Chapter 236: Caught in a web

"What more is there to say?" Loraven snapped, her voice louder than that of talking.

"You may have your fun, but nothing else will come of this. You will NEVER see him again, if you do.. you know what will happen." Queen Iolena sliced her hand across her body to make a point while glaring at Loraven. She then scoffed after reading Loraven’s hard expression. "Whether you bond with that human boy or not, this marriage will not fall through. Prince Theoden needs a wife, and he is WILLING to put up with your ways."

Bond?

The Queen looked Loraven up and down with distaste twisting her lips. "Be grateful, child."

This time it was Loraven to scoff. "Be grateful to be in a loveless marriage with a man known to have more than ten mistresses? Do you want me to be happy? Or am I just another piece on your chessboard?"

Queen Iolena waved her hand and looked out the window. "Happiness is a luxury in our world. You’ve been in his embrace for a few days, and your mind has gone to mush. How weak of you. I thought too well of you, it seems. It was either Prince Theoden of the wild fae or to send you to Gunnalf."

Loraven seemed to visibly pale at that. Like any of a royal or noble line, there was never much choice in the matter of marriage.

"Ohh, Gunnalf, now that is a man not to displease. I heard his last three wives were killed. The last, beheaded because she looked down on him." A woman’s low voice from behind Osian had him swirling around, eyes wide and heart sprinting at being caught spying on the Queen and princess of Lyvaria.

He stopped and eyed the woman before him. She looked like none he’d ever seen in the snow elf’s court. Was she part of the fae courtiers? She was pale skinned but, from certain lighting, revealed a soft glimmer of blue.

The woman also seemed to be half naked with ink running down one side of her, cropped navy-like hair and golden starlight eyes he could not look away from once she captured his own.

What was she doing walking around like that!?

As though the woman had read his thoughts, she smirked, "human men are always so fun to play with."

Play with?

"I beg your pardon?" He rasped. Just because she was another type of ethereal beauty shouldn’t make his voice go strange.

The woman snickered before putting her hand to her chest and giving a small bow. "I am Fiza, and you, princeling, are not meant to be in these quarters."

That was true. The area was strictly off-limits.

But from the playful look on this ’Fiza’s’ face, she didn’t seem to care either. Besides, didn’t that mean she was also not meant to be there? He gave her a look telling her she should not be there either.

She giggled slightly and walked to his side, watching the Queen walk away from Loraven. "My sources were incorrect. They say you are an imbecile.. Hmm.." She walked around him, tilting her head.

Osian wanted to argue with her, but something about the lithe way she walked and the fact her weapon of choice seemed to be throwing stars made him pause. Even though she was half the size of him, a rarity it seemed for elves, this Fiza woman made him feel like a bug stuck in a spider’s web.

"I hear our precious Loraven has a new lover." Fiza watched him with more interest, her eyes gleaming and calculating.

A new lover? Osian frowned at that. How many lovers had she bedded?

"Is that so?" His voice was dull and bored like this gossip was not worthy of his attention.

"Indeed.. One that has lasted than the others.. Oh, do not give me that look. It is only natural." Fiza stopped circling the Prince, and stood behind him, so his gaze landed on the princess once more. "Give me a name, and I will not tell anyone, the queen in particular, about your little visit to the princess’ chambers and was found spying on their conversation."

"I do not know what you are talking about," Osian responded swiftly. "And would that not reveal to them you, too, were in these quarters?"

In the position they were in, he was not about to tell this woman anything about his brother.

Fiza giggled. "You do not know who I am. I can have access anywhere I like." She sounded light-hearted and friendly, but her words were clear. She was someone of importance.

Osian remained silent. He didn’t know this woman; she seemed highly clever and could be playing him. She could be bluffing. Could be.

"Ohh, too bad." Fiza started to walk past him. "It’s always such a waste when pretty boys are killed."

Osian reached out and grabbed Fiza’s shoulder before his mind caught up to his actions. In one swift move, his hand had been smacked away, and he felt the cool steel of a dagger he didn’t know she was carrying pressed against his throat. Her eyes gleamed dangerously, but her lips twitched into a smirk.

Fiza seemed entertained by the events. But this was, by all means, not entertaining for him. One slip or false move, and that was the end of his short life.

Osian gulped, very much aware of the sharp blade that could move at any moment. He held his hands up slightly. He could remove it and fight this out, but that, too, would cause a commotion. "What will you do with such information?" He held her ethereal gaze.

"I am a woman of many secrets. They are kept close to my chest until the time is right to reveal my hands. That might be in a week, or it might be in twenty years. Knowledge is power, dear princeling." Fiza slowly removed her dagger and stepped closer to her, lowering her voice even more. "The lover in question will not be involved in this particular.. game."

Game? Is that what she called politics? Osian eyed her.

Fiza was indeed a dangerous woman. There was much more to her than the pretty face and threatening aura that radiated from her. Osian was also not a complete fool.

Once the crown prince and future king’s name was revealed, there was no doubt Selvin would be pulled into whatever war was brewing inside the Lyvarian palace. A war they were never meant to be a part of.

They were departing in two days. That felt awfully long now.

"I.. am her lover." His gaze moved away from Fiza and to Loraven, who was clutching her arms tightly and looking outside the window before she dropped them and marched to her doors, bursting them open in what seemed like anger.

Fiza chuckled lowly. "You?" She eyed him some more, a twinkle in her eyes. "Osian Goodrich.. the younger prince who is sleeping with his handmaiden?"

What.. How.. The shock was evident on his face. His mask of indifference fell into place, but Fiza had already seen it.

She smiled, her eyes lowering to his groin and back up slowly, making him feel a little uncomfortable under her scrutiny. From the gleam in her eyes, it looked like she enjoyed making her prey tremble. Prey? Yes, he wouldn’t deny he felt like prey to this widow spider.

That widow had been slowly crawling across her web to claim her prize. A shiver ran through him at that.

"Hmm.. You must have quite the appetite then.. princeling," she said in amusement that didn’t quite sound like she believed him. If Fiza knew about his dalliance with Kav, then did she already know that it was his brother sleeping with Loraven?

Then why pretend not to? Osian tried to read her expression and her eyes, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Did Fiza need the information to be confirmed?

She stepped towards him again, this time stopping, so she was by his shoulder. "Did you not wonder why they were not speaking in Muranthian?"

Osian whipped his head in her direction, his questions fleeting his mind. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, a smirk playing on her lips, and lowered her voice, "nothing happens in these walls without the queen’s knowledge."

Fiza sauntered away, hips swaying from side to side lazily as she began to whistle. He watched her, his jaw slack. She was right.

Did the Queen know he was there all along? And had this woman played him all along? Osian did not like that one bit. He didn’t like the way he felt after the whole ordeal and knew when they returned to Dunhurst, he would need to be ready for political battles and spies such as this.

He was eighteen, but it was time he grew up to help his brother rule.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read