The Queen Revealed Read Online Free

the little box of Fire Orchid stamens. “Thank goodness, it was worth it!”
    Adele looked at the General of her Queen’s Guard. Over the intensity of the past two weeks, she had come to value General Ohrig’s sensible advice. He was a man whom she felt had earned her trust, or at least enough of her trust. Though his deep-set, pale blue eyes were often shadowed by worries she brought him, Adele knew that General Ohrig never backed down from a challenge, and he did not encourage her to, either.
    “What worries me is that the High Wizard has said that he’ll send my things to Belvoir Estate, but not that he would meet us there. Didn’t he say that it was crucial to get these flower stamens back to Concordis to make the Influenza tonics immediately?”
    Ohrig straightened up in his saddle as Captain Lucky joined them. The carriages were now on the move and were slowly making their way down the road. All the nannies, children, and puppies were aboard and the other four members of the Queen’s Guard were riding beside them.
    “My first priority is the safety of the Queen and her children,” Ohrig said firmly. “So I would not advise us to ride into possible danger at the Golden Palace. Instead, we should travel to the Belvoir Estate, even if the High Wizard can’t be trusted, I believe we will still be safe there.”
    “Why shouldn’t we trust the High Wizard?” asked Adele quickly, giving Ohrig a curious look. She had a strong feeling that Ohrig knew something about the High Wizard that he wasn’t telling her. But Ohrig just shrugged, his closed expression suggesting that conversation should wait for a more private time, and fell in beside the first carriage as it came up beside them.
    “Everything alright, Your Majesty?” Tilburn’s worried face leaned out the window of the first carriage. He had a quill stuck behind his ear and his hands were full of papers.
    “Of course, it is,” Adele forced a smile to placate her Majordomo. “We have just received an invitation to join the Carnival at Belvoir Estate. Sounds like it should be a great party, so we are going to head there, instead of back to the Palace.”
    “Really?” Tilburn looked doubtful. “I know it was on the list of duties for you, but I hardly think the High Wizard will believe that a horse festival would be more important than taking receipt of the Orchid…”
    “Well he does think it’s more important,” interrupted Adele, her own disquiet making her short with Tilburn’s sensible question. “And he told us to go to Belvoir, so we will go to Belvoir.”
    Irritated with her response, the ever-sensitive Tilburn shut his mouth with a snap and retreated back into the carriage and Adele immediately wished she hadn’t been so brusque with him. Now he would sulk for hours. Besides, after everything she had been through to get the Orchid Stamens for the High Wizard, it was just so hard to believe he wouldn’t want to take them from her straight away.
    I killed a man and ruined the life of another to secure these Fire Orchids for Unisia thought Adele, the memory making her heart drop into a dark pit of shame. And now Ohren doesn’t even want them?
    She shook her head to try and lose these disturbing thoughts. Ohren was one of the good guys. A wizard, true, but a good wizard. What’s done is done, she told herself firmly. Besides, all the Royal Families will be at this Carnival. Hopefully, Rainere will be there, too.
    The idea of seeing Prince Rainere again picked up Adele’s flagging spirits. She really needed to talk to him about what had happened in Sandar and what it could mean for the two of them. If she had started a war between Sandar and Unisia, he may very well change his mind about wanting to marry her. On this journey, she had already had too many experiences with Magic to ignore the power that now lived within her. A power she was determined to keep secret until she knew more about it all and she had a feeling that Rainere was the