Page 67 of War Queen
“Oh,” Norah breathed. Shehadalmost forgotten. Not long after she’d first arrived in Kharav, the Osan prince had crossed the border with several of his friends, and Norah had sent him home. Only he encountered Soren on the return, and barely made it back alive. His friends were not so fortunate.
She glanced around the room, looking for the lord commander. If Daiyona knew about Norah trying to send the trespassing prince home, she’d surely know about the lord commander so savagely killing the men accompanying him. It was a memory she had tried to forget, and hopefully it wasn’t something that would come back to haunt her now. “Well, thank you,” she managed to get out. “And I’m looking forward to us becoming fast friends.”
Norah glanced around the hall again, hoping Soren had decided not to come, which was likely. He hated socials. She spotted Caspian, but he stood alone.
The princess smiled. “Absolutely, Your Majesty.”
Past their easy pleasantries, Princess Daiyona was swept away with other guests, and Phillip took a place beside Norah.
“She’s very beautiful,” she said.
Phillip glanced out at the Osan princess and frowned. “Yes, I suppose she is.”
Not the response she’d expected.All right, then.
“And where is your Destroyer?” he asked.
“My lord commander?” Not here, hopefully, but she wished she knew. “He had something to tend to.”
He paused. “Lord commander. Is that what he wishes to be called?”
“It’s his title, and whatIwould like him to be called.”
He gave a smiling nod. “Very well then.”
They stood together, looking out over the festivities. People gathered around tables of tiered food, and more filled the dance floor.
“Why didn’t you marry me, Norah?”
Here it was. Did he really want to have this conversation now?Fine. “You know why. I wanted peace. Kharav was the only one who could offer that.”
“But did you really get peace? You just finished waging a war to take back your own kingdom, and a war with Japheth and Rael waits for us still.”
Norah glanced down at her hands clasped at her waist in front of her. Heat flushed her cheeks.
No. She wouldn’t let him do this.
She straightened and met his gaze. “Are you trying to rub my naivety in my face? Should a queen not expect her council to support her sacrifice for peace and her kingdom’s prosperity, and not try to overthrow her for their own subversive agenda?”
“Our marriage would have given us what we both wanted.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t want war. An alliance with Kharav brought the realpossibilityfor peace, even if I didn’t achieve it.”
He was silent a moment. “Is that what you’ve reduced us to? Mere war partners?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that. “Is that not what we were?”
His brow creased, and he pulled his eyes from her and roved his gaze back across the great hall. His face held steady, but his throat moved with a hurt swallow. Then he gave her a polite nod. “Enjoy the evening, Queen Norah.” And he stepped away, in the direction of his betrothed.
Her mind swirled around her as she tried to piece together this puzzle of the past. Why was he acting so strangely? What had been between them?
Norah stared into the mirror as Serene pulled tight the lacing on the back of her dress. In a few hours, Phillip would be wed to the Osan princess, and in a few days, Norah would be on her way back to Mercia. And she was very much looking forward to that. However, she couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in her gut from her conversation with Phillip the evening before. Her refusal of marriage had more than hurt his pride. There was something else.
But what?
And why?
Her chamber door opened, and Soren stalked inside.
