The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,21

final. My grandmother was resigned to her fate and with hers, mine. To take the crown, now, not just wait for the time to come. I knew my grandmother was right, I'd known as much almost since the beginning of this journey, but it didn't make the obstacles I faced feel smaller. If anything, they grew monstrous in my mind. The council. Camellia. Taking the throne.

Queen. I had to become queen. Not eventually, but soon.

"Your Chosen, do you trust them?" Grandmother asked.

"With my life," I said without even having to think about the words.

"With Kimmery?"

I paused then. I trusted Aric, Wendell, even Thao with Kimmery. They understood the weight of a kingdom on my shoulders. Daniel had come to me as a spy for the council, but he'd made a horrible one, and I knew where his loyalty lay now. Cresswell's duty to Kimmery was mixed up in his love for me now, but the two weren't unrelated. Owen's devotion was so deep, he would never go against my wishes, but Cosmo??/p>

Strangely, of all my Chosen, Cosmo was the one most likely to defy me if he thought it was done in defense of me, or at least my heart. But no, that would never send him to the council's side or to Camellia's.

"Yes," I said, holding my grandmother's eyes.

"Good. Perhaps your strangeness served you better in this," Grandmother said, lips twitching.

I laughed, but there was a note of panic in the sound.

6

Aric

Roasted ducks glazed in orange and ginger. Meatballs smothered in a rich cream sauce. A mountain of roasted vegetables, spiced and salted. Pork chops and golden potatoes. Egg tarts topped in delicate greens.

Enough wine to drown a village. Enough food to feed one too.

The longer I stared at the feast, the less appetite I had for the food and drink. I'd thought our meals in the north were rich and sumptuous, but they'd always been well considered in portion and Bryony had made sure that the staff ate as well as we did.

This was??aste and decadence all at once.

She warned you, I thought. Bryony had warned me when I'd given up my life as bar owner and King of Thieves that my position as Chosen might leave me trapped in the fineries I resented, but I'd failed to imagine the real scope of a royal dinner.

"Ohheeeee!"

My eyes automatically flicked toward the sound and then away again just as quickly. If the feast wasn't bad enough, the way it was disregarded by more than half the table was equally offensive. Camellia was on the floor with three of her Chosen, and Bryony's mother, the queen, was seated at the head of the table, her head back and mouth parted, and two of her Chosen presumably keeping her occupied under her skirts. Magic buzzed in the air, but it was eaten up by the lovers just as quickly, creating an irritating kind of friction against my skin.

I glanced across the table to where Bryony was sitting, curious to see her reaction. It was as if she was in an entirely different room. Or no, not quite. She was studiously eating a tart, her eyes down, but she was wearing a fallen expression, similar to the one she'd returned to us with after visiting her grandmother. It made me itch to go to her, to pull her into my lap and scratch my rough chin against her neck to make her giggle. Except that display would be a little too similar to her family's antics.

"I know what you're thinking, but just eat so she has one less worry on her mind," Cosmo whispered in my ear from my left. Owen sat on his other side, and to my right was one of Camellia's Chosen, guzzling wine and ignoring the towers of food in front of him.

Thao and Wendell sat on either side of Bryony, with Daniel near another of Camellia's Chosen, who was openly sleeping.

"More!" Camellia cried out, voice ragged.

Heat tugged at me, and I stiffened in my chair, throwing up a guard of magic almost unconsciously, shocked by the ease of the act. The man at my right groaned, whimpered almost, and slid out of his seat, crawling reluctantly in the young princess's direction.

Bryony's movements froze, her body trembling with tension, eyes finally lifting from her plate to glare in her sister's direction, green fire in her gaze. I leaned forward, putting myself in the way, and found it easier to smile than I expected, rewarded with the slow sigh