by Cilla Raven
Smiling through my anger, I nod to myself and try to keep my wits about me. “I see,” I say. “You don’t think I deserve to know where you’ve gone or what you’re doing, that I don’t need to help run this kingdom because I’m not married yet, and you’ve got Extol.”
“Precisely,” he says as my blood begins to boil beneath my skin, even as my outward appearance portrays the coolness and calmness I’ve learned to harness over the years.
“So, what have you been doing exactly? How have you been running Tavatika in your absence?” I ask with a fake tone of interest, gesturing with my hands as I speak. “Are you sending word to Extol about what you want to have happen, and then simply expecting him to see those tasks through?”
He nods pompously at me. “Yes. That’s exactly what’s been going on.”
“And has he told you of what’s been happening here while you’ve been away?” I ask, staring him down while I try to organize my thoughts through my anger.
“Yes, he does an excellent job of letting me know what’s going on,” he says as he smiles to himself, the motion somehow making me even madder than I already was.
“Really?” I ask, baffled. “Has he told you about the crime rates outside the walls and how they’ve doubled in the last year? Did he tell you about how the rebellion has been blocking our trade routes? Or that other nations are now suffering because they haven’t been getting their usual shipments of supplies from us?”
Looking smug, he says, “And what would you know of the other nations? You’ve never even been outside the city walls, Pumpkin. Let the fae men who know what they’re talking about handle these things.”
If I could explode from the fury I feel, I would.
“I know enough,” I finally respond. “I know that the best course of action would be to send some guards along with our traders to make sure our shipments arrive where they’re supposed to go. It wouldn’t be that much of an expense since most of our soldiers are just sitting around, training nonstop in their stronghold. They could be of much better use if they could actually harness all that training they’re doing by supporting and reinforcing our trade routes.” I’m trying to reason with him even with all the rage I feel because the good of the Tava and everyone else is what really matters here, not my feelings toward my father.
“I’ve been assured that we are doing what needs to be done in all areas, and I trust the chancellor. So, when he tells me we don’t need to send in our army, we don’t send them,” he says, and I know reason isn’t going to get me anywhere with him.
I need to change tactics if I want to have any hope of getting through to him.
“You know, if you were ever here, this might not even be an issue. The people know you are gone, and a kingdom without its leader is basically begging for some other nation to come in and take control.”
My strategy works like a charm. His face begins to redden, and his fists ball beside him. “No one will ever be able to take my throne from me, whether I am here or not.”
A sly smile eases onto my lips as I level him with a glare, “I’d beg to differ. I mean, Extol exerts a pretty heavy hand on the Tava. You might come back one day to find you’re not the king anymore after all because Extol has taken it from you while you were away.”
Jumping up out of his seat, his wings stretching out behind him making him seem larger than he actually is, he says, “That would never happen, and you should mind your tongue. You are a princess and nothing more. You have no say in matters of the state. Honestly, the sooner you’re married off, the better.”
Of course, he would bring up the fact that I’m useless until I get married, and even then, it will be my husband that everyone will listen to, not me. My father’s attempts at marrying me off have been almost laughable over the last few years, especially since he hasn’t been home to ensure things went smoothly.
Every so often, a new suitor has been sent my way, showing up out of the blue with no warning, a big fake smile, and most of the time, a bad attitude. And each time, I’ve done what I wanted with them.
For the nicer ones, it was a swift door slamming in their face. For the other, not so nice ones, I took pleasure in torturing them a little by taking what I wanted from them when I wanted it, leading them on, and making them think they had this kingdom in the bag before I would flip it on them, and send them packing back to wherever they’d come from with their proverbial tails tucked between their legs.
I’m not necessarily against marriage, but I am wholeheartedly against anyone that has my father’s stamp of approval.
“Oh, you mean the fae men you’ve sent that only care about being with me because it will give them our kingdom on a silver platter, right? No, thank you,” I nearly spit at him.
His ire thoroughly piqued, he says, “Any one of those suitors would do well becoming the next king when it’s time. Why, you’re lucky I’m sending the best Arorial has to offer.”
“Excuse me for turning down men who’d rather wear a crown than be a good fae, men that would treat me the way you treated Mama, but I refuse. Somehow I have a bit more respect for myself than that.”
He looks like I’ve slapped him, and some part of me revels on the inside.
“Respect? You don’t even know the meaning of the word,” he says, his anger spiking and his face getting even redder.
“Oh, I know what it means, I just don’t have any for you,” I bite back.
His reaction is immediate as he steps forward looking like he wants to hit me, but not being one to back down from that kind of shit ever again, I rush toward him, my fangs elongating as I stare down my nose at him like he’s done to me so many times before. “Are you sure you want to go down that road again, Father? Last year it didn’t end so well for you, now did it?”
He huffs in my face before he turns around and faces the fire, hands balled into fists on his hips. “Get out, and make sure you make it to tonight’s dinner on time,” he says dismissively.
I can see he’s done with me, which is fine because I’m just as done with him. As I reach for the door, I hear him say over his shoulder, “And for the love of fae, change those dowdy clothes before you get there.”
