The Kingdom's Crown (Inheritance of Hunger #3) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,62

a hand pressed flat and protectively over her rounded stomach, it was relief and not worry rushing through me. I was doing this because I didn't want this girl to fall prey to any more men or women who would use her for ill, because I was stronger than she, and I could use my own strength to offer protection, even without gain.

"I understand," I said, nodding.

"You're giving me gray hairs," Cresswell whispered in my ear as Amos told Lily that she would be attended by a guard—for my sake more than hers, I suspected.

"I think you'll look very handsome with gray hairs," I whispered back, trying not to smirk at his answering snarl.

15

Thao

On the morning of the funeral, I found Bryony seated at the long vanity in her dressing room, her new maid twisting her curls up in an intricate style. There was a guard stationed closely, watching every shifting of the maid's hands, but Bryony was staring blankly into the mirror.

Even her robe is black now, I noted with a frown. We'd reached the tail end of full mourning, and I was sick to death of seeing Bryony in black. It made her look eerily pale, and I'd caught her more than once glancing down at her own skirt during dinner or a game, her face falling as she remembered that her grandmother was dead.

It was earlier than she usually rose from bed, and one of the rare times she'd snuck away without waking one of us.

I waited for the skittish maid to finish pinning a curl before knocking on the frame of the doorway. Bryony could've had the door closed to us, but she never did, just as Aric never shut the door on his study, where an unfortunate number of sounds and smells always seemed to be created. We were all open to one another now, a bond forged quickly and powerfully between the eight of us.

The maid jumped and the guard spared me a glance, but Bryony remained lost in her own head until I crossed the room, pushing a spare pouf closer to her seat and nudging her hip with my knee.

"Should I leave, Your Highness?" the maid asked, and I wasn't sure if she was speaking to me or Bryony, but we both shook our heads.

"Did you eat?" I asked.

Bryony blinked slowly at me. "I don't think I can this morning."

I opened my mouth to chide her and then fell silent as her hand lifted from her lap and fell into mine, fingers turned up and waiting. It took me longer than it should have to clasp her hand in mine, startled by the gesture.

"Be at my side today. I don't…I don't know how to behave. And there will be crowds," she said, wincing.

"Of course."

I hadn't given it much thought, but I'd assumed she would want Aric, Cresswell, Owen…actually, I'd assumed Bryony would want anyone but me at her side today. Bryony and I teased one another, played with and flirted and fucked one another. We enjoyed one another, but I'd never really felt that she needed me. I opened my mouth, wanting to address the idea, and then closed it again. She had enough on her mind without having to reassure me of my place with her.

"In my experience, your people will want to offer you sympathy. You don't need to perform for them or console them," I said, trying to remember my mother and father's behavior when my grandmother had died when I was younger. "Be genuine, as you always are. Emotion is not undignified, and I don't think stoicism is unsympathetic either, under the circumstances."

Bryony's gaze was fixed to my face, her fingers close around mine.

"It's good that we have our own carriage," I said.

"Camellia's will be behind ours in the parade," Bryony said. "And since there are only seven of you, I won't have to leave anyone here at the castle like she will."

"Have you considered leaving Aric here?" I asked, lips twitching.

Bryony's eyes narrowed at me, but there was a glint of amusement in them. "I have not."

"He might prove useful in an empty castle," I continued, shrugging and rolling my eyes. "And the crowd may mistake him for your grandmother's Chosen."

Bryony's laugh was sudden and awkward. "Stop! That's not true. Well, maybe the bit about letting him snoop while everyone's away. But no, I want you all with me, please."

I nodded and hid my smile as I ducked my head, kissing the back of her hand. "The