Chapter Five
Réalta Avermont
“What do you mean you attacked Solace?” I sprang from my seat, the legs of the chair screeching across the glossy marble floor. Leaning forward, I placed my palms on the smooth mahogany of the war council table, heart thundering against my chest. “That was foolish! How many were lost?”
“Princess—”
My voice was low, consumed with rage. “This is unacceptable.”
Captain Wyndfall’s gaze remained set on the marble floor beneath his bent knee. The steady-burning fire crackling in the hearth behind him filled the thickening silence.
“Captain,” I said, my voice breaking. “You went against my command to fall back. Why?”
Ryder Wyndfall and his wife, Isolde, were my closest confidants. After my mother died giving birth to my brother, they stepped in to help look after me. With my father lost in his grief and preoccupied with ruling the kingdom, I was often left alone.
When I turned thirteen, Ryder became my personal guard and one of the few people I trusted completely. And Isolde, a healer and once my mother’s dearest friend, gave me the closest thing I had to a mother’s love.
“No, my princess—” Ryder’s voice was barely a whisper. “I was ordered to rally troops and attack Solace.”
“By whom?”
“Me.”
I turned, eyes wide with shock as my father, the king, stood in the doorway to the council room.
“Réalta—”
“Why?” I asked, rounding the table to face him. “I understand the threat we face with the shifters and High Fae united, but why would you attack Solace? I’ve sent word to request a meeting with the high king of the fae and his alpha queen here in Zircon City.”
He tilted his head to look at me. “Yes, I’m aware.”
“Then—”
“You are not queen, Réalta.”
The finality of his words stopped me in my tracks.
“You will not need to burden yourself with these matters much longer.”
I swallowed heavily as Ryder Wyndfall, my loyal captain, stood beside me. “What do you mean by this, Father?” I asked.
“We needed to make a stand and ensure that our people were safe.”
“Safe?” I couldn’t believe what my father was saying. “After hearing Istar and Minaeve’s accounts, we both agreed gathering our forces would be the priority in preparation for war at our gates.”
“But we finally have the Heart of Valdor. We have the upper hand.”
I stilled. “Yes, but—”
“For once, the shifters and High Fae fear us, despite their magical might. We hold the power they tried so desperately to keep for themselves, and I believe it is time we make a stand and take control of Valdor.”
I stepped back, inhaling a sharp breath as I searched my father’s eyes for any inkling of an alternative fate for our kingdom.
Minaeve and Istar had revealed that the wilt was born from the shifters’ desperate attempt to conceal the Heart of Valdor from humans.
In doing so, they unleashed the dark magic on the land, with the help of the High Fae, who utilized the magic of their rulers to create a barrier around the Inner Kingdom and the Heart.
Anjani, High Fae ruler of Aelius, stepped forward to confirm Minaeve’s tale their first night in our throne room. Explaining that once the truth was discovered, she and others were compelled to aid Minaeve in her escape. To survive, Minaeve had to disguise herself as a High Fae.
Minaeve’s powers grew over time, granting her an immortal lifespan, but she was not strong enough to eliminate the wilt without the Heart of Valdor.
She had to bide her time and wait for a shifter to unlock the barrier to the Heart once more.
Once Skylar Cathal completed the final trial, Minaeve reclaimed the Heart and fled across the sea to return to her own kind.
Yes, we had the Heart of Valdor.
Yes, we had the power of the mages and hunters at our command.
But would it be enough?
“You are so much like your mother.” My father reached to cup my cheek. His eyes softened for a moment before returning to steel. “Most days, I’m thankful for your courage and kind heart. But this is a time for blood and war.”
I was not trained as a warrior queen, but a diplomatic one. Despite the ongoing struggles with the shifters, I wanted to lead our people, not with fear or power, but love and understanding.
“I still believe a meeting with the current alpha and high king of the fae is a logical first step,” I said, hoping he would hear me.
“Which is why I allowed your message to leave our lands with my signature and seal.”
I studied my father, suspicion prickling up my spine.
Whatever schemes were set in motion behind his closed-door meeting with Minaeve and Istar this past week couldn’t be good.
And then there were the captured High Fae warriors we’d sent north.
What purpose would they serve—somehow bound to Minaeve’s will by means I still couldn’t fathom?
And why was I not informed or consulted?
My father broke the silence settling over the room, turning to Ryder Wyndfall. “What is your report, Captain?”
“Sire,” he answered, “our attack was successful. Although High Fae soldiers arrived, as Minaeve anticipated, we only lost a handful of hunters and mages in the attack, along with some of our infantry. However—” Wyndfall paused, licking his lips before continuing.
“We were able to secure the former alpha.”
This was a surprising turn.
“The former alpha?” I asked.
“Yes, Princess. Gilen Warrick.”
I remembered him from our meeting with Minaeve, when we thought she was the high queen of the fae, before the trials began.
Power clung to him like a second skin. He seemed untouchable, radiating a presence that others were instinctively drawn to.
