The Promised Queen (Forgotten Empires #3)- Jeffe Kennedy Page 0,83

care,” I said with some irritation. “I won’t starve in My bed because no one came to wake Me.” A bit too apt, that metaphor, as I’d nearly done exactly that. I would be left alone, without Con, or even Sondra’s acerbic company. Never mind that—I would be far too busy setting Calanthe to rights again to have a moment alone, much less unwanted solitude. After all, I’d lived that way for years before Con set boots on my soil. I would be fine.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Ibolya bowed her head, chastened.

“I appreciate the thought, however,” I added and she smiled. Harmony between us restored, I told her to send some food via a servant and sent her off to enjoy the party, with strict instructions not to show her face to me before morning.

Sondra went off with Kara, and Con returned to me, sitting where Ibolya had, extending his long legs. Vesno flopped onto his belly and scooched under the bench, releasing a happy sigh. “What was that all about?” Con asked.

“I imagine Vesno is hot and tired, with all that running around and excitement.”

Con gave me a look. “With Ibolya.”

“Girl talk,” I replied coyly, laughing when he scowled at me.

“You were upset,” he said, taking my hand and lacing my fingers with his. “More about Tertulyn and Calla?”

I decided not to ask how he knew I’d been upset. My masks never had worked as well with him as I’d have liked. “Ibolya requested permission to go with you to Yekpehr.”

“Why?” He glanced over sharply. “You haven’t changed your mind about coming along, have you?”

“What would you say if I did want to come?” I asked, mostly out of morbid curiosity.

“I’d talk you out of it,” he replied promptly. “You’re safer here on Calanthe.”

Perversely that made me want to insist on going. “If I decided to go, you would not be able to talk Me out of it.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “So if I don’t want you to come along, I should try insisting that you’re going to, like it or not.”

“Oh, I am not that bad,” I huffed.

“Pretty damn close.” He grinned and lifted my hand, kissing the back of it.

A group of servants swept up, producing a small table and array of food, all arranged with elegant speed and efficiency. Con looked at the food and back to me, a smile spreading slowly across his face. “Good,” he said, leaving it at that.

“There’s plenty for both of us.” I put some fruit on a plate, and fresh bread with honey, nibbling slowly.

“You should eat more than that,” Con said, helping himself to a generous helping of lobster pie.

“I’m pacing Myself,” I replied tartly. “Don’t push.”

He ran a hand down my arm in apology. “I’m sure it’s not easy to get used to food again.” For his part, he wolfed down that portion and took another.

“Indeed, but I could hardly plan to feed from you forever.”

“You could, you know.” He gave me a somber look, his face expressive of that artless love he offered so effortlessly. I envied his courage in that, as in so many things. “I would, if you needed it.”

“I know.” And I couldn’t help the heavy sigh that followed.

“That shouldn’t make you sad, Lia,” he said gently. “I just want you to know that I’m here for you. That’s a good thing.”

But he wouldn’t be there for me. He’d be gone to Yekpehr, and then to Oriel. And even if I used his feelings—for me or, worse, for our child—to bring him back to me on Calanthe, I’d feel like the stone around his neck. Ambrose had put it well, that Con was the hero who captained the ship we rode on. A great destiny lay before him, and I’d been a stepping-stone on that journey. It was lowering to realize that I was only the witch on the island the great hero visits, just one episode of many in his epic story. The best and bravest thing I could do would be to let him go.

“It is a good thing,” I told him with the warmest smile I could generate. “But I’m glad that I’ll be able to eat while you’re off on the grand rescue mission.”

“Yeah.” He frowned thoughtfully. “So, you were saying that Ibolya wants to go?”

Having eaten as much as I could, I set my plate aside. “She does. I think she has some idea of being a hero. She admires Sondra. And apparently Agatha is determined to