“If only you knew Everson, Mother, then you would understand,” Allegra said. “My safety and even yours, even Father’s, were his only concern.”
Queen Nor’s head tilted to the side as if to better hear the words still hanging in the air. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth opened and closed in silent fits and starts until she finally managed, “Everson? Everson, the son of King Raza?”
It was Allegra’s turn to be astonished. “He’s a prince?”
The queen could only shake her head and mutter in reply, “Of course he is.”
If ever Allegra had doubts about the Prophecy, about the existence of destiny or something greater than themselves, they were washed away in a wave of irony that literally made her skin tingle. Her mother was still shaking her head as if she were trying to shake the stunned express
