Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Lenna
Lenna whirled around as Merrick drew his sword and Laurent took up a defensive position between Lenna and Lord Magnamus. Guards standing at attention around the dais scrambled to formation around their Regent, weapons drawn.
Between the visions and the quick glimpse through the curtains in Spinella, Lenna had never fully set eyes on the exiled Princess. Until now.
Esmeray was the epitome of beauty and death. It took Lenna’s breath away and made her blood run cold.
The dubbed Queen of Nothing strode down the aisle towards the dais.
Her blue-black hair fell loosely to the middle of her back.
Black wings, as dark as a moonless night, were open and out behind her, sporting deadly looking talons that curved slightly in at the apex.
But it was her horns that made Lenna swallow, her throat suddenly bone dry.
Thick onyx spirals, like a ram’s horns, curled from the front of her head to the backs of her pointed ears.
Fear freezing her in place, Lenna couldn’t look away from the Princess.
Esmeray’s pale face showcased the same sharp cheekbones as her uncle.
But where his eyes were icy blue, hers were glittering, serpentine green.
A long golden staff clacked loudly against the glass floor as Esmeray approached, fully ignoring the assembled court gathered. A few of the fae hissed as she drew near. One brave gargoyle spat, “Murdering whore,” as she passed. Esmeray ignored him.
She was dressed in similar leathers that Merrick wore, but hers were deep, bloody red and sleeveless, showing off her fully tattooed arm.
Where Merrick’s tattoos were five solid black bands around his forearm, Esmeray’s entire limb from her shoulder to the tips of her fingers was tattooed black.
Esmeray stopped abruptly ten feet away from Merrick, nostrils flaring delicately.
She arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow at the sight of Merrick’s sword.
Merrick snarled. Esmeray gave him a saccharine smile in return.
“Well, this is no way to welcome your Queen,” she crooned, her wings folding in slightly as she tapped her staff against the glass again. “Uncle.” Esmeray’s gaze flicked from Merrick to the Regent, now standing before his throne, glaring at her. “Get out.”
“I will do no such thing in my Palace,” Lord Magnamus growled. “You have no Queenship here. Guards, arrest this murdering traitor immediately by order of our Queen Absolute, Adara.”
“You forget, Uncle, that these males are not yours to command. My sister may call herself Queen Absolute, but we all know who really rules these lands, do we not?” Esmeray murmured, ice and venom lacing her soft words, her eyes sweeping over the warriors that crept around her, swords drawn.
A small group pressed closer to Lord Magnamus, their blades at the ready, even as their faces revealed hints of fear.
Lenna wondered if Esmeray could sense their terror because she turned her attention to the soldiers surrounding the Regent. “Bow.”
One by one, they dropped to their knee, backs bent. Lenna covered her mouth against a gasp, realizing it was not sheer obedience that put these males down. It was magic. Esmeray’s magic she wielded as half fae.
Esmeray’s glee was palpable as she turned to the Regent, who looked as if he would smite her himself.
“You too, Regent,” she laughed, her green eyes pinning him in place as she tapped her golden staff once more.
Lord Magnamus’s face twisted with rage as her magic forced him down. Until he too was kneeling before her.
As the Regent knelt, the warriors flanking Esmeray from all sides also collapsed to one knee. Lenna watched a gargoyle warrior attempt to push himself up with no success. Disgust and panic clouded his eyes as he screwed his face into a silent snarl of defiance.
“Good.” Esmeray smirked, nodded once, and the warriors and Regent regained control of their bodies, slumping forward before rightening, hastily getting to their feet.
“Now that everyone here remembers what I can do–get out.” Esmeray’s sharp gaze landed on Lenna, and Lenna felt the blood rush out of her cheeks as she made eye contact with the fearsome Princess.
“Except for you three,” Esmeray snapped at Laurent, Merrick, and Lenna, pointing her staff directly at Merrick’s chest. Merrick didn’t flinch, but Lenna noted the knuckles gripping the pommel of his sword whitened. “We have private matters to discuss.”
The staff rose above her head before she bought it down upon the glass floor.
Spider webs of golden magic shot from the tip, revealing hidden orbs that bobbed around the circumference of the room.
Another burst of light, and each orb of gold disappeared with a resounding crack.
The hauntingly familiar sound echoed. Lenna flinched at the implication.
Wards.
The reason why none of the beings in the room fled at Esmeray’s arrival.
Why the soldiers and the Regent had not disappeared immediately.
Esmeray played Lenna, Merrick, and Laurent at their own game, putting wards up to not allow anyone to wane in or out of the throne room–just as they’d done to her outside Merrick’s home in Spinella.
At Esmeray’s behest, colorful flashes of light erupted as fae that could wane grabbed gargoyles and disappeared.
The few stragglers that couldn’t wane ran, shrieking, out of the throne room.
Soldiers once again surrounded their Regent as he waned out of the room, before they began backing out slowly, swords still drawn.
Once the last one crossed the threshold of the throne room, Esmeray waved her tattooed hand in the air impatiently, and the doors slammed shut.
Lenna felt it now, in her blood and bones.
Death.
Her life felt so fragile, so insignificant.
She was going to die. Did she regret leaving Doortan just to wind up murdered by a creature she hadn’t even known existed outside of myth and legend?
They’d run as fast as they could, and it was still not enough.
The Princess that murdered her own parents, murdered the last Oracle, stood before Lenna as judge, jury, and executioner.
Laurent moved in front of Lenna, standing shoulder to shoulder with Merrick, blue flames crackling down his wrists and fingertips.
Holding the line.
Merrick and Laurent stood between Lenna and Esmeray. Lenna’s whole body shook. Failing at getting the Prism was one thing. Dying on the other hand…
She couldn’t talk, couldn’t think, as panic set in.
Behind Laurent and Merrick, Lenna agonized over which one of her brave companions she’d have to watch die first, or if Esmeray could somehow kill all three of them simultaneously.
But a killing blow never landed. Instead, to Lenna’s utter bewilderment, Esmeray merely stated, “I request an audience with the Oracle.”