Page 4 of War Queen
“And he left me!” he raged suddenly.
But she didn’t react to his explosion of hurt. It had been over three months since Soren had left, and his absence was felt every day, by both of them. Norah softened her touch but still held his face as she moved to his front and stepped between his knees. She pulled him to look at her again.
His brows dipped in sadness as he sucked in a heavy breath. “He left me,” he said hoarsely. Emotion filled his face, and she pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around him.
“He’ll be back,” she tried to assure him.
“He’s not welcome back.”
She pulled back so that his eyes met hers again. “Don’t say that.”
“He’s supposed to be by my side. But he left me when I need him most.”
“No,” she countered. “Did you not hear Narsing and Jarik? Soren knows he’s seen as a threat to you—he would have wanted to remove that threat.”
“He could have rejected his right. He didn’t need to leave.”
She shook her head. “You know it wouldn’t have been that simple, not with the nobles. They’re not happy. They’d use him to pressure you.”
“And did he fear he’d so easily allow them?”
Norah sighed. He knew the answer to that foolish question. She ran her nails gently through his short-cut beard. “The news about your father—his father—had to have hurt him. Deeply. And to reconcile the feelings he had… around you… These things aren’t easy.”
“Why not? We would have been what we’ve always called each other—brothers—what I’ve always felt we were.” He shook his head. “But I was wrong. He’s not my brother.”
“Mikael,” she breathed. “You can’t mean that.”
“I mean it,” he said coldly, his emotion gone. “Don’t speak to me about him again. I no longer know him.”
It was his pain talking. But she couldn’t deny the deep, aching worry that seeped into her heart.
Chapter two
Thesunhadstartedto sink under the horizon, and the sound of Salara-Mae’s teacup clinking as she set it on the saucer echoed through the dining hall. Norah chewed her food slowly. That probably echoed too. Hardly any words were spoken as they ate, much like the last two days had been since the confrontation with the nobles. Mikael took drinks from his chalice, staring blankly at his plate of untouched food.
She knew what was on his mind. Her eyes drifted to Soren’s empty chair, as they did every meal since he’d left. But Mikael never looked at the chair, or his mother. He had raged at Salara-Mae after first learning the secret that had rocked their kingdom. Now he only simmered in silent anger.
Norah had blamed her too, for a time, but as the months passed, she found her anger fading. Despite the turmoil it had caused, there was a relief to be living in truth, no matter the challenges it presented or how raw it rubbed the heart.
But she didn’t like this, the way they were now. This wasn’t how they healed—by not talking. But she couldn’t force a conversation about Soren. Not with either of them. Not yet.
“I was going to take a walk in the gardens in the morning,” Norah said in an effort to break the perpetual silence. “To try to take advantage of what’s left of summer.”
Mikael lifted his eyes to hers, and he nodded. “You should.”
She shifted her gaze to the king’s mother. “Will you join me, Salara-Mae?”
The woman paused her chewing, then swallowed. “Very well.”
Norah had expected to have to work harder to convince her and was pleasantly surprised. “All right then,” she said with a small smile.
Salara-Mae put her dinner cloth on her plate and rose with a nod. “But for tonight, I’ll retire.”
“Good night,” Norah told her.
Mikael remained silent.
Salara-Mae left the dining hall, and Norah looked back to Mikael to find him watching her.
