by Jaymin Eve
There was no way she should have been queen, but that didn’t mean she deserved to die as she had.
Selene wiped away the last of the blood, and with a scowl was turning to follow Breanna when the council called us back in. She froze for a second, seemingly undecided whether she wanted to go after Breanna or heed the council’s call. With a final hiss from Larak, the snake curled back around his heir and the pair followed me inside the great hall.
I was the first through the door, Selene close behind, and Breanna slipped in at the last minute from the side entrance. Selene’s eyes tracked her like a lion stalking its prey. The council had changed into more formal robes now, and Torine was still holding the scroll.
“The first task is now complete. We have assigned points based on speed, accuracy, cunning, skill, and success in the war games. Arianna showed remarkable leadership skills. She set the board up to keep her territory safe, and when needed sent her queen into the battle. All great leaders are on the front line. They do not hide in the shadows. It shows a love of her people, a strength and bravery which will be an asset for our future leaders. She has earned the top fifty points.”
I gave a small smile, trying to hide my exhilaration.
He continued, and the shouts that had risen up died off just as quickly. “Selene relied heavily on brute force and speed, taking out the largest group and scattering the enemy’s forces. She did not kill the bear king, but did keep her queen safe. She was in second place and will receive twenty points. Breanna lost her queen. She over-capitalized in her initial force, and did not watch for the lone soldiers sneaking in the darkness. She receives no points.”
I could see the yellow-shirted wolf hang her head, and judging by the disgruntled noises in the crowd she wasn’t the only one disappointed in her skills today.
I honestly couldn’t believe Breanna could be so stupid as to let a group of lone bears sneak up on her queen. In a one-on-one situation on the mecca board, if it’s not the queen’s turn and you managed to make it into her quarters, and she has no guards, then she’s dead. They count it as an assassination in the night. Breanna should know better than to remove all guards, unless there was no other option. Hadn’t her mentors taught her anything? I knew she was good in physical battle. Maybe they had spent all their time with the swords and no time in the books. Breanna was more of a warrior than a strategist or leader.
Torine continued. “Tomorrow we reconvene here for trial two. Tonight you will be graded on the second part of the first trial. You all will practice diplomacy and entertain a guest for dinner. It’s your job to be as political as possible so as not to anger, offend, or incite a war.”
I felt a chill down my spine.
“Who is the guest?” Selene asked before I could.
“A councilman of the bear king,” was his reply.
Both of our jaws dropped in unison.
The bear king could have been responsible for murdering our queen for all we knew. Now his councilman was allowed at our dinner table? This was one of the few things I absolutely hated about politics, and possibly being queen. Still, I had to accept it as part of my role. Unfortunately.
I remained behind for a few moments so the council could speak to me about my prize for winning the first trial. I was able to glimpse the small pile of gold, and the very valuable leather-bound magical tome before it was returned to the vault. The gold and spell book would remain in the royal safe until the end of the Summit. If I died, the gold would be handed over to the next alpha of the Bronx. The spell book would be given to Violet. I couldn’t wait to tell her. She’d be thrilled to get her hands on some new material.
I gave a nod, and Calista bowed deeply, before we were whisked off to our sleeping quarters. I knew Selene and Breanna were on the same floor as me, but the guards informed me I had been given the grandest of the three suites since I was the direct heir of the late Red Queen.
As we traversed the halls, I whispered under my breath to Calista: “What have you heard from Violet? I need her back here immediately.”
I wanted to get her in that library before those scents were gone, finding out who killed my queen was high on my list of priorities. Calista typed away on her tablet and pulled up an email. It was from Violet, addressed to me.
Oh my God, I felt her death all the way across the world. You will be called to Summit soon, I need to deal with a serious matter here and then I’m on the first flight home. I love you. Stay strong and kick Selene’s ass. We will avenge our beloved Red Queen. –V
I couldn’t help the grin that lit up my face. Even though I had never expected to be called to the Summit in my lifetime, Violet and I used to play Summit games as kids. Even then we’d hated Selene.
Calista saw my smile and gave me an eye roll. “Violet has never been politically correct.”
No she wasn’t, which was why I loved her. She gave it to you like it was and had the power to back up anything she said. No sugarcoating and no bull.
We reached the large double doors to my quarters. Half of my dominants went in first to make sure it was secure before I was allowed to step into what was basically a three-bedroom apartment. The royal home was even more massive than I’d expected.
As my eyes alighted on what would be my quarters for the next little while, I had to admit that despite my own lovely apartment building in the Bronx, there was absolutely no expense spared within the royal building. Glistening travertine floors, marble countertops and gold accents, decadent furnishings in shades of cream and bronze and rich reds. Everything was of the highest quality, and spaciously designed.
