Chapter 21 Curious Questions
Departure For Daxaria
“Your Majesty, you cannot leave!”
“Really? Because it sounds to me like all of your problems just flew back to my own kingdom!” Kat didn’t slow as she descended the Zinferan palace steps with her personal guard, Broghan Miller, at her side.
A small cluster of Zinferan nobles trailed after her.
“Your Majesty, they could return!”
“Then I’ll come back. But I’m relatively certain they are heading back to Daxaria to continue being a problem,” Kat argued as she touched down on the main floor of the palace and looked over her shoulder toward the doors.
Late-afternoon sun poured in.
It had been a busy few days.
First, she had traveled in the alleged direction of the golden dragon’s cave. But four days before they reached the dragon’s lair, they watched him fly overhead heading toward Haeson.
After a rushed return to the capital, they had learned that the dragon and the remaining coven members had stolen a ship and set sail.
Presumably northwest toward Daxaria. Of course, during Katarina’s meeting with the emperor, as she tried to tell him she needed to get home, the first witch had reappeared in the same spot where she had been pushed into Tam’s void.
By the time Kat had bolted there, Aradia had just begun to stir, but the damn wench had had a trick up her sleeve.
Stalking toward the doors, Kat felt her heart quicken at the thought of the dragon and the first witch arriving in Daxaria without her being able to warn Eric or her da about it.
Gods, they may even run into Tam and Eli on their way.
Kat was halfway down the hall, the Zinferan nobility murmuring at her back, when Jiho Ryu stepped out in front of her. Her father’s old friend gave an apologetic smile.
Kat halted and eyed the man warily. “Jiho.”
He bowed. “Your Majesty.”
Jiho’s eldest son, Bong, joined his father’s side and bowed to the Daxarian queen.
Kat casually rested her hand on her sword hilt. “Come to see me off?”
Wincing, Jiho drifted closer. “I wish I could simply bid you farewell, but unfortunately… things are a bit more complicated.”
Kat tapped her toe impatiently.
“You see, Lady Elisara made a deal of sorts with a nobleman named Lord Kim. She even signed a document.”
Bong produced a scroll.
Kat’s stare lingered on the face of her father’s friend before she snatched the paper. Unfurling it, she shot her eyes across the page.
She snorted once she’d reached the end. “The emperor has a competent concubine to name as an heir to the throne. I provided her name. Daxaria and Elisara have no more business here. The emperor, or this Lord Kim, cannot claim that there is a state of emergency where Elisara would need to take the throne. Besides, she has done more than enough by helping get rid of Soo Hebin.” She thrust the document back at Jiho.
“Her Highness Deoh Rin, whom you recommended to be named as heir, does not have enough support to hold the throne without challenge. Things are already tumultuous as is, and I worry not only for her safety but for Zinfera’s stability as well,” Jiho pressed.
Kat lifted her chin. “Elisara doesn’t have any support, either.
Not here in Zinfera. In fact, she hasn’t even been here for the better part of a decade.
She has not lived among these people. She has so little claim over this position that it’s bloody confusing why the emperor is so damn set on it.
And Zinfera was already unstable thanks to Soo Hebin.
So with all due respect, Jiho, you can toss that contract into a manure pile for all it’s worth.
Good day.” Kat resumed her brisk march down the hall.
“Your Majesty,” Jiho called out again.
“I’ll tell my father you said hello!” Kat proceeded out of the palace into the glorious sunshine without giving Jiho another chance to try to convince her to stay. Broghan hurried his steps so that he wasn’t as far behind her.
“Will everything really be alright if you just leave?” Broghan asked.
Kat scoffed. “What’s the emperor going to do, declare war? With no coven, his military power divided, and his farming communities disrupted thanks to Soo Hebin?”
“A war can unite a kingdom again,” Broghan reminded uneasily.
Kat gave her Troivackian-born bodyguard a sidelong glance. “Even if he wants a war, it will take him time to organize one, and with the mess Soo Hebin made, he has to select an heir and start the process of getting them situated to take over. He doesn’t have time to do more. He’s dying.”
Broghan stiffened. “Oh. I thought that because he had woken up, he was going to recover.”
Kat shook her head before climbing into her carriage with Broghan following afterward. “Don’t repeat that detail.”
Broghan grunted as he sat down. “While you’re sharing secrets, could you tell me everything you did shut up in your room since we arrived? You told me to make myself scarce when we got here.”
Kat shrugged. “I just didn’t want you getting involved in anything illegal I wanted to do.”
Broghan scowled. “Most people use their personal guards to do the illegal things for them.”
“You sound really ungrateful, you know that?” Kat leaned her head against her fist, her elbow propped on the open windowsill as the carriage lurched into motion. “Did you make sure Princess Kezia and Sir Cas were sent home safely?”
The knight nodded. “They set sail early this morning without issue.”
“Good. Hopefully by the time they reach Troivack, we can send a missive updating them on what is happening.” Kat’s attention moved toward the window. “It’s really annoying being cut off from talking to everyone. I don’t like how unaware we all are of what’s going on elsewhere.”
“How do you think the Troivackian queen will react to the news that the devil is back?”
At this question, Kat tensed.
Her stomach churned as she remembered Aradia’s words from two days earlier. Her claim that Tam was the devil echoed out in Kat’s head.
What did the idiot go and do? She ran her tongue over the peaks of her molars. Is he trying to protect Luca? That seems the most likely…
“Queen Alina is a logical person. She will wait until she hears the details of what is happening,” Kat eventually reasoned aloud.
“Do we want Troivack to wait, though? Wouldn’t it be better if they sent military help, if the fight is going to take place in Daxaria?”
