The Deathsinger: Book 2

Ch. 11: Dinner with the Family

Inside the tent, the king and queen sat around a long, ornately carved table. The cherry toned wood had been polished until it gleamed beneath the warm candlelight nearly as much as the golden tableware laid out at every place setting. Tucked away in the back right corner, a quartet of elves whose races were impossible to tell in the dim lighting, plucked at stringed instruments with what I could only describe as lackluster enthusiasm.

A chill washed over me as Kuga entered behind me, and we did not look at one another as we moved toward the table. She swept around to the far side, finding the open seat next to King Brinley and Queen Thera, leaving me to hover near the other open seats with uncertainty. The queen smirked against her gem encrusted goblet as she watched me.

I didn't know if it was the fire magic still singing in my blood or the high of standing up to Kuga–maybe both–that filled me with confidence. Holding her gaze, I shaped my lips into a grim smile and tilted my head just enough that the patch of white in my hair could be clearly seen and watched with delight as the blood drained from her face.

"Morana," King Brinley said as his flinty eyes swept between his wife and me. He did not rise. Instead, he tapped the table and pointed to the seat directly across from him. "I'm so pleased you came."

He said it as if he had given me a choice. I flattened my palms against my thighs to stop myself from fidgeting and took a slow, shallow, calming breath. "Your invitation honored me."

Kuga arched a white brow but remained silent. If our recent interaction had angered her, she didn't show it here. Not in front of the king, but I was not so foolish as to think it was her way of protecting me from his wrath. No, to tell him what happened was to admit to a weakness. Something she would never do.

"That gown is so becoming on you, Morana," Queen Thera said, her raspy velvet voice dripping with condescension. "I immediately thought of you when I saw it."

My forced smile turned brittle, and I wished there was some part of the old me that remained. That girl would have easily simpered and swallowed her pride. But she had died beneath the waves of the Crystal Sea.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said in response, dipping my head in feigned deference. "I'm sure if you were but a few years younger, you would have been able to wear it as well. Oh well, I suppose your loss is my gain."

King Brinley cleared his throat as his wife choked on her drink, and this time both of Kuga's brows climbed her forehead, almost disappearing into her hairline. The glare from the queen was nearly as heated as the fire inside of me, and I picked up my drink to avoid looking at her. Already, my plan to earn their favor and trust was failing.

"Where is Tievel?" I asked, flinching as a discordant note sounded from the harp. It vibrated through me and made the hairs on my arm stand.

The king sighed. To anyone else, he looked like the picture of an exasperated father, but I smelled the rage and rot beneath the mask. The cloying odor made breathing difficult, and I leaned away from him to find clear air. I'd been so upset in Tievel's tent earlier that I hadn't noticed it, but now, sitting so close and with no breeze, I could not escape it.

"I've sent someone to fetch him. He does enjoy testing my patience."

Queen Thera rested her long, slender fingers over his massive hand, and her icy blue eyes darkened. In the palace, I had done my best to avoid her, only catching glimpses of her in passing, but now I could see how much her son favored her. Tall and imposing like his father, it was his mother who lent Tievel his sharp features and coloring, but where Tievel had always been prone to smiling and laughter, the queen's expression was permanently pinched.