The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger #1) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,110

Aric fucking Martin, smirked at me.

"He's made no vows to me, I swear it," Aric breathed, eyeing me up and down. "Can't vouch for whether or not he's ever been in the bar though. Let me take him back there now, question him properly where we're less likely to be…interrupted."

I ignored the sensation of ice scratching through my veins under Aric's stare and looked to Cresswell, whose narrowed eyes were focused on me.

"Fine, but I'll need to speak to him as well. Go now, before the festival starts dispersing."

Aric nodded and ropes appeared, binding up the slight and ragged man in their custody. "Tell the princess she ought to rethink her choice of steward," he said to Cresswell, glaring at me, before dragging the other man away.

I gaped at Cresswell, hands open at my sides, my head shaking. "How was I to know?"

"How were you to know whose thieves are who in the first place, Farraque?" Cresswell hissed. "Just get back to the tent. I'm rounding up the guards."

I turned gratefully, hurrying away from the scene, my hands clenching to fists. Fucking poison, meant for the princess. No wonder Emory and Jonathon wanted fingers pointed at Aric Martin, but it would've been helpful if they'd warned me he was aligned with Bryony.

I stormed through the crowds, face hot and heart thumping wildly in my chest. Had I just shown my cards so obviously? Fucking Emory. I was nearly back to the stage where Bryony had charmed her people with her humble bow when a hand snagged at my sleeve.

My fist swung, muscles coiled so tight with tension, I was ready to spring at the slightest provocation.

"Ho! Careful now." My fist slammed against a ready palm with a bright slapping sound, and the man I'd been cursing in my head stumbled back from the impact, grinning at me. "Slow down, Danny boy."

I growled, looking around, searching for any sign of guards watching us, before grabbing Emory by his loose collar and dragging him into the shadows.

"Tell me I didn't just witness a failed attempt to poison the girl, Em," I hissed, throwing him aside as we slipped away from the crowds between two stalls.

"Ahh, was that what that was all about?" Emory asked, eyes wide with feigned innocence. "She got lucky then."

"What she got was protection from Aric fucking Martin," I whispered.

Emory's gaze flinched and he stared out into the hills for a moment, hands resting on his hips. I followed his stare as his lips twitched with a smile and realized there was a couple fucking in the grass. Be quiet, be calm, I chanted in my mind.

"You told me theft," I breathed, keeping my eye on the festival, on the open air around us, waiting for someone to come.

"No, I didn't. Never said what would happen. And there was some theft," Emory said with a shrug. His head tilted as he watched me turning, waiting to be caught, waiting to be dragged off by guards or Martin, or Bryony's fucking tiger Chosen. "You never really ask questions, do you, Dan? That's why Roderick likes you so well, right where you are."

I stiffened, chest heaving, trying to get control of my breath. Emory was right. I knew as much myself. I'd been raised, shaped, to do as I was told. Accusing Martin of mishaps at the festival seemed easy enough. Taking the role of steward at the Winter Palace was promising. Finding my way into a princess's bed wasn't unappealing.

And now look at what it's all adding up to, a voice in my head whispered.

"You fuck her yet?" Emory asked. "You know, I thought your delay might've been that she was ugly, but she's a delectable little thing, isn't she? Still, maybe you won't have to in the end."

Just get back to the tent before Cresswell finds you.

I stumbled away, ignoring Emory's taunts at my back.

An assassination plot. Is this what my father's estate is worth?

"We'll speak soon, Dan," Emory said behind me as I rushed back into the melee of the festival.

The tent was quiet inside, Owen and Cosmo talking and lounging together, Lady Prudence snoozing. The quiet left too much room in my head, and I searched the room three times for Bryony before I realized she was in her private area with others, their voices soft.

"Hey. Hey, Farraque, wait!" Cosmo jumped up, hurrying over and catching me by the arm as I marched for the curtains.

"I need to speak with Her Highness," I said, not entirely sure