A Queen of Gilded Horns (A River of Royal Blood #2) - Amanda Joy Page 0,61
hanged me for a demon Queen if I waited to reveal my form once I was on the throne.”
If Isadore and I fought again for the crown—and I hoped we would not—I wanted everyone in Myre to know who I really was. They would need to know that my crowning would come with as much change as Raina’s had.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Princess Eva,” Osir said. His long locs were braided back away from his face, emphasizing his heavy brow and the antlers that jutted out a foot in each direction. “What will you do then? About the throne?”
I could feel even Anali staring at me as I sought an answer. “I’m not ready to claim the throne just yet, though if I do, I will have to take it as a khimaer woman, which presents a number of problems I hardly want to think about. Right now I have this new magick I need to work out. Since my mother can’t crown anyone while we’re both away, until I am ready, I want to do some good with the little freedom I have. Have you ever been to the Enclosures?”
All three shook their heads. I continued, “Neither have I, but we would like to help those in Sher n’Cai, where Prince Aketo grew up. He saved my life a few times; I need to return the favor and make sure his family is safe.”
“What about the Queen? Surely news of your actions will reach her eventually,” Tavan asked, rising from her seat to pace around the table. Her stride was so light, wings flaring and retracting with every step, that it looked like she was floating.
“We’ll come to that when we come to it.” I shrugged. It wasn’t a matter of if my mother caught up to us, but when she did. I imagined it would not go well. “We leave as soon as I am healed. Will you join me?”
Tavan and Osir both turned to Lirra, who gave a solemn nod. “We’ve sacrificed much for the chance to change this Queendom. We will journey north. It is time we witness the fate we escaped.” She inclined her head and then slipped into Khimaeran in a rolling accent much like Aketo’s: “Now to begin your lessons. Tell me, can you speak the Mother’s tongue?”
“I can. My nursemaid began teaching me when I was six,” I replied in Khimaeran.
She feigned a look of innocence. “What? You said you wanted to take the throne as a khimaer woman. How will you if Tavan and I do not teach you?”
“Can you teach me about my magick? The shapeshifting?” That was all I had a mind to learn just now.
“I don’t know much, but my grandmama had a touch of the gift”—her gaze slid to the thin book at her side—“all she did learn, she found in this.”
She held out the book, which I could now see was bound in twine. “It belonged to a Nbaltir Queen who died fifty years before the Great War. Her name was Assani.”
I tried to handle it lightly but the delicate parchment crinkled at my touch. I ran a finger over the barely perceptible words written on the front: On Mutable Flesh.
I flipped open the first page to find a detailed sketch of a khimaer woman with golden eagle wings, proud spiraled horns, and hooved feet. Notes surrounded the sketch, and I held the book close to my face, but the words were too small and crowded.
“Do you have a magnifying glass?” I asked, nose an inch from the page. Sarou, my friend and apprentice at the Auguri library, would have scolded me for treating such an old text so cavalierly.
“I can show you to the library later,” Osir said. I smiled in thanks and he returned it with an even brighter grin. “It is my favorite place in our home—”
“Even so,” Lirra cut in, “there is more to learn than just magick, Eva. The history alone will take us weeks.”
“Let us wait, then,” Tavan said. “The Princess will have other things to do today. I need to assess whether she needs any additional healing, and we need to begin preparing for this journey.”
“Just one last thing, Princess Eva,” Lirra added as I began to rise.
Much as I wanted to leave the table, her eyes had a weight to them. I felt pinned to my seat. “Yes, Lady Lirra?”