The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger #1) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,16

like art sketches scribbled over my best stationary. Wendell and Thao were sitting up in the bed, apparently having taken a turn sleeping there after the sheets were changed. And sweet Owen was sitting carefully on the bench at the end of my bed, a tray full of last night's confectionary collections and this morning's ample breakfast balanced on his lap.

"How did it go? Are you all right?" he asked immediately, rattling the trays when he shifted as if to rise.

"I…I hardly know," I said, my hand coming up to rest over my forehead. And then I caught sight of myself in a mirror to my right and realized I looked like one of those fainting damsels while Aric was glaring at me, and I dropped my hand immediately and began to pace the room.

What would I be permitted to take with me? Trunks of clothes, of course, but could I keep my books in the north? I'd give up all my gowns in exchange for my books.

My Chosen—if I could even call them that, when I had declared them so by necessity rather than desire—remained quiet as I moved to a dresser, fiddling with my jewelry there. I startled as a knock thundered on the far door.

"We heard voices. Is she back yet?" a man called through.

"The other men have been knocking all morning," Cosmo whispered to me. "We'll answer no?"

I started to nod, my hands wringing in front of me, before I pressed them down at my sides and marched to the door.

"Your Highness, we're more than happy to stall for you," Wendell murmured, rising from the bed.

"I have been stalling for five years," I muttered, straightening my shoulders and grabbing for the door. I swung it open, and the man on the other side—one of the commoners—straightened and puffed up his bare chest.

I blinked at the dozen men in the other room, all stripped down to their underwear to catch my attention. In my pause, the one in front of me reached for my waist, and I dodged neatly out of the way at the last possible second.

"Princess, we have been longing—"

"You are dismissed," I snapped, pressing my lips hard together as shock made a few of them stumble backwards. "All of you. I apologize for the inconvenience of your time—"

"Inconvenience? Princess Bryony, I have come all the way from Noren." Ah yes, Prince Holden. Tall and icy fair, and fully indignant at my announcement.

"Then I suggest you put your clothes on again and travel back there," I said, raising my chin. "Your summers are not so forgiving as ours."

The men broke out into a cacophony of complaints, and Wendell was quick to jump between us, helping me press the door shut to their pounding fists and managing the lock for me. I spun and ran for the bed, leaping across the end of it, burying my face in the mattress and releasing a muffled and strangled scream of frustration into the soft fabric of my sheets. The bed rustled as Thao shifted away from me, and my body ached with restrained tension as the fire of confusion and anger seemed to bleed out of me and into the silk.

Someone, probably Owen, smoothed a hand down my back, circling gently at the base until I softened and rolled over to face the room again.

The first I saw were Cosmo and Aric, standing in the doorway of the balcony, Cosmo's smile upside down and Aric's frown tilted the wrong way.

"I am to go north, to the Winter Palace," I said.

"North?" Aric growled.

"And are we dismissed like the others?" Cosmo asked instead.

I let out an un-princessly grunt as I squirmed myself into sitting upright, Owen leaning onto the bed at my side, Wendell standing at the corner with Thao leaning into his chest.

"That will be up to you," I said, sharing a look with Thao and Wendell. "I may not ever amount to what I—to what the queen's line would wish me to be. However, for the time being, I've been given a little time with my Chosen. Her Majesty hopes I might grow into my Hunger, and I hope I might see for myself what goes on in my own kingdom."

Aric scoffed. "You're taking court to the north?"

"I'm taking myself. And…those of you who would join me, even if it's only for the appearance of having Chosen," I said, looking them each in the eye. "Arrangements are already being made to hire staff from the villages surrounding the