The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger, #1)

by Kathryn Moon

"Look," whispered Wendell, and he pointed out the window to my right. There, on the rocky terrain just next to us, an orange striped tiger moved fluidly along our path. "Thao," I said, my eyes widening, and Wendell hummed the affirmative. He was enormous, easily twice the size of his human form or even giant Owen,

"No, Your Highness. I think I'm only a little jealous." Ah! Well, that made sense. It would be nice to be able to shift into an enormous, free beast, rather than kept cooped up and held to expectations I couldn't meet.

Thao leapt down from the rocks, and I found myself fighting the impulse to scoot away from the massive, lanky form of him padding closer, his paws twice the size of my own feet. But he brushed up against my side and followed me as I moved back to the horses that kept pace with the carriage from behind.

"I never realized what a long journey it was," I said, urging my horse up to ride alongside Aric. He startled in his seat, and I smothered my laugh as I realized I'd caught him sleeping in his saddle.

"You have the ambition to learn, at least," Aric said, grudgingly and quiet. "And you appear to see things for what they are." "Be careful, you're getting complimentary," I said, delighted to see his lips twitch. "Princess, I promise to never compliment you where you don't deserve it," Aric said with a mocking kind of regality. "And to always tell you when I think you're doing a piss poor job."

"Come, Bryony. For once, the rogue is right." My lips twitched, and I had an odd understanding that this was the kind of tension between men that might be amusing. Or at least I found it so.

"I need a diary to make a list of all the things I want to fix," I murmured. "I'm afraid I'll forget something, and there's so much to do." "Wendell's very organized, he could be your secretary," Thao said, smirking slightly.

The castle by the sea that I'd grown up in was ivory and gold, the roof almost pink with clay tiles, and rose trellis vines climbing the stone partway up. It smelled of the gardens, of the bakeries in the city, and occasionally the sea.

Thao cursed in Mennarian, and I refrained from mentioning that I was fluent, because the palace was a shit hole.

"And you are?" "Cresswell Stark, Your Highness," he said, all velvet and low in tone as he bowed. "Captain of the Guard here in the North."

Owen peeked out from behind the pages of a book as I neared the bed, and I was so charmed by the sight of him, massive fingers holding its ornate binding, that it took me a moment to realize it was a favorite of mine. "The Lovers of Invernette!"

"It's making me blush," he said. "If this was the kind of reading I'd done in school, I would've been a more enthusiastic student." "It's utter trash," I said, grinning. "I adore it. Will you read to me?" If Owen hadn't been blushing before, he certainly was now, cheeks rosy and hair rumpled, his shirt half undone to reveal those appealing dark curls on his chest. "I'm not a very good reader." "You have a nice voice.

"Bryony," he said with a nod, and I almost shivered with the sound of my name on his tongue.

Owen's tongue, all low and a little gravelly and clumsy with his shyness.

He was very pretty, coarse stubble on his jaw and full lips, a brow that furrowed as he troubled over a word.

At some point, when I was too deep at the edge of sleep, Cosmo returned and the men traded places, Owen untangling my fingers from his shirt and passing the book to Cosmo.

"Not until you sat down on the couch with us in your panic and rushed to ask us about ourselves. And then I was very happy to be picked in the ceremony," Cosmo said,

revealing a collection of my favorites—melon, salty thinly sliced ham, and a chocolate tart. "I saved these for you. There's plenty of food left for Owen too, but you and Wendell have similar tastes, and I wanted to make sure you didn't miss out."

I paused, back stiff, wondering if they meant my skin color or my status as a shifter, either of which might make me unlikely to be picked as a Chosen, although only my second nature prevented me from going to the choosing ceremony.

Instead, the woman in front of me looked…edible. Kissable. A temptation to devour, rather than the predator who conquered men. Her hair was down and draped in curls over one shoulder, a golden version of brown that I thought would look especially nice mussed over a pillow.

and I liked the sharpness in her tone in contrast to the softness of her appearance.

The princess pursed her lips, and her eyes narrowed slightly. If she were any other girl in the world, I would've teased her for her severity and tried to catch a kiss. That was a pout that deserved to be flirted with.

Bertha Umber, the new head cook of the Winter Palace, was a motherly legend in Rumsbrooke. She'd nearly reared me herself,

I would've rolled my eyes, but there were too many mirrors, even in the dark hall.

I'd appeared on the docks as a child, darker than a Kimmerian child, but with the right shade of green in my eyes.

"I know where the Sanders house is," Cosmo offered. "Rebecca took pity on me and bought one of my first pieces."

I liked Wendell's smile. It—like the rest of him—was gentle, but full and warm and focused when he granted it.

