Chapter Six #5
Why didn’t I tell him I didn’t want any violence? I was expecting him to show me the door to an old servants’ entrance. Not go after—
“Good morning, gentlemen. Lady,” Bradach announced. He pointed straight at me. “The queen would like a stroll through the village. Send for her carriage.”
“Of course, my queen.” They snapped to attention, then bowed to the dumbfounded shadow behind the wall. “We’ll have it brought out to you at once. Please, stay in the warmth until it arrives.”
“I, uh— Yes,” I croaked, stepping into the open. “Thank you.”
Bradach brushed past me, shaking his head. I heard the word keva loud and clear.
Embarrassment flipped my stomach. I couldn’t be faulted.
I’d been a princess for a short while, and a queen for less time than that.
I wasn’t used to living in a world where I gave commands and they were followed without question.
It never occurred to me that I wasn’t a prisoner in the castle I ruled.
I groaned, memory assaulting me. “I owe Aeris a big apology.”
AN HOUR LATER, THE carriage dropped me off at the drawbridge.
Aeris, Eadaoin, and Foalan waited for me outside in the cold.
“What are you all doing out here?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”
“It is not,” Foalan said. “Lady Ana, it is not wise to travel without guards.” He gestured to Eadaoin. “Your companion is trained in combat. Trained by me. I ask that in the future, you travel with her by your side at the very least.”
“All right. I will, thank you.” There was no reason to argue with him. I’d already done what I needed to do. I wasn’t going to be around long enough to worry about who was with me when I went out.
I turned to Aeris. “Aeris, I want to apologize for throwing my shawl over your head to make my escape. I saw this for you in the market and... I hope you like it.”
Wide, glistening eyes beheld the small, silver bracelet, graced by the tiniest snowflake charm.
“Oh, my lady...” She trailed off, smiling at me. “Thank you.”
“My lady?” Eadaoin gestured behind her. “If you’ll follow me, our lord requests your presence in the war room.”
I opened my mouth to tell her where he could shove his request, and a spike of pain assaulted my ankle.
Gritting my teeth, I just nodded. “Lead the way.”
I followed Eadaoin inside. Aeris and Foalan broke off when we entered the castle, heading down the hallway leading to the throne room. Aeris’s laugh echoed behind her.
Our trek took us up three flights of stairs and down two twisting hallways. I lost my bearings immediately. I envied the queen consort who had to learn how to navigate these strange, winding halls. Thankfully, after the next morning, that would not be an issue.
Eadaoin stopped in front of a huge, red door and knocked.
“Come.”
Sweeping it open, she moved for me to step inside.
I did. My jaw dropped before I stepped over the threshold.
Maps.
Everywhere. Of everything. For everyone. Plastered all over the walls, and spilling off the desks, detailed maps of Lyrica, Sarabai, Rajadom, Quatassa, and the human lands dominated the space. There were even maps of places I didn’t recognize, with names impossible for me to pronounce.
Alisdair leaned over a slanted desk, speaking in low tones to Bradach.
My lips pressed into a thin line seeing Bradach’s hand on his shoulder.
“See to it,” Alisdair said.
“My lord.” Bradach bowed, then left as quickly as I came in.
Alisdair hadn’t raised his head from the map. I took that chance to study him.
The large, heavy black coat he always wore was nowhere to be seen.
Lunch must’ve given him the magical energy he needed, because he never looked more fae.
No lethal points tipped his nails. No fangs poked his deceptively soft lips.
Even his horns were the smallest I’d ever seen them, giving the briefest hello from their nest of dark, pine-scented curls.
Outside the cloak, everything was on display. Of course, he’d already given me a rough and vigorous tour of his body, but without that, I still could’ve traced the outline of his shoulders and hard, stony muscles through his white linen tunic—buttoned barely above the belly button.
His pants were loose too, and that meant nothing to the large bulge between his legs. If I wanted to know why I still had a slight limp, it reminded me.
Alisdair lifted his head and I was already flicking away, narrowing in on a map of Lyrica before our eyes could meet.
“What is all of this?” A smile rose unbidden to my lips. “Seems you lied to me once again. Lyrica and its silly, old fool of a king are more of a threat to you than you let on.” I motioned to the walls. “Why else do you and your spies keep such a close eye on all of Elva and beyond?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, woman.” The same cold dismissal. “This room isn’t for defense. It’s for planning. The time draws near for the first strike that begins our conquering of Elva. We, and therefore you, must be ready.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, beast,” I breezed just as cooly. “We, and therefore you, will be doing no such thing.”
