I poised myself for the fight that I knew was coming. Where the hell is Axel? He better be okay, but why isn’t he here?
“I’m sorry, but I will have to pass on both of those offers, sir. I don’t plan to go without a fight, and I certainly won’t cave to Prince Kennan just because he sent a big man to my bedroom. Takes more than that to scare me,” I taunted.
Most people would think it stupid to taunt someone three times my size. However, for me, it was like putting on emotional armor. I was building up myself up for what I knew I would have to do if help didn’t come soon.
“Well then,” the brute said before correcting his sword and charging me.
I quickly moved out of his way and watched as he launched himself over my bed. He crashed into the wall. His failed tackle seemed to leave him angry.
How could he think that would work on me? I’m smaller than him and can move faster. This guy was just clearly muscle and intimidation, no brains.
He righted himself to his feet and stared at me like he was trying to figure out what I would do next. Suddenly something slammed into the back of my head, sending me to the floor. I couldn’t control the way I was falling and landed on my back.
Did he do that, and use magic? Why wasn’t I able to tell?
The brute had his sword poised above my throat while I was struggling to slide away from him. My sword was still in my hand but laid by my side. I could see the brute shifting his weight as he was about to kneel on top of me to deal a final blow.
At the exact moment he moved, so did I. I brought my sword straight up and held on tight with both hands. The brute tried to stop his momentum, but gravity worked against him. He brought himself right down onto the blade, crushing me in the process. Immediately I felt the blood run onto my hands and seep into the nightgown I was wearing.
The brute’s eyes were open but unseeing. He was dead, another life that I had ended. I knew that he would have killed me if I hadn’t beaten him to the punch. But the knowledge that his blood was physically and metaphorically on my hands crushed me, more than his actual weight, which was still on me.
Tears started to pool in my eyes while I could do nothing with my hands to wipe them away. The sounds in the hall started getting louder, and I heard someone calling for me.
I looked toward the door and watched as Axel and Trin rushed into the room. Axel’s sword was coated in blood, and Trin had a small gash on her forehead, poor thing. She looked just as terrified as I felt.
“Oh, Goodness!” she cried out.
“Are you okay?” Axel demanded as he struggled to pull the dead man off of me.
“Do you want literally or metaphorically?” I answered.
“Either, both, I don’t care which,” he said desperately, trying to gauge the situation.
I calculated what I wanted to say. I knew it was taking me a moment longer than it should. Then I realized I had been hit pretty hard in the head. I probably had a concussion.
“Physically, I took a nice blow to the back of the head. Other than that, I’m fine. Metaphorically, no, I’m not fine. I’m covered in a man’s blood,” I told him.
I wanted to cry. I could still feel the tears pooling in my eyes, but I worked so hard to push them away. I was a Queen in war with two enemies. I couldn’t cry every time I killed someone. There wouldn’t be enough tears for all those that would be affected by my decisions. I needed to start acting like that Queen now.
Axel looked like he wanted to say something to me, but he didn’t have the chance. Trin grabbed me by the wrist and hurried me to the bathroom. She closed the door behind us, blocking me from the only person I needed to be near. He knew what this had done to me. Yet, at the same time, I was glad he didn’t have to see me like this.
Trin immediately started using the bucket lift to haul water from the underground spring that provided the castle with clean drinking water. After about thirty big buckets full, I had a full bath to ease into. I used my magic to heat the water to my liking, something that came in handy.
I had cleaned my hands as best as I could before getting into the water, so the water only turned a light shade of pink with my entrance.
“Violet, I feel so terrible; this is my fault,” she said, sounding so sad.
“What do you mean, Trin? How could this possibly be your fault?” I asked her.
“I called Axel away from your room. He should have been there to protect you. I called out when one of the rebels put a blade to my throat. He came running in to save me, leaving you vulnerable. I am so sorry,” she said, looking down at her feet.
“Trin, look at me.”
She reluctantly looked up and met my eyes.
“Nothing about this is your fault. Axel is the heroic type and will run in to defend whoever is in need. I have magic and sword training. I can take care of myself. I’m glad he ran to save you. I’d rather be covered in that stranger’s blood than yours,” I told her honestly.
She had tears running down her cheeks. She sniffed at her runny nose, trying to pull herself together.
“But still,” she said.
“But nothing,” I told her. “Can you help me wash my hair?” I asked her.
She was a lot like me and needed things to focus on other than her thoughts.
“Of course,” she said with a small smile.
She was happy to have something else to focus on, now that I changed the topic of conversation.
Just like that, things started to fall back together.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Trin
Iwas perched on the edge of the tub, massaging the soap out of Violet’s hair. Tonight’s events still clouded my thoughts.
I had been in my room, writing a letter when I heard the commotion in the halls. Like the stupid person I am, I stuck my head out into the hall when someone I had never seen before put a knife to my neck and pushed me into my room.
