Then again, after the attack on the palace that occurred not two hours before had been quashed, Mars—her son, her king—had not allowed Silence, his intended, to climb down from his back where he held her as he battled their assailants.

It was safe, and still Mars kept Silence as close to him as he could without absorbing her, something he could not do, or he would have done that instead.

Yes.

Elpis took his meaning.

Her face softened, and her gaze moved to Farah, who was in his arms, silently crying, her head turned toward True’s body, even if she was not holding him in return. Something that alarmed him and something he wished to address with his betrothed.

It was just that he’d do that when the bloody queen left.

“I am glad she has you,” Elpis whispered.

“It would have been good if she’d had you,” True retorted. “If they’d both had you.”

Pain sharpened her features.

Pain and regret.

But Farah tightened in his arms.

This was upsetting his intended.

Therefore, this had to end.

“Go,” he ordered the queen.

Elpis seemed to crumble before his eyes and True wished he didn’t care about that either.

But he understood regret.

The woman could not know her friend would take hundreds of bites from poisonous emerald oil asps and die in her bed under a pile of them before they could find their way back to a friendship that had been torn apart by treason and murder.

However, now he didn’t have time for Queen Elpis.

He needed to see to his future queen.

Fortunately, Elpis knew the only one who could look after Farah was in her bed holding her.

Thus, she gave up the fight and moved slowly from the chamber.

The door latched shut behind her.

“Leave us,” True ordered Florian, Bram and Alfie, the members of his guard who were in the room. The others, Luther and Wallace, were guarding it elsewhere. One, Luther, in the hall. The other, Wallace, outside, under the window.

“True—” Alfie began.

“Leave,” True said.

Alfie looked to Farah then to True.

“Magic,” he replied quietly.

Indeed.

The asps that had killed Sofia had been very real.

They had also been transported to her bedchamber through magic.

A bedchamber that had been Farah’s before her mother and she had switched in order to place Sofia farther away from Elpis’s room.

True knew all this.

As did Alfie and his other lieutenants.

But he could have fifty swords in that room.

They wouldn’t be able to fight magic.

“I’ll want you in here, guarding her after I leave. But now, we need privacy,” True told his friend.

“I think—”

“Go, Alfie,” True demanded.

Alfie hesitated before he nodded then he jerked his head to Florian and Bram and they walked out of the room.