Alabaster Cities (Kings and Thieves Book #2)

Chapter 5

**happy tuesday everyone! so I think I'm going to stick to posting Tuesdays/Saturdays, just FYI. it works better with my schedule of classes and hell LOL anyways bye**

Chapter 5

As they entered Queen Rowena's throne room, Aveline couldn't help but feel a certain sense of déja vu.

"You too?" Ari muttered to her as she surveyed the room, taking in the glossy floors, the tapestries, the dripping wax candlesticks glowing warmly on the walls.

Aveline nodded absently, remembering the last time they'd been there. It had been daytime, and the entire court had been present. She could almost see the painted faces of the bland courtiers looking down their noses over at her and Ari, while poor, bashful Lyla Quincy strained to sit up straight beside the Grand Duchess.

Now, it was just them and the Queen, save for a few guards that stood by the door, and this time Lyla stood silently beside them.

She was clearly still upset, but her curiosity had clearly overridden her distress; Aveline watched her chin lift a bit as she approached the table where the Queen sat. Rowena disliked sitting on a throne unless on ceremony- she gestured for them to take the seats across from her, not looking up from the pile of parchment papers on the table in front of her. Lyla swept a deep curtsy, and Aveline followed suit.

Rowena seemed well. There were roses in her pale cheeks and a sort of tired regality in the wrinkles by her eyes. She looked placid, unfazed. And why shouldn't she be- all of her children were safe; the few of them that weren't married and off in different kingdoms here with her in the palace. Aveline supposed a mother was only as happy as her children.

She swallowed at the thought and squashed it down, focusing on the present situation while Ari pulled out chairs for her and Lyla.

"You asked for us?" She inquired, tossing her head to throw her curls over her shoulder.

"Yes." Rowena's mouth tightened. She pushed away her paperwork with two fingers and clasped her hands together on the table, waiting for them to sit down before continuing. "Did you enjoy the tournament today?"

"It was lovely," Lyla said rapidly. "The guests had only good things to say. Apreuna was an excellent host this year."

Aveline glanced sideways at the other girl; she'd nearly forgotten how much Lyla looked up to the monarch.

"What about the horse race?" Rowena tilted her head. "There seemed to be quite a few injuries, as far as I could tell, though," she fixed her gaze on Ari and Aveline, "I hear I have you two to thank for catching it in time."

"I'm glad you brought that up, Your Highness," Aveline broke in. "Ari and I are very concerned."

"You think it was deliberate," the Queen stated.

Ari nodded shortly. "It's too much of a coincidence, Your Highness, and if there's any reason why someone would want to sabotage the proceedings..." he trailed off.

"It's certainly suspicious," she conceded. "I will look into it." There was a brief pause that made Aveline snap her attention away from the dark skies outside the windows. Rowena drew a breath. "There's another matter that I want you to be focusing on right now."

Aveline exchanged a knowing glance with Ari. She didn't know much about their new assignment, but from the secrecy and the formalities, she figured it was something high-up, likely foreign.
(Which she'd definitely be looking forward to- if it was the latter. While she wanted to dig a bit further into the racehorse mystery, Aveline had to admit that Ari wasn't the only one who wanted to get out of Apreuna for a while.)