I let out a blood-curdling scream. After it left my throat, it felt raw. I fell to the floor, and the man shoved the door closed behind him. He used his foot to kick my side. He got down on one knee over top of me and pushed the blade close to my face. He made sure that I was staring right at it when he spoke.
“You are the dumb bitch’s advisor. You will be useful to my Prince, but first, I have another use for you.”
He stood and took off his shirt, and then Axel barged in. He came splintering through the door like an angry bull. He grabbed the man by his head and turned his head at a weird angle. I heard a loud crack, and then the man dropped to the floor dead. Axel’s face was red, and he was breathing heavily.
“Are you ok?” he asked me.
“Never better,” I lied.
He was kind enough not to call me on my bluff.
I heard more screams coming from the hallway and listened to the marching of the knight’s metal armor. They knew the castle was under attack and are responding, thank the Goddess. Hopefully, this whole thing would be over in minutes.
I heard swords clashing, and then a scream that rivaled mine. But I knew who it belonged to, and I’m not sure who moved first, Axel or I.
He pushed me out of the way to get through the door first, which I was grateful for in hindsight. His back blocked the views of the violence in the halls.
We got to Violet’s room and saw a bloody mess.
Axel
Seconds moved by in a blur like they do in battle. But I’m not on a battlefield. I’m in my home, in the middle of the night. My family, my girlfriend, and I all went to bed feeling safe but woke up trapped in our worst nightmare.
The bells were rung alerting us of intruders after the first staff member was killed; then, it was total chaos. Thirty assassins snuck into the castle in the middle of the night, and I’m not sure how it happened. If I knew how it happened, I could prevent it from happening again not knowing made it that much worse.
My instincts had me running to save Trin before I thought of the consequences of leaving Violet, asleep in her bed. She’
d be dead if she had been wearing the amulet and was awake in her world.
Seeing her lying there in a puddle of blood stirred up so many things in my head and my gut. I couldn’t even put words to the amount of guilt or worry I had; it was all-consuming.
She was slow to speak, and I wasn’t sure if it was from injury or shock or grief, or a combination. She barely spoke before Trin pulled her into the bathroom. Violet gave me one last final look before she disappeared behind the door. Her eyes looked lost, and her bottom lip quivered. I was destroyed inside. I wasn’t here to prevent this, and that pain I saw in her eyes and that bump on her head are my fault.
I wanted to barge into the bathroom and grab her and wrap her into a hug. I wanted to give her my shoulder to fall apart on, and then let her put back her own pieces. But as I approached the bathroom door, I realized that wasn’t needed.
The sniffling I heard was coming from Trin, and Violet was comforting her. Violet gave herself a task, and she was going to stick to it. Helping others helped her. It’s one of the many impressive things I have learned about her since she became Queen.
While Trin and Violet took care of each other, I checked on my mother and sister. I found them hiding under Mother’s bed. They cried tears of joy when I had entered the room and told them everything was ok.
I heard some of my knights marching prisoners down the halls. That meant some of the attackers had survived and could be questioned. I needed to know who was behind this and why even if it feels self-evident. It gives me a task to focus on, to keep myself from bubbling over in fear and anxiety.
But that’s all my life has been since Violet became Queen. Can we live the rest of our lives like this?
Violet
After my bath, I made rounds around the castle. It was still the middle of the night, but the cleaning had already started. Blood was being mopped up, and broken items were being replaced. It was the busiest I had ever seen the castle at this time.
First, I made my way to see Clarissa. I was relieved to see her unharmed. She was drinking some tea to calm her nerves when I entered her room. I hadn’t been in here since I asked Trin to decorate it. I still found it just as beautiful, even though the bed was unmade.
“Violet, you’re ok! I’m so glad. I wouldn’t believe it until I saw you with my own eyes. I heard what happened, you poor dear. Please sit,” she gently demanded.
It seemed to be one of those things she did naturally.
She asked one of the knights to pour me a cup of the tea she was having. When the knight finished pouring the tea, he sat it down in front of me and stepped back.
“You must try this tea,” Clarissa politely suggested. “It calms my nerves; it really helps in occasions like this,” she said.
I took a sip of the tea, and the taste of mint and lavender flooded my mouth. It felt calming as the warmness of it settled in my belly.
“So,” she pressed, “what was the cause of this tonight?”
“This was another isolated attack by Tate. The man that attacked me in my room tried to get me to accept Prince Keenan’s offer. If I didn’t accept, then I was to be executed.”
“That’s horrible,” the Queen commented.
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m barely eighteen and running a whole Kingdom. Tell me, is it always going to be like this?” I asked her.
“I have found that things happen in cycles. You will have times where things get really tough, and then you will have times when things are good, and you will enjoy being Queen. You just have to ride out the bad to get to the good, just like everything else in life,” she said.
“I just hope it doesn’t take too long to get to the good parts,” I told her.
“Yes, I hope for your sake, you are right,” she added.
☼
After I left Clarissa’s room, I spoke to the man who still claimed to be my father. He was from Tate and would maybe have some information to keep me from sending him on his way right now, in the middle of the night.