I recalled that I struggled to keep my composure, stealing the occasional awe-filled glance in his direction.
“He lost the challenge against the current alpha, Skylar, correct?”
Wyndfall nodded.
“How many soldiers did we lose securing him?” my father asked.
It was a fair question.
Wyndfall shifted on his feet. “None.”
“None?” my father repeated.
If I hadn’t been trained since birth to hide my emotions, my jaw would be on the floor.
“Why?” I kept my voice steady, despite all the questions racing through my mind. “Why was it so easy to secure him?”
“He claims that he is willing to provide us vital intel on the shifters and High Fae. He wishes to ally with us.”
“Again, why?”
“He says he no longer wishes to live in the shadow of a female who denied him a claiming mark. That he was humiliated, and has instead chosen to forge his own path,” Wyndfall said. “Our hunters have confirmed the absence of the pack bond. They do not sense the magic. He is alone.”
A shiver ran up my spine. The hunters always left me feeling uneasy. Their existence was born of a dark twist of magic I only tolerated.
“What intel has he given us thus far?” I asked.
“He says that Skylar will return to the mainland and retaliate. That if we accept his aid, he will help us prepare, and we can surprise them, possibly kill or capture some from their inner circle.”
I arched my brow. “How does he know this?”
“He says it’s what he would do,” Captain Wyndfall said.
Something twisted inside my chest. “He says it’s what he would do,” I repeated quietly. “That’s not strategy. That’s conjecture.”
My father didn’t answer right away, allowing the faint crackle of the hearth at the far end of the room to fill the space.
I folded my arms. “We’re trusting a shifter who turned on his own pack. That alone should tell us everything we need to know.”
“Desperation makes for useful allies,” my father said evenly.
“Or dangerous ones,” I muttered under my breath.
I bit the inside of my cheek, forcing my expression to remain composed. I wanted to believe there was an advantage here, that fate had finally dealt us a card worth playing.
But I was smarter than that.
“Very well,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Let’s see what else our traitor has to say.”
My father’s smile was menacing. “Good. We’ll utilize his betrayal for our benefit.”
“Precisely, King Taran.”
My blood froze as the false High Fae queen appeared.
“Minaeve.”
“Princess Réalta.” Minaeve tilted her head. “I’m glad you’re here. Has your father informed you of our plan?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I just learned of the attack on Solace and the capture of the former alpha.”
“Oh, that.” She chuckled to herself, moving to sit at the head of the war council table. “Yes. I’ve met with the shifter and granted him a pardon. He has valuable knowledge about his people. Already, he has divulged their pack dynamics and what types of shifters they have in their ranks.”
“You have the authority to grant him a pardon?” I asked, biting back the anger swirling in my chest.
“Yes, girl. You shall understand your place soon.”
I gasped in outrage.
Captain Wyndfall drew his sword, the clang of steel echoing off the walls. “You will not speak to the princess like this.”
Minaeve laughed, shutting her eyes and tilting her head, allowing her long hair to fall behind her back.
Wyndfall stepped forward as Minaeve’s turquoise gaze snapped open, and shadows sprang forth from her hand.
“Captain!” I yelled as he crashed to the ground with a sickening, lifeless thud, eyes turning black. “Stop! Stop this! Father?”
“Your father will not help you,” Minaeve said.
I knelt at Captain Wyndfall’s side, holding my breath as I searched for any sign of life to cling to. Ever so slightly, the captain’s chest rose and fell, and I breathed a sigh of relief knowing he was still alive.
“What did you do to him?”
Minaeve simply sat forward, allowing the shadows to dance along her fingers. “Calm yourself, young princess, and listen.”
“Father?” I pleaded. “Father, please—”
“No, Réalta. You will listen to Minaeve without argument and give her the respect she has earned. I stand in agreement with her.”
I couldn’t believe this. My father, the man I looked up to most in this world, my king, was refusing to help me. His grief for my mother darkened a piece of his soul, but this? This was not the man I knew.
He never stood against me like this. Even if we disagreed, he would always explain his reasons, treating me as his equal now that I had come of age and was ready to take his place on the throne.
Something was wrong.
“It will all make sense soon enough, Princess,” another voice said, making my skin crawl. Istar, our lead mage and the twin of Minaeve, entered, sitting beside his sister at the table. “Sit, and we will share what your role in this will be.”
I glared at our lead mage. “And if I refuse?”
Istar sighed heavily, leaning back in his chair, looking unamused. “My sister will drain the captain of his life force before moving to the next loyal subject you deem in your favor. And then the next, until you choose to cooperate.”
Use your head, Réalta. You must be smart about this, I told myself.
Forcing down my rage, I pulled my shoulders back and stood beside my fallen friend. Straightening the skirt of my dress, I turned to the false queen with a shallow bow.
“You have my cooperation,” I said, my voice steady, tone obedient.
Minaeve’s smile was twisted and wicked.
Yet, I remained calm, my mother’s words echoing in my mind. Do not turn away. Remember, as rulers, we do not show our fears.
“What is our plan?” I asked.