The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,43
away, but then her soft touch was on me, squeezing gently.
"You poor thing, how stressful. And it just breaks my heart to see you this way, Mother. Everything has just been terrible for us lately, hasn't it? Bryony I am so glad you have Chosen now to comfort you."
I wasn't sure what to say to the messy, weak sentiments of my mother, but there was one simple answer I could give. "I am very grateful to have found men who are so supportive to share my thoughts and troubles with."
"Oh yes! That's just what I hoped for you. But with a great deal less trouble of course. How could someone ever wish to harm you, I can't imagine it!"
I glanced at my grandmother, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed on my mother. Emory had been my only solid proof against the council wanting me dead until now, and he was useless to the argument now that I'd killed him. And Head Guard Amos was right to doubt my sister's attempt on my life according only to Sam. But I knew before I'd left for the north that my mother had wanted me to be the one to take the crown. There had to be a reason for that.
"And Camellia? Can you imagine why any of her Chosen might wish to harm her?" I asked.
My mother went pale, her eyes flicking back and forth between me and Grandmother. "You know," she said, a soft and sorrowful sigh.
"I'm afraid I've learned a great deal about Camellia and her Chosen," I said.
My mother fixed her stare on Grandmother then. "I was mistaken on many matters. Hoping that Camellia would grow out of her spoiled nature was one of those," my grandmother admitted slowly.
"We did think…for a time, that she was only learning her control," my mother said, frowning with a hint of a pout.
"She was, is, abusing it," I said.
"Yes," my mother said, nodding, and I sighed with relief. "Oh, Bryony. You know, you must of course, that I am so relieved you've found your Hunger and your Chosen. There should be no obstacle for you now."
"Aside from attempts on her life, you mean," Grandmother grumbled.
"Well, yes, but I simply can't imagine—"
"Don't imagine it, Mother, it happened! My Chosen was stabbed twice—" my mother gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth at this news, "—protecting me. I believe the maid. She was threatened and bullied and forced to this action. I drew the words from her myself, and she was not happy to give them. Powerful people preyed on her in an attempt to fashion a weapon against me and—"
"Oh!" My mother began to weep, and I wasn't sure if the sound my grandmother made was a cough or a huff of annoyance.
"They were very nearly successful in doing serious harm to me, my heart if not my actual life," I snapped and exhaled roughly.
"Peony, you and I have discussed, at length, the great amount of misinformation being slipped in our ears," my grandmother began.
"I really do think it might all be a misunderstanding," my mother objected, sniffling.
"Why? Because Thomlinson said so?" Grandmother asked, and my mother sighed and fell silent. "We've given the council too much power. Over Kimmery and possibly over the queen's line."
My mother's face scrunched in thought, turning to the light falling through the slightly shuttered window. "I wish you hadn't passed the crown to me so young."
"You were with child, continuing our line. It was natural," my grandmother said, and they reached for each other, the first moment of quiet and apparently genuine affection. "And look at what you created. Bryony will make a fine queen. She is sharp, she loves Kimmery, and she sees it clearly."
I blushed as they both turned faint smiles to me. Had I ever been offered this kind of praise before? Certainly not from them both. Not when it weighed so heavily on the future.
"What shall I do then, daughter?" my mother asked me softly.
"I have one small request at the moment. I would like my Chosen, Wendell Pope, to be appointed to the council. The crown has no real influence on their number, and I think the link may be a valuable and small change."
"Your Chosen?" Mother frowned and tilted her head at me. "But…wouldn't you rather it was his brother? What if he is busy when you desire him, or his thoughts are occupied with…whatever it is the council manages, rather than with you?"