6. Rorin
Rorin
She fucking stabbed herself with MY blade - her blade, I guess, considering she sent it for my throat.
“What’s her angle here?” I whisper to no one but myself.
Will’s voice filters into my tangled mess of thoughts. His head is in his hands staring at his feet. “You stabbed her. You stabbed the queen. What the actual HELL, Ror?!”
“I didn’t stab her. She stabbed herself. She was taunting me, playing games, like she has been since we stepped foot in this damn castle.” I pace across from him, his eyes going straight to my still bloodstained hand. His face lightens about three shades before he gets up, returning with a washcloth.
He extends it out to me and I take it gingerly, grumbling a thanks as he sits back down. “Ror, we need a game plan here. You have to watch your temper with her. They don’t do things normal here.” His expression is earnest .
My fingers pull at my hair in frustration, “nothing about her is normal. She’s feral. Damn woman.” I gripe. Will’s chest is shaking out of the corner of my eye. “WHAT?!” I snap.
“I’ve just never seen you so worked up over a woman. Not one as uncouth as her.” He laughs out.
I roll my eyes. “Oh fuck off, prick.” A knock comes at the door. “You’re getting that.” I point.
He stands shaking his head at me, “Sure thing, boss.”
We’re both surprised to find her guard, Ezra, behind the door. His face revealing he’d sooner rather be anywhere else. “The queen has requested your presence.”
The two of us trail after him to the throne room. It’s noticeably clean of any real blood today, though the room is still bathed in red light from the glass ceiling.
Ezra leaves us in the center of the room to go stand by his queen. He leans into her ear, whispering something that I can tell makes her tense. If for not that nearly imperceptible shift in body language it would almost look like they’re nuzzling.
When she raises her eyes, she locks in on me, moving off the raised platform to stand in front of us. She’s nearly a head shorter than I am; but despite the height differences she still manages to make it feel like she is looking down on me. “You came.”
“Did I have a choice?” I don’t break our stare, instead I take note of her inhuman gold irises and the snake tattoos slithering under her sheer sleeves.
She tilts her head at me. “Mmm. I suppose not.”
“And your thoughts on my proposition would be?” I challenge .
She sucks her lip in between her teeth, “Mmm. I’m not convinced. Maybe if you got on your knees and begged.” Her face is smug, already thinking she’s won this round. That damn mouth.
“Ha.” I take a careful step towards her, making sure she knows it is me who is looking down on her - no matter how big and scary she thinks she is, “and that would convince you? Me on my knees?”
She shrugs her shoulders, looking disinterested. “Maybe.”
“I don’t know what more you want from me. This should satisfy both our causes as your people will never have to suffer at his hands like mine have.” My hands curl into fists, trying to maintain the grip on my magic that her taunts bring out.
She points her finger up and down. “I just said. I like the idea of you begging me for something.” The image of me on my knees in front of her flashes through my mind. Fuck.
My mouth curls up to match hers. “Your Highness, I assure you when I get on my knees, it is to do more than beg.” Two can play this game . I hear Will choke on a cough behind me and Ezra’s face goes red.
“Ha!” Her hands go to a slow clap. “Cute, princeling. Very cute.”
My palms are clasped behind my back still holding tight to my Wield, “do we have a deal?” The clapping stops, but her saccharine smile stays put.
“For you to get on your knees or for you to use my army?” She’s holding in a laugh, I can tell. Nothing to her is serious, everything is a game, a ploy. All of us pawns for her to toy with.
“Eveera.” Ezra bites out in warning behind her but she ignores him. Felix, I see, puts a hand on his shoulder while subtly shaking his head at him in reprimand.
I sigh, trying to not sound exasperated. “For you to allow me the use of your army against King Baelor and Hadar’s Guard. ”
A look of what I know can’t be true disappointment flits across her features followed by an exaggerated yawn. “Pity. My idea sounded more fun.” She moves her gaze to Will - who looks like he is about to pull his hair out from the exchange, then to Ezra, who looks about the same. Lastly, she looks at Felix. “We have a council meeting soon, do we not?”
He nods and says, “Yes, they’re setting up for it now.”
She sidesteps me, shouting over her shoulder,“are you coming?”
