Ravensgaard Queen: An Urban Fantasy Romance (Shifter Chronicles Book 1)

by Melle Amade

  “This part of the castle hasn’t been updated,” she said. “The bathroom is down the hall, and you’ll find towels on your beds, miss.”

  “Were you expecting us?” I asked.

  “We were expecting some survivors from Dublin,” the girl said, ringing her hands and not making eye contact. “In fact, we were expecting a few more than just the two of you.”

  Tears stung the back of my eyes. But just as quickly as it came on, the pain was obliterated by my hatred of the Alliance. I clamped down hard on my lips. I refused to show how lacerated I was by the murders of my family.

  “We shall serve you some food before you go to meet the master,” the maid said, her gaze dodging furtively up at me. “We’ll have it brought to your room.”

  I frowned. I guess they don’t get visitors around here much. Though, you’d think they wouldn’t be so surprised. She looked positively in awe of me every time her eyes came up to meet mine.

  I glanced into the chamber. The ceilings were low and dark, all-natural hardwood. There were two twin beds, one on either side, the bedspreads were an antique floral pattern, as if someone’s grandmother used to live here. But I didn’t really mind. The large pillows and heavy quilts looked like heaven compared to the nights we spent outdoors. And it was a good deal nicer than the room we shared in Dublin.

  Guilt stabbed at my gut. That had been my home.

  I inhaled slow and deep, the air felt like concrete, stiffening my resolve. We just needed reinforcements to return to Dublin and avenge the death of our family.

  “You go first,” Siobhan said, picking at a white towel.

  “There’s no need to take turns,” Jane chirped with a genuine smile. “There is a bath at either end of the hall, please help yourself. But hurry, mustn’t keep the master waiting. He doesn’t like that at all.”

  I refrained from rolling my eyes. No point in showing my disdain. It was crucial we got the master on our side. We needed him. We needed his son. We needed everybody down here to support us. Siobhan and I couldn’t fight the Hunters of the Alliance alone.

  As the hot water poured down my back in the shower, I began to loosen up. A slight tint of red slid like blood down my body. But it was only the dye from my hair. It always did that. I had to replace it every few weeks. Probably wouldn’t be possible here. Didn’t look like the village sold bright red hair dye on every street corner.

  The loud crash of thumping pipes startled me. It took me a moment to realize it was just the old plumbing, but it was too late. My body was shaking, and my breath caught in my throat. I closed my eyes but all I could see was Mrs. O’Leary’s head lying in a blood-stained pool on the carpet splattered with small rust red drops.

  They had followed us back to our home.

  Those dumb kids recruiting at the concert had known we were shifters. They beat us at our own game. We left, thinking we’d hoodwinked them, that they would start recruiting us. We were so wrong. Instead they had destroyed us. Siobhan and I were responsible for the death of everybody in our cabal.

  Black vengeance poured into every one of my veins. I would destroy them; kill every last Hunter on the face of the earth and wipe their alliance off the planet. Especially those two.

  How dare they? How dare they think we were demon spawn?

  My hand gripped the bar of soap so hard it made dents in it before I let it drop and fall onto the slick tile. I left it where it lay stepping quickly out of the shower. It made no sense getting relaxed and comfortable when we should be battling the Hunters.

  I dried off with the two towels placed neatly on the counter. The one I wrapped around my head was probably turning red, but I didn’t care. I was invigorated by the hot water and was prepared to speak with Master Murtagh.

  When I returned to our room Siobhan was there, already wolfing down soup and bread, her eyes on a pile of lamb and potatoes. There was a platter of food on the table for me also, but I could barely eat. All I managed was the soup.

  “What’s our strategy?” I asked.

  Siobhan looked up, her mouth full of bread, her eyebrows drawn together so tightly they looked like a bird in flight.

  “Strategy?” she asked.

  “To get Master Murtagh’s support to send a battalion with us to flush out the Hunters,” I explained.

  Siobhan’s eyes widened and she shook her head slowly. “I don’t know if I want to go back, Davin,” she said.

