A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,54

her. My throat was dry as the Kremir Sands in High Summer, and each breath set my chest ablaze. I tried to take in my surroundings. I didn’t recognize where I was, but it was a sick room by the looks of it.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Isa murmured, brows raised in apprehension. Gold hair fell in wilted ringlets around her face. The color of her hair was darker than I’d ever seen it, and her eyes a touch more hazel. She offered a glass of water and I snatched it from her. “How do you feel?”

Before I could form words or ask her what I was doing here—and what was she was doing unrestrained at my bedside—the door crashed open.

Aketo stood in the doorway, staring like he’d seen a ghost. Then Falun forced his way past and Anali followed him. A large khimaer man I didn’t recognize ducked in behind her. He looked back, whispering something to the tall, stately woman who walked in his shadow.

Her hair was braided to her scalp, and her eyes were dark brown with a core of red at the center. A flame in the darkness.

I recognized her, the only image I remembered from my time in the mindscape. Fear throbbed in my chest like a fetid wound.

I jumped into a crouch. The air behind me made a sound like it was cut with a knife, but I only had eyes for this woman.

“Who are you?” I asked even as pain shot through my body. Saliva filled my mouth, but I swallowed back the nausea and bared my teeth.

The woman paled when she met my gaze. “I am the Lady of this House. Lady Lirra . . . Your Highness. Your father, Lei, was my uncle.”

“I know you,” I breathed. Spots danced behind my eyes. “I know you. How can I know you, when I do not know where I am?”

Lirra bowed her head. “You recognize me because it’s my fault you’re here. Forgive me, Evalina. I thought you were soldiers, trying to break into our home.”

I drew in a deep breath, trying to quell the fear that had risen at the sight of her. Her words flipped a switch in my mind, and a memory snapped into place. A woman’s face carved in shock and dismay as I lost my grip on the wall I’d been struggling to climb. My body tumbling head over foot, heart in my throat. Terror that had dragged me into the vastness of my mind before I hit the ground.

I’d been certain of my death in the moments before I struck the ground.

But in my panic, I hadn’t accounted for my sister and the string Sorceryn tied around our souls. The Entwining kept me from dying in an accident or by another’s hand. It was chilling to realize we’d both be dead by now without the spell. On my nameday I’d resented being tied to Isa in any way, and now it had saved my life.

“Well, you weren’t wrong.” I cringed at my voice, thin and reedy. Much of the water in the glass Isa gave me had spilled when I jumped to my feet. I took a long swallow, finishing it off. “My guard is full of soldiers and I have come for information on my father. But, Lady, why would you expect the Queen’s army to come searching for you?”

The only soldiers who would have reason to come here were those searching for me.

“You wouldn’t think it, but rumors travel, even here. They say Lei was killed at Fort Asrodei. You never suspected that some of them betrayed him?”

I had briefly, but eventually discarded the idea. No Myrean General would hire a band of Dracolan assassins; they would use trusted soldiers or do the job themselves. “I killed one of those assassins myself,” I murmured. “I can assure you, they weren’t soldiers.”

Lirra’s eyes flared, but that was her only sign of surprise. “I am sorry to learn that and sorry we are meeting for the first time under these circumstances. Lei should have brought you here . . . before.”

Though her voice was stiff, I suspected this was what amounted to warmth for Lady Lirra. I could see the slight similarities in her face and my father’s—the high, full cheekbones, the slope of their noses, and the warm brown skin we all shared.

I glanced toward Aketo, who hardly reacted to our exchange. Beside him, Anali and Falun both stood in silence, staring at me, mouths