Page 28 of On Silver Winds
My love?
But all she could manage was a mute nod.She curtsied to the Queen, gave an uncertain dip in the direction of the stranger, stood upright and made for the castle.
“Adeline, a moment,” the Queen called.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
The Queen moved closer and murmured so that Adeline alone would hear. “Should you find yourself at the palace, I would be grateful if you would deliver my midday meal tomorrow, as you did today.”
Adeline pulled back to stare at her, but the Queen’s face was unreadable. So, she simply nodded. “As you wish.”
Her mother patted her shoulder; a dismissal, but not the kind she’d expected.
As she walked away, Adeline felt a pair of eyes on her like the weight of a hand on her shoulder, willing her to turn. She did so at the door; the stranger’s frown had become a crease between his dark brows and he watched her still as the sentries pulled the doors shut behind her.
Who in all of Adhlas, she wondered, was Kai Cumhaill?
Chapter 10
Kai
The Beira Queen was golden-haired.
That was all that went through his mind. All he had to gauge the time that had slipped past him above the ice.
Golden, not the Beira black he had come looking for. A gene so strong, so enduring, that the King’s many bastards were known at once by their raven hair. There was a saying, common throughout Eisalaan and even below the Laune itself; “Black as a Beira.”
Adhlas only knew how many years of breeding it had taken, for that endless, enduring black to turn to gold.
A century perhaps? More?
A fresh surge of rage rose through him, and Kai gripped at the soft edge of his pristine white seat, savouring the pain in his hands after years within the ice, feeling nothing at all. The split skin of his knuckles cracked and bled anew, and he was glad for the blood that smeared the perfect, rich fabric beneath his hands.
In the stretching, pressing silence, there was movement above him. The golden Queen set a small cup of tea down in front of him and took a seat across the low table.
He raised his head to meet her stare. Although she held tight to her poise, he could swear she reeled ever so slightly at what she saw when his eyes met hers, and he had to admit - it gave him a savage satisfaction.
These Beira women, he thought.When will they learn not to invite the monsters home with them?
The Queen cleared her throat gently.
“I would like to help you, if you will let me. I would like to help the Merrow. I know that there were many of your people among you that day.”
“You know nothing of my people,” he ground out. “You know nothing of that day.”
The Queen set down her untouched cup of tea and folded her hands in her lap.
“I always thought it strange when the stories would say there were no survivors. Of course that’s not true. The fairytales came from somewhere. Someone must have lived to tell the tale, mustn’t they? And now, after all this time, we know that you survived, too.”
She smiled pleasantly, for all the world as though he were a cherished guest and not an ancient lake creature glowering at her through the frost that clung to his eyelashes.
“I’ve studied accounts from that day, you see. And as for what I know about your people… I know all thatsheknew.”
Kai said nothing, gave no indication he knew whoshewas. He was frozen, too intent on grappling with the murderous impulse that had suddenly flooded him. Too focused on holding the snarl that pulled at his lips and teeth.
Don’t speak of her.
But the Queen could not read his silence.