Settling back into the sun-warmed cushions of the carriage seat, Kat gave a partial grimace. “Yes and no. I’d like to think settling everything in negotiations is still possible. We just need to cut off the head of the beast to make it possible.”
“You think cutting off the head of the first witch will wrap things up?”
“Worth a shot. And if we can’t kill her by beheading, we can imprison her again.”
“She was imprisoned before and somehow still managed to influence the coven to start this whole rebellion,” Broghan reminded her.
“Yeah, but I’m hoping that things haven’t progressed as planned. If we take the mastermind away during the chaos, they might be more willing to settle this without bringing outright violence.”
“I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d be such an advocate for nonviolent confrontations.”
“I did a lot of damage to the Zinferan army,” Kat said grimly. “I helped bury enough of them. It was a good reminder that conflict isn’t something to be taken lightly.”
“Between burning down part of the palace and decimating a good unit or two of the emperor’s army, I’m shocked you weren’t locked up at any point.”
“I was locked up to begin with when I first was here. The emperor doesn’t really have a leg to stand on. Especially when he’s banking on me placating the Troivackian monarchy so they don’t take exception to Kezia being injured.”
Broghan stared at the queen in silence for a long while. “It kills you to be this politically responsible, doesn’t it?”
Kat’s lip curled. “I get to wear pants. I’m counting whatever wins I get, being in this whole queen role.”
The knight smirked in response. They’d known each other since they were students of the esteemed Troivackian military leader Gregory Faucher. Back then it would have been impossible to imagine Katarina showing any kind of restraint in aggravating situations.
Kat changed the topic, folding her arms and slumping back comfortably in her seat. “Are you excited to get home to Daxaria?”
Broghan nodded slowly. It had taken him some time to adjust to living in Daxaria, far from his family and friends in Troivack.
“How is it going with that girl you mentioned… Gina, or something?”
“Jen,” Broghan corrected. “And that has resolved already. Actually, I’m… I may be getting into an arranged marriage.”
Kat blinked. “Last I heard no one from Troivack wanted to marry you given that you brought shame to your family for, you know, trying to kill me.”
As students, they’d had a very interesting time getting to know each other.
“This woman is… in a similar situation as myself. She… fell out of grace.”
Kat nodded along, her mind starting to turn away from the conversation given Broghan’s reluctance to say more. But then what he said pricked a back recess of her mind. A woman who had fallen out of favor… She had a sudden hunch.
“Broghan? This woman… She wouldn’t happen to have any relation to the deceased Sebastian Icarus, would she?”
Broghan avoided her eyes.
“Broghan… Are you… telling me that you are going to marry Selene Icarus? The woman who said my marriage to Eric wasn’t going to last?
The one who publicly insinuated I was a whore?
And who was, in general, a massive pain in the arse?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, she was absolutely fun to torment, but it’d feel like I was being a tyrant if I did the same stuff now as a queen and if she were your wife. ”
He scratched his long black beard, still refusing to look at her.
Kat barely stifled a groan. “Is she any less… her?”
Broghan cleared his throat. “She continued to train with the sword after you left. I hear she’s even bested a knight or two in sparring.”
“So she’s deadly and annoying.”
Broghan let out a long breath. “I was hoping you might find a position for her in the military here.”
Kat’s eyebrows shot upward as the carriage jostled around them. “The conservative, traditional Broghan Miller wants his future wife to have a position in the military?”
He flushed. “I think it’d help her stay out of trouble.”
Grinning, Kat continued to stare at her personal guard as he squirmed under her attention. “You’ve grown up a lot, Broghan. I mean that as a compliment.”
“Why does it feel like you’re taunting me?”
“Bah. You know I’m not that evil.”
“I don’t believe I do.”
Kat cackled. “Alright. I’ll find a position for the soon-to-be Mrs. Miller. Maybe I’ll post her at the docks. You might not like working in close quarters with your spouse.”
“Speaking from experience?” Broghan probed.
Kat stuck her tongue out. “Eric and I manage just fine with the pack of nobility surrounding us. So, when are these happy nuptials due?”
Broghan settled into his seat a little more easily. “It depends on this war. There had been talks about the end of summer.”
“Mm.” Kat’s mouth twisted thoughtfully. “I guess we will see. Out of curiosity, do you think Selene spent a lot of time around her father’s keep in the year before she came to court?”
“I don’t believe so. Otherwise, she would have been jailed or executed along with her father.”
“Good. It’d be a bad dynamic if she had tormented Elisara while she was a slave in the duke’s house.”
Broghan paled.
“You’d forgotten about that, hadn’t you?”
He nodded.
“Right. Well, here’s hoping that wasn’t the case! Because I have no doubt that if they’d crossed paths, things would not have been pleasant. I was the daughter of a duke, and Selene still tried to bully me.”
Broghan’s discomfort turned pained as he gaped at Kat.
The Daxarian queen reached over and gave a reassuring pat to his knee.
“Maybe be extra nice to my brother’s wife when you see her, hm? I watched her slap a woman into the ground—and that wasn’t even when she was a giant cat with wings.”
The rest of the carriage ride to the docks was silent.
Kat would never admit it, but she actually was looking forward to seeing Lady Selene again. Mostly because it’d be nice to have a woman to train with, but also because, on occasion, it was refreshing to have someone who not only was mean to her, but to whom she could be mean back.
It was good news that helped the Daxarian queen distract herself from the fact that she knew she was leaving Zinfera on horrible terms, and a war was waiting for her back home.
Sighing quietly, she hoped that Tam was at the very least able to reach Austice without any trouble, and they could start planning a proper reception for the first witch and her fancy lizard.