The Promised Queen (Forgotten Empires #3)- Jeffe Kennedy Page 0,107
all had kept me from dwelling—overmuch—on all the things that could go wrong with Con’s strategy. It was a slightly better plan than it had been, though that did little to comfort me. I supposed I had to accept that Con would always rely on improvising in the moment—which admittedly had kept him alive so far—and that I wouldn’t be able to change him.
There was also no sense in dwelling on everything else in our future that I couldn’t control or change.
“Lia!” Con called to me from the end of the hall I’d turned into. I paused, expecting him to catch up with me, but he beckoned to me. A number of courtiers loitering in the hall began whispering to one another at the sight of the queen being summoned—and pulling out paper to take notes in case of another dramatic fight in the halls—but I found I didn’t much care. Con would soon be gone, perhaps never to return, and I was happy to see him. So I turned my feet and walked his way—albeit with regal poise, to make clear I chose to go to him.
He had Vesno with him, and he carried a basket. I raised a brow. “What’s this?” Stroking Vesno’s silky head, I received an impression of exciting smells and a lot of the shipyard, nothing helpful.
Con grinned, all mischievous boy. He took my hand, tucked it in the crook of his elbow, and started walking in the opposite direction. “A surprise. This way.”
“I’m to attend a formal dinner for the regional heads,” I informed him, digging in my heels.
“Not anymore. Ibolya is arranging for it to be moved to tomorrow night. At my behest,” he added in a posh tone, spoiling it by slanting me a wicked smile.
“Conrí. You cannot simply rearrange My schedule and—”
“But I can.” He steered me out through the gardens and toward a path that led over the ridge to the next bay. “It’s amazing. I give orders and they obey. I should’ve tried this out long ago.”
“See what you missed by pacing My gardens and sulking?” I slid him a narrow look. “I, however, do not simply obey.”
“You did in the Night Court,” he reminded me in a sultry growl—which had me immediately blushing.
I cleared my throat. “If that’s what you have in mind, then you’re going the wrong direction.”
He shook his head. “Tempting, but not tonight. There’s something else I want to do with you. And I’m asking, Lia.” He slowed, giving me a hopeful look, golden-brown eyes wide. “It could be my last night alive, after all.”
“Oh, you did not attempt to leverage Me with that threat,” I gasped.
“I blame Sondra,” he hastened to say. “She said guilt would pry you out of your responsibilities if nothing else did.”
I would have words with Sondra.
“It’ll be fun,” he coaxed, then stopped, turning me to face him. Vesno circled back to us, concerned at the lack of progress. “I only want to spend this time with you, Lia. We’ve had so little of it when we haven’t been pretending with each other. But if you are certain this dinner is critical to have tonight, then I’ll go put on fancy clothes and we can do that together instead.”
Critical. No, it wasn’t critical to have it that night. I’d been reacting out of habit, hating to have my schedule changed for me. Was he asking so much? No, of course not. I gestured to my gown and heels. “Am I appropriately garbed?”
He grinned, victorious and delighted in one, the dimple showing in his left cheek as it did only when he smiled with genuine happiness. Just as it had been captured in the portrait of the royal family of Oriel, when he’d been only a mischievous boy with a wild streak, his skin and heart unscarred. “It won’t matter,” he declared mysteriously, “though you might be happier going barefoot. It’s a bit of a walk.”
Curiouser and curiouser. I slipped off my heels, and Orvyki appeared to take them from me. I handed them to her, not terribly surprised to find that she’d been surreptitiously keeping an eye on me. My ladies had all received the message that I no longer cared to have an extensive entourage at all times, and they seemed to have worked out a system where at least one stayed nearby in case I needed anything. I wasn’t sure I loved that system, but we would see. We had yet to settle into a new normal.