Page 201 of Shadow Queen
“Vitalia, are you all right?”
Her maid swayed again and then fell forward out of the chair, hitting the table before collapsing to the floor.
“Vitalia!” Norah cried as she sprang down to her side.
Vitalia’s eyes were open, but they stared blankly back at her. Norah clutched her face. “Vitalia!” Then her gaze moved to the chalice on the floor with spilled wine around it.
Beside her, Cusco whined.
Norah staggered to her feet. “Guards!” she screamed. But when she ripped the door to the hall open, it wasn’t her guards looking back at her. They lay on the stone floor of the hall, dead.
The council’s mercenaries blocked her way, their swords drawn.
Alexander took the chalice of wine from Edward and drank deeply.
“Lord Justice,” the councilman said. “I’m sure you would agree that the queen’s words and actions are quite troubling.”
Yes, the council was troubled. And if he was honest with himself, Alexander was too. Not of Norah’s intentions; in her heart, she truly wanted the best for both Mercia and Kharav, but things with the council were escalating. He took another drink.
“What she has done,” the councilman continued, “what she continues to do—it will inflict great harm on Mercia.” He refilled Alexander’s chalice from the glass carafe of wine. “Our values, our customs, our way of life, everything we believe and everything we stand for. I’m sure you can agree, she is not the woman who left us those years ago.”
No,she was not. What he wouldn’t give to have that woman back. He grieved her, the loss.
“She’s been corrupted by the darkness,” the councilman said.
Alexander found himself nodding. There was a darkness. But Norah couldn’t see it, and he didn’t know how to make her see. And to make it more complicated, he didn’t entirely despise the king who brought this darkness. Alexander’s head hurt, and he drew up his hand and pressed his fingers to his temples. He was just so tired.
He took another drink.
“So, again, we appear in agreement,” Edward said.
Perhaps. He lauded Norah’s effort for peace, her relentless struggle to bring two opposite worlds together, but they were two worlds that should remain opposite. He set the chalice down on the side table, and Edward promptly refilled it again.
“This is why she must be removed,” the councilman said.
Removed. Alexander’s head snapped up. Edward’s words seemed to sink in for the first time. “What?”
“She must be removed,” Edward repeated.
Alexander surged to his feet. A rush of fog filled his mind, but he blinked it back. What was happening? His hand moved to where the hilt of his sword normally sat against his hip, but he’d taken it off. He struggled to remember where he’d set it. “She’s queen. You can’t just remove her.”
“We have another with royal blood, the queen’s second cousin, Evangeline, and Catherine will continue as regent until the girl is of age. As before, we are here to guide her.”
His breaths came harder now. The room swirled around him, and he parted his stance slightly to keep his balance. “Those are treasonous words,” he warned. Catherine would never accept that. He’d never accept it. He blinked again to focus his failing vision. What was happening to him?
The wine.
Alexander spotted his sword on the floor by the foot of the chair, but he wasn’t sure he’d stay on his feet if he reached for it.
“We have done everything in the name of Mercia,” Edward said. “Our consciences are clear.”
Alexander’s heartbeat grew in his ears, thrumming with the heat of fight. What did that mean? “Where’s the queen?”
“Alexander,” Edward said. “Your family has safeguarded Mercia for generations upon generations. Your blood can be traced back to the original protector of the crown. Your father sacrificed for this great kingdom. And now so must you.”
“Where’s Norah?” he demanded again.
“You should sit down, Lord Justice.”
