KINGSLAYER

♕ 8 | 9 ♕

Act 2 Chapter 89
JAYLAH

Jaylah's maids were gathered before her in a line, each of them with pale-knuckled hands folded. They expected to be reprimanded for some misdeed. She waited until the doors were sealed before telling them, "I have a job for you to take up. But this information is only between those of us inside this room, understood?"

They nodded as one, fast enough to show they were fearful to upset her.

"I need you to search amongst the Navrikans for any men wearing rings of Bloodiron. Give me their names."

They bowed before being dismissed. Jaylah watched them go, hoping none of them would fail her test. She would hate to dispose of them.

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Jaylah's servants opened the doors of the sitting room for her. Antinoch waited until she was inside before turning away; to Jaylah's knowledge, she had not learned more about Alexander, but she knew she had her suspicions from the time Jaylah gave her his name. Even that tiny scrap of information was dangerous in times like these.

"Good morning," Jaylah said to Alexander, who stood opposite me. Guests were not permitted to sit until she had.

"Good morning," he said, his pale face impassive as always. He waited a beat before tacking on, "Your Majesty," for the sake of the servants at Jaylah's beckon.

Jaylah sat. He was slower to sit, as if to protect the concealment of a weapon in a pocket. She stirred a cube of sugar into her tea the way she liked it, and a female servant offered the tray of sugar to Alexander afterwards. He did not have the same grace she boasted when he copied her movements, which she knew he did because he had never been invited to tea with anyone before.

She watched him over the rim of her teacup, allowing him to stew in his hesitation of what to do next. He was eyeing his own cup with narrowed lids, head bent to inspect the array of fixings upon the tray. His hair, reddened by the morning sunlight from the windows all around, covered the top of his expression. If he were someone less troublesome, his dropping his guard to display such confusion may have even been endearing. But he was Alexander Khan and everything he did was a ruse.

"Tell me, Khan," Jaylah said, putting her cup down, "how are you finding your stay in my home?"

"The stay has been average at best. Rather uneventful."

"And your quarters suit your fancy?"

"Not quite. They are rather cramped. And awfully dull. I expected the Queen's home would be spectacular, but it is sadly just as dreary as her." He had some nerve saying that in front of Jaylah's servants. Unless he hoped they would watch and gossip about their hearings later.

"My apologies. A dungeon cell will likely be more favorable."

"It was very homey when I was there last time."

Alarm spiked through Jaylah's ribcage. She did not dare look to the servants. "It served you right after those lewd, suggestive comments you made to my elderly nobles."

He played along without a care in the world. "You have very handsome nobles, no matter how old." Jaylah could feel the horror radiating off of the servants behind her.

Instead, she gave a tinkling laugh. "There are not many people I share inside jokes with, Khan. But you transcend my expectations every time, which is impressive for a lowly Navrikan."

Making a point of looking off to the estate, which was visible off to her right, Jaylah asked, "Have you seen the gardens yet? They are similarly impressive. I would not be opposed to presenting them to you in the future."

"I have not." He leaned forward, elbows atop his knees in a way no one in court would ever do. "But let's stop circling away from the subject. I know why you invited me here, and it was not to brag about your estate."

Without moving her expression or dropping her demeanor, Jaylah waved a hand for the servants to leave them at last. If he attempted to maim her, she could hold her own. This was too important an opportunity to pass up.

When they were gone, he said, "Cut the bullshit. Ask me what you've been dying to ask."

Jaylah waited, keeping her eyes on him as if locked in some unseen battle. He did not relent or waver as her courtiers might have. The thing Klymene and Jaylah had settled on were floating at the top of her memory, begging to be out into motion. Here, she would begin to make him her pawn.

So she said at last, "I can give you whatever you wish for your loyalty." Bold steps had to be taken to create what she wanted.

"No, you can't."

With her index finger absentmindedly tracing the crystal rim of her cup, Jaylah meaningfully looked away. "What do you want then, Alexander?"

"There is nothing left to want."

"I am Queen. I can give you more freedom, all the amenities you could ask for, a ship to a country no one would know you in. It would be difficult to keep secret, but I could have your master brought to you so that you may do as you wish to him."

He merely snorted. "Would you have one of your nobles killed so easily? I have no doubt he's set foot in this palace before."

"I would. I have no need for men who have done what he inflicted upon you."

If he was taken aback at her purposefully soft tone, he did not show it on his face. "No. I won't let you buy me."

"I do not wish to buy you, I only wish to return to the place we were at before." At last, she looked into his eyes. Let him think she was more desperate than she was. It would give her an edge when he found out too late she was sitting on a nest full of secrets. "And I am willing to give you what you request if it will make you see that I am not your enemy."

"I don't trust you. That alone makes you my enemy."

"I do not understand your logic, if there is any to be found. Do you recall the plans we made in Paragonia and on the ship? You were more than willing to carry them out with me. So why have you deviated from that path so drastically when I have done nothing worth carrying such a grudge for?"

"You plague me too much to not hold a grudge."

"Still, you punish me and I have not committed any crime against you."

"You just want to use me," he said flatly.

No matter how much she might like to, she did not remind him how he just wanted to kill her. "I want to know what you are concealing from me, as it pertains to my peoples' livelihood."

"Don't play the loving Queen card, we both know it's bullshit. I won't give you what you want. You said it yourself: we are not friends."

"We have never been friends and yet you told me much more in the past."

"You were not the Queen then."

"I have always been her."

"Not to me."

Jaylah did not know what to do with that statement. Instead, she just watched him. He was not ready yet; he was still hurting too badly. Mourning the things he had lost made him blind to the things he could have.

He interpreted Jaylah's silence as her defeat. "Thanks for the tea, Your Majesty."

Perhaps she should have been pleased to hear that title from his mouth. Klymene would have counted it as progress.

Jaylah's gaze stayed on his turned back until he was gone. I sighed, draining the remainder of her cup. Though this meeting had not gone as well as she hoped, she really should have expected nothing less. At least her basic goal had been accomplished. By his joining her for tea instead of Ermalai, Jaylah had made a very clear statement to the Czar about what she thought of his scheming.