I couldn’t be certain, but I thought I saw the barest quirk of his lips. Ah, so the king found his pet amusing. He wouldn’t be laughing for long.
“Besides, you won’t get far until you hire a new mapmaker.” I pointed to a map of the Stella Darna Sea. “There’s no island there.”
“There is, but it moves. That’s where it was as of a month ago,” he replied, as if he wasn’t speaking total nonsense. “I sent my flying infantry to stake our claim, but it moved again.”
“Oookkkkaaaay,” I drew out. It’s so sad when a mind starts to go. “So why am I here? And don’t say it’s for an invasion that will never happen.”
He crooked a finger. “Come.”
I planted my feet. “Why don’t you try that again with a please, then—”
Alisdair snapped his fingers and I flew to his side, yelping as I collided with a wall of muscle. He put his arm around me instinctively, stopping me from falling. I swatted him for the magic-handling, but it was like hitting an actual wall. He didn’t give my hit a lick of attention.
“This is why you’re here.”
I glanced down at the map before us. This one, I’d never seen before. Or more to say, I have, but all the times I did, it was nothing but a black, blighted spot on our great nation.
“The kingdom of Wind and Wild,” he confirmed. “Its capital, its villages, its outer-lying territories. Familiarize yourself with it all.”
“Why must I?” I asked, though I brought the map closer.
I couldn’t help myself. I loved learning new things. If university wasn’t wholly off-limits to the likes of me, it’s where I’d be right then.
“Why are you teaching me any of this? You’re using me for my position and power.” I was nothing if not blunt. “Surely a little bird doesn’t need to be taught to run a kingdom.”
“You’re correct, you don’t,” he bit back, glaring.
I rose a little higher, glaring right back. It was then I noticed his arm was still around me, and my chest still pressed to his.
We broke apart in a blink, staring down each other from opposite ends of the table.
“All things being what they should’ve been, you wouldn’t need to know these things,” he repeated. “Because you’d be dead. But since our plans have changed—”
I hated that he kept saying our—casually including me in his treason.
“—someone will have to remain here in Lumenfell, ruling our people and raising our children while I lead the conquer.”
A roaring sounded in my ears. What did he say? “Excuse me? Children? Whose children?”
“Our children.”
He repeated it, and it still didn’t make sense.
“We are not having children.”
“We will have so many children, they will outnumber all the basks in all the seas in all the world.”
I choked, flinging away. “What!”
Face changing, Alisdair laughed. “You’re so amusing when you squawk, little bird. Calm yourself. Two or three will more than suffice. You will stay here to raise them, and teach our heirs all that I’m teaching you,” he said. “So pay attention.”
Shock fled, and rage flooded in fast. “I’m the one who must stay behind and raise the imaginary children? Is that what you think a woman’s place is? Having your beast-babies, raising your beast-babies, then putting my head down and ass up, so you can impregnate me with some more?”
“No, dear,” he ground out. “I would happily stay and rear our heirs, but then you’d have to lead our armies against Elva.
You’ve made such a tantrum of being against it, I assumed that wasn’t an option for you.
” Alisdair raised a brow. “Or would you prefer we wage war together, side by side, and abandon our children here with nursemaids and servants?” He tsked, looking genuinely disgusted.
“Very cold, my queen. You hate our beast-babies that much, and they’re not even born. ”
My jaw worked, outrage stealing every word before it could leave my tongue. How had he turned this around on me? In one conversation, I became a bad mother to children that didn’t exist, and a war-monger when there was no war!
“You enjoy this, don’t you?” My eyes narrowed to slits.
“Twisting words? Keeping everyone around you a little off-balance, a little distrusting, and a lot scared. Your mind games do not work on me,” I said softly, drawing near.
“But consider this while you play them. You might just be teaching me to rule the kingdom... that I’ll steal from you. ”
I smiled brightly. “Begin with your lesson, husband. I’m listening.”
“Yes,” he replied, reaching for the map. “Finally, you begin to accept your fate.”
He said that, but I saw it. For the barest second... Shadowsoul hesitated.
“LAST IS WOLF TERRITORY,” he said, drawing a circle around a stretch of land behind Castle Riagin. “As they change, they’re becoming more possessive of it, leading to bloody conflicts around their borders. As a result, we’ve declared this area off-limits to all but Foalan.