Falling into the role of the soon-to-be consort was effortless when Cyrene had a mission to work toward. She had her family to consider, and though falling into line had never been her strong suit, she was determined to keep them safe. It helped that Edric was preoccupied with the birth of his first child, and Cyrene could go about getting ready for her Investiture without any more of his wild interference.

It was three days after her blowup with Edric when she was called to the queen’s rooms. She had no idea why Kaliana would possibly want to see her. They were rivals at best, bitter enemies at worst. But she did as was expected of her.

The queen’s rooms were still set for confinement. Dark curtains covered all but one window, and only a handful of candles otherwise brightened the room. Kaliana was lying in a massive bed set low to the ground. Her hair had been pulled back off her face, but she looked gaunt and drawn, as if the birth had not been easy. As if she was only a few steps from the grave.

“You wanted to see me,” Cyrene said, stepping into Kaliana’s room and curtsying. It was barely a curtsy though. More of a short bob between equals. A deference to her throne but not to her power over Cyrene. For the best thing of all of this was that the queen no longer had any power over her at all.

“Cyrene,” she spat the word like a curse. “Yes, come in.”

Cyrene stepped into the room just as a small coo came from a nursemaid in the corner. Cyrene’s eyes swept to the woman and saw she was holding the tiny infant.

A girl.

That was as much as Cyrene knew. As anyone knew.

The baby’s name wouldn’t be announced until tonight. When Cyrene glanced once more at Kaliana, she could see the disappointment etched into every line. All of that work…for a girl.

“She’s beautiful,” Cyrene offered.

“She’s a girl.”

“Yes. And a beautiful woman she will become.”

“To be married off to some prince for an alliance.”

“Strong,” Cyrene continued. “Like her father.”

Kaliana flinched. “Worthless.”

Cyrene felt as if she understood Kaliana in that moment. Just a young princess sent from her home to be with a man she had never met. Then, to not even be able to produce a male heir after all she had suffered. If she wasn’t such a wretched human being because of it all, Cyrene might have sympathized with her more. What is my world coming to that I’m aligning with Kael and identifying with Kaliana?

“Have you decided what to call her?”

“Alessia Salina.”

“Perfect.” Cyrene stepped up to the baby and saw her little tuft of hair peeking out of her swaddle. “Little Alessia Salina Dremylon.”

“Davila,” Kaliana said sharply, “take Alessia into the nursery.”

The nursemaid hopped up at once and scurried into the next room over.

“We need to talk,” Kaliana said as soon as they were alone.

Cyrene turned to face the queen and arched an eyebrow. Kaliana looked sickly, even more run-down than when Cyrene had first entered her rooms.

“Do we?”

“Don’t play games with me. You’re still my Affiliate until you have your Investiture. You will listen to me.”

Cyrene laughed in Kaliana’s face. “When did I ever listen to you?”

“You were always trouble. Seducing my husband, walking around as if you were royalty, as if you owned the kingdom. So young. So naive. So idiotic,” Kaliana spat at her.

“I did not come here to be insulted,” Cyrene said. “If you cannot control your sharp tongue, then I have no qualms in leaving you here to rot.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Hardly. But I am no longer that girl you remember, Kaliana, and I will not tolerate your insolence.”

“My insolence,” Kaliana said on a gasp. “You wretched girl.”

“Creator, I don’t know why I expected anything else from you.” Cyrene whirled around and headed for the door.

She hadn’t come here to be insulted. She certainly hadn’t come here to have to deal with Kaliana, as she had a year earlier. She might not want to become consort, but she wasn’t about to turn down the privilege of holding that over Kaliana’s head. The queen frankly had no hold on her any longer.

“Wait,” Kaliana said, stopping Cyrene at the door.

Cyrene stilled, but she didn’t turn around.

“I didn’t ask you here to argue.”

“Really?” she asked, whirling around. “It appears that way to me.”

“You won. Is that what you’d like to hear?”

“Not at all. It was never a competition. You were the only one who saw it that way.”

Kaliana waved her hand in the air, dismissing Cyrene’s words. “I’m sick, Cyrene.”

Cyrene paced back toward Kaliana’s bedside. “How sick?”

Kaliana’s watery blue eyes said enough. Very sick. Deathly sick.

“I’m not worried about me anymore. I knew this was always a possibility with my…previous pregnancies.”

Kaliana had had a number of miscarriages before, and Cyrene, as many others, had thought she might never have a child.

“What matters now,” Kaliana continued, “is Alessia. Protect her. Care for her. She is a royal princess, and I don’t want her to be pushed aside. I want her to grow up as she should.”

“Kaliana,” Cyrene said softly, “I don’t know what you expect from me.”

“Edric will remarry. You. I am sure of it,” Kaliana said with a grimace. “She will be your stepchild. All I ask is that you care for her as I would. As if she were your own child.”

Cyrene felt dizzy. Her head was spinning. It was all too much at once. If Kaliana died, Edric would remarry. He would never be satisfied with Cyrene as his consort if he could have her as his wife.

And another vision hit her fresh. One she had not thought about in some time. In the Rose Garden ceremony, when she had been bound to her home and the Dremylon line, she had had a vision of Kaliana taking Cyrene’s child, insisting that it was the last heir of the Dremylon line. It had been an illusion, a possible past, present, or future. Or just a dream. She still didn’t know. But the idea of taking Alessia into her arms, of even considering taking her away, seemed too close for comfort.

