Sun Queen

♛ Forty-One ♛

I feel dead.

I wish I was dead.

Every sip of wine was like a punch to the gut and a knife to the head. Actual tears came to my eyes when I try to move from my tangle inside the Darkling's thankfully black sheets. I hold out a long groan, closing my eyes again and regretting every glass I drank.

I hear the shuffle of feet and a sharp, loud laugh. "Look at you!"

I grunt with the loud noise and wave my hand towards the Darkling, opening my eyes to glare at him. "Shut up."

But it came out more "shuff blup."

He just laughs again before coming closer to reach around my body. His hands start to lift me out of the bed, but I wiggle and shout out curses of pain. He just drags me into a chair and sets me upright against it. I slap at his hands, but it's pitifully weak.

I feel a smooth cup in my hands and look down to see a mug of water rippling back at me. I take a long sip, the freezing water numbing the headache for a moment. As I drink, the Darkling sits in front of me and starts to tie his boots, smirking.

I drop the cup to a small table to my side and rub my eyes free of sleep. When they open, I look down to notice I am no longer wearing my skimpy dress, pair of comfortable cloth nightclothes in their place. I look back up to the Darkling.

"I'm not in my dress." I say dumbly.

"Huh." The Darkling's voice is medium.

"How did I get out of my dress?" I narrow my eyes.

The Darkling hides a smile behind his hand, but I can see his teeth gleam between his fingers. "You had help."

My hand slams against the table as I hurl it down. "Did you dress me?" I wince at the loud sound, my hangover headache is earsplitting.

He drops his hands and looks at me innocently, "No, I had maids dress you."

I fidget before relaxing back to the chair. The Darkling smiles again and I know he's enjoying this. I take another drink from the mug, letting the water start to wake me up.

"I bet you're regretting those glasses of wine now?"

My hands grip the table as I squeeze my eyes shut in pain. "I swear I will burn your two lips together and silence you if you don't shut up."

The Darkling is blinks, barely amused, and moves on. "Well, you certainly had an interesting dinner last night."

I sense the edge in his voice and I eat it up. "What? Didn't like how close I was to the king, did you? Somebody's jealous."I quip wickedly at him.

The Darkling finishes the laces of his boot with a tight jerk. "I'm never jealous when it comes to the Lanstov pup. Why would I ever feel intimidated by him?" He sneers.

But I can tell the Darkling is still bothered. He continues, "Besides, after last night I decided it was best to add another rule to your list."

He tries to sound calm, but I know he's just been dying to say this. "You will not be left alone in a room with the king or be allowed to talk or correspond to him without my knowledge."

"For precaution, I'm sure." I grin coyly and the Darkling's lips grow white as he presses them together.

A particularly sharp spike of the hangover overcomes me and I groan, keeling over again.

The Darkling relaxes with a gentle laugh. "You'll be regretting the wine even more now."

"You and I have a meeting with the war council, a few miles from here. It will be us, the king and his party, along with the generals of Fjerda."