Chapter 6: The Ashmere Heart

Nobody tried to bleed me the next day.

I should have known it was a bad sign.

Lucian sent word that I would attend the Feast of Pledges that evening, at the Court's table.

My guest, the note said, was welcome to sit with the servants.

"The servants," Ronan said, reading the card over my shoulder. "Is that where you keep the people who can't be crushed?"

"It's where we keep the people we can't stand."

"Then I'll take the roast."

He did.

I watched him eat three pheasant legs at the servants' table with perfect manners.

The cooks stared at him.

He caught my eye across the hall and lifted one in toast.

I almost smiled, and then I remembered where I was.

The Court sat at long tables under a hundred candles.

At the head of the hall, on a dais strewn with white roses, Lenora sat in a carved chair.

She wore a pale gown and the crown.

The red jewel burned in it.

Lucian stood at her shoulder and poured wine into her glass.

The Elders sat on either side of them.

"Our guest of honor," the eldest Elder said, "who saved the Prince's life, and has suffered ever since for our sake."

The Court applauded.

I stood up from my place.

The hall went silent in a ripple, table by table, as I walked the length of it.

Lucian saw me coming and put his hand on Lenora's chair.

"Isobel. Sit."

I stopped at the foot of the dais.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Blood Awakened, His Reign Ended from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.