The Lost Queen (Book 1 of The Lost Queen Series)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Seraiah found the room where the council meeting was being held with help from Wisteria.

"Don't look so worried," Wisteria told her as they stood outside the door. "I'm sure it will be fine. It's not like they will sentence you to execution or anything."

"They can do that?"

Wisteria smiled as she backed away. "Best of luck. I have to get to my other duties now." Then she turned on her heel and fled, leaving Seraiah standing in the hallway alone.

"Right," Seraiah mumbled, taking a breath and squaring her shoulders. "We can do this."

She knocked.

"Come in," a voice called. A very familiar voice.

When Seraiah opened the door, she found Kai sitting at the far end of a large oval table. It appeared no one else had arrived yet.

He looked up from the papers he was studying and offered her a small smile.

Her eyes locked on his mouth, and her heart stopped.

Suddenly, she remembered with excruciating clarity what had happened the night before.

First she'd confessed her possible feelings for him and jealousy over his interaction with Virelai to Kestrel, and then, when left alone with him, she'd kissed him.

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that prior to throwing herself at him, she had told him she didn't think he was awful.

Seraiah wished the floor would open up and swallow her.

"Have a seat," Kai said, indicating the chair on his left.

She made her way around the table even though she wanted nothing more than to flee the room and possibly never see Kai again. What was she supposed to say to him? Did she apologize?

The chair scraped loudly against the floor in the silence as she pulled it from the table and sat. They were close enough to bump elbows, and she could feel the heat of his body.

Or maybe that was her imagination.

She knit her fingers together in her lap to resist touching them to her mouth as she remembered the heat of his lips and the way . . .

No. She could not do this right now.

"Did you have a good night?" Kai asked.

"I-um, yes," she squeaked. Her cheeks burned. Now might be the time to apologize, or perhaps she could pretend she didn't remember anything. Yes, that might be for the best. Then things could go back to the way they were, and they could both forget about how she had embarrassed herself.

"The court celebration was nice," Seraiah said, "and then Kestrel took me to a party on the beach. Unfortunately, I think I may have had too much to drink because I don't remember much after that until Wisteria woke me up for this meeting."

"Yes, that tends to happen around Kestrel. When I spoke to her this morning, she was also feeling the effects of the nectar."

There, Seraiah thought, I've fixed things. As long as Kai doesn't say anything, we can put this behind us.

"The council should be here in a few minutes," Kai warned her as he flipped through pages. "Be prepared to be questioned. They will want to know everything, including about your seer abilities."

"Should I tell them everything?" she asked. The nerves from earlier came flooding back.

Kai nodded. "It's time they know that their Queen still lives, and that my mother lied about her death. The future of this kingdom depends on getting her back."