Solstice shrugged. “He did then. I haven’t seen him in years.”
“Or heard word from him?”
“No.”
“Did he ever recover his brother?”
Again, Solstice shrugged. “Not that I know of. But I wouldn’t have heard after I came to court.”
The queen kept her eyes locked on Solstice’s. “It’s not so usual, is it? To have a black girl like yourself find such a close friendship with a white boy.”
Solstice cocked her head. What was the queen insinuating? “I’ve never cared about skin color, your majesty. You of all people know that.” The friendship between the queen and her Hand-to-Be was famous—or notorious—throughout the land.
“I don’t doubt that. But what did your families think?”
“As far as I know, my parents liked him.”
“And if you had married him?”
Solstice blinked. What would her father have thought? Or her mother? “I—” She wanted to say they would have approved any match, but she wasn’t sure. Her parents had been proud people. They might have been able to weather the social stigma attached to such a marriage, but they wouldn’t have welcomed it.
“And would you have defied them for love?” the queen asked.
“I—” Solstice said again. She was about to say she would have, but that wasn’t the truth. “I would have done what was right for my family. If they objected…” She shrugged. “I would have tried to talk some sense into them.”
“And why is Axel de la Couere here?”
Alarm raced through Solstice. She knew that the appearance of upright behavior was as important—maybe even more important—than the actual fact of upright behavior. If she were the queen, and Axel appeared on the same day that Solstice honored the goddess with the only man forbidden to her, she would suspect that something bigger was afoot.
She met her monarch’s violet eyes. “I don’t know, your majesty. In all honesty, I don’t know.”
The queen held her gaze a moment, and Solstice couldn’t read her expression. Finally the older woman nodded. “Very well.” She touched Solstice’s cheek, and the sensation of the familiar touch nearly undid Solstice.
“I’m so sorry, my queen.”
Again, Queen Sureya nodded, her red hair taking on the appearance of fire as the sunlight hit it. “I want you to go back to your chambers and dress yourself appropriately.”
“Yes, my queen.”
“And then I want you to report to Aster at the Temple Chamber.”
“What?” Despite herself, Solstice flashed a glance at her queen, her eyes wide. “The Temple Chamber?”
“Of course.” The queen’s lips curled into a slow smile. She reached out and stroked Solstice’s cheek again. “You didn’t think you’d be banished without a royal Punishment, did you?”
“I—” Solstice paused and swallowed. “I suppose not,” she lied.
“For old-time’s sake,” the queen said. “You won’t regret it, you know.”
“As you wish,” Solstice said. Her voice sounded like it belonged to someone else.
“Exactly.” The queen allowed the guards to open the door. “As I wish.”
It wasn’t until the door closed that Solstice thought to wonder if she’d been successful. Would Queen Sureya banish her to Greenhaven with Grip by her side? Would she have any chance at all to save her beloved queen from the forces of evil the queen didn’t know existed?
With his sword at the ready, the queen’s soldier led Axel to a spacious room. “Wait here,” the soldier said.
“Wait?” That was the last thing Axel wanted to do. He couldn’t escape this palace fast enough. He needed to talk to his second-in-command, for one thing, and he couldn’t do that locked in this posh room. Kamir would never find him here. For another, he needed to put some distance between himself and Solstice. A lot of room. “Do I have a choice?”
“No choice.” The soldier pointed to a settee. What kind of monarch met her prisoners in a sitting room, anyway? “Sit.”
The guard was young and likely well trained. Axel considered taking him down. Except, then what? Could he bolt out of the palace unseen? Could he get his men and escape Marotiri? Not without the queen’s help. And if slavers were hiding in the queen’s palace…
“Sit,” the soldier said again. “The Supplicant Queen will be here shortly.”
“Great.” Axel walked toward the chair, and the soldier left, locking the door behind him. Axel wouldn’t sit, though. Solstice was here. Here! His heart had leapt when he saw her—until he realized what she’d been doing. He’d walked in on her while she was fucking, and apparently, her fucking mocked even this land’s lax standards of decency.
He shrugged out of the blue trader’s robe, hoping the change would make him more presentable. Looking down at his dusty boots and sweat-stained cavalry pants, he doubted it. Even without the robe he smelled of horse sweat and campfire. No queen would grant him the time of day, much less the boon of his freedom. Not with his white skin and filth.
He walked toward the window, aware of the dusty footprints he was leaving on the carpet. He saw a verdant courtyard below, replete with a huge fountain and enough green grass to keep his mare fat for weeks—but the distance was too great. A jump would at least break his leg, and he’d still have to find his horse.
“Not thinking of leaping to your fate, I hope.”
Axel turned at the voice and stopped in his tracks. The Supplicant Queen was truly a beauty. Her red hair floated around her face like a cloud, and even at this distance he saw the violet of her gaze. But it was the luminous whiteness of her skin that caught his eye. Had he ever met anyone who celebrated it like she did? Her scarlet tunic stayed over her bone-white shoulder with the thinnest thread. The brush of a fingertip would leave her naked before him.
“If I had been thinking such dark thoughts,” he said, “your beauty would have stopped me.” He bowed low.
“Ah.” The Supplicant Queen walked closer with a panther-like grace. “You have the tongue of a courtier.”
“The tongue of a courtier?” He laughed as the dark side of his mind wondered what kind of tongue she had. Overlaid against the queen’s austere beauty, Solstice’s face flashed through his mind. Solstice’s heart had always enchanted him, but he couldn’t trust her. He couldn’t trust this queen either. “If need be.”
“And you have need?”
He ignored the double meaning—he had no desire to honor the goddess of harlots, even with the queen. “Dressed as I am,” he said, pointing to his dusty clothes, “charm might be all that saves me.”
“Charm you have aplenty,” she said, her eyes raking his chest and thighs. “And you do need saving. Why were you climbing through my secret staircase?”
Axel bowed again. “My apologies, Queen Sureya. I didn’t know to whom the stairs belonged.” He looked at her. “At least, I didn’t know they were yours until I was locked within.”
She gazed at him a moment, and he had the feeling she was more able to read the truth than were most people. “Then how did you discover the staircase?” she asked.
Axel considered. He had to play this perfectly. This queen might worship the harlot goddess. And despite her white skin, she might house slavers within her walls—the same slavers who’d abducted Grey. But she also held his life in her hands.
“Ah,