“At least it didn’t come to blows again this year,” Mika says, the relief on her face almost palpable.
Walking fast in the direction of my uncle’s rooms, my pent up anger and aggression just keep boiling at a slow simmer inside my chest like it always does whenever I see or interact with my father, and I know I need an immediate release before I explode on everyone around me.
“It nearly did,” I say through clenched teeth as Mika and I make our way through the castle. “That fae has no idea what’s going on in this kingdom. None. His head is shoved so far up his own ass, he can’t see how his people are suffering because of it. You know, I was really starting to hope he’d just never come back.” My tongue is looser than it usually is with Mika, and as soon as the words leave my lips, I want to take them back.
Mika’s eyes get big as she looks at me, her lips pinching together tightly. For a moment, I think I’ve upset her, but after a short distance, once we’re finally away from anyone who could see or hear her, she says, “You’ve hardly ever spoken so candidly to me, Princess,” the tone of her voice relieving some of my worries.
Lowering her voice to a whisper, she asks, “May I do the same?”
“Of course,” I say. “You know you can tell me anything, Mika.”
A smile spreads across her face as she continues to whisper her passionate thoughts to me in the deserted hallway. “I can’t disagree with you in the slightest. Your father’s actions are so deplorable, even the servants speak of their dissent for him, and you know the steep penalties we humans face for such words. The Tava people need a leader like you, not someone like him, who couldn’t care less about this kingdom.”
I smile back at her as we reach Uncle’s door, and I try to offer her what I can. “I’ve heard about all the dissatisfaction everyone’s feel
ing, and it bothers me to no end.” I lightly rest one of my hands on each of her shoulders as I say, “Just know that if I can find a way to change things, I absolutely will.”
Mika’s face takes on this expression of tremendous pride as she looks at me, and I try not to let that pressure overwhelm me with everything else I’m already feeling. Letting the people of Tavatika down would be terrible and catastrophic enough on its own, but letting Mika down? I don’t think I’d ever recover from such a failure.
Taking a deep breath, I turn back to Uncle’s door and knock as Mika backs up, bringing her hands together in front of her as she bows her head, full-on ceremonial requirements back in place since outside eyes are about to see us.
I’ve told Mika that Uncle isn’t someone she has to stand on ceremony with either, but of course, she never listens to me in that regard. I guess it’s because she’s afraid of the consequences she’ll face as a human servant for not showing a fae the proper amount of respect, and because she doesn’t have the same kind of rapport she has with me, with any other fae.
As soon as Uncle opens the door, his laughter rings out and echoes in his abandoned part of the castle, confusing me as I watch him. “You’re wearing that to the dinner tonight? Oh, I bet the king is just livid,” he says around bursts of laughter. Pointing at me while he looks at Mika, he asks, “Did you pick that out?”
Mika nods meekly at him.
“Well, good job, Mika girl. I would just love to see his face when she walks in looking like that tonight,” he says before he turns around, leaving the door open for us.
“You know, you could actually attend the dinner tonight and see his reaction in person if you wanted to,” I say with a smile as I head inside his rooms.
Before he can answer, Mika murmurs, “I’ll be doing my rounds, Princess,” as she waves goodbye to me and closes the door behind her.
“Nah. I have no desire whatsoever to attend anything anymore. You know this,” Uncle says as we walk through his sitting room, past his bed-chamber, and on into our training room.
“Yeah, your reclusiveness is unmatched, I know.”
I’m being a smartass again, but it brings out another round of laughter from him.
Uncle had stopped making public appearances after my mother died, and my father had been all too keen on the prospect of never having to deal with anything or anyone that reminded him of her. In short order after her death, people stopped asking about where my uncle was or why he wasn’t in attendance at certain things. Over the years, even his whole section of the castle has been rearranged and relocated to be as far away from the rest of its inhabitants as possible. His part of the castle feels like a plague has run through it, and no one’s willing to come here anymore. Not even the servants make rounds to clean them, and Mika never steps foot inside his rooms when she drops me off.
I was too young and too distracted to pay much attention to the why’s and how’s of the whole situation, but I’ve always been appreciative of the isolation we have to train in because of it.
“I was going to ask if you were on your way to see your father before the dinner tonight, but from the way you banged on my door like a madfae, I’m assuming you’re just coming from there,” Uncle says as he steps over to the wall of weapons under the windows, eyeing each one carefully as he talks.
I follow behind him and grab a scythe from the wall before I head out into the center of the room. “Yeah, I just left, and I don’t want to talk about it,” I say a bit too hostilely as I start with a few warm-up swings, already reveling in the feel of the weapon in my hands.
“So it was that bad, huh?” he asks, and I just eye him in warning, showing him I’m not willing to compromise on talking about what happened with my father.
One look at me and the look on my face makes Uncle nod as he says, “Got it. You need some quiet violence right now, not words of comfort.”
I love that he knows me so well.
Turning, he grabs two daggers from the wall and starts stalking toward me, his bright green eyes focused on his target.
Squatting down a little and leaning forward some, my left leg slightly in front of my right, I settle into my stance as I watch him get closer, waiting for him to make the first move.
