Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kane
I needed to leave and speak with Acaden. How did time change so quickly? It was as if everything that had happened when my father was murdered was all playing out again. I grabbed Deirdre’s hand and she looked at me with worry in her eyes.
“Retire to your room,” I said. “Stay with the guards.”
“Is everything all right?”
“We’ve been gone for a while. I need to check in with the head of my guard.”
She nodded, and though I suddenly didn’t want to leave her side, securing the castle against any intrusion from the twisted spawn of the Lich King was a priority.
“Your Majesty.” Two priests headed toward me. The same ones I had kicked out of my chambers on the night of the wedding.
The taller one bowed his head. “It is good to see you have returned.”
“Is there something you need? I must speak with Acaden.”
“Yes,” the gray-eyed one said, meeting my gaze. His long-hooked nose pointed up as if something atrocious attacked his nostrils. “Our young priest has been missing since your wedding night. He was last seen in the royal wing near the queen’s chambers.”
“It is not the king’s responsibility to babysit your charges.” I eyed the priest, wondering if he suspected anything. The bogey had left no remains for anyone to find, and any remnants of that night’s events in the hall had been cleaned.
“The queen was never seen leaving your chambers in the morning,” he continued.
“My comings and goings are none of your business,” Deirdre said, still holding my hand. “Are you admitting to spying on the king?”
“No,” he stumbled. “We—”
“The king and I have important matters to deal with,” she continued, using the full force of her title to subdue them. Shoulders squared, she eyed the priests. “We can discuss this at a more appropriate time.”
The two priests bowed, and Deirdre tugged me away from them until we were far enough away from the irritated males. Her guards hovered nearby, ready to urge the priests away from us.
“What do we do?” she whispered as she slipped an arm around my waist in an attempt to prove our intimacy.
“Nothing. Go back to your chambers. I’ll meet you there later.” Taking her hand, I lifted it to my lips and kissed her knuckles. Her eyes widened.
“You handled them well,” I said, lowering her hand before releasing it. “You’re going to make a fine queen.”
Leaving her side, I whistled at the floating will-o’-the-wisp. “Find Acaden and tell him to meet me in the war room.”
The wisp darted off down the hall and I ran in the opposite direction, passing servants and others who bowed and pointed and greeted me with enthusiasm. What had happened since we left?
The halls bustled with life, servants buzzing with whispers and hushed tones. I caught fragments of what they were saying: returned, queen, days missing.
One week had passed, and the world had shifted so much like the last time.
Clawing fear racked my thoughts, trying to force me into a panic, but I refused to succumb to it, not when Deirdre’s life and my castle were both in danger.
If there had been an attack or news of the twisted heading toward the mountains, there would be some sort of frenzy in the castle.
Acaden turned the corner, and I waved him over as I headed to the war room.
“Where have you been? The entire castle has been searching for you,” he asked, keeping his voice low.
“Time has shifted again in the Dryad Realm. There was an unnatural storm. What has happened since I’ve been gone?”
Reaching the war room, I pressed my hand on the rune, and the door unlocked.
“When you and the queen didn't return the first night, we assumed you had spent the night in the courtyard, then one day passed and another. The pixies flew above the courtyard from outside and didn’t see either of you inside.”
“In the realm of the dryads,” I said, “it's usually a few hours’ time difference from here. Time has been normal there since the Rift closed. I don't know what's happened, but something is upsetting the balance and it’s happening in the southern lands.”
Understanding dawned in Acaden’s eyes. “The Lich King’s territory is in the south and he’s seized more settlements there than in the northern regions.”
We both stared at the southeastern lands on the wooden war map, right below the Golden City. The only thing separating the Lich King’s territory from the rest of Saol was a deadly desert in which only the undead could survive.
“Where's Renna?” I asked.
“She was doing reconnaissance outside. She thought maybe you and the queen had left the castle.”
“Have her found and returned immediately.”
Acaden tilted his head. “What is it you're not telling me?”
I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand down my face, rubbing the sides of my temples. “When I went to the human settlement, there was a vampyre there with a message. They wanted…” I paused, unable to even say it. “The Lich King wants Deirdre. I was given one week to bring her to the southern temple.”