  “What do you mean you don’t want to go back?” My spoon clattered into my bowl. “What are you going to do? Stay here?” I gesticulated at the opulent room.

  Siobhan shrugged.

  “You didn’t even want to come here!” Soup spilled from the bowl as my hand came down on the table.

  “I know, it’s just- It feels safe here,” she said softly.

  “You’re just going to let our family lie there, rotting into the ground? Unavenged?” I could barely contain the anger coursing through my veins.

  “No,” she said slowly. “Listen. Clearly something must be done. But it doesn’t have to be us. They can send somebody else. There’s got to be a ton of warriors here. This is Castle Brannach, home of the Ravensgaard.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said. “All these Ravensgaard live here, in a safe haven. They have no idea what it’s like out there with the Hunters. They hide in their castle, so far removed from the world. How can they know? How on God’s green earth can they know, about battle?”

  “We have to convince them. They need to understand what’s going on out there.” Siobhan nodded her head in assent, but her eyes had a faraway look that told me she didn’t want to be the one in the fray.

  “Master Murtagh needs to send a battalion back to Dublin to flush out the Hunters,” I insisted. “And we need to go back with them. No one knows Dublin like we do.”

  Siobhan stared at her plate.

  “Don’t you dare tell me you aren’t going back with me,” I glared.

  “Of course. Of course, I am,” she said without looking up, slowly chewing her food.

  But for the first time in my life, Siobhan was lying to me.

  5

  A few minutes later Jane, the maid, opened the door without knocking and stepped into the awkward silence that settled between Siobhan and me.

  “The masters are waiting for you,” Jane said, glancing cautiously between the two of us.

  “The masters?” Siobhan asked. “I thought there was only one master.”

  “To be sure, there is only one master,” Jane said, ringing her wrists together. “Master Quinn, the Murtagh, leads our clan. But there is also Master Riordan, who will be the Murtagh one day. And also, his younger brother, Master Fenton.”

  “Great three masters to deal with,” I muttered.

  “No, the Master Quinn is the only master.” Jane smiled. “But you must be careful of his sons. They have some weight in his decisions.”

  “Thank you, we appreciate your help,” Siobhan said to the young woman.

  I rolled my eyes. “How can you be so polite when you don’t even -”

  “Look,” Siobhan cut em off, “you’re not going to get anything if you walk in everywhere like a raging bull. You’ve got to do it in the way they want it done. Say your pleases and thank yous.”

  She always did have better manners than me. I sighed.

  I trailed my fingers along the wooden banister as we walked down the staircase. There was something magical in this castle. I had no idea what it was, but it had power, something that allowed its massive towers to stay hidden from the human eye. Hell, even the shifter eye. Siobhan couldn’t see it until Riordan worked his magic. How was that possible? Shifter magic was almost absent from the world anymore. There were legends long ago that each clan had a magical object to protect their people and when combined the talismans would make a powerful force, but that was a myth no on believed in anymore.

  I shook the thoughts out of my head. The creepy walls of this place were getting to me.

 
We were taken into what I could only describe as a receiving room. At first glance it seemed like a throne room, except for one minor details. Unless you were the leader of one of the four Muiderkrings, you weren’t allowed to have a throne. Our Muirderkring, the west, was led by Lord Van Arend, the Eagle. He was based in California of all ridiculous places. How the hell the Irish Ravensgaard ended up with a liege lord on the other side of the world, I’ll never know. I mean, I know the technicalities of it. I didn’t sleep my way through tutoring. But I often wondered why we put up with it.

  We used to have our own queen.

  Or the rights to a queen at least, but that was a long, long time ago. Before the Muiderkrings formed. Before the Wars of Attrition. Before we were sidelined to simply be at the beck and call of the Eagles. Before the Berzerken, the Viking bear shifters rose to power in Muiderkring North and then began to lead The Order, which governed us all.

  No idea how that even happened. It seemed like we should’ve handled them. The big lumbering bears were stupid. Sure, we were smaller, but we had things they would never understand; agility, speed and intelligence and, judging by the way this castle was hidden, we still have magic.