We train for the better part of an hour, and by the time we’re done, I’m spent and sweating all over, but my mind is clearer, and my thoughts don’t feel so jumbled anymore. Training always calms me down, and as I sit to catch my breath, gulping down a glass of water Uncle gave me, I feel more relaxed than I have all day.
“I’ve got something for you,” Uncle says, making his way over to the intricately carved cabinet in the corner by the door where he keeps all of his important papers. “I got some excellent intel yesterday. These fae here,” he grabs a stack of bounty sheets out of the top drawer and brings them over to me, “they’re staying in the city, and from what I heard, they’re pretty high up in the ranks of the rebellion. Do you recognize any of them?”
“They’re inside the city walls?” I ask in excitement as I practically jump up to snatch the sheets from his outstretched hand. “It’s been years since they’ve been bold enough to come inside the city!”
Tavatika is broken up into two different sections. Most of the high ranking fae live within the city walls itself, but the majority of our population actually live outside the walls.
The closer a person lives to the castle, which sits right in the center of Tavatika, the higher the class of that fae, and the farther they live from it, the lower they fall in social class. If a fae lives within the city itself, they’re probably doing alright in life. However, I’ve heard horror stories of what goes on outside the walls, and the trouble that seems to fester there is something I just can’t wait to fix when I become queen.
It’s true what my father said, I’ve never been outside Tavatika’s city walls, but it hasn’t been because I didn’t want to go. If I had my way, I’d be hunting and snuffing out criminals wherever they perform their criminal acts, but unfortunately, I can’t. It’s not allowed. The princess of the most powerful nation in all of Arorial is too precious a commodity to risk exposing her to the outside world, or so I’m told.
Even when I’m hunting bounties, Uncle has told me to never step foot or wing outside the walls, mainly for my own protection, but also because I have to do all of my hunting at night, and just based on the sheer size of the city of Tavatika, I wouldn’t have enough time to reach the walls and make it back before Mika would be making her morning rounds at sunrise. Who knows the kind of chaos that would ensue if she came back one morning and I was missing.
As awesome as Uncle has been about letting me seek out my vengeance, he’s always held me to that one rule the hardest - that my duties as a princess must come first. In the end, he’s said, it’s my position as the princess and future queen that will ultimately give me the best chance at causing any real or lasting change, so I can’t jeopardize that position for anything.
Glancing through the four bounty sheets in my hands, I skim the drawings of their likenesses and wrack my brain trying to get it to remember them from that night thirteen years ago, but even my wild imagination knows immediately that these fae are probably too young to have played a direct role in my mother’s murder.
“No, I don’t recognize them,” I say around a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t criminals that need to be turned over to Eruxus. Leave them to me, I’ll take care of them.” I carefully fold the sheets and stick them in my back pocket before taking another sip of water.
Uncle looks pointedly at me, and the seriousness in his face catches me off guard for a second. “Z, I need you to take your time and read through those sheets carefully. Those fae aren’t like the petty ones you’ve gotten used to hunting around here. They’re definitely rebellion members and run together as a pack from what I understand. They’re extremely dangerous.”
Smiling at his concern, I say, “I will, Uncle. But don’t you remember who it was t
hat got the rebellion to leave the inside of the city in the first place? I think I can handle four lowlifes who obviously don’t know what the rules are.”
He just scoffs at me as he returns our weapons to the wall and asks, “What have I told you about being overconfident?”
Rolling my eyes behind his back, I mimic his voice as best I can, but it comes out more mocking than anything else, “It’s a good way to get yourself killed.”
“Exactly,” he says as he turns back around to face me. “I know you’re the one that captured so many rebels it made them second guess coming into the city for a few years, but just as you’ve been training the whole time they’ve been away, I’m willing to bet that so have they.
I’m not saying the criminals you’ve been catching aren’t dangerous as well, I’m just asking that you don’t underestimate these fae or overestimate your own abilities. An arrow can kill you whether you’re the princess or not, and no amount of training can prevent one from flying through your face,” he says before he pauses for a breath. “Always expect an arrow to the face, Z.”
I smile at him and pat him on the shoulder. “I’ll read every word on each of them, I promise.”
“That’s my girl. Now, go piss off the country with your disrespectful outfit before I change my mind and give those bounties to someone else,” he says as he leads me through to his door.
“Like any other bounty hunter you know would even have a chance with these bounties,” I respond, and it makes Uncle laugh that deep-chested laugh of his where some of his long blonde hair always falls in his face.
“You’re right about that, Z. This job definitely needs The Ghost,” he says once his laughter dies off.
When I open the door, Mika is there waiting for me, and as we start heading to dinner, I hear Uncle yell out, “Make me proud!”
Chapter 3
Our grand ballroom sits at the very top of the castle, and orchestral music can be heard as I make my way up the stairs that lead to it. There are four heavily decorated walls and a meticulously painted mural spreading across the vast shiny floor, but in the days leading up to Faedom Day, the ceiling retracts back into the walls of the castle, giving all the guests in attendance an unobstructed view of the stars and an unmistakable awareness of Tavatika’s wealth.