Page 50 of The Starlit Ring (The Chronicles of Liridin #1)

T he teasing was relentless.

Everyone mocked my midnight tryst, and the way I woke up that morning—sputtering, fully dressed, hair in tangles.

“Who did you see last night?” they asked, gawking and cackling, as if the subject of my romance was the most entertainment they’d had in years.

“Good lay, was it?” asked Zellia, winking at me as she made her way to the kitchens, a basket of linens in hand. “You were gone almost all night.”

“Again and again and again, eh?” said Dana, one of the laundresses.

Rumor had it that she was at least two hundred years old and nowhere near to dying.

Wrinkles deep as pits lined her face, and what remained of her hair was whiter than snow.

Her grin revealed pale gums. “Must’ve been a good time. Look at your hair!”

I washed hurriedly, yanking a brush through the snarls in my curls.

“No hope for that!” Dana called gleefully as she went to spoon pottage into her bowl.

“It will be fine!” I shouted back. The bristles of the brush caught in a particularly furious knot, and one of them pulled loose, sticking out of the tangle like a single tooth.

I let out a scream of frustration and collapsed onto my cot.

I was running late. I was exhausted and sore.

Though the memory of last night made my pulse pound, I had half a million chores to complete, and Ria was going to be late to breakfast because of me, and?—

Dana took pity on me and pulled the bristle from my hair, her gnarled hands surprisingly dexterous.

Prince Marius intercepted me in the hall after lunch, drifting from the shadows with a specter’s ease.

I was only too easily coaxed into an empty room, eager to see him again even after a brief separation.

We kissed until we were desperate and panting, and were halfway out of our clothes when a sound came from outside the door.

Marius drew me into the shadows, but the moment was ruined. The voices of servants echoed just down the hall. We dressed hastily, afraid of being caught. That didn’t stop him from kissing me fervently as I approached the door, clothes wrinkled.

I saw him later that night, but only briefly.

As usual, he visited me in the library, heartbreakingly beautiful among the torchlit shelves.

But he wore an expression of barely contained irritation over his usual excitement.

My stomach flipped at the sight of it. “King Hergarv demands an audience with me this evening,” he groused.

“I’m afraid I won’t be available tonight. ”

Disappointment weighed heavily in my chest, but I steeled myself.

If I continued seeing Marius, this would be my reality.

I would always, always come second to his other duties.

In time, I would come second to my own sister, a thought that I pushed to the back of my mind and buried, like a broken and mottled corpse.

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, smiling with false cheer. A sense of abandonment took root in my breast and quickly flowered into a thorny tangle that pierced my heart with each ragged beat .

“I shall miss you,” he said, fingers brushing lightly over the back of my hand. With one final glance, he was gone again.

The next day, I was brought before Queen Tarra.

Shaking in my boots, I followed the guards to her tearoom, hoping I looked demure, instead of like someone on the verge of throwing up.

But Queen Tarra greeted me without fanfare, and once again ordered me to take my pick of cakes and tea.

I ate nervously, and only to appease her.

Eventually, she sighed, folded her hands in her lap, and ordered the guards from the room.

When it was just the two of us, she said, “I’ve noticed you spending a lot of time with Prince Marius. ”

I nodded hesitantly. The cakes sat in my stomach like something rotten and foul. “Yes, your Highness. You asked me to assist him.”

Her eyebrows raised, lips forming a quiet chuckle. “Yes, indeed,” she said. “But might I suggest you try to be a bit subtler?”

My entire face burned. “I—Your Highness?—”

“I don’t much care what the two of you get up to,” said Queen Tarra, indifferent to my suffering. “But do try to halt the rumor mill. Princess Valeria is pathetic enough without learning that her maid is intimate with her betrothed.”

“I—”

“I’d also suggest a trip to the apothecary. It pays to be responsible, and you don’t want to birth a bastard,” said Queen Tarra, taking a sip of her tea. “I must say, I’m rather surprised. Marius isn’t what I’d call a romantic, but he seems rather enamored with you. What is it, do you think?”

I tried not to shy away from her scrutiny. “Truthfully, I don’t know,” I began. When she laughed, I realized that she wasn’t expecting an answer. If I gave one, it wouldn’t be taken seriously.

“Well, it certainly isn’t your mettle,” she said.

She paused to stir more sugar into her tea, and tasted it carefully, mulling over the taste.