Will dips his chin to whisper in my ear, “does this mean she is agreeing?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I have no idea what that exchange meant.
We follow her into one of the hidden passageways and are spit out into a small, well lit meeting room. Eveera takes her seat at the head, kicking her feet up. Her left leg is thrown over the right causing the slit of her dress to fall open and reveal almost her entire thigh.
She’s already playing with her throwing stars, launching them at a cork board above the main doors. Thwwwump ! The star lands perfectly in the center. She managed that sitting down? No, correction. She did that reclining?! I think in mild amazement.
She pulls out another one and lands another bullseye. The motion causes the arriving council members to duck and flinch. A woman who is as tall as I am, with long plaited white hair, has her hand pressed to her chest and her mouth dropped open in shock, “Your, Highness must you play with those in here?”
“There’s a starboard above the door isn’t there?” The woman tilts her head up to look at the board, disapproval settling into her features, “ besides, Alina, it’s too early for your complaints.” The queen snaps. The woman, Alina, scowls and takes her seat at the end of the table, notably furthest from the queen. Felix motions for us to take two seats directly to the left of her as he takes up his own on her right. The rest of her council files in, leaving two gentlemen staring at us; I am guessing it is their seats that Will and I are sitting in.
“Frederic, Mose, you two are fine with standing for this meeting, are you not?” She asks.
They both mutter, “Of course, your Majesty.”
With everyone situated she swings her legs down and stands, both of her hands braced against the edge of the table. “Fabulous, welcome to our weekly council meeting. I’d go through all the regular pleasantries where I pretend I care about your day to day lives-” I expect the council members to be insulted but they all just laugh - well all but the one councilwoman, Alina - Eveera throws them a wink and I can see the hint of a genuine smile on her lips which she quickly removes when she catches me staring. “As you all can see in Frederic and Mose’s seats are two new people. I’m sure you have heard of the arrival of Prince Rorin and Mousy.” Will’s face heats at the nickname while nods and murmurs of confirmation rumble through everyone.
“Great, well, this is them.” She sweeps her hand in our direction. Looks of disbelief cross some faces and some looks of anger enter others. “Prince Rorin, if you would be so kind as to explain why you’re here and what you want from me to the council.” She sits back down looking at me expectantly.
I clear my throat as I stand, “Of course.” I look and meet everyone’s eyes, “I’ve come to your queen with the realm-wide issue we are having from King Baelor of Hadar. He is wreaking havoc and committing mass genocide. We’ve already seen Mellant and Peverell fall. Evendell is suffering greatly under his regime as it stands. Vellar struggles as we continue to push against their invasion.” I’m cut off by a short, dark haired woman sitting three seats down from me.
“I’m sorry,” she says with the same accent I picked up on from Felix the first time we met, “but what does all this have to do with us? The Kingdom of Hadar hasn’t made a move on us and he’d be foolish to try with the state of the outer lands.” Everyone around the table nods in agreement.
“Foolish maybe, but he has his ways. My father is under the jaded impression that if we keep entertaining these petty skirmishes that eventually Baelor will give up on us. Move on.”
Another councilman interjects. “And you disagree with your father, do you?” He asks.
“I do. My father isn’t on the front lines with our men. But I am, I’ve seen first hand what Hadar’s Guards level of force looks like and that is only from a fraction of them. By the time he sends his full military…if Vellar falls, the Obsidian Kingdom is next. War will be at your doorstep before you can blink.” The councilman, who can’t be much older than eighteen, looks up at me.
“So what is your reason for being here? To warn us?” He asks genuinely.
“No, not to warn us.” Eveera turns to me and smiles, one that doesn’t radiate kindness this time but has a layer of malice laced through it. “He wants to use Obsidian’s army and me to defend Vellar.” Arguments erupt out of every member in the council. She tunes them out as she keeps up on holding our stare. I hear someone saying her name but she doesn’t react until Felix rests his hand on her shoulder. “EVERYONE QUIET.” Her voice is loud and firm but the arguments continue .
Screams begin to erupt from the woman who spoke earlier. Her eyes are completely black as she thrashes in her chair. Will looks horrified. Eveera’s own blackened gaze is predatory, focused solely on her councilwoman.
