Queen and Conqueror (The Queen's Red Guard, #1)

by Isabelle Olmo

Almira smiled and nodded. “Men will never be ready for women like us, and it is not our job to ready them.”

“You are the High Lady of Suid, cousin. You answer to no man,” Hira said.

“A ruler that doesn’t have people to question them quickly becomes a tyrant.

He ground his jaw. “These are your ladies in waiting?” Almira leaned back on her saddle and calmly pulled back a strand of hair from her face. “They are ladies and they are waiting.”

“Oh? Are they even celibate?” His eyes brightened. “I should hope not. I rather they fuck and often,” she said.

he was very handsome when he was not being an imbecile.

He was an abundant book and only let her peruse certain pages.

People were funny. They had little understanding of friendship and believed all fondness to be romantic.

She hadn’t yet stepped a dainty foot in Easima and already the people loved her, loved her grandeur, the exotic, intoxicating display of power. Her little theater.

She smiled, like a loving bride. It disconcerted him.

His cock, that unstable and unpredictable asshole,

“You almost look beautiful, Lady Almira,” he finally said after an even pause.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he followed her lead and waved and smiled. He felt like a fool, an impostor, and a little bit of a lunatic. However, it was the first time he felt like a king.

“Do they ever leave your side? Even while you bathe?” Alton asked. Almira smiled. “I’ve never had baths so large that I could fit all of them but now that his majesty has provided me with such comforts, I’m certain new practices can arise.”

Oh, he knew Lady Edmee alright, he knew her tricks.

“She was lovely. Golden eyes,

She pushed his boundaries, but she didn’t care. If he would make her suffer through horrible dinners, then she would get her little revenge. Childish? Yes. But there was something slightly exciting about it, her heartbeat certainly accelerated.

Lianna clutched her roll tighter. “I truly hope I don’t marry for that would leave little time for study.”

Lianna’s entire face brightened and she stepped even closer to Almira. “The history of peasant laws of Norr. It’s my second time reading it. I’m a scholar and a scientist and one day I want to be a Ley!”

Lianna speared him with a withering look. “It is not my fault you lack intellect, Teb. All you can do is play with your swords.”

Thebo took her other hand so that she was surrounded by the men who would kill him should he harm her.

a union made in political hell.

Let her be the sun to the kingdom; he would be waiting for her by moonlight.

She wanted to be queen, and he was an idiot who accidentally became king.

“And master destroyers,” Almira quipped. “They launched a war that lasted three hundred years, hardly impressive.”

King Alton having an emotional connection with anyone seemed foreign.

“That puts all the rumors that the king was spat out from hell itself to rest,” she said.

The crowd clapped in a manner of one slightly confused but attempting to understand the intricacies beyond them.

She grasped the knife. It was a small blade, and she wondered if she might keep it for moments when she wanted to stab him during dinner.

she’d not expected to feel pride at his prowess. She wondered if he made love the way he fought, and she flushed at the madness of her thoughts.

nor his true reason for marrying her.

He couldn’t help but be drawn to her aura. She was strength personified, a solid pillar. She spoke her mind and took no chances.

but he got to enjoy activities such as hunting and annoying his wife.

He’d been alone, save for one person, and he constantly worried that that person would be discovered, especially if he were not there to protect her.

“You’re not fine, you don’t have to be fine all the damn time.”

“Never trust a ruler who won’t do their own dirty work. It’s easy to rule when your fingernails are always clean.”

“A seafarer. Istokian, you think?” “Perhaps. Perhaps not. Could be Free Islander, even Suidian–there's always Iguanta. You’ve never been there but it’s a treacherous place.”

He sat up as he recalled his lady. “Wallace, send word to my lady,

“She must be worried. I’ll go see her as soon as I can.”

“But we’re human. We’re made of blood, and we create violence.”

“Death is not a pretty thing,” Almira said. M nodded. “No, it’s not, but neither is life.”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m simply the king.”

The king glanced at them. “And good job. On brightening my day with such a fantastic story. I’m sorry I missed it.”

“Fine, I already knew of Kuimo. He’s a rascal and a charlatan.” “You two seem to have so much in common,” Almira quipped.

She bent over the letter and continued. “We’re at peace, my husband. Aside from playing with their cocks, our soldiers must be bored. I’m sure they’ll be pleased with an assignment.”

“I was seventeen when I married Edgar,” she said with emphasis as she finished the letter and signed it. “Took him a long time to bed you, did it?” he teased.

“Not as long as it’s taken you.” She stamped the letter with purpose and looked up at him with a smirk.

Entering her quarters was a stark reminder of the fact that he was petrified of bedding her. Of what she would do when she found out the truth. How she would hate him. She would hate him even more knowing that he’d kept such a secret from her while he made love to her.

He wanted to say he recalled all her words. Even the ones she threw on the ground like discarded petals. How he’d collected them and stuffed them in his pockets like a lunatic. How he replayed them as he fruitlessly sought sleep. How they haunted him as he drank heavily to tune out the noise of the world.

and time was a quick and unforgiving mistress.