Her Hidden Half (War Songs of the Courts #1)

Chapter Twenty-eight

My heart beat heavily in my ears, drowning out the sounds around me until it felt like a distant thought as I walked down the hall. I looked beside me to see Alaisdair's lips moving, the words forming in his mouth, but too distant from my conscious to register. We came to a stop in front of a dull silver door that looked to double in my height, and I blinked rabidly, shaking myself out of the haze I was in.

"She is not going in there alone. The King has assigned me to accompany her everywhere for her protection," Alaisdair growled, sounding like he had been arguing with her about this for longer than I had been mentally present for.

"I don't know how many ways I can put this, but you cannot go in with her. Unless the King has intervened to say otherwise, they conduct these interviews privately," Josie shot back curtly.

He stepped forward with a low growl, his face darkening into a frightening mask of hostility. I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back out of reflex, afraid he would do something he would get in trouble for while trying to protect me.

"Alaisdair, stop," I whispered in haste.

His anger wavered and he stepped back, looking down at me with an odd expression I couldn't decipher.

"I'll be fine," I said, my voice assuring and confident despite the tight knot of nerves in my stomach.

He nodded stiffly and glared at the door. I squeezed his arm lightly and turned to Josie, preparing myself for the people who sat waiting in the next room.

She came to stand in front of me, her expression serious. "Walk in, sit down, and do not speak unless you are directly addressed. Be careful to be respectful and do not lie, they will know if you do."

"What if they start asking questions about what I am?" I asked.

"They won't, that's not what they're here for," she assured tightly.

"What if they do?"

"They won't. Now go, patience is not a strength they possess," she said, turning me towards the door.

I walked towards the door, only coming to a stop when I noticed the absence of the click of her heels.

I looked back, confused. "Aren't you coming?"

She shook her head. "I told you, it's only you and the Council. No one else is allowed in the room, not even their guards."

I swallowed roughly, nodding as I turned back. I straighten and pushed through the dread I felt as I opened the doors and walked through. Silence met me as I took the first step into the room, making the air feel somehow colder. My eyes immediately found where the council sat in the four chairs that were positioned atop a set of concrete stairs, the room otherwise empty aside from the single chair that sat in the middle of the room.

The door closed loudly behind me, making me jerk in surprise. Remembering I needed to move, I continued into the room. My footsteps reverberated in the room as approaching the back of the small chair, taking in each of them as I did.

A large man on the right sat confidently in his chair, his eyes pinning me in my spot. His blonde hair had grown out longer than I would've expected from someone on a council. I tore my eyes away from his and took in the woman next to him. Her hair curled close her scalp in a pixie cut, making the sharp features of her face stand out. I continued down the line, regretting it immediately when I met the cold eyes of a woman with a sharp black bob that cut off at the chin of her small round face. I jerked my eyes away from hers to meet a pair that almost physically took my breath away, and not in a pleasant way. The man, with his hair shaved close to his head and deep black eyes, felt a world away from the woman beside him. Where she was cold, he simply felt empty, emotionless.