Page 38 of Royal Resistance

“Your brother,” I finish.

He shrugs. “I can help with that,” I tell him. “But I don’t think you need to worry. I think you’re a natural.” Magnus looks at me with an uncertain smile. “Really,” I assure him. “And I would know. I’m the one who grew up planning on being queen. Although in Avelaine, the queen doesn’t actually do anything.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Behind the scenes, maybe. In Avelaine—”

“Well, we’re not in Avelaine, we’re in Laandia,” Magnus interrupts. “And I don’t need someone to stand behind me and hold my hand. I’ll find you something to do, something better than being just a queen. If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” I tell him.

“Good.” He gives himself a shake. “That’s good. Hey, do you want to check out the secret passage?”

“A secret passage?”

“Don’t all castles have secrets?”

“Not in Avelaine.”

Magnus grins. “Like I said, we’re not in Avelaine anymore.”

He shows me the hidden door in the wall, the crack almost imperceptible among the flower pattern. But Magnus runs his hand down the wall, gives a little push, and a door pops open.

Darkness waits, and cold air seeps out to swirl around my legs. “Feeling brave?” he asks with a grin.

No one would ever call me unbrave, so I steel my shoulders. “Always. Where does it lead to?”

“This one goes to the garden out back, as an escape route in case of attack. But there’s a couple of passages that go in different places.”

I picture a labyrinth amid the thick stone walls of the castle.

Magnus picks up a box of long matches on the mantle. “We need something to light on fire.” Both of us glance at the cushions. “I’m not sure if that material is flammable,” he admits.

“The wallpaper definitely isn’t,” I say under my breath. But in one of the drawers of the desk, I find a small flashlight that still works. “Lead on,” I tell him.

“You sure? There might be… things in there.”

“I can handle mice,” I say, not mentioning how I would prefer not to have one run over my open-toed shoes. “But I don’t like snakes.”

“Too cold for snakes, but there might be some four-legged critters in there.”

“We had a chalet in the Swiss alps, and every time we’d be up there, mice had made a home somewhere different. It got to the point where I expected to see them.”

“Good with mice. Good to know.” And Magnus holds out a hand to me.

I take it, the first time I’ve touched my husband since the wedding yesterday. This is not how I expected my marriage to begin, although I’ve never really thought about what marriage would be like.

Magnus’s hand is big, like the rest of him. And warm.

I expect the rest of him is like that as well, like a warm fire burns within him. It makes me want to move closer to him as we enter the darkness.

“I haven’t really had a chance to give you a tour of the place,” Magnus says, like we’re talking about a summer cottage and not a four-story castle with turrets and battlements and slots to fire arrows from.

I’ve wandered a bit, but I was more afraid of ending up somewhere I shouldn’t be, rather than getting lost. It definitely doesn’t feel like a home yet.

Part of that has to do with Dante constantly making his presence known, like he’s trying to claim his territory. But I need to learn how to get around because it wouldn’t do for the new queen to be lost in her own castle.

“So I should consider this my tour?” I ask, my voice quiet in the dark. Magnus left the door open behind us, but ahead blackness looms, so thick that I doubt I could see my hand in front of my face.