Copper Veins Read Online Free Page B

you?”
    â€œDamaging, my lady?”
    â€œFirst the Inheritor of Metal refuses to pledge herself to me. Then you bed her sister and kill my advisor.” Oriana made one more circuit around Micah and me, stopping before us. “Planning a coup, are we?”
    â€œNo,” Micah replied. “Farthing Greymalkin killed my mother, and you ask this of me?”
    â€œYou yourself said you never knew of his role in Selene’s death,” Oriana said, shaking her finger as if Micah had been caught stealing a spoonful of sugar. “You cannot blame your actions on vengeance.”
    Micah clenched his fists, but his tone remained civil. “You have my loyalty, along with my wife’s. We pledged freely to you.”
    â€œYes, yes, you did,” Oriana conceded. “But the lack of the Inheritor’s blood pledge to me worries me greatly. If she continues in her refusals, I will count this as the second time you have abandoned me.”
    â€œAbandoned?” I repeated with a glance toward Micah.
    â€œMy queen, I have never abandoned you,” he ground out, but Oriana shook her head.
    â€œOh, but you did,” she countered. “After you stepped down as my general, I was overwhelmed by iron. My husband lost his head, and I my dignity.” She looked down, and picked at her dingy robe. “I suspect his fate was the more pleasant of the two.”
    â€œUm, what are we talking about?” I fixed my gaze on Micah. “General?”
    â€œI once led the Gold Queen’s army, as did my father before me,” Micah replied. “When my mother took ill, I relinquished my title.”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound like abandonment,” I murmured.
    â€œCall it what you will, the lack of a proper general aided Ferra’s cause,” Oriana stated. “I needed you, Micah. I needed you when she rose against me, and you were nowhere to be found.”
    â€œI was burying my mother,” Micah hissed.
    â€œYes, yes, my lamb,” Oriana said, patting Micah’s head. “But that is in the past. I am most concerned with the future. Tell me, what of the Inheritor? What are her plans?”
    I resisted the urge to tell her that Sadie’s only plan was to install a vast library complete with Art Deco lamps and reading nooks. “The Inheritor has no designs upon your throne,” Micah stated. “Of that, I am certain.”
    â€œWe will bring her here to pledge her loyalty toyou,” I blurted out. Man, I was good at speaking out of turn. “Tell us when, my lady, and we will rectify this mistake.”
    Again, Oriana cocked her head to the side—she hadn’t expected that. “You will?”
    â€œWe will,” Micah proclaimed, lacing his fingers with mine. “We of the Silverstrand house will prove our loyalty beyond a shadow of doubt. On this, you have my word.”
    Oriana nodded and gestured dismissively. Then she wandered up the steps of her dais and behind her throne, disappearing through a curtained exit. At least, I assumed there was a door behind the curtain—for all I knew she was standing among dust bunnies, hiding against a wall. Once again, Micah and I let ourselves out of the Golden Court. He was quiet as we navigated the golden hallways, but then, Oriana had given him much to think about.
    â€œHey,” I whispered, but Micah shook his head. Understanding, I wrapped my arm around his waist and we traversed the halls in silence. Once outside the court, Micah continued to lead me in a straight line, ignoring the metal pathways as he walked farther and farther from the Gold Court and into the surrounding wood. When we could no longer see its sunny glow behind us, he fell to his knees.
    â€œYou really didn’t know?” I asked, taking him into my arms. My words opened the floodgates—his shoulders shook as I held him. As my father hadoh-so-graciously pointed out, Micah had only been a part of my life for