The residence took up some of the most prime real estate in Manhattan. It was priceless. Humans didn’t know about us, we used magic to keep our secrets, but we still ran their cities. We had the best real estate, people in all positions of power, and our fingers on the pulse of our boroughs. Even if humans outnumbered us, we had the magical mecca at our disposal, which more than evened the odds.
As I stepped further inside, a maid scurried along the hall. She wore the red emblem of the queen on her uniform, and her expression was neutral. Respectful. As she closed in on me, she gave a low bow, and when I returned that with a nod she hurried out of the open doorway. The queen staffed over a hundred people to keep her residence going, and as soon as time permitted I intended to interview every single one of them. Someone saw something last night or this morning, and I would find out who killed our queen.
Calista closed the door of my opulent suite then, and I was just about to beeline toward my bedroom when she called out to me.
“What?” I growled, the wolf rising in my voice. Generally I had better control, but I was tired and hungry. “The obligatory dinner isn’t for hours and I need sleep and food.”
The queen’s death had been very early this morning. It was about noon now. I was running on no coffee, no breakfast, and four hours of sleep because Blaine had talked me into playing poker with the guards last night and I had been up past midnight.
My heart clenched then as I realized that Damian and Marco were no longer with us. Their loss would stay with me for a long time, and I was scared that the loss of shifters I cared about was just one of those things I would have to continue to deal with.
Calista put one hand on her hip and stared me down. “I know you, Arianna, better than you know yourself. You think the bear king killed the queen, and the second you sit down to dinner you’ll lose your cool, accuse his representative, and lose the points you know they’ll be awarding for behavior tonight – and possibly throw the whole city into a war.”
I smirked, distracted at least from my grief. Calista was right; she did know me. “I’m not going to be the only one thinking that. Come on, Cal, who else is powerful enough to take down the queen of three boroughs in her own home, where she’s closest to the mecca? The only thing that throws me is the scene we witnessed in the library. That seemed like the sort of place she’d take someone she trusted, and no one would ever trust a bear.”<
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Calista stared off into space for a moment, her brilliant mind no doubt calculating. “It’s all a bit odd. In general, the Red Queen was not the trusting sort, and she was beyond intelligent and cunning. Somehow she always knew when someone was lying. I just don’t think the bears could easily get the drop on her. It didn’t even look as if she fought back in that room.”
Calista was right. There had been no signs of battle between a bear and wolf. Or even a minor struggle. No books out of place, nor shelves turned over, just massive amounts of blood.
“Maybe they somehow took her by surprise, drugged her or used magic?” I really wanted it to be the bears. I needed a place to release my fury.
Calista continued analyzing, tossing things around in that computer brain of hers. “What if the person who was responsible wanted to make sure we’d blame the bears? They’re our natural enemy after all. It makes sense. Maybe they were trying to start a war so they could … I don’t know … divide us and take control of the magical mecca.”
It was a good theory, but honestly what other race was there that would even remotely have a chance of controlling the magical mecca? It destroyed humans’ minds in moments; they were not equipped to handle it. Not to mention the fact that the Red Queen was the most powerful of our kind. There was no one person, shifter or even magic born, alive that could take her down so quietly. A troop of fifty guards maybe, but one being … never.
Right? Was there someone I had missed?
“Is there any whispered words of a rogue shifter with strong enough magical abilities to take on the queen?” I asked. Calista had a database with very detailed records on all of our people. But it wasn’t always totally accurate because we relied on input from other alphas and such. As you can imagine, Selene was not very gracious with her time and information.
She shook her head. “No, we haven’t had any magical disturbances for a long time. No unauthorized activity on the ley lines. It’s been very quiet. Obviously a powerful magic born like Violet might have a chance, but…”
But Violet was in London and would never betray our queen. Would one of the others? If it wasn’t the bears who’d attacked her, and us tonight, then who? One of the heirs was dead, and so were our guards. Something bigger was going on here, and I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.
I could not believe any one shifter or person had the power to take on the queen.
The entirety of New York City was a power grid of magic, and it enhanced the person tied to it through the vortexes. The queen was tied to three of them, and the bear king to two. No one else even came close, not even the magic born.
Calista continued to watch me. She would not let me rest until she was assured of my actions tonight. I groaned. “Fine, I will be diplomatic at dinner, but I will make it clear that the queen’s killer will be caught and revenge enacted.”
Calista didn’t seem thrilled with my response, but nodded. She was smart enough to see that was the best she was getting from me.
As I walked to the master bedroom I was trying to weigh up which thing was more important to me right now, food or sleep.
Exhaustion made up my mind for me as I crashed into the pillows and let sleep take me.
A few hours later, the scent of bacon drifted through the room and my eyelids snapped open. Calista knew how to wake me. Coffee or bacon did it every time. Shuffling out of my bedroom and into the open dining area, I saw the table littered with an array of mouthwatering food. Oh my God. I shouldn’t be so excited, what with the queen’s death and the Summit, but…
I was sort of bouncing on my toes. “Are those mac and cheese balls wrapped in bacon?”