“Eveera that is enough, release her.” Eveera doesn’t move. The dark haired woman’s screams turning so sharp blood could curdle. “Eveera. I said stop.” Felix is in her face now bracing both hands on her shoulders until her Wield finally lets go.
What the fuck was that?
“Armond.” she calls on a guard, the same one from the tavern. “Take her to the healers quadrant please.” He nods scooping the woman’s stunned frame into his arms.
Nobody moves, their heads all cast down. “I told you all to be quiet .” Murmured agreements spread through them. “Now, you can argue left and right for all I care. It won’t make a difference.”
I eye her, “okay…?” The word comes out slowly.
“Don’t look so terrified, gods.” I wait a few more seconds for an answer, “Fine.” She says fine as if that is any clearer of an answer.
“Fine?” I ask, raising my brows.
“Fine, we have a deal. How much time do you think we have before Hadar’s guards fully invade your outer cities?” She waves over for a member of her staff, who brings over a set of maps. The council is all still sitting there, some brave enough to look up and gape at her. She looks out towards the room. Her eyes widen at the full house like she forget they were here with us. “Oh, none of you are needed here anymore, you’re dismissed.”
Everyone quickly removes themselves. Alina, opens her mouth to speak but is pulled away by her wrist and forced from the room. Leaving just Will, Felix, myself and the queen .
“How much time?” She repeats.
It takes a second to find the words. “Uh, Will?”
“Bennett mentioned before we left that he thinks they have two maybe two and a half months.” He responds. I grimace, shit.
Eveera nods, chewing on a nail as she thinks. “Will and I have already been gone six days, Your Highness. It will take us at least a week if we don’t portal to get to the first post’s front lines.” I lean and gesture towards the route we would need to take on the maps.
“The army is too large to portal into one space without drawing attention.” She bites her lip considering, “Felix? How many men and women do we currently have? I know we had some casualties after our last scourge with the outer lands.” She looks back down to the maps and begins flipping through some paperwork that he hands her.
“25,000 humans and roughly 600 hundred from The Vast.”
“And that’s not counting yourself or the dragon?” Will asks. With the mention of the beast, Eveera’s head whips to him, eyes blazing.
“Vada will not be coming with us.” Will tries to protest, “Vada, will not be coming with us. ” She hisses again to emphasize her point.
“The knowledge is not lost on me that my father will notice a large army has arrived inside his territory. Which means I’ll have to approach him with what I’ve done but I won’t do that until we have a victory under our belt.” I supply. She places one of the pieces of paper in front of me and I see that it’s a contract. “You drew up a contract for this agreement? When?” I ask, looking at her surprised. That means at some point between her stabbing herself with my blade and this meeting she found the time to draw up a thorough contract.
“I do participate in some queenly duties.” She rolls her eyes, “go ahead, take it back to your quarters and confer with one another. Those are the terms. Agree with them or don’t. This day has been exhausting enough.” She gets up and exits through the room.
I say “excuse me” in parting to Felix, running after her. “Queen Eveera!” I call but she doesn’t hear me. Damn this woman walks fast for having such short legs. “Queen Eveera!” She finally stops right in front of the ominous blacked out end of our hall.
“Yes, princeling?” Fatigue is clear in her voice.
“Thank you. I just wanted to thank you.” I breathe out.
She squints her golden eyes at me, “hold that thought.” Her fingers wave over in the direction of the darkness. An unfamiliar Obsidian comes through with a large sack hanging over his shoulder. He throws it down unceremoniously which loosens the wrappings on it and reveals the contents. A body . My eyes snag on the seal branded into what’s left of his clothes. A sun.
I try to speak, stunned at what’s in front of me. “How the fu-” Looking up at her, her face is smug.
“I think that belongs to you.” And with that she disappears. Horror claws its way through me as I stare at the mutilated Vellaran. The trance snaps when the sound of gagging finds its way to my ears. My head turns, Will is there at my back, retching onto the floor.
When he finishes he takes the back of his hand and wipes across his mouth. “Is that?”
I swivel back to the corpse, “yeah,” is all that I can articulate.
“Rorin, what the hell have you gotten us into now?”
I have no idea.