The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,97

in front of mine. "Oh my," she repeated. "My daughter…is a tiger."

I chuffed as she reached into my fur with both hands, scratching and rubbing pleasantly. She laughed, nearly falling sideways as I rested my chin on her shoulder.

"She's harmless," my mother said brightly.

"She's Bryony," Cosmo said, and my tail thumped at the correction. I wasn't harmless, not at all, but I wasn't wild. Not now at least. It had taken a few practicing shifts with Thao and Wendell before I'd really been able to change and hold onto myself right away.

"Her colors are unusual," my mother said.

I had orange and white stripes, although Thao called me 'pink' when the sunlight hit. I wasn't sure if he was just sore that my tiger was bigger and stronger than his.

"We think it's something to do with her magics interacting," Owen said.

"Does this mean her children will be tigers too?" my mother asked.

Cosmo set his tools aside and lowered himself to the floor. My mother laughed as I slid myself down to the floor to drop my head in Cosmo's lap, exposing my belly to them—it prickled the tiger to do this, but my mother sighed as she ran her fingers through the soft pale fur there.

"If her daughter is Thao's, yes. We're not sure if the magic will carry on from Bryony herself though," Cosmo said.

My mother pulled away then, her hands folding in her lap, face going unusually somber. "It's not the same magic as the Kimmerian two-natured?"

"No," Owen said.

"No. But this will change things."

I shifted back, sitting up and smoothing my skirts around me, my mother's eyes widening briefly at the transformation. "I think it's a good thing to embrace the different kinds of magic that make up Kimmery. I think magic is Kimmery's prosperity."

"I'm not sure how the farmers and the merchants would feel about that," Mother said drily. "But perhaps you're right. The council will have to be informed."

"I ran through the castle as a tiger. I suspect they already were," I said.

"You weren't really going to eat your sister, were you, darling?" Mother asked, brow furrowing as she gazed at me.

I might've if Owen hadn't intervened. It was hard to read myself as a tiger. My hunt for Camellia might've been a game of chase, or it might've been the intent of a predator. The two weren't so different for the animal.

"Of course not, Mother," I lied.

She sighed happily, and Cosmo let me crush his hand in mine. "I didn't think so," she said. "Now let me see you as a tiger again."

I sat up just as a throat cleared in the doorway. Aric stood there, a folded letter pinched between his fingers. "A note from our friends in the north."

I shot up from the floor before I remembered myself. "Oh, I'm sorry, I—"

"It's fine," my mother said with a laugh, taking Owen's hand for him to help her up. "Another time. I'm glad you made such friends in the north while you were there."

I wasn't sure what my mother would think of Griffin, Sam, and Mistress Sanders if she met them, or what she would think of my being crowned King of Thieves, for all I'd neglected that title. It was better not to find out.

"Another time," I agreed, escorting my mother out of Cosmo's studio and through the suite.

"You've made your changes here," my mother said, admiring the strange landscapes that had appeared on the walls of the hallway.

"My magic did," I said with a little shrug.

My mother's eyes lit up. "Like in the ballroom!"

I blushed, recalling the game Daniel and Aric had made of my first dance, and nodded.

"You know," my mother whispered, leaning in close. "I tried that myself the other night with my Chosen. Nothing quite as impressive, but we did change the drapes. How funny to learn something new about myself after all this time. I wonder what else I've done without ever noticing."

I kissed my mother's cheeks at the door to my suite, barely waiting for the lock to click shut before I whirled around and leapt toward Aric. "Who wrote? What does it say?"

"How did your mother handle your tiger?" Aric asked, holding up the letter high above our heads. I jumped for it, and his arm wrapped around my waist.

"Aric!" I snapped. He arched an eyebrow as the others watched and hid their chuckles poorly. "It went fine, I think. She warmed up to me."

"You're very soft," Aric said, grinning and drawing down the letter by a