Page 124 of War Queen
“Oh, my dear,” Catherine said softly, and she pulled Norah closer. “Come here.”
Norah stepped forward and hugged her grandmother. Tightly. She smelled of oranges, her grandmother’s favorite fruit from her home kingdom of Eilor, and Norah breathed it in.
“I’m glad you came,” Catherine said into her ear.
“Of course I came.” Norah pulled back and looked at her. “Although if you wanted me to come back, you could have just asked.” She sniffed. “You didn’t need to be so dramatic and start dying.”
Catherine gave a weak laugh, and her eyes glistened. “Come inside, child. There’s so much to talk about.”
Norah nodded.
Shakily, her grandmother sat back down in her wheeled chair, and the guard turned it and started her toward the castle.
Norah turned to Mikael, looking to take his arm, but his attention was fixed on the sky. She followed his gaze to the Mercian banner on one of the turrets. His eyes found hers again in surprise.
She couldn’t help a smile. It had been over a month since she’d sent the changes of her sigil back to Mercia, and it was the first time she’d seen it on something other than a parchment drawing. She let herself take it in, in all its glory against the sky. It was the same image that was marked on Mikael’s skin. A winterhawk rising with the sun, as she had risen with him. The original symbol had never truly felt like her own. Now it did, because it had a piece of him in it.
He gave a smile of his own. And that made her happy.
Mercia almost felt like home with Mikael there. He seemed more and more like he belonged, and Soren seemed… less Destroyer-like, especially when he pushed her grandmother around in her wheeled chair.
And, of course, Catherine loved it.
As evening fell, they entered the dining hall. Soren pushed Catherine to her place at the table and then took his own seat as Norah and Mikael took theirs. Mikael raised a brow at Soren’s joining, then looked at Catherine. But her grandmother only took another large swig from her wineglass as if nothing was amiss. Because it wasn’t.
Norah looked at Mikael and smiled at him. She’d forgotten to fill him in that Soren had a place at the table with Catherine for all meals. Her grandmother had even stopped scowling at the commander for eating with his knife.
It was nice—their being together. She wondered how long Mikael would stay. Katya had sent a quarter of the Kharavian army to Bahoul and held the rest along the Canyonlands, ready, and Phillip had his forces in Eilor, all according to plan. But Mikael couldn’t be away from Kharav for long, especially if things escalated with Japheth and Rael. He shouldn’t have come at all, but he’d have things no other way. And she loved him for it.
Catherine took another deep drink of wine. “We must discuss the regency,” she said, rather abruptly.
Norah stopped and stared at her. “What… what about it?”
“We need to discuss who’s to be named regent.”
Why was she raising this now? That wasn’t—no, they didn’t need to talk about this now. Catherine still had plenty of time. They could talk about this later. They had time.Shehad time.
“Norah?”
She glanced back up to find her grandmother looking back at her. But she just shook her head. “No, we should talk about this with the council. Later.”
Catherine frowned. “I want us to talk about it now, before there’s pressure to make a decision quickly.”
“We still have plenty of time,” Norah argued. And she wasn’t ready.
“There isn’t as much time as you think.”
Norah clenched her fork in her hand to force down the rise of emotion. “I said I don’t want to talk about it right now.” She couldn’t. She needed her mind calm to talk about this, and right now… it wasn’t. And this conversation was so sudden. Too sudden.
“Norah, I know it’s a difficult—”
“No!”
“We don’t have to talk about it now,” Mikael said, interrupting and quieting the room.
Norah inhaled and pushed her breath out slowly. Under the table, she relaxed her fist, where her fingernails were digging into her palm. When she raised her gaze, Mikael was watching her. She couldn’t read his expression.
They finished dinner quietly, and after, Mikael walked her back to their chamber.