If he was somehow feeding them information or spying for them, I would make him pay, regardless of our shared blood. I am kind, but I am not weak.
I barged in the room two halls from my own. “Tell me what you know, and I want to hear it now,” I demanded as the door closed behind me.
“I swear I know nothing of what just happened. You see, I’ve been on the outskirts of Morthsoul for a while now. I have no knowledge of what is happening in Tate,” he promised.
“Earlier when we spoke, you said everything was going good with your life with Mom and me until you heard what was happening in Tate. Explain,” I pressed.
“Well, my father ran the Kingdom. While we were allied with Corone, we weren’t nearly as aggressive as the Kingdom is now. Technically, Father is still King; Alexander runs the show. He is now using a precious jewel mine that rests on your border to scrounge up more emeralds. The last I heard, he sold those to certain people from Arlington and surrounding areas for unimaginable amounts of money. He promises them special seats on his boards and committees and such,” he said.
My father looked like he wasn’t holding back. He was red in the face and animated. I know this is hard to fake, and I am inclined to believe him.
“So why is it they need Morthsoul so badly?” I asked my father. I was not going to call him Dad, maybe ever, but looking at this man, it was hard not to see him as my father. We had the same nose, and our eyes were shaped the same. Our smiles were similar.
“There isn’t just one mine. The other is a few miles away but on your side of the border. He wants those stones, and Alexander is willing to go to war over them.”
“Alexander is the one waging war? I was under the impression it was Kennan and Samantha calling the shots,” I told him.
“No, No. Alexander is a control freak; he would never let that happen. He is just using his children as puppets. They are under strict orders to get results.”
“You swore you knew nothing, yet here you are answering all my questions you shouldn’t have the answers to,” I told my father.
“These are answers that haven’t changed in years. Kennan was trying to get access to that mine from Eduard, but Eduard was greedy and asking too much. I figured Keenan was going to have Eduard assassinated, but you beat him to the punch. Now Kennan has a new situation to take advantage of. It only makes sense. While I know the answers to those things, I have no idea what is happening there now,” he told me.
“How does Kennan not know we are related? Or does he, and he just doesn’t care?” That left a sour taste in my mouth.
“Alexander and I aren’t on the best terms. You see, I am the firstborn son. I should be the King of Tate once Father passes, but I decided to live in Arlington with your mother. When I came back to Tate for a small visit, I realized all the harm Alexander was doing. Since then, I’ve been waiting for the day I can bring my family’s kingdom back from the brink of dictatorship.”
“If you are from here, then how did you meet Mom? Did you know that she is Victoria’s granddaughter?” I asked.
“I had no way of knowing until I came across Victoria’s diary in your Grandmother’s attic. I was grabbing an old table to use in our new house when I discovered it and realized the truth.”
“This is so much to take in,” I told him.
“I understand. I am so sorry for leaving, but I knew your mother could take care of you. My brother is out of control, and I am trying to stop him the best way I can,” he told me.
Am I still angry that he left us? Yeah, it’s hard to just let go of years of feeling abandoned by a parent. He put other people’s needs before mine. But at the same time, he came full circle and is now helping me and my Kingdom in a way Mom can’t. He’s been missing all these years just to step in and help me at this moment. How did things like this happen?
“And Kennan doesn’t know you, how?” I asked.
“Well, he met me when he was three, but I can hardly say he remembers me. I assume Alexander doe
sn’t bring me up, as I could pose a big threat to his claim on the throne. If I showed up, it would cause a lot of trouble.”
“But couldn’t you just come back and claim the throne, and the Morthlands wouldn’t need to enter another war?” I asked him. This whole thing seemed foolish.
“Do you think Alexander would just let me waltz in and steal everything he’s worked so hard to get? No. He’d have me assassinated on sight.”
He had a good point.
“So, what do you suggest?” I asked my father. He had answered so many of my questions with surprising ease. I could feel little pieces of resentment break away from my heart with each honest answer he gave.
“That, I cannot tell you. You are the Queen, and the decision is yours, and yours alone.”
“But what do you suggest, as a father?” I asked him.
He paused for a moment at my request.
“Catch them by surprise. The family is full of arrogance, except for my father, and you. They will be beside themselves if you beat down their front door unannounced. Things are so structured here and scheduled. Bring some of the fighting styles from your world, except guns, please don’t bring those here.”
“Way ahead of you,” I said.
I turned to the guard, still in the room with us.
“You may leave him unattended now. He is now under the protection of the Morthlands crown.”
The knight nodded in understanding. I turned back to my father, who was trying to fight the smile spreading across his face.
“This is a reward for your honesty tonight. Please do not blow this chance I’m giving you. You may be my blood, but you did not raise me. You get to work for my trust like everyone else.”
I turned around and exited his room.
Now, what would I do with my day and this new information? Out of the window, I could see one of the suns rising, and that meant no more sleep for this Queen, at least not until that sun went down.
Emerald Mountains (The Dream Traveler Series Book 2) Page 9