Page 47 of North Queen
Norah slipped out into the hall, appreciating the quiet of her silk shoes. It was late evening now, and she wasn’t expecting anyone about, but she’d rather make it back to her chamber without anyone seeing her. There would be less to explain.
Light spilled out from a room ahead, and she slowed. She wasn’t sure what room it was; she hadn’t been in this hall before. When she reached the open door, she sidled along the edge of the frame, leaning forward just enough to peek inside. It was a study. Her heart beat faster.
Alexander sat at his desk, reading through several documents. The candle to his right dropped a trail of wax down its side—he’d been there for a while. He sighed as he put one parchment down and then picked up another.
She couldn’t help herself. “What are you working on?” she asked.
He looked up in surprise, and a hint of a smile came to his lips. He rose from his chair. As his mind seemed to put things together, his brow creased. “Where did you come from?” he asked.
She stepped inside the study and shrugged. “Just walking.”
His eyes ran over her cloak. “Outside?”
Hammel’s hell. “Just around the castle. I… was cold.” She bit her lip. That definitely sounded like a lie.
Alexander raised a brow.
She drew closer, and his eyes followed. She took a seat on the wingback chair in front of the desk, and he slowly sat back down. His face had a warm familiarity, and she struggled to separate whether it was the comfort of their new friendship, or something more. She spied a biscuit and pear on a plate on the corner of the desk, and her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything since Catherine had taken her to the seer. “Are you going to eat that?” she asked.
He glanced at the plate. “No. Are you hungry?” His brow dipped. “Have you not eaten?”
“I wasn’t hungry earlier, but I just realized I am a little now.” She grabbed the pear off the plate.
“I’ll get you some food. Don’t eat that. Adrian brought it hours ago.” He moved to stand.
“No, it’s all right,” she said quickly. “The pear’s fine.”
He sighed and gave a small smile. “I’ll have to make sure we do a better job taking care of our queen.”
His words sat uncomfortably in her ears.Queen. She swallowed. She had no business being queen.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “Have I said something?”
She turned the pear in her hands, brushing her fingers over the smooth skin of the fruit. She wanted to tell him about the visit to the traveler, about seeing the visions, but Catherine had said not to. “My grandmother says that the council will push for my coronation right away.” She drew her eyes back up, searching for confirmation.
He nodded. “It’s true.”
“How soon?”
“A few days.”
A wave of panic washed through her. “A few days?” She wouldn’t even know her way around the castle properly within a few days. How could she be ready to be queen and stand against a monster the likes of what she’d seen tonight?
“I know it seems soon,” he tried to assure her, “but you’ll figure things out. You always do.”
Norah snorted in frustration. “I can’t even figure out how to keep my memory loss a secret. Did you speak to Adrian?”
Alexander nodded calmly. “He told me.”
“Talk about someone figuring things out. Well… he did. So did James. I hadn’t even said three sentences, and James… told me I was lying. Which I was.” She closed her eyes, silently cursing herself.
“Don’t fault yourself for Adrian and James. I should have told them. There was no way they wouldn’t have known something was wrong. They know you too well.”
She shook her head. “It’s more than just that. I can’t do this.”
Alexander leaned forward with his forearms on the edge of the desk. “Norah, you’re going to be a great queen.”
“You don’t know that,” she said, standing and bumping back the chair. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”
