Queens & Liars-Sequel to Three Broken Kingdoms (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Six: How to Lie to a Lord

Lysandra waited for Harold Wood to drift over to the table she was meandering around. He was General Arnold Wood's brother and for that sole purpose his life would have meaning and importance.

She tapped her foot against the floor impatiently. Wood had a craving for the chocolate-dipped strawberries draped all across the lavish table. To be fair, so did she. They were amazing. When on earth was he going to come and collect another one like a good little puppet?

As discreetly as she could, she watched him across the room. He was so ordinary looking. She could have mistaken him for a hundred other

Kallians, though of course the same dark hair and olive skin that marked him as Northern State by birth would have made him stick out like a sore thumb amongst the fair-haired, pale valkyries of Miras.

But the man was ordinary in more than his appearance. His entire life had been unambitious and boring. Like every other noble he spent his life carefully tiptoeing, walking on eggshells whenever Medea so much as looked his way. He served in the military, instantly an officer like every other noble, like every other second son she had ever known or heard of. The man's own sons served for a while as well. His daughters were married off for some minor political gain. He sat there, getting fat, priding himself on his tiny advancements and costing her mother the coin it took to feed and clothe him and bathe this man and his family in luxury. Only his elder brother, his father's heir and her mother's trusted general, made this man somewhat consequential.

Indeed if things went well tonight, Lord Arnold Wood would play a vital role in the raising of armies and the falling of empires.

And at last, the extraordinarily boring man walked over, his eyes fixed on the largest strawberry of the lot. Lysandra frowned. That particular one was meant to be hers. But oh well. It wasn't as if she could nick it from him. He was the kind of man who cared enough about chocolate-dipped strawberries to let the theft of one get in the way of gaining a connection with the heir of the Kallian Empire. She bumped into him entirely on purpose and he gave a look of such condescension that she almost let her anger jeopardise everything.

Lord Arnold Wood was exactly like a thousand different men she'd met before. He would be just as easy to manipulate and deceive and just as liable to make her rip his throat out and leave him bleeding all over the castle gates, hanging by his intestines with his eyes torn out—

Lysandra paused her imaginings of Arnold's corpse and smiled at the man. He inclined his head politely, not bothering to bow. No doubt he believed she was beneath him, even though she was the Empress' eldest living child.

"My apologies," she said, smiling insipidly. The negative side of framing her five brothers and arranging their execution was that rumours started to emerge that she was not the docile, weak princess she paraded as. This man had heard the rumours that she had killed her elder siblings for the throne just like everyone else and her most important job was to dissuade him of the notion. After all, like everyone else, he didn't really believe those rumours. It was impossible that woman had done such a brilliant, daring theme. Court intrigues were the domain of men after all.

Lysandra sometimes really, really wished she'd been born a valkyrie. An all-female society sounded wonderful.

She gave Arnold Wood another meek smile and said:

"I love the strawberries, too," she told him, trying to avoid gritting her teeth.

"They are lovely, aren't they, Your Highness?" He said the last word with such open derision that a shadow flickered over her hand. She drew in a deep breath. It was lucky he hadn't seen that. She needed to calm down.