The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,15

Royal Highness, Princess Bryony, and her Chosen."

The doors opened, and my breath caught. I had left the Winter Palace more beautiful than I'd found it, but it was in a soft and organic kind of way. There was nothing like the prismatic shine and glitter of the great hall by candlelight, the floors polished until they were almost mirrors, the actual mirrors bouncing light in every direction. It was a small royal secret that all of the glass lining the wall was ever so slightly tilted toward the thrones, just enough so that much of the flickering candlelight turned softly in my mother's direction.

My mother, and Camellia.

I should have but hadn't expected to find my sister waiting for my arrival too. And if I had imagined it, it would've been some kind of debaucherous scene. An orgy on the dais perhaps.

My mother sat serenely on her throne, or rather, she sat in the lap of a man on her throne, her cheek against his temple, her eyes heavy lidded with either satisfaction or slumber. She was smiling before I even entered, and the expression didn't grow or falter as I stepped forward with my Chosen.

"Oh, Bryony. I'm so glad it's you," Mother said.

It didn't really sound as though she'd been expecting me, let alone that she'd requested me to greet her here, which meant??/p>

My eyes turned to Camellia next. Her collection of men had grown, her harem now twice the size of my mother's and at least three times the size of mine. I recognized a few men from the Winter Palace, but even more so, I realized that some of the familiar faces were now gone. Igor was missing, and another whose name I didn't know. She smiled at me, but it was a sour expression on her face, and her fingernails were digging into the shoulder of the man at her feet as if she was bracing against some physical pain. She was fighting the Hunger, I realized. The cravings held her that fiercely.

She thinks she's more powerful because she has more men, more Hunger, I realized. I was beginning to wonder if it wasn't the opposite.

"How is Her Majesty this evening?" I asked after my Chosen and I had delivered deep bows to my mother and sister. "Any changes in her health?"

"It's just terrible, Bryony, it really is," Mother said, eyes growing glassy and face turning into her Chosen's cheek. "The doctors say there's no hope of recovery. It's just buying time with her now. I'm so glad you returned. It was so wrong of you to stay so long away from us."

My jaw tightened, my head dipping to my mother. Out of the corner of my eye, Aric shifted uncomfortably, gloved hands clenching at his side.

"I'd like to see her," I said.

"Oh, not tonight, darling," Mother said, brightening. "She's sleeping, surely, and you and your Chosen should see your suite. It really is quite pretty. I gave some advice on the finishing touches myself."

I wondered if that meant I'd be barred from seeing my grandmother, or only if my mother didn't understand the same urgency I felt, but I nodded again, taking a breath before trying to find the right way to leave the room.

"Sister, it will be such fun here again, now that you are back," Camellia said, forcing a grin as she rose from her throne and stepped down from the dais.

I swallowed and shrugged, trying to smile while that darker version of the Hunger rose up in me, the one that called for blood, for my sister's as she approached with slow steps. The air around me buzzed, and I didn't know if it was my magic alone, or if Aric was fashioning some kind of barrier.

"Kiss my cheek," Camellia said softly, baring her throat as she turned her head to offer her cheek. "I have missed you."

It was a taunt, this false surrender of hers, a farce of affection to appease or disarm my mother. Camellia certainly wasn't expecting me to be fooled. I leaned in and rested my cheek to hers, holding my breath against the overwhelming scent of jasmine covering something more sour and animal.

"At one point while you were gone, I thought I might never see you again," Camellia said softly.

Because you meant to have me killed, I thought.

"I will never falter in my duty to Kimmery," I answered, holding my sister's gaze as she stepped back. Her lips were chapped, and her eyes were bloodshot. She'd given herself