Page 145 of North Queen
Alexander eyed Mikael before answering. “All is well,” Alexander said finally. “The army returned in good health. I departed after with your guard. Caspian follows shortly with additional men and more of your belongings.”
“Caspian! He lives?” She almost couldn’t believe it.
Alexander cast a hard glance back at Mikael. “He’s still healing, but he’s well and eager to lead the guard back in your service.”
The backs of her eyes stung with relief. Caspian was all right.
“She already has a guard,” Mikael said.
“She needs a guard she can trust,” Alexander cut back.
The lord commander gave a low chuckle. “Because the North has kept her so safe?”
“Please,” Norah interjected, hoping they would settle, if only for her sake. A silence returned.
The line of Alexander’s jaw tightened and then relaxed again. “Your maid Serene comes as well,” he said, picking back up the conversation.
She smiled. “With Grandmother?”
Alexander’s lips parted, but he hesitated before he said, “No.”
“No?” Her smile fell.
He glanced at the king and then back to Norah. “It’s a great risk for her to come now.”
“Too great a risk for the queen and regent to both be in enemy hands, he means,” the lord commander said.
“We’re no longer enemies,” Norah said, her eyes on Alexander.
Alexander was silent for a moment. He lowered his voice. “Try to understand. It’s difficult for her to accept things as they are now.”
“Difficult to accept things as they are?” she said angrily. “Is that not what she’s had me do from the moment I returned?” Norah swallowed back her emotion, forcing composure. The king still didn’t know of her memory loss. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t told him yet. She’d have to eventually, but not now. “Does she send a letter?” she asked.
He shook his head slowly.
A weight crushed her. She’d asked her grandmother to come, and Catherine had refused without even a letter. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at her naivete. She hadn’t even doubted. The heat of tears stung the corners of her eyes as her emotion swelled.Not here, she told herself. She couldn’t get caught up in the frivolity of feelings as she stood between Alexander and Mikael.
“You should settle the men,” she told Alexander. “We’ll speak more after.” She needed to get him away, out of the hall and far from Mikael and the commander.
He gave a nod. “Of course.” He bowed. Then, with an icy glance back at the king, he turned from the hall and reluctantly left with the Northmen behind him.
Norah pushed out a shaking breath and swallowed back the knot rising in her throat. She turned to Mikael, but where she expected eyes of storming rage, she found none. Instead, his face had softened. Worry scored his forehead.
“I’m sorry about your grandmother,” he said, his voice gentle. His unexpected tenderness unleashed the emotion she had been trying so hard to keep inside, and a tear spilled down her cheek. He reached up and brushed it with his thumb. “You should take a walk through the gardens. I think it will make you feel better.”
Why would that make her feel better?
Her mind tumbled as her heart quickened. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? She nodded, suddenly breathless.
With the faintest smile, he turned and strode from the throne room with the commander close behind.
Norah forgot everything else as she hurried through the halls toward the gardens. Mikael’s touch still lingered on her cheek. Her being upset had bothered him—bothered him more than Alexander’s being in Kharav.
By the time she reached the courtyard, she was practically running. Her guard had to move quickly to keep up with her. Her silk shoes on the pea gravel sounded like rain as she ran past the fountains and out into the gardens.
She stopped suddenly as her breath caught in her throat.
Tears sprang to her eyes when she saw the old man by the hedges. “Bremhad!” she exclaimed.
