Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Queen Ha-Lah
Guest Suite, Second Floor, East Corridor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
“I go with you.”
“You do not.”
“My king, I would go with you,” I beseeched.
“You will not,” he denied.
“We will surely be protected.”
“It matters not.”
“I know it might be difficult to witness, but I would be at your side through this.”
“I do not need you at my side, Ha-Lah.”
“Aramus,” I whispered.
“Xi and Nis will stay behind, both in this room, where you will remain, wife.”
After he issued that order, he started to move to the door.
I followed him.
Swiftly.
“I would wish to help you in your grief,” I told my husband, reaching out, nearly touching his back.
But my hand fell when he spun around and pinned me with a glower so ferocious, I felt my breath catch in my throat.
“And how would you do that, my queen?” he asked caustically. He then tipped his head to the side, his black eyes flashing with derision. “Ah yes. I forget. You know me so well. You knew Cat so well. With all the interest you take in me. My men. These months of our marriage. These weeks when you sailed with me. With us. With them. With him. Traveled with me. Us. Them. Him. They kept you guarded and safe. You have come to know us all so very well?”
“That isn’t fair, Aramus, and you know it,” I replied softly.
Though, uncomfortably, I had to admit, he had a point.
“It isn’t?” he asked, his brows rising. “You spent a good deal of energy spouting your defense of whales and dolphins, how do you feel about the loss of the life of men?”
He was right.
I did spend that energy in defense of my friends.
But that was even less fair.
And he had to know that too.
I chanced a step closer, considering putting my hand on his chest in a conciliatory matter.
I decided against it and simply said, “I’m very, very sorry you lost your friend, my husband.”
“I am as well,” he replied. “He will have no wife. He will have no children. He will have no grandchild carry anything of his from home to home just to keep him close, even if they had never met him but they knew of him and they knew he was beloved. He will be but a memory for me, Tint, Bond, Oreti, Xi, Nis, Nav, and when we are gone, he will be gone, for there will be no heart that bears him any longer.”
I nodded, feeling my eyes prickle and wishing fruitlessly I had come to know this man at the same time deciding from that point on to make a concerted effort to get to know the others.
“You loved him a great deal,” I whispered, and I loved this a great deal, this capacity for emotion my husband was demonstrating.
Even if the occasion for which he was demonstrating it rent my heart.
“He was my brother,” Aramus confirmed. “And now he will be shrouded, borne through this bloody heat, rotting along the way—”
“Don’t say that,” I urged gently. “Don’t even think of that.”
He continued as if I didn’t speak.
“Taken aboard a ship and carried home, only to have the black rocks of Mar-el piled upon what’s left of him without his brothers at his side for we’re traipsing across Triton attending fucking weddings.”
He was in pain.
Such pain.
“Would you please let me come to you?” I asked, even if there was but a few feet of space between us, it felt like miles.
“Do you think I need your comfort?” he queried with contempt.
I blinked at his tone.
But he did not stop there.
Alas, my husband did not stop.
“You have given me nothing in this marriage. Not a thing, Ha-Lah. What little I have you made me earn. The barest scrap of your attention, your history, any part of you. I should likely praise Triton and Medusa both that you did not make me scrape and beg for morsels of you. But I fear I’m in no mood to praise our gods right now, my queen. There are ankles to noose and throats to slit.”
I winced.
“Absolutely,” he spat decisively when he caught my reaction. “You don’t have the stomach to be queen.” He leaned toward me. “In all this change, my wife, that I will bear on my realm after this bloody ludicrous journey is through, there will be one more. When I get my heir, he will not be saddled with the greatest beauty of the land. He will pick who he wishes. She can be ugly of visage as long as she’s kind of heart and lustful for his cock and desirous of his company and supportive of his thoughts. What he will not have is he will not be burdened with a queen the likes of you.”
At that, I flinched and took a step away.
It looked as if his lip would curl as he watched me do this, but he caught it before he did.