Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes Read Free Book Online Page B

She straightened her shoulders and adjusted her owninvisible mask. “I need you to send for my attendant, Nerissa Florens.”
    He regarded her for a moment in silence. “Do you?”
    â€œYes.” She raised her chin higher. “And any answer besides ‘yes’ is unacceptable. As . . . delightful as the attendants are here in Limeros, I’ve grown accustomed to Nerissa and find her grooming and domestic skills to be incomparable.”
    â€œLimerian attendants are delightful, are they?” Magnus reached toward Cleo. She froze, and he hesitated before taking a long lock of tangled, half-braided hair in hand. “Did you ask your handmaiden to transform your hair into a bird’s nest today?”
    He was standing far too close to her now. Close enough that she knew from his scent that he’d been out riding today. She picked up the familiar aromas of worn leather and warm sandalwood.
    She stepped back from him, knowing she would think much clearer with some space between them. Her hair slipped from his fingers. “You smell like a horse.”
    â€œI suppose there are worse things to smell like.” He raised a brow before narrowing his gaze. “Very well, I’ll send for Nerissa if you feel she’s so valuable.”
    Cleo regarded him with surprise. “Just like that? No argument?”
    â€œWould you prefer I argue?”
    â€œNo, but I . . .”
When one has gotten what they want, one should stop speaking
. Cleo’s father used to say that to her whenever she’d continue to make her case for something he’d already relented to. “Thank you,” she said now, as sweetly as she could.
    â€œNow if you’ll excuse me, I must wash the scent of horses from myself. Wouldn’t want to offend anyone else with my stench.” Again, he turned toward the door.
    Stop being a weak little fool,
she told herself. “I’m not finished.”
    His shoulders tensed. “Oh?”
    Her teeth had begun to chatter from the cold, but she refused to go back inside yet. “The message you sent to your father. What did it say? You didn’t tell me.”
    He blinked. “Should I have?”
    â€œIt concerns me as well, doesn’t it? I’m the one whom you helped escape execution. So, yes, you should have told me. What are his plans? Will he come here? Are we safe?”
    He leaned against the balcony doors and crossed his arms. “
We
, princess, are mostly certainly
not
safe. I told my father that I’d learned you had specific information on Lucia’s whereabouts. I wrote that Cronus was so steadfastly loyal to the king’s commands that he refused to delay your execution until after I could get this information out of you. So I took matters into my own hands.”
    Cleo exhaled the breath she was holding during this entire speech. “And has he replied?”
    A shallow nod. “I received a new message this morning. Apparently he’s traveling abroad, and he looks forward to seeing me again upon his return.”
    â€œThat’s it? So he believes you?”
    â€œI wouldn’t say that. His reply could mean anything—or nothing. After all, he knows that messages sent by raven aren’t exactly guaranteed to stay private. But I plan to stick to the story I’ve told until my last breath. If I can convince him that I only acted out of love for my sister, he may be lenient with me.”
    â€œAnd with me?”
    â€œThat remains to be seen.”
    Cleo hadn’t expected him to make any promises to keep her safe and alive, so she wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. His silence was just more proof that the boy she’d seen intimidating and humiliating Kurtis was the real Magnus.
    â€œNow, let me ask
you
a question, princess,” Magnus said, lockinggazes with her. He drew so close to her that they were nearly touching and she moved backward until her spine was