The Queen of Lies Read Online Free PDF Page B

Dominance, she was the nominal admiral of a fleet in the empress’s armada. She wore a pair of long boots made of black eel skin.
    “No, I suspect the countess’s cunt has seen fewer fingers than a rusty bear trap. But my appearance will let you bond with your cousin over your shared passion for feeling morally superior.”
    “Then this would be the last thing I’d wear with that.” Jessa passed her mother a ruby drop-pendant necklace and took an ivory cameo choker for herself. “I’d hate for you to feel like you weren’t the center of attention.”
    Satryn laughed as she draped the necklace and let the long ruby shard rest in her bosom. It brightened and flickered softly as she lightly electrified the filaments in the gold chain, causing the tungsten backing to glow. “Perfect. Let’s remind them what harnessed electricity looks like.”
    Jessa braced herself for another wistful recollection of the wonders in Thrycea. “Limitless energy,” my mother would exclaim. “The city of Thelassus is lit at every hour. The factories and forges run without need for wood or coal. Can you imagine what would be possible here if we could harness that?” Jessa had visited Thrycea once as a child, and it seemed a dreadful place to live for common folk. The Everstorm kept the city in perpetual darkness save for the storm lights and the constant flashes of lightning. Rain poured constantly as shivering work crews fought a constant battle to maintain the buildings against the onslaught of the elements.
    Satryn appraised her daughter, her silver eyes moving from the hem of her dress to the pearl embroidery around her collar and sleeves. Jessa impatiently waited for her mother’s snide remark.
    “It favors you,” Satryn offered. “These Genatrovans like their brides to be virgins for some reason, and you certainly look the part…in a prim, forgettable sort of way.”
    Jessa forced a smile. “Thank you, Mother…I think.”
    “Let’s just get through this,” Satryn said. “The countess has had ample time to find you a suitor. If all goes well, you’re to meet him and let us work out the arrangements. You’ll be married and coronated within the week, and all this foolishness with Duke Rothburn will be over.”
    Duke Rothburn controlled the eastern half of Amhaven and waged a merciless guerilla campaign against her supporters, burning homes and fields. It was all-out civil war. “And you’ll return to Thelassus, never to trouble me again,” Jessa said. The prospect of a blindly arranged marriage might have bothered her, but nothing could spoil her excitement about finally being free of Satryn.
    Jessa was the rightful queen of Amhaven, but her mother had seized the regency after Jessa’s father had died. Though the law stated the ruler must be male, there were no such limitations on regents. But now Jessa was of an age to marry, and she couldn’t wait.
    Satryn grabbed Jessa’s arm and glared at her. “I have given you everything! Do you think my mother, the empress , picked out my clothes for me? Do you imagine that she dried my tears when my father passed away? Did she run to protect her darling baby daughter from the cruelty and scheming of my sisters? Do you think she even once showed me a single shred of maternal kindness in all the seventeen years I lived in the Sunken Palace? If I ever spoke to her in such a way, do you know what she would have done to me?”
    Jessa shrugged free of her mother’s grip. “Isn’t that why she exiled you and married you off to my father?”
    “You ungrateful little bitch!” Thunder rumbled outside as Satryn struck her across the cheek.
    Jessa laughed in surprise as she wiped blood from her lip. “I don’t care if this suitor is fat and ugly. He could be old and want me to engage in degenerate acts that would make the bards blush. There’s no prospect more loathsome and insufferable than the idea of spending the rest of my life under the dark cloud of misery you travel