  But when we swore fealty to the Eagles, we lost the title, we hid our magic until it was forgotten, and I think we pretty much lost our intelligence, too.

  No time to think about that now. We were in the receiving room and I needed to focus on Murtagh and gaining his support.

  Riordan stood behind the high-backed wooden chair that was only barely not a throne. Eagles must not come here much, because I bet that chair would be illegal. It was made of ebony wood, tall, shiny, and polished to perfection. The arm rests ended with upheld hands and black carved ravens poised to take flight from the open palms, beaks open in silent screech. The back of the chair splayed out in giant wings. They looked as if they were coming from the back of the man who sat in the chair.

  Siobhan sidled closer to me. “That is Master Murtagh. The Usurper.”

  I gripped Siobhan’s hand. Usurper shouldn’t be uttered in this room. He had been sitting on this chair for more than a quarter of a century. While people remembered the Queen, Master Murtagh was the ruler of the Ravensgaard, without a doubt.

  We all bowed to his leadership. But as I watched him, I had even more doubts than I’d had before. His face was cruel and his body huge. He had black hair, short cropped hair and a face like a square block. He was like a thundercloud, massive and about to explode.

  Siobhan’s fingers tightened on mine. As much as I wanted to glance at her and make sure she’s okay, I didn’t. We were Ravensgaard. We had to be okay. I did move a little closer to her so they couldn’t see us holding hands. We were the warriors of Dublin. There was no reason for us to be afraid of Master Murtagh. He was our leader.

  To the side of Master Murtagh stood a startling handsome boy with pale skin and fiery red hair. He must be Murtagh’s other son. He looked quite like Riordan, except his face was softer, lips fuller and eyes larger. Neither one of them looked like their father, so they must take after their mother. They all wore black turtlenecks, the father in black slacks, his sons more casual in black jeans.

  There was nobody to introduce us, so we stepped forward.

  “Greetings, Master Murtagh.” Siobhan’s polite words reminded me I needed him on my side. Even though it just seemed wrong to have to convince him of that. He should want vengeance as much as I did.

  “Father, these are the girls who came to us from Dublin,” Riordan said. “Davin and Siobhan Mruphy, this is my father Master Murtagh, and my brother Fintan.”

  Fintan nodded his head slightly in my direction but his eyes stayed completely on Siobhan. Master Murtagh’s back went a little straighter.

  “Murphy,” he frowned.

  I swallowed unintentionally by the way he said our last name. Technically it wasn’t my last name, but Casey had given it to me when I’d come to live with them. Legally I was his adopted daughter and a Murphy. Though, from the look on Master Murtagh’s face, he had little more love for that family than they had for him.

  “The Dublin cabal,” Fintan said, his gaze staying on Siobhan.

  “Tell us what happened, then,” Master Murtagh’s voice thundered in the hall as he sighed and leaned back in his seat. I didn’t even think he was trying to speak loudly; that seemed like it might just be his normal speaking voice.

  “They slaughtered them all,” I said. My skin burned. I’m sure they’ll find out the truth, but I’m not about to tell them it was our fault.

  “I want to know every detail,” Master Murtagh said. His boys nodded solemnly. “I lost warriors. Warriors who cannot simply be replaced.”

  I glanced at Siobhan but clearly, she wasn’t going to say anything. Although she let go of my hand, she was just staring down at her toes. A gray shadow moved in the corner and I glanced over to see the butler, Walsh slip into the room, quietly standing there to witness our humiliation. There was no getting out of it. So, I told him how we had gone out to scout at the concert and how we were trying to infiltrate the Alliance. How we met those two hunters, gave them our numbers and went home. Then I tell them about the attack that same night, but there isn’t much to tell. There were no screams, no counterattacks, no defense. There was only blade, blood and death.

  My gaze stayed fixed on Master Murtagh as I told him all this because I knew what his response would be. It would be exactly like mine.

  “You led them to your home,” he said.

  I didn’t flinch. Even though my guts clenched, and my throat tightened, and I didn’t know how I’d take my next breath.

