Free The Black King (Book 7) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

door of the North Tower, trying to catch her breath. All the stairs in this palace irritated her. She had never lived in a place that had so many stories and maze-like rooms. Her father said it was because the palace had once been a fortress that had been added onto, which was odd because Blue Isle supposedly never had war until the Fey arrived.
    Lyndred hated it here. She associated this tower with the Black Queen, who seemed to spend most of her time here, staring out the windows as if she were imprisoned in this place.
    Now Lyndred had actually come to find her. It had taken most of the day for her to get up enough courage.
    Arianna was standing on the opposite side of the large room, her legs spread, her hands clasped behind her back. Her long black hair was braided and fell along her rigid spine. She wore breeches and a jerkin, an outfit that suited her more than the Islander dresses. She didn’t seem to notice Lyndred, but Lyndred had learned long ago that what Arianna seemed to notice and what she really noticed were two very different things.
    “Are you going to hover all afternoon?” Arianna asked. “Or are you going to join me?”
    Lyndred’s mouth went dry, even though she had been expecting the comment.
    “I’ve been wondering what’s happened to you. Neither your father nor I have seen you all day. I suppose he found you?”
    Lyndred felt a blush rise in her cheeks. It was involuntary, and it was appropriate, at least for this lie.
    “He did.” Her voice sounded weaker than it had on Nye. Once she felt she had the most imperial voice among the Fey, but it was nothing compared to Arianna’s.
    Arianna didn’t turn, but she did raise her chin slightly. “How did he convince you to leave your rooms?”
    “He didn’t exactly.”
    This time, Arianna did turn. It was a sharp movement, almost a reluctant one, as if she were unwilling to stop her contemplation of the mountains in the distance. “Oh?”
    Lyndred shrugged. “There are certain things a woman does in her life that she doesn’t want her father to see.”
    “A woman?” For once, Arianna didn’t seem to understand. “You had female troubles? If so, you should see one of the Healers.”
    The comment startled a laugh out of Lyndred, then her blush increased. “I wouldn’t call it trouble. My father knows I have lovers. He just doesn’t need visual confirmation.”
    Arianna’s cold blue eyes widened slightly as if she hadn’t expected this. Then an expression flitted across her face—amusement? Annoyance?—it was impossible to tell before the expression vanished. “And who is the lucky man?”
    “Unimportant,” Lyndred said.
    Arianna’s gaze became hooded, and without her saying another word, Lyndred knew what she was thinking. She would ask servants, other Fey, guards who Lyndred’s lover was, and she wouldn’t stop until she found out.
    “Did you come to see me for advice, then, about your lover?” Arianna asked.
    Lyndred smiled. She couldn’t help herself. “No. I’ve had lovers since I came into my Vision.”
    “Are the two events—your getting your Vision and taking a lover—related, then?” Arianna asked.
    The question was so prescient, it startled Lyndred. She had to pause before she answered.
    The two events were linked. But she didn’t know if she should tell Arianna that.
    “What did you See that encouraged you to first take a lover?” The question was softer than the others, a bit more intimate, as if Arianna were a friend who was entitled to know.
    Lyndred stepped inside the room, and closed the door. It was time to get closer, to see if she could use these questions to her own advantage. “I Saw a blond man who would give me a child and break my heart.”
    “And you sought to prevent that?”
    Truth, then. It would be her weapon. “I want no man to have that kind of power over me.”
    Arianna’s eyes narrowed, and this time Lyndred thought she saw a trace of laughter in them.
    “You are the most