She must have found it unsatisfactory, because she reached for more sugar.

I watched the granules slip from the spoon, spilling into her cup like flakes of falling snow.

“But whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t last long.

He isn’t known for long term romantic connections. ”

If I blushed any harder, I’d surely burst into flames. Had she brought me here to humiliate me? “Thank you, Your Highness.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Queen Tarra said. Dollops of cream swirled in her tea.

She stirred until they dissolved, silver spoon clicking against the rim of the cup.

“I brought you here to warn you. I don’t like to see women hurt by fickle men.

And I know you value your position as Princess Valeria’s maid.

I want you to know that I think Prince Marius is not worth the effort, although I’m quite certain you’ll ignore me. ”

I gawked at her, open-mouthed. Was Marius’s reputation of no consideration to her? “I—Thank you for your honesty, Your Highness. But how am I to continue assisting him if I decline his, um, romantic advances?”

“I should’ve forbidden such advances when I spoke to you weeks ago,” sighed Queen Tarra.

A dainty hand lifted a green frosted pastry to her lips.

When she took a bite, its interior crumbled free, spilling onto the pristine tablecloth.

“ Both of you. Alas, it’s a bit late for that.

Just remember: Prince Marius is not marrying you.

At some point, this will become a problem. ”

I left the room reeling. The cakes in my stomach had turned to sawdust.

“The queen has noticed,” I told Prince Marius. We had just stumbled through the door of the Star Room, and my hand was still warm from his grasp.

“Bollocks,” he grumbled. “I ought to have known.”

“How does she know?” I pressed, trailing after him into the study, where he frowned at the shelf of bottles as though they’d personally offended him .

“She has her ways,” he said. “Spies, mostly, though I’ve been advised that the court sorceresses are quite handy with their scrying glasses.”

“Wait,” I said, horrified. “You mean the sorceresses watched us have sex?”

“I’d assume so.” He shrugged. “If she knows.”

“The servants knew I’d seen someone,” I said, pacing around the room. “Perhaps she connected the rumors?”

“Perhaps,” mused Marius. After selecting a bottle from the shelf, he turned it over in his hand, as though ensuring its quality. “Though I doubt it. She has her ways.”

I chewed my lip. My reputation will be ruined , I thought. When my identity was eventually revealed, word would get out. I’d fucked Prince Marius. I could no longer claim I was virginal. My value was sullied. Father would be disappointed, if not outright furious.

I envisioned months spent locked away in my rooms, my only entertainment the rising and falling of the sun. Eventually, I’d be married off to some doddering old fool, the only sort of person who would agree to marry me.

This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have done this.

“Talina?” Marius set the vial down on the desk, and approached me, lines of worry carved into his forehead.

Oh . I hadn’t realized my face was wet. “I’m fine,” I said, even as a sob broke free.

“Yes, clearly,” said Marius, pulling me close to him, wrapping his firm arms around me. I buried my face in his shoulder and smelled woodsmoke, pine, and something softer, like cinnamon. “All fine and dandy here. Tell me, my lady, what ails you?”

I was definitely going to ruin his shirt with my tears, but he seemed unconcerned as he pressed his face into my hair, holding me as though I were something delicate, precious. “I’m going to be in so much trouble,” I managed to whisper. “This will get out, and I will be punished, and?— ”

“Punished by whom?” Marius said, rubbing circles on my back. “No one here will particularly care. Not about the sex, anyway.”

“Queen Tarra will. And King Amonrew,” I said, biting down a moan of despair. “Trust me, it will go horribly for me.”

This gave him pause. His hand slowed its circles, and his embrace loosened. “Do you think it’s likely he’ll find out?”

“He will,” I said. “Eventually, when this is all over, word will reach him, and when he finds he can’t marry me off like he planned…” I swallowed hard. “And that’s if your family doesn’t think I’m a spy.”

“I will not allow that,” said Marius, hugging me once more.

“You are here, under my protection, and I will not allow your father to take you away and imprison you. Even if word gets out. As for my family, that’s, well, admittedly trickier.

” He deflated against me. “But I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. ”

“That might be enough to start a war,” I said, my words muffled against his chest. My heart felt heavy as an anvil. It threatened to drag me down to the floor.

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I took that risk once before. What makes you think I wouldn’t do it again?”