A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,46

Lei was always asking questions like that. I think it was because he didn’t want our future limited by what we thought Myre was supposed to be. He wanted us to imagine what Myre could be if we changed it.”

Relief softened the frown on Aketo’s face. “And what changes do you plan to make?”

“A great many, once I take the throne,” Isa said, chin lifted, because she did have plans. Vague ones that called for a slow release of khimaer from the Enclosures. A proposal she might actually get the Queen’s Council to agree to if her mother had no say. “Laws can’t be changed overnight.”

The disdain in his glance was enough to make Isa squirm anew. “So you say. But Queen Raina did not wait for the law to change before she stole our throne and country from us. I am less interested in laws than keeping my family safe.”

“What are you two planning?”

Aketo shrugged and did not answer.

“Whatever it is, your family won’t be safe if you bring the Queen’s Army down on all the khimaer who live in the Enclosures, Aketo. You’d be wise to include me in on your plans.”

So, she did not add, that I might use them to my advantage and keep you from getting yourselves killed.

The look he gave her told Isa everything she already knew: She was a prisoner and would not be privy to their schemes. He glanced again at the tray of food that sat mostly untouched.

When she finished half the meal he brought, they set off. Aketo took them on a different route today, crossing through two open courtyards—one beautifully appointed, the other in disrepair—before they reached a hallway she recognized.

One side of the hall was stone, and the opposite wall lined with carved arabesques. The midday sun cast floral patterns upon the marble floors.

They took another turn and nearly ran headlong into a tall, regal-looking woman Isa had never seen.

Isa did not recognize her, but knew she must have been one of Eva’s cousins.

She was a handsome woman, perhaps ten or fifteen years their senior, with a long neck and dark brown irises with a shade of Eva’s fire around her pupils. The shape of her eyes, downturned in the inner corner, made Isa think of their father.

Eva’s father. Not Isa’s, not anymore. But it didn’t feel right to call him anything else.

She nodded at Aketo as she passed, and though the woman’s eyes clung to Isadore’s back, she said nothing. These cousins must have known she wasn’t Lei’s actual daughter. Just the bastard child their real kin, Eva, would have to kill.

The rejection stung, but Isa beat down the feeling. They weren’t really her family; their opinion mattered little.

When they reached the healing chamber, Isa was panting with the effort of keeping up with Aketo’s long stride.

She didn’t wait to catch her breath, but went right inside.

Falun sat on an oak stool at Eva’s bedside, and when he looked up to find her, he was not pleased.

As ever Falun looked as lush as a painting—the bright ruby and crimson of his hair was stark against his light brown skin, and his eyes were like ocean glass. He’d matured in the last few months and the last of his boyish thinness had filled out. His fine-boned face had taken on a more masculine tilt, and his hair, braided in a complex style, did little to soften the effect of his sharp jawline and the hollows beneath his cheeks.

They hadn’t spoken once in the last six weeks. Falun hated her for obvious reasons, so instead of picking at him, she nodded and crossed the room. With a noise of disgust, Falun left. Isadore tried to feel nothing, but she couldn’t ignore the ache in her chest. She’d chosen Falun for her Court before Eva even met him. She remembered when Falun and Lady Jessypha moved to Court and how lovely Falun had been with his toasted-almond skin, glossy carmine hair cut just beneath his chin, and the manners of an experienced courtier.

“I’ll return shortly,” Aketo murmured as he followed Falun out the door. When it swung shut behind him, Isa was frozen in place. Had this been a thoughtless mistake, or did he intentionally give her this time?

When Isa approached the bed, she found Eva looked just the same. Her corkscrew curls sprung up in a dozen different directions, but her face was serene.

Like yesterday, Isadore cleaned Eva’s face and then sat down on the stool Falun had abandoned.