Cold Queen - K Webster Page 0,16
he picks up his severed hand.
“Throw it into the fire,” I instruct.
“N-No,” he begs. “Please. Mazon can reattach it.”
“Throw it into the fire before I take your other hand too. And your tongue for disobeying me.”
He howls in part pain and stubbornness before tossing it across the room. I walk over to it and kick the hand into the fire. The flames crackle and hiss while the scent of charred flesh hits my nostrils.
“Leave my sight, snake.”
Ryke
After checking on my men and taunting Green a little, I sought out Danser. He’d secured young Yanna in a maid’s quarters deep beneath the floors of the castle. I knock on the door and Danser opens it, his features impassive.
“Danser,” I greet.
“Your majesty.”
He grants me access. One quick look at the sparse arrangements and I see she’s being treated well. A tray with food sits on the table. The princess sits in the bed reading. I sniff the air and shoot Danser a questioning look.
“She admits to nothing,” he utters, leaning in close. “But after she sent Yashka on a tirade about what the queen was and wasn’t allowed to eat, I stepped out to speak to him privately. I left Gorten to watch over her.”
“Gorten, hmmm. And her virtue is still intact?”
“I smelled it too. The scent of a woman.” He grits his teeth. “She claims he didn’t touch her. He must have had his fingers up one of the maid’s dresses and left the smell in here.”
“And you believe this?”
“Why would she protect Gorten of all men? She hates our people.” He rubs at his temple. “Believe me, she’s made that fact known every hour on the hour.”
Yanna’s head turns and she glowers our way. I clutch Danser’s shoulder. “Give me a moment with the princess.”
He nods and slips quietly from the room. I walk over to the fireplace, holding my palms to the flames. When I regard her with a lifted brow, she scoffs.
“It’s cold in this hellish prison you have me in,” she bites out. “What do you expect?”
Smirking, I leave the fire and walk over to the foot of the bed. “We are to wed. That is the proposition I’ve brought to the queen.”
Her laugh is cold and mocking. “And I bet she willingly agreed.”
“We’re still negotiating, future wife.” I give her a menacing grin. “We’ll come to terms and then you will learn to overcome that disrespectful tongue just as you’ve done with your allergy to sichee crawlers.”
All emotion bleeds from her face as her eyes narrow at me. “I had Danser check for sichee spores first. Surprisingly there were none.” Her eyes dart down to her book.
They don’t call me Truth Seeker for nothing.
“I started a fire in the queen’s room,” I say, watching her face for a response.
Her blue eyes meet mine. “Touch my sister and I will end you, Bloodsun.”
“You ladies are quite the spitfires,” I say, making a clucking sound of disappointment. “Perhaps I’ll take my whip to your ass too, Princess. I’m well versed in breaking a mouthy woman.”
She clenches her jaw for a moment and then seems to swallow down her anger, trying for a different tactic. Her blue eyes grow soft as she bites on her bottom lip. Feigned innocence. It would work if I hadn’t just witnessed her claws out moments before. She slides from the bed, her eyes filling with tears.
“Please don’t hurt me,” she breathes. “Let me and my sister go.”
I allow her to approach but don’t touch her.
“If you could let me be with my sister, I could give you what you want.” Her blue eyes grow intense as she tentatively runs her fingertips down my chest. “Anything you want.” She darts out her pink tongue and swipes it across her bottom lip.
Ignoring her advances, I growl out my question. “Did you allow Gorten—a man from my army—to put his fingers inside the cunt that is to belong to me one day?”
She shakes her head furiously at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Striking like a snake, I grip her throat, hauling her up and toward my face. She has to stand on her toes and grabs my cape to keep from falling. “You allowed him to put his fingers inside you for what? A trade. I am the Truth Seeker, woman. I’ll find out one way or another. Even if it means disfiguring my future wife in the process.”
She makes a horrified sound as tears roll down her face. “She’s my sister, you monster.