Wendell was very tall, probably as much as Owen, and while he wasn't slim by any sense of the word, he appeared so in comparison to Owen and Thao's muscular bodies.

I leaned back to find Wendell and Cosmo smirking at me. "What?" "I don't think Aric Martin was really expecting you to take him up on that offer," Wendell said with a shrug, his smile growing. I liked Wendell on his own. He was reserved around Thao in a way he wasn't when it was us together. I would have to keep my eye on that and be sure it wasn't a problem. Thao obviously felt himself above my other Chosen—he was a prince—but I wouldn't allow it to make anyone uncomfortable.

Cosmo. His brows jumped and his head tipped side to side. "Well connected? I don't know about that. But I grew up in the poor end of the city

Cosmo who lifted me down. Perhaps I misjudged men's strength in general because he was the slimmest of my Chosen and he still handled me with ease.

Aric was at my back, hand splayed on my spine and pushing me forward. "What on earth do you think you're doing here?" Aric hissed. "You invited me." "I—You—" He scoffed and sighed as we moved out of the density of darkness in the tunnel and into a room lit from thick glass skylights and a collection of lanterns. It was cool and clearly underground, but made comfortable with dense rugs and good, well-worn furniture. "I should've known you'd actually take me up on it." "Of course you should have," I said, and marveled at the tremble that ran through me at Aric's resulting growl.

"I'm not stealing from starving people! None of my court is. We're trying to give back," Aric hissed.

Aric's eyes widened, and I could've sworn he was just about to smile. "Princess," he purred, and I would've melted at that sound if not for his hands holding me up.

He had a strange kind of effect on me. One moment, I found him magnetic and I wanted to curl up against him. The next, I wanted to shy away. And then a second later, I wanted to stomp on his foot and remind him that I was his princess and he was… A King of Thieves.

Cosmo combed his fingers through my hair as I sat on the bed with my back to him, Owen stretched out at our side.

Cosmo began to make a braid.

"You wanted to be Chosen?" "I did." "Why?" Owen pursed his lips, shoulders shrugging but careful not to jostle me. "I wanted to be wanted. I'm the oldest boy of… Think it's eleven of us, altogether,”

I rolled in the bed, biting off my own groan, and came nose to chest with Owen, pressing my face to his warmth and wiggling in to feel the soft stab of his cock against my stomach. "Don't mind that," Owen said, and I smiled into his skin. "It's to do with you, but also just the morning."

I was fascinated by the way she could seem delicate and shy one moment, and then demonstrate a ferocious strength and authority in the next. I was raised with strength and force and authority, taught to never reveal weakness.

Was I a glutton for the woman's punishment? Perhaps.

He wasn't wrong—I couldn't remember a time Wendell had ever been wrong—I was just notoriously irritable when corrected,

Wendell and I had been lovers for years, but we were so used to hiding the fact that we barely knew how to express it outside of our sex life. I reached for his hand and felt his steps falter before he squeezed tight around my fingers and granted me a shining smile. A simple offering with a powerful return.

I had no doubt that it would be a mistake to underestimate Bryony with a blade of any kind.

"If I do not faint at the sight of you holding a sword as tall as you are, I will happily teach you to wield it," I said, grinning. Bryony's smile was my own reward, sly and delighted, bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet as if she were ready to lunge and gut me already. I would have to be on my guard with this woman.

I decided not to mention to Wendell that my father had been aware, and the promises I'd made so that Wendell's place as ambassador wouldn't be interrupted. One of those promises, to submit myself to the Kimmerian choosing ceremony, had brought us to this moment where it didn't matter now.

"Now I wish she'd call us to her bed," I said, and then stiffened for the three seconds it took Wendell to answer. "Ugh, me too. She's so… I want to nibble on her. And every time she narrows her eyes at you, my cock seems to take it as an invitation to rise to a call she hasn't even made," Wen released in a rush of words so fast, it took me a moment to sort through them. I laughed and pushed my long hair out of my face. "Yes. I can't decide if I want to turn her over my knee or put myself over hers." Wen's eyebrows waggled. "Take turns and let me watch." There. Of course we're on the same page. We always have been.

"You are too fast," he said. "I am winning, so I think I must be the right kind of fast," I said, and then lost my own train of thought as he spun around with a grin on his face.

He moved to Wendell then, and it didn't occur to me to look away until Thao had his lover pressed to the door frame, their lips connected in a fierce kiss. And even when it did occur, I still watched. Wendell groaned into the kiss, pulling away and stretching his throat for Thao to nip and lick down its length. Bright blue eyes met mine and I flushed, caught in my curiosity as Wendell smiled softly at me.

The stables weren't golden at all now, but a deep and shimmering red,