  “I want to join the retaliation forces,” I said.

  Master Murtagh coughed. It was a deep cough, ragged, wet, and choking. His red-haired son, Fintan, hit his back a few times as Master Murtagh’s face turned pink and drops of spittle collected around his mouth.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Siobhan whispered anxiously, but I elbowed her. The hall was big, but it was also empty, which meant voices carried.

  Riordan stepped between his father and us. “Come,” he said. “I’ll show you around.”

  I glanced over at Master Murtagh, who seemed to be getting his breath under control, but his chest rattled as he wheezed. The gray man, Walsh, was gone from the corner of the room.

  “I think I’d like to lie down, instead,” Siobhan said. “Is that all right?”

  “Of course,” Riordan said. “Would you like an escort to your room?”

  “Our room is in Dublin.” My heart tightened.

  I noticed a crease lining Siobhan’s forehead. “No, no thank you, I think I know where I’m going.”

  Riordan smiled and surprisingly, it reached his eyes, strangely lifting my mood. Was he as cold and aloof as he seemed? Or was he hiding a warmer heart beneath that chill exterior?

  “I used to get lost down here all the time when I was a wee lad,” he said, motioning us out of the great hall and away from his ailing father.

  We walked down the immense passage with dark halls leading off on both sides. I felt like a rat caught in a maze wondering how to get out.

  “I can imagine,” Siobhan said.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure you were trying to get lost half the time, too,” I murmured.

  Riordan’s rich laughter filled the hallway. “The stairs to your room are through those doors.” He pointed the way for Siobhan, who gave a slight curtsey before leaving.

  We turned down one of the small dark hallways that smelled of stone dust as if it was rarely used. How many people must they need to keep a place like this clean? What a waste of Ravensgaard talent. They should let it sink into the dirt and keep us focused on fighting.

  “When will we be able to go back?” I asked.

  “Go back?” Riordan cocked an eyebrow at me.

  “To Dublin. To retaliate against the Alliance. We were so close to finding their stronghold.”

  “I don’t know, Davin,” he said. “But I und
erstand.”

  His fingers touched my forearm. I glanced down and wondered at the flittering of confusion inside me. “They left you alive for a reason,” he said. “What my father is worried about is that you may have led them here.”

  My heart scrunched behind my ribs and fell into my stomach. “No,” I murmured. “They couldn’t have followed us.”

  “We don’t really know what they’re capable of,” he said.

  “We flew here. They couldn’t have followed us.” I repeated.

  “It’s okay, Davin,” he said. “You’re here now. We’ll protect you.”

  I stopped in my tracks; my hand went to the hilt of Casey’s scian. “I don’t need your protection. I want your help. With or without you I will go back to Dublin and root out the Alliance until every single one of them are dead.”

  “I know you will,” Riordan said, his black eyes watching me closely. “And I’ll support you, but for now, let me show you around Castle Brannach. I can introduce you to our clan in a way you’ve never seen. I know you’ve had a tough life up there in Dublin–”

  “I haven’t had a tough life,” I protested. “It was a great life. You all live here in Castle Brannach protected by magic, but the minute your magic fails, and the glamour falls, the Hunters will find you. We have to go back to Dublin and wipe them out or else they will come here and destroy the Ravensgaard stronghold.”

  Riordan burst out in unrepentant laughter.

  I bared my teeth at him. “Stop.”

  Instantly the laughter and smile slid off his angular face. “I’m sorry, Davin. I meant no disrespect. It’s just so hard to believe. Look at this place. A few stupid Hunters will never infiltrate these walls and destroy the entire Ravensgaard. We’re untouchable.”

  “Arrogance is the flaw of the devil.” I ground the words out as I shook my head. When would these spoiled Ravensgaard understand?

  “Nothing’s going to happen today. Let’s go to the stables,” Riordan said, pushing open the door to step into the light.

  The stable was just across the way from the castle. It looked like a small manor house. It was in the same style as Castle Brannach, black with twisting spires reaching into the gray sky. I raised my eyebrows.