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Chapter forty-five

Adelyna

Q iana stood before Adelyna, her face unreadable. Not a single hint of deception. Just like any good liar.

After Callidora, no, Nerys , had been dismissed for the day, Adelyna summoned Qiana to her chambers. There, with all the pent-up wrath of a vengeful goddess, she privately confronted her one-time lover. She was getting very tired of being lied to.

“Why did you betray me, Qiana?” Adelyna asked, tapping her finger on the wooden arm of her chair. This was after she asked Qiana to use her stone eyes to make sure they were alone. And after she decided to talk to Qiana as opposed to tossing her out of a window.

See, Adelyna would make an excellent ruler. Adelyna had restraint.

“How did I betray you?” Qiana asked evenly, only a slight furrow marked her forehead. Damn, she could dissemble.

“You sent a peasant to my presence, allowed me to befriend her, and decided to murder my father.” The color disappeared from Qiana’s face, though it remained impressively even.

Good. If she had managed to lie this competently, to react so calmly when confronted directly, what else could Qiana have lied to her about?

“If you’ve learned everything,” Qiana said slowly, “then why did Nerys practically skip into our rooms? Rather, why am I still alive?”

“Because too much is coming together for me to think you’re lying.

” Her father’s time as R?ll had gone beyond what was useful for the kingdom.

Murdering citizens? Attempting to murder all the other rulers?

Destabilizing the government for millions?

Opening the Five Kingdoms to invasion? Threatening to name her weak-minded brother heir, with unknown consequences for the kingdom?

Adelyna didn’t have it in her to kill her father herself.

But that didn’t mean she was going to do a thing to protect him.

“So, she told you.”

“About the ritual? Yes. Your insane scheme to have her pass as a lady? Yes. ”

Qiana smiled. “She did better than I expected.”

“Considering that she failed within an hour of being my High Maid, your expectations must have been low.”

“They were.”

Adelyna let out a frustrated sigh. Callidora.

Sweet, beautiful Callidora was a lie. One that she had fallen for.

“What I want to know is why you didn’t come to me when you suspected the ritual.

Why hide it from me? You know I would’ve helped.

Dammit, Qiana, I’ve been hearing of these massacres for weeks—months now—and nothing made sense. ”

“I didn’t know how much you knew, or what was safe for you to know. Nerys knows how dangerous her position is, and willingly took the risk. I was just trying to protect you.”

“Because you decided you knew what was best for me. Qiana, I’m not a little motherless courtier anymore that you need to protect. I need to know what’s going on in my court.”

Qiana had nothing to say to that. Things had changed since they were children. Many things. Qiana bowed her head. “I was trying to protect you,” she repeated. “Too much could have— can —go wrong. It’s not safe for you to be a part of this. If she gets caught—”

“Based on how she did today that’s a real possibility.”

“—I didn’t want her tied to you. At all.

I was willing to take the risk, but you…

” She had a point, and Qiana was merely trying to protect her.

Of course, she was. This was Qiana . That didn’t remove the sting of betrayal, but it helped dull the pain.

A little. But something still didn’t make sense.

“Is this about your mother and father?”

Qiana’s lips set in a line. “What about them?”

“Is this the real reason why you used some peasant girl to carry out the task—why you didn’t want to involve me—when I’m the best chance of making this plot succeed? That you didn’t want the curse to kill us too?”

“Do not imply that I used her out of cowardice.”

“I didn’t.”

A smirk crept onto Qiana’s face—she didn’t believe her. “I didn’t want to get executed for murdering the R?ll. I’m not afraid of the curse.”

“Fear is sensible.”

“Fear makes one do stupid things. My parents were foolish enough to blatantly try to create peace directly with the rulers themselves. I’m doing no such thing. ”

“Qiana…”

“Besides, I am afraid of the R?ll. I have to be. Nerys can disappear into the kingdom and be forgotten if things go wrong. I can’t.”

“I’d have pardoned you.”

“ If I had a chance to explain. If the guards didn’t kill me first.”

Adelyna liked to think that wouldn’t have happened. Adelyna also liked to think that there was a secret cabal of fairies singing her to sleep. That didn’t make it true.

“If you told me, you’d have saved me a headache with the Jelian ambassador.”

“What does a marriage with their prince have to do with this?”

“They were taunting me to agree to the arrangement in exchange for information.” Adelyna picked at her sleeve. “Very vague. Threatening. Hinting that I had only so much time to agree. So many threats.”

“Sounds like them…do you think this is what they meant?”

“What else could it be?”

Qiana’s brow knitted. “In these kingdoms? A lot. Don’t assume you know their secrets yet. Not that you don’t have other concerns.”

“That’s an understatement,” Adelyna said with a huff.

“I think it goes without saying that it’s too late for me to do nothing about Nerys now, and what it could mean for me.

Now that she’s in my household, no matter what, I will bear suspicion.

And if I dismiss her, it will cause talk.

” She gave Qiana a hard look. “Despite your intentions, you put me in danger.”

“I told her not to accept the role.” Qiana huffed. “Urged her, in fact. Turns out it is hard for her to refuse you. Hard for anyone.”

“Too late now.” Adelyna glanced out the window at the snowy landscape. “Everything is going to change.”

“Are you ready? To rule, I mean.”

Adelyna scoffed. “There is no way to truly be ready. But I am as close as I’m ever going to be.”

Qiana fidgeted with her hand. “Does this mean you are going to help us?”

“To a point—I have little choice unless I want to end up on the block. Yet, there’s only so much I can do—and who knows what the curse would do if I tried to directly interfere?

” Qiana’s eyes darted to the floor. “But yes,” Adelyna said softly.

“I’m going to help Nerys get closer to the R?ll. After that, it’s up to you.”

“Thank you,” Qiana whispered.

Adelyna nodded. She did not do this for thanks.

“Tell me, how did you find out about this ritual? Reports about the massacres were kept confidential.” That was one part about this that didn’t fit.

Qiana was intelligent, yes, but Nerys was too well trained for the limited time they had together, and their timing for being here…

Granted Nerys gave an explanation, but something seemed off.

“My demon,” she said. “It came back carrying tales from the border. I sent members of my household to investigate. By the time I received word Nerys was at my estate, I realized here was my chance to stop the summoning.”

“Convenient.”

“It was.” Qiana sighed. “Fate is on my side, for once.” Was she telling the truth? A more important question was—did Adelyna trust Qiana enough that whatever she was hiding, it was for her own good? No. But Adelyna did know that Qiana wasn’t hiding anything to hurt her, and that was enough for now.

But there was something else in all this Adelyna didn’t understand.

“Why didn’t her demon tell us? This Vine. Why send me on a chase for ‘Beleth?’ Pretending that he could help me find my magic?”

Qiana huffed. “Who knows why demons do what they do? He may have found it amusing. He may have thought we wouldn’t believe him. He may have plans of his own.”

“I thought he was no one important.”

“It’s unlikely he is. I have not had a chance to look further.”

“He definitely has plans of his own,” Adelyna said after a moment’s thought. “The question is—what do this demon’s plans mean for us?”