Josie Jaffrey - The Silver Queen

The SilverQueen

Sovereign: Book Two

Josie Jaffrey

NEEDA RECAP?

If youdlike to read a summary of the previous book in this series, checkout the Silverse Wiki here(contains spoilers for The Gilded King!).

CONTENT WARNINGS

There isa full list of content warnings at the back of thisbook.

Prologue

THE SILVER BODYwas an incredible thing. Fibres knitted back together, organs wereshocked from inertia and desiccated tissue healed as blood plumpedflattened veins.

These powers of regeneration were inexplicable, but they werealso predictable, so Charles knew when he would find Emmy awake,but still weak enough to present no danger to him.

That was the moment he chose to threaten her. He was thatkind of bully.

Youre going to tell me how it works, he said, leaning overher supine body.

The leather straps were enough to keep her in place for now,but in ten minutes time shed be able to snap them as easily as ahuman would snap spider gossamer.

She blinked up at him, brown eyes opened innocently wide. Itwas an expression that would have made even a gullible mansuspicious.

How are you immune? Charles said, leaning closer to herface.

Emmys gaze traced the lines of his brow, his lips, hisstubbled cheeks. So familiar, and yet now they engendered no fearin her. Those days were gone.

Youre showing your age, she said.

He was. His dark hair was greying at the temples, giving himthe appearance of a dissolute cavalier.

I might be getting older, my queen, he poured disdain intothe title, but so is your son. Now tell me what I want toknow.

Charles didnt see her move, he just felt the impact thenfound himself on the floor. There was blood in his mouth, spillingover his lips while tears spilled down his cheeks. The bitch hadbroken his nose.

Steps thundered into the room around him, and by the time hegot to his feet they were already holding her down, although shehadnt freed herself from the straps. She must have head-buttedhim, because his blood was all over her. It stained herteeth.

And she was laughing.

JULIA COULD STILL see the blood. The Invicti had cleared awaythe bodies to Empress knew where, but the stones of the square werestained the dirty burgundy of death.

It was a stark reminder of their new reality: the Red hadcontaminated the Blue.

Do you think its still contagious? Claudia askedher.

They were peering into the square through a crack in thekitchen shutters, picking out the dark patches in the morninglight. The tracks of yesterdays deeds were impossible tomiss.

Marcus, a disgraced Server, had been exiled to the Red. Heshould have died there, but instead hed shambled the taint of theforests back into the city, leading a wave of horror through theirhomes, infecting everyone hed touched. Or scratched. Orbitten.

They were all dead now, and the Blue was defiled.

But that wasnt why Julias stomach felt like it was in amiserable free fall. That was Lucass fault, because she andClaudia were on their own. Julia had only realised Lucas was gonewhen shed been woken at dawn by the sound of the courtyard doorclicking shut behind him.

She had no idea where he was now.

Jules? Claudia nudged her.

Contagious? Julia said. You mean you think its in theblood, whatever made Marcus and the others the way theywere?

Dont you? Its like the stories, after all. It looks likeeverything we were told about the Red was true.

Theyd been raised on fairytales of the horror that lurkedbeyond the city boundary, where creatures carried blood that wouldkill in an instant, and a bite of fruit was a death sentence. ButMarcus had still been walking, despite being contaminated, anddespite the fatal injuries that had cut darkly around hiswrists.

Its not all true, Julia said. Marcus and the others, theydidnt exactly die, did they?

They werent the same, though. Didnt you notice their eyes?They werent right.

Well, Julia said, pushing away from the window, Im notgoing to risk going outside again.

What choice do we have?

We need to do what Alba said. We find somewhere safe to hide,and we stay there until this is over.

The Empress had summoned Livia and her other Attendants tothe Palace, and Alba had told them what that meant. It meant shewas getting ready for a siege, preparing to protect her favouredhumans from the ravages of the Nobles. It meant there was going tobe trouble. Julia had hoped Marcus would be the start and end ofit, but the city was still silent despite the height of the sun,and Livia had still not returned.

As though to confirm Julias fears, there was a thud againstthe front wall of the building. Both girls turned towards it as itsounded again, louder this time, knocking pots from their shelvesand leaving creeping fissures in the paintwork before the noisemoved away across the square.

The fight against Marcuss kind might be over, but thefighting amongst the Nobles was just getting started.

We cant stay here, Claudia said.

The cellar, Julia suggested. She didnt want to leave thehouse, not with Lucas still out in the city. How would he find heragain if she wasnt where hed left her?

We cant hide down there, Claudia said. There arewindows.

Then where?

But they had nowhere else, and Claudias expression betrayedthat knowledge. This building, their cellar bedroom and Liviaskitchen, were the only places they had ever called home. Theclosest Julia had to a substitute was Lucass rooftop, but that hadbeen destroyed in the fighting the night before. It would bestained now, just like the streets of the Blue.

Julia returned to the window, opening the shutters a scantinch so she could track the progress of the fighters across thesquare, but they were moving too fast for her to follow. Thefigures were just flashes of darkness in rolling melees. If Lucaswas amongst them, she couldnt pick him out.

Pack what you can, Julia said. Youre right; we cant stayhere.

As she turned away from the window there was a crash from thehall. The front door had buckled inwards, scattering shards ofancient wood across the floor and depositing a bleeding Noble atthe foot of the stairs. Julia recognised him from the box at theNomination: one of Rufuss friends.

No time to pack, Claudia said, grabbing Juliashand.

Claudia dragged her towards the courtyard door. She snatcheda roll of knives from the counter as they passed, but she didntstop. The kitchen was already shuddering with violence as the girlstumbled out into the day, crockery shattering and tables creakinginto firewood behind them as the fight followed the fallencombatant into what had once been their home.

They ran blindly as dust and clamour chased them through thecourtyard and into the alleys that twisted a labyrinth around thesquare. The fighting was louder there, in the open heart of thecity between the palace and the temple, so they put it at theirbacks and sought out the quieter corners. It meant squeezingbetween stucco buildings that embraced over narrow passages, theirbare feet slapping on stone worn smooth over centuries ofuse.

Claudia stopped when they reached the junction with the nextstreet. Her body blocked the passageway.

What? Julia said from behind her. She noticed the smell -stale, rotting meat - but could see nothing past the tallergirl.

Claudia flattened her body against the edge of the alley,giving Julia a clear view of the road beyond.

It was even worse than the square. The grimy marks herewerent so much stains as streaks of dried gore, laminated to thepaving slabs by the sun. There were darker areas that Juliainitially assumed were dirt, but then they shimmered with movement,revealing themselves to be swarms of flies.

They havent cleaned here? Julia said.

Claudia didnt reply, she just pointed a little way up thestreet. Julia leaned forwards to follow her line of sight, andwished she hadnt. There were still bodies here, lying halfway outof doorways and windows, their fingers and teeth latched onto theircompanions in a macabre daisy chain that led along the street andback towards the square, to where Marcus had made his entrance theprevious night.