Page 178 of North Queen
“I think she’s secretly starting to like you,” he said.
“She likes me more than she likes the lord commander.”
He nodded. “That she does.”
“Why does she dislike him so much?” That was a silly question, perhaps. There were no redeeming qualities about the brute. Quite the opposite. But the commander was fiercely loyal to the king—had saved him, protected him—how could a mother not appreciate that?
“I don’t know. She always has. From the moment she saw him.”
A knock rattled the door and Alexander stepped inside. Mikael stiffened.
“Lord Justice,” she greeted. His presence in Kharav brought a thick tension, but she still couldn’t help her happiness each time she saw him.
“Queen Norah.” He didn’t acknowledge the king. “I came to see if you needed anything. Or if you wanted to write a letter. I’m sending word back to Mercia with news of your health.”
“Yes, I’d like to write a letter.” She moved with a start. “I completely forgot. What about the towns you went to investigate? Did you find anything? Who attacked them?”
Alexander shook his head. “We found nothing. Only the aftermath. Whoever it was, it’s like they had disappeared.”
His words drew Mikael’s interest. “Where was this?” the king asked.
Alexander eyed him as if loathing the thought of speaking words to him. “East of Bahoul.”
Mikael looked at Norah. “Not far from the town we saw destroyed. Same offenders, no doubt.”
Norah felt her stomach turn, remembering.
“You found nothing?” Mikael asked Alexander.
“Same as you, I believe,” he replied coolly, but there was a knife to it.
The king sat calmly, but his nostrils flared. “Did you really expect me to properly investigate an attack against the North as I launched my own?”
“What about now that you’re wed to Mercia’s queen?” Alexander’s voice held an icy air. “Do you care? Or is your protection of Mercia the same as your protection of her queen?”
Mikael bristled and moved to stand.
“I’m ready to speak to him,” Norah said, drawing their attention away from the argument, and from each other. “The man who attacked me. I want to see him.”
Both men stared at her.
Mikael rose. “I’m going to execute him.”
Alexander’s gaze snapped to the king with the same surprise as Norah’s, although he didn’t object.
But that wasn’t what Mikael had promised. “You said I could speak to him,” she said, frustrated.
“Which is why I haven’t taken his head yet.”
“He attackedme, and it’smehe should answer to.”
“But will you make him answer?” Mikael asked, his eyes burning. “Will you punish him, Salara?”
Norah looked down at the lining of the blanket as she pleated it between her fingers. Punishing someone would be difficult for her, regardless of the crime. “When can I see him?”
“As soon as you’re well enough.”
“I’m well enough now.”