Touching the southern temple on the map, the mini building glowed. All the major structures were in the model, making battle strategies easier to plan.
“What would the Lich King want with the queen?”
“I don't know, but he's up to something. The skirmishes I… I don't know. It’s possible he's been searching for her. None of it makes sense. The Lich King has never shown an interest in the child of prophecy. Why now?”
“If that's true, then…” Acaden’s gaze flicked to me as we seemed to both arrive at the same conclusion.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Today is one week.”
Acaden stood straighter. “Then we need to enact the defense system. Raise the castle.”
I nodded. “Yes. I'm going to go back to the queen. I want to make sure she knows what's happening. I should have been upfront with her.”
Acaden gave me a rare smile. “Seems like things have changed between you two, and for the better.”
“Funny. I didn't think there was ever a chance,” I admitted. “But we’ve been talking, and I think she truly wishes to make amends, as do I.”
“That's good to hear, Your Majesty. We will deal with this event. The Lich King will not take her, not while we draw breath.”
“Agreed.” I turned, already moving. “I'm going to go talk to her right now. You round up everybody, and then I'll meet you back in the control room.”
“As you command.”
Leaving Acaden, I rushed toward the royal wing and toward Deirdre’s chambers, a sudden desire to see her, to know she was safe, pushing me faster. It was odd to think this human who had been such a thorn in my side was becoming more like the rose blossomed on my chest.
When I arrived at her chambers, something stopped me cold.
There were no guards.
They wouldn't be foolish enough to leave the queen unattended.
I knocked on the door, wondering if she had sent them away. “Deirdre?”
When there was no answer, I opened the door and stepped in. The room was empty.
Where was she?
I investigated the washroom. Nothing. I moved over to her bed. There was nothing there. A pot on a table near the open window lay broken on the floor. The wind howled outside, and it must have knocked the flower over.
The broken clay pot was smashed on the ground. Knowing how much Deirdre cared for plants, I bent down to collect the shattered clay. After I picked up a few pieces, something glimmered in the soil. Kneeling, I brushed away the dirt, revealing a familiar metallic object.
The world around me paused as I gripped the key to my journal. My very private journal.
A tremor racked through me.
Where did she get this? …How did she get this?
The trembling continued, and the shock suddenly switched to rage.
Immediately, I went to her wardrobe and flung open the doors, knowing if she hid that specific key, there would be something else of mine she was hiding.
Shoving dresses aside, I ran my hands all along the sides and bottom of the closet.
Nothing.
I know it’s here.
Moving to the nightstand, I yanked open the drawer, causing everything to spill out: a white handkerchief, a few buttons, and two of the cookies I had given her wrapped in cloth.
The vase with the eternal rose shattered to the ground.
Still infused with pixie dust, the rose sat amid the broken mess, twinkling with magic.
Kicking the junk and the rose out of the way, I moved to the bed, putting my hands under the blanket, under the mattress, searching for the thick book, my anger rising every moment I didn't find it.
“Ahhh!”
Throwing the blanket off, I vaulted over the bed to the other side.
I shoved my arm under the mattress and my fingers touched something velvety.
I pulled out the object.
It had been decades since I'd even seen the book. Sitting on the bed, I opened it to the first entry.
This journal had been Axelia’s idea. She believed writing would ease the pain and loss, and sometimes it did. Other times, I would spend days curled on the moss bed, crying and waiting for someone to come for me.
But no one ever came.
For forty years.
During the most important years of a fae’s life, and I had spent mine alone.
Glossing over the first page, I shuffled through the book, all my secrets spilling out. I gripped the journal in my hands, the rage rolling through me like thunder until my claws dug into the sides of the sacred object.
She’s a liar.
The ache hit before the fury.
This whole time she had been reading my secrets, my thoughts, my fears, and yet she pretended I was the villain in our story, and she was a perfect victim.
I’d shared parts of myself with her, not even meaning to. Instead of asking me, she’d gone behind my back.
This is why humans are exiled. They are manipulative, and though fae are as well, we own our devious nature while the humans pretend to be perfect vessels of the All Father with no blemish or fault.
I should never have trusted her or believed we could have a marriage comprising more than just duty and title.
Queen or not, Deirdre will answer for this.