Vaeril, trying to offend me, but I know Grayson, he’s a good man and the queen can’t make me think otherwise.
Almost as if thinking about him makes our link grow, I feel a tiny pull on it. No other feelings, just that little tug, and I want to close my eyes in relief and sink back in my chair, because it means he’s still alive. Reaching for Tor’s, I see it’s brighter than Grayson’s, and I get the responding pull almost immediately.
Vaeril’s voice draws me out of my daydreaming, and I realise how stupid I’m being. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling I don’t want the queen knowing about my bonds. In fact, a sense of dread falls over me at the thought, so I know I’m right. She can’t know.
“Your Majesty—” Vaeril protests, and I realise I must have missed something whilst I was looking at my connections with the guys.
“Your…blessing. You can do magic?” The queen cuts him off, leaning forward in her chair as she waits for my answer.
“No, I have no magic.” My answer is quick and honest. I’m able to break magic, but I have none of my own. However, she didn’t ask that question.
“You are different though. I can feel it.” Her eyes go to my wrist again where I’m still covering my mark.
Vaeril coughs, pulling her attention to him, and he places a hand on top of hers which is resting on the chair arm. Looking down at their joined hands, the queen’s face suddenly lights up, and I have to force away the feelings of jealousy that rises.
“We wish to explore the libraries, Your Majesty, I believe we will find answers there,” he requests, maintaining eye contact, and I understand why when she shakes off his hand, leaning back in her chair.
“You want a human to have access to our sacred texts? Did the poison take your mind, Vaeril?”
She’s not going to let us. I need to know more about myself, and Vaeril seems to think the answers are in the library. She needs to know I’m not a threat so she will let me in.
Clearing my throat, I wait until she looks at me with a withering glare. “I can’t read, Your Majesty. Even if I wanted to steal your knowledge, I couldn’t.”
“You can’t read.” It’s not a question, and I know from the smug way she says it that she thinks I’m just an uneducated, useless human. If that’s going to get us the information we need, then she can think whatever she wants about me.
“She won’t ever be there alone, Your Majesty. She will always have an elf with her,” Vaeril informs her.
“Hmm,” she hums, and she thinks it over. I know she wants to deny me access, but as her eyes flick over Vaeril again, she dips her head in agreement. “Very well, I will allow it.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” I say quietly, Vaeril dipping his head in thanks.
“Where will you be staying?” The question is such a change of topic that it takes me a few seconds to answer, the queen staring at me the whole time.
“I don’t know—”
“She’ll be staying with me.” Vaeril cuts me off, not letting me finish what I was going to say. Both the queen and I turn to look at him in shock.
He wants me to stay with him, in his rooms?
“Out of the question. You think I would let a human stay in the rooms of our returning hero?”
Vaeril sets down his tiny cup and shifts in his chair so he’s facing the queen, his face grave. “She had plenty of time to try and kill me while we escaped,” he reasons, gesturing towards me. “She is the only reason I am here alive today. I would either be dead in the forest or still in captivity.” Anger starts to lace his tone. “You should be thanking her rather than treating her like a second-class citizen.”
Oh, that’s not going to go down well. I wince when I see her face cloud with anger.
“Lord Vaeril, you forget yourself,” she snaps, snarling at the elf. One of the ladies in waiting makes a small noise in the back of her throat, and the queen suddenly sits back, realising she lost her temper. With a quiet sigh, she brushes an imaginary piece of lint from her dress before looking up again. When she does, she’s wearing the same serene mask from before. “I will let you off on this one