn’t tell me? It was aggravating and infuriating, and the next time he decided to help himself to my apparentlynothorrible scent, I was going to smack him. Right across the face.
Just imagining his look of shock gave me immense delight.
The young healer arrived soon after, the same one who’d given me the sleeping draught. She was younger than me by a couple of years, a plump girl with a full face and rosy cheeks. She came to my side and unfurled a rolled-up leather pouch, revealing tools and vials. Dipping her fingers into a jar, she scooped up a thick brown substance and rubbed it into my shins. It tingled as soon as it hit my skin, and the relief was instant. A numbing agent of some kind. I sighed and relaxed into the pillows. “Thank you.”
She smiled and scooped some more into her hand.
“What’s your name?”
“Siv of Netherridge.” Her eyes darted up to mine for a split second. “My aunt and uncle are in the Seven.”
Sillia and Cano were from Netherridge. She must mean them.
“I am sorry your home was lost, Siv.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” She dabbed a little more ointmenton her finger and then very gently blended it into my forehead. My lingering headache completely vanished. “And thank you for saving Milena.”
“You know her?”
“I know of her,” she corrected. “Both her parents died when the Shroud took the Pillars, where she’s originally from. But she managed to outrun it and reach her grandfather in Netherridge. He was all she had left. If you hadn’t grabbed her, she would’ve…” She cleared her throat and pulled back, quickly replacing the lid and rolling up the pouch. “I came to Frostguard to study healing under my mother when I was seven. I haven’t been back to Netherridge in ten years, so I don’t really know her. But I’m grateful for any Kald who is spared.”
Once again, my heart ached for the little girl. I hadn’t managed to find time to check on her since Netherridge was lost, but I would rectify that now. “Could you take me to see her?”