Calista smiled. “Yes, the queen’s chef is quite exquisite. Promised that we could have anything the heirs’ hearts desired. I told him you ate like a five-year-old and so he came up with this.”
I stuck my tongue out at her, although she wasn’t wrong. I was a pretty picky eater. Fancy food freaked me out. Slimy oysters? No thanks. Caviar … just keep walking.
But this, this was my kind of food. To go with the mac and cheese balls there were truffle garlic fries, and chocolate lava cake, and mmmm raspberry lemonade.
Dropping into my seat, I took a deep breath as I savored this moment, before diving in. Shifters loved to eat; we had fast metabolisms, especially if we’d recently shifted or used our abilities, so food was a gift from the gods. We also had strong senses, which was why I couldn’t stomach seafood. The scent of old fish was not very pleasant.
The moment I popped the first bite into my mouth, I completely lost my mind and started shoving food in with abandon, chewing as fast as I could. Sure, I’d been taught etiquette, decorum, and how to eat with eighteen different forks since I was very young, but sometimes you can’t make a wolf shifter eat like a lady.
While I stuffed my face, Calista just rolled her eyes.
“Dinner is in two hours. I’m allowing you to eat because … well, right now you look like a pig in a trough.”
I snorted for effect and somehow still managed to shove more bacon mac and cheese balls in my mouth.
Calista turned up her nose. “The more grotesque eating you do here, the more refined eating you can do at dinner.”
I didn’t care what her strategy was, this food was awesome. As an alpha I expended even more energy than a regular shifter. It was impossible for me to get fat and I needed four thousand calories minimum to keep my brain running. Constantly checking in with my pack and searching through those bonds drained me. I heard a low whine and smiled as Finn trotted up to my side.
I thought you hated human food. Only liked raw meat, I teased him.
He opened his mouth and I saw drool forming. You know I can’t resist bacon.
I smiled before popping four mac and cheese balls into his mouth and he wolfed them down, his chest rumbling in his happy wolf way.
I’ll be outside in the courtyard if you need me, Finn said then, loping off.
Some heirs were attached at the hip to their familiars, like Selene, but Finn and I had a more independent relationship. He was always there when I needed him, but we gave each other our space.
“So … I have done some research on our bear councilman…” Calista placed a tablet on the table in front of me, close enough so I could see, but still out of touching distance. For its own electronic safety. I stopped eating for a moment, staring at a picture.
Holy heck. This guy was huge.
What did he advise the king on, lifting weights? He was at least 250 pounds of solid muscle, with a full beard and a shaved head. He also had a neck tattoo which I couldn’t clearly make out from the photo. It looked like a crossed set of throwing axes in some sort of emblem.
Overall he looked exactly the way you’d expect a bear shifter to look. Huge, thick muscles, broad body, squinty eyes, and roughly hewn features. But I knew from personal experience not all bears were mass and brute strength. The guy I’d kissed on the Island that summer – a memory I did not like to think on, or talk about, it had been a moment of weakness – was kind of scrawny. Granted, who isn’t scrawny at fifteen, but I couldn’t believe he’d ever turn out to be as huge and imposing as this advisor to the king, even as a grown male.
“His name is Gerald and he’s the king’s war councilman. When we extended the dinner invite we said any one representative could come. The king has sent a message by sending this man.”
My hands stilled over the plate. Yes, he had definitely sent a message. “You know that our queen just died and you send a war council leader. The king intends to declare war.”
The waver in my voice startled me a bit. I was an alpha and an heir; fear was foreign to me. With our queen in power and four heirs, we were untouchable. Now we had three heirs and a dead queen and our magic was leaking out all over New York City. Fear was becoming very real to me.
“Maybe not.” Calista was trying to be diplomatic again, or at least keep me from losing my mind and trying to kill the muscled mountain of
man who was the king’s representative.
“Hah! You think he intends to declare peace?”
Calista raised one eyebrow and shrugged.
To be honest, I didn’t know much about the bear king or his people. Our studies included them of course, but the truth was, there just wasn’t a lot of information out there about them. They kept their people locked down hard, and even though secret dalliances occurred at times between bear and wolf, pillow talk must be minimal, because no new info made its way to the leaders.
If I became queen, I would have to deal with the bear king from time to time. In the past the bear shifters had been a problem for us, but the dark war was over now and we had settled into a tenuous truce, a peace treaty that had held for over a century.
But nothing lasts forever.
I gripped the steak knife in my hand and met my advisor’s eyes.
“Mark my words, Calista, if the bear king declares war on our people, I will slit this man’s throat in front of the entire council, because he’ll be all but admitting to killing my queen.”
Calista shook her head, but not before I saw her smirk. She knew me well and she knew I would carry through on my words no matter what her personal advice was. I was honor bound to three of my people now, and I would see justice done.