“Kaliana, I cannot,” she finally said.

“Haven’t you done enough harm to this kingdom? Must you be so selfish that you cannot even be tasked with saving an innocent’s life?”

Cyrene closed her eyes and ground her teeth together. She was responsible for the troubles in the kingdom, but she would not be Edric’s wife. And, if she would not marry him, then the baby would never be her responsibility.

“All right,” Cyrene relented, “I will care for her.”

Tears welled in Kaliana’s eyes. Tears of gratitude. “I can go in peace now.”

“But you will get well, Kaliana. I am a contingency plan. You will make it.”

“It matters not.”

Cyrene sighed and wondered what kind of promise she had just given. For whatever she had done, Kaliana did seem at peace.

Just then, the door burst open. Cyrene jumped back from Kaliana’s bed, and her magic came to the tips of her fingers without thought. She braced herself for an attack, but only Edric stepped into the room. He stumbled forward a step at seeing them together.

“Cyrene,” he said like a vow. Then, his eyes swept to his dying wife. “Kaliana.”

“Edric,” Kaliana said crisply.

“How is our daughter?”

“She’s nursing.”

“I’m going to…” Cyrene gestured to the door.

She slipped out the door and sighed in relief at having escaped. She needed to see Kael. She needed to train more. Her magic was coming to her easily, but she wanted more. Every time she used it, it felt as if her core was draining of power. She had never had that sensation before without using unimaginable quantities of power. She’d been eating twice as much as before to try to sustain at the level she was working at. And, worse yet, sleep hadn’t been coming readily. When it did, her dreams were plagued with nightmares—sinking ships, monsters, death. Always death.

Still, she didn’t want to stop. She couldn’t stop. No matter how hard she was working and how much easier it came, she was still behind Kael. He pushed and prodded at her boundaries, and she would fight back, but he’d had so much more time than her to practice.

She was on her way to find him when Edric popped back out of Kaliana’s room. Cyrene grit her teeth in frustration. But, as he approached her, she saw that he was glowing and buoyant. Not the crazed tyrant that she had been dealing with these past weeks. It was as if she had gone back in time, and she now saw the Edric she could have fallen in love with.

“Cyrene, may I have a word?” Edric asked with a bounce in his step.

“Of course.”

She followed him through the winding hallways until they reached an empty office that she had never entered before. It was full of scrolls, from floor to ceiling, in no discernible order. It smelled like fresh parchment and ink, and Cyrene loved the place on sight. It was like stepping into the library, knowing the worlds she could venture into were limitless.

Edric closed the door behind them and faced her. “I want to apologize for my actions the other day.”

“For the hanging or for threatening my family?” she bit out.

Okay, so her anger was still rampant. If anything, her training with Kael had only intensified her displeasure.

“Cyrene, please, I have been on edge with war preparations, your imminent Investiture, and Kaliana’s pregnancy. You are to be consort. I should treat you as such.”

“Does that mean, you are no longer threatening my family?”

Edric shot her a merciless glance. “Do you still wish to leave my side?”

“No,” she told him. She wished to take his place.

His smile was radiant. “Then, your family is safe.”

That wasn’t the answer she had been looking for. It was still a threat. But she was playing a part, so she let it pass. Soon, hopefully, it wouldn’t matter.

“We have much more to discuss. You will officially be named consort in four days’ time, but that is the easy part. We will immediately have to begin the preparations for your sister’s Presenting ceremony the week henceforth.”

“Elea’s?” Cyrene asked, momentarily stunned. She had forgotten that her little sister’s birthday was so soon.

“Yes, of course. This is a large duty of the consort, and I am pleased that Elea will be the first we work with together.”

Edric reached out and took her hand. She didn’t jump at the connection this time. She had known it was coming and what it meant. But his touch still made her skin tingle.

“And then what?” she asked.

“Then, you begin your work with the Affiliates and High Order of your choosing.”

“And what of this war?” Cyrene pressed.

Edric sighed, lazily running his thumb over her hand. “I am waiting on word from the Eleysian Queen Brigette. I have chosen to extend a hand of diplomacy if she will agree, but I have troops already deployed to Albion in the event that she refuses.”

“I am pleased.” Cyrene offered him a rare smile. “As much as I am upset by what happened to Maelia, I would not want to see such bloodshed for either country.”

“I would like to make someone suffer for what they did to our own, but I would be glad to have more troops in the city after the troubling news that came in this afternoon.”

“What news?”

“Wolves.”

“Wolves?” Cyrene asked, suddenly going still.

“Enormous wolves have been rampaging the countryside. Villagers are flocking into the city to escape the relentless creatures. I have a report of ten dead and many more wounded. And the wolves are getting closer and closer to the city each day.”

Cyrene frowned. Wolves didn’t act like that. They certainly didn’t attack villages, unprovoked. But Cyrene knew of a wolflike creature that did.

Indres.

Could it be that they had begun killing innocents?

Cyrene had been attacked with her friends in the Hidden Forest on her way through Aurum. It was how she had met Avoca in the first place. But the legendary creatures attacked on command and with purpose. They were intelligent and incredibly dangerous.

If they were in Byern, then that meant something was coming.

Something horrible.