Besotted (The Fairest Maidens #3) - Jody Hedlund Page 0,75
become the queen you have always wanted to be, one King Alfred would admire.”
She studied me as though she might be considering my words, and I hoped she would see the futility of hanging on to grudges against her father and Leandra. In failing to win her father’s approval, had she given up trying to please him and allowed herself to become the opposite of her sister?
“’Tis never too late for any of us,” I added softly. “As long as we have today, we have the opportunity to choose rightly and walk a better path.”
“And who made you the wise one?” Her tone was laced with mockery. “You must feel as though you are ready to become a queen just like your mother.”
“I am ready.” And at that moment I knew that I was. I hadn’t realized just how ready. Of course, my inadequacies still lurked beneath the surface, but I couldn’t allow them to make me feel less about myself as Margery had done. I had to push forward and discover my own unique strengths and abilities.
“I shall not be the same queen as my mother. In fact, I shall be different in many ways. But that will not stop me from doing all I can to be the good and wise queen the people of Mercia need.”
She scrutinized me again, her gaze halting at my wrists and ankles. “Since you are so eager to become Mercia’s queen, then we must transform you so you are worthy of the part.” She motioned to the servants standing just outside the doorway.
“Take Aurora to one of the guest chambers and do everything you can to make her the fairest maiden in all the land.”
“That is not necessary—”
Queen Margery cut me off with a wave of her hand. “Of course it is necessary. You are a queen and, as such, must be regal and beautiful.” She gave me one last look before she pivoted and issued a string of orders to the servants about baths and purifying and gowns and jewels.
I listened in confused silence. I’d assumed the queen had every intention of killing me and taking my throne. Wasn’t that why she’d hunted me these many years? Why the change of heart now? And why go to the trouble of kidnapping me if only to make me presentable as queen of Mercia?
As she left the chamber, she murmured to one of the monks, “She will be perfect.”
Moments later, the servants ushered me out of my cell and down the corridor. A part of me warned that I must use the opportunity to escape now while I could. But another part of me wanted to believe that perhaps I, of all people, could somehow atone for the mistakes my mother had made with her sister. That perhaps I could find a way to repair the relationship with Margery so we might each rule our countries and remain at peace.
Chapter
24
Kresten
I crouched near the ditch and peered into the darkness. For the past several hours since we’d released the weasels, Chester, Jorg, and I had waited, listening to the hissing and scraping coming from below. Only within the past half hour had the pit grown eerily silent.
With low clouds covering the night sky, we had neither stars nor moon by which to see what was happening. And we couldn’t light torches and risk the queen’s guards spotting us trying to cross.
Except for the courier lurking nearby, the rest of our men, including my brothers and Pearl, waited at the path leading to the drawbridge. The section was the narrowest part of the ditch, and they planned to lay a series of platforms in an attempt to cross. We’d spent the better part of the day felling trees and constructing a makeshift bridge we hoped would span the distance.
At the very least, we hoped our flimsy platform would distract our opposition so Chester, Jorg, and I would be able to enter the complex undetected. At best, if the majority of basilisks were killed, Mikkel and Vilmar and the others could ford their bridge, fight the queen’s guards, and force their way through the gatehouse, focusing the battle there while we located Aurora.
I tightened the strip of my cloak I’d ripped off earlier, and I positioned it over my mouth and nose so I wouldn’t be overcome by the basilisk’s venomous fumes.
“Ready?” I whispered as I lowered the crude ladder we’d also built, one we needed for climbing up the other side of the pit.