Thorn Queen Page 0,83

too." In front of his furious gaze, there was an instinct to be sheepish...and yet, I felt kind of proud at what I'd accomplished.

"Of course. Dorian. Somehow, I'm not surprised."

"Hey, Dorian's been nice to me lately." My defense of the gentry king surprised me-as did the truth of it. With so much in chaos recently, I'd found Dorian's presence almost comforting.

Kiyo rolled his eyes. "Yes, and I'm sure he'd love to be nicer still. Look, you start putting all those magical elements together, and you're going to have some serious power on your hands. You're going to be like-"

"Do not say like Storm King!" I cried. "I wish everyone would just stop assuming that's inevitable. Plenty of gentry use magic without becoming tyrannical warlords. Give me some credit here."

"I'm just worried about you," he growled.

"And do you know what I'm worried about? I'm worried about people starving here, about people not getting enough water. I'm worried about brigands and demons preying on innocents. I'm worried about girls disappearing and possibly being abducted by those who face no accountability. And all of this is on top of trying to still live my human life and keep every goddamned Otherworldly guy out of my pants. So don't come here and start dictating to me. You're never around. You have no idea what I'm going through!"

I was shouting, and it was a wonder none of the servants had come scurrying to see what was wrong. My breathing was heavy, and I'd clenched my fists without even realizing it in my anger.

"Why are you here anyway?" I demanded.

Kiyo's dark eyes were hard to read, but I could see some of his earlier fury had cooled. I wasn't sure if he'd reconsidered his accusations or simply decided I wasn't worth arguing with. "I came to see if you wanted to visit the baby."

"Oh."

For whatever reason, it was like a bucket of cold water on the rest of my anger. I sighed. "Kiyo...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you-"

He raked a hand through his dark hair. "And I shouldn't have jumped all over you." A sly grin turned up the edges of his lips. "Well, not that way at least. But you're right-I haven't been around. You're going through a lot that I've missed, and I don't know fully what's going on. I mean, that doesn't change how I feel about Jasmine and magic-"

I held up a hand. "Enough. We can fight about those later. Tell me about the baby."

And like that, Kiyo's face completely transformed. Joy and wonder of such purity filled his features that it was amazing to behold. I'd hardly ever seen him look like that-no, scratch that. I might have never seen him look like that.

"Oh, Eugenie. She's so beautiful. So perfect. I never...she's like nothing I ever could have imagined."

Something sank in the pit of my stomach, something cold and leaden. I almost wished he'd get angry again so that my own fury would return. Anger was warmer than sadness.

Forcing a smile, I reached for his hand. "I'm so happy for you," I said. "I'd love to see her. What's her name?"

"Luisa."

He said the name like a prayer, like a magic word that could fix all the world's ills. I'd heard him say my name like that too, often in the midst of sex. Obviously, his attitudes toward the two of us were a bit different, but the intensity of his love was similar.

"It's a pretty name," I said, still trying to smile. A moment of uneasy silence fell. "Ready to go?"

I was growing better at convincing Rurik to let me leave without an escort, and Kiyo and I were able to make good time to the Willow Land. I rode on horseback, and he ran alongside in fox form, able to easily match my pace. While this wasn't an official state visit, I'd grumblingly put on a gentry dress in recognition of my queenly status. It was a simple one, pale blue with cap sleeves and light material. It actually had kind of a Jane Austen feel. The worst part was that since I refused to ride sidesaddle or anything ridiculous like that, the skirt rode up on my legs. With only Kiyo to see me, it didn't matter too much, and he certainly didn't mind.

Along the way, we passed another village in my kingdom, one I had yet to visit. I recognized it from Shaya's descriptions. I was pretty sure it was one of the ones with copper