The Healer Bride: Awakening the Ruined Dragon King novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: Fit to Rule

The throne room at Thornhall was long and white, with a gallery on three sides and a floor of polished grey stone.

Set into the middle of the floor was a black disk the width of a cartwheel.

It had been dark for six years.

Sorrel stood at the great doors with the king's hand resting at the small of her back, and every lord of the council turned to look at them.

They had ridden two days to get here.

There had been no time to talk, and she had not asked.

She had only felt, all the way, a kind of heat against her spine that she did not mind.

A thin cold draft rose through an iron grate in the floor beside the dais and touched her ankles.

It smelled of cut grass and cold iron.

She wondered why a throne room would smell of a wine cellar, and then the chancellor spoke.

"Your Grace," said the chancellor from the front of the dais. "You have come."

"I was summoned."

"We feared you could not."

Ronan walked up the white floor on his own feet.

Sorrel walked beside him, and the whispering ran ahead of them down the hall.

She heard "up", "walking", and "the dragon-bane" from three different mouths.

On the dais stood Queen Helene in a gown of deep plum, with her silver hair coiled high.

She was smiling, and she held out her hands to Sorrel.

"My dear. You look so well."

"Your Grace."

"I was grieved to hear what happened at the keep. That poor child, Linden. She was always so easily led."

Sorrel did not take her hands.

"She said you gave her the bottle."

"Did she?" The smile did not move. "She is distraught. She will say anything."

"The council's witness wrote it down."

"My lord from Thornhall wrote what he heard in a very confusing room," Helene said gently. "But let us not quarrel before the whole court. We have a more serious matter."

← Chapter 11 · All chapters · Chapter 13 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend