by A. M. Hardin
Xander spits out several curses from beside me as he runs a hand through his hair. I look in Cherish’s eyes and my chest aches at the pain I see shining back at me. We hurt her by keeping her out of it. By not telling her that we had received threats for her safety and trusting her to handle it with as much grace as she’s handled everything the world has thrown at her already; we hurt her. I can see that now and I’m not entirely sure how to fix it. Promising that we will tell her in the future does nothing except give her the hope that we’ll tell her if it happens again.
That doesn’t help the pain that she’s feeling now.
“Baby,” I whisper as I cross the room and pull her into my arms, holding tight. I press a kiss to the top of her head. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, my voice muffled against her hair. “We just-“
“Wanted to protect me,” she says, shifting back just enough to look up at me, still keeping her body plastered against mine. “I get it. I do. Just... don’t keep me in the dark. Please,” she pleads, her voice cracking slightly.
“I promise we won’t keep you in the dark again,” I swear.
Cherish smiles up at me, soothing my frustration at my own stupidity until all that’s left is her smile. “Thanks, honey,” she whispers, her smile still on her face.
I nod once and press a kiss to her lips before enveloping her in my arms again, still internally cursing myself and vowing that I’ll do everything in my power to make sure I don’t hurt the small, fierce woman who made me feel again.
Chapter 6
Cherish
I bite the inside of my cheek as my brother is brought out in cuffs. Swallowing hard, I watch as he’s led to the structure where the executioner is standing in wait.
“Princess?” Xander whispers from behind me.
“Breathe, Baby,” Andrei murmurs from next to Xander.
I nod and take a deep, centering breath before straightening in my seat.
Kade squeezes my shoulder reassuringly from where he’s standing beside me and I’m grateful for the contact.
Once my brother has been brought before the executioner, I stand up from the throne that the guards had placed outside.
“Prince Forrest, son of King Leander, do you have any last words?” I ask loud enough for my voice to echo through the courtyard, cutting straight to the chase, not wanting to draw this out anymore than it already has been.
He smirks at me. “I’ll see you in Hell, baby sister. Oh, and I do hope you join me soon.”
Letting out a disappointed sigh I wave my hand to the executioner and retake my seat as he covers Forrest’s head with a bag. The guard who walked Forrest onto the platform forces him to his knees and makes him bend over the executioner’s block.
My stomach churns as the executioner unsheathes his sword from his waist. I want to close my eyes, even just look away for the next part, but I know that I can’t. One of the things Adelheid had beat into my head when I first came here was that a ruler always owns their decisions. If they execute someone, they need to watch it. I just never figured that I’d be the ruler forced to watch an execution. Let alone my own brother’s execution.
The executioner lifts the sword up and brings it back down over Forrest’s exposed neck, slicing through bone and tendon before finally severing Forrest’s head from his body. Silent tears track down my cheeks as I close my eyes, trying to block the sight from my memory.
“Baby?” Andrei asks quietly.
“I’m fine,” I whisper back. “Just give me a minute, please.”
I lean my head back against the throne, keeping my eyes tightly shut as I hear the people who came to watch Forrest’s death shuffle away.
“Your Majesty?” a voice asks hesitantly. I open my eyes and find the guard who had walked Forrest to the platform.
“Yes?”
“What would you like to do with the body?”
My eyes immediately go to my brother’s body and I quickly pull my gaze back to the guard’s. “Burn it,” I whisper.
His eyes widen momentarily. “My Lady? Are you sure? I know he committed treason, but surely you’d rather he be buried with family.”
I narrow my eyes at the guard. “What was your name again?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“Sanev, Majesty. My name is Sanev.”
“Well, Sanev,” I say as I slowly stand up, keeping eye contact with him, “I’m quite sure that the man that killed my family, tormented the entire Kingdom, and would have killed me, doesn’t deserve to be buried with the family that he killed. Do you disagree?”
His mouth open and closes like a fish for a few seconds before he finally stammers out, “N-no, Your Majesty. I-I just wanted to be positive that you were sure that was what you wanted to do.”
I smile coldly at him, not believing his excuse. “I’m more than positive, Sanev.”
He bows low. “Of course, my Queen. It will be done.”
“You’re dismissed, Sanev,” I announce when he makes no move to stop bowing and walk away.
I’ve never seen anyone scramble away from me so fast. If I weren’t so burnt out emotionally I would have let out a laugh. All that comes out is a snort of amusement.
I look up at Andrei who had moved to my other side while I was talking with Sanev. “I don’t think I’m that scary.”
Kade and Xander start choking on their laughter as Andrei smiles and shakes his head at me. “You’re really not,” Andrei admits, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“Maybe to you,” Kade grumbles. “She can be scary as shit when she needs to be.”
I grin at him. “I’m not that bad. You should have seen Lucy when she got pissed. She would lose her shit in a spectacular fashion.”
I wonder how Lucy and Zoe would react to knowing the truth about what happened to my family, to me, to what I am. My best friends have been on my mind more and more often lately. Ever since Nyna handed me over to Forrest, I realized that I’d never really have any friends here. As a Princess or a Queen, chances of me making a true friend are extremely slim. The chances of being betrayed are even more here than they were back home on Earth.
I’ll always have Andrei, Kade, and Xander, but they wouldn’t want to do the stuff that you can only really do with girlfriends. Even though I know that I can’t really go back home, a small part of me hopes that I’ll still be able to go visit and at least see my friends. It’s been months since I was brought here and I can only imagine how worried they are right now, and then how pissed off they’ll be when they realize that I’m totally fine.
“Mia?” Kade asks, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah?” I meet his eyes, shocked to see the worry there.
“You alright?”
I smile sadly. “Yeah, I’m alright. I was just thinking about Lucy and Zoe.”
The guys exchange glances. “What about them?” Andrei asks, keeping his voice gentle.
“I miss them. I wish I could see them and talk to them and just have my friends in my life again. I know it’s stupid to hope that I’ll see them again, because I can’t really leave the Kingdom but I still want to be able to go back and visit them.”
“Maybe we can figure something out,” Xander suggests as he smoothly steps between Andrei and me to curl his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. “Everything will work out, Princess. It might take some time, but we’ll work it out.”
I turn into him, placing my hand on his stubbled cheek and stand on my toes to give him a kiss, pouring my gratitude into the kiss. “Thank you,” I whisper against his mouth.
He grins as I pull away. “Anything for you, Princess. You know that.”
* * *
Entering the dungeon, I gape at the amount of prisoners that are in the cells.
“These are all the ones that attacked yesterday?” I ask incredulously.
“Yes.” Andrei moves to the first cell opposite of the one Forrest stayed in and stares at the man sitting with his back against the wall, a small smirk plastered o
n his face as he watches me.
“So, this is the new Queen of Tira, huh?” he drawls, eyes glittering with amusement. “She’s just a child.”
I keep my face blank as I step up beside Andrei, ignoring the stiffening of Andrei’s shoulders when I stand by him. “Why did you attack us?”
The man chuckles. “Straight to the point, Your Majesty?” he asks, putting so much emphasis on the last words that it’d be hard to miss the sarcasm there. “Why don’t we just talk for a while?” His eyes roll over me, making a shiver of unease roll down my back. Seriously?
“What could we possibly have to talk about?” I ask, deciding to play along as long as he stops looking at me like I’m a fucking slab of meat.
“How about we talk about you?” he suggests with a nasty smirk. I raise an eyebrow at him and motion for him to continue. “The human girl who thinks she can play Queen,” he taunts. “I’m well aware that you’re a mutt, but that’s irrelevant when you’re more human than you are elf.”
“There’s nothing wrong with humanity,” I counter.
He licks his teeth, making an annoying slurping sound. “See, it’s your humanity that will be the end of you and your Kingdom. You won’t ever defeat the Ikishri King no matter what you can do. Sure, you managed to get the crown from your dumbass brother, but, as I said... he was a dumbass. An idiot who was afraid of his own shadow and excessively paranoid that the world was out to get him and the only way for him to stay safe was to be the one in charge. Didn’t really work out so well for him now though, did it?”
His eyes scan through the bars to the other prisoners who are all plastered against the bars, watching, then over me and the guys. “What you don’t seem to get, little girl, is that your Kingdom will fall. There will be no other option once every single drop of royal blood has been spilled. I’m a bit disappointed that I won’t get to see that.” His gaze fixates on my neck. “I would honestly love to have been the one to slit that gorgeous throat and watch as your life bleeds out of you. Alas, because the leader of the attack yesterday thought it would be a good idea to tell you about the plan, I don’t get to be the one to do it.” He meets my eyes and the bloodlust staring back at me makes my palms sweat and my heart race. “I’m looking forward to meeting you again in the afterlife, Queen Cherish.”
He brings his hand to his mouth, shoving what look like blueberries inside his mouth. He chews a few times then swallows.
“No!” Xander snaps, snatching the key off the other end of the wall as the guy in the cell starts seizing, foam starting to fizzle out of his mouth before he can even get back to the door.
I step back, backing into Kade with my eyes wide. "What's going on?"
"We didn't think to check for poison," Andrei mutters.
"We should have done thorough checks on all of them!" Xander growls as all the other prisoners from yesterday start seizing and dripping foam from their mouths.
"Why didn't you?" Kade asks, his arms wrapping around me, crossing over my chest as he holds me close.
"There were too many to fucking check thoroughly. They were all unconscious and we didn't want to chance them waking up before we had them arrested," Xander explains, still sounding pissed off.
I reach out and grab his hand. "Hey," I say, keeping my tone soothing. Xander's eyes cast my way, his jaw clenched tight. "It's not your fault. It's not either of your faults. Shit happens, Xander. We can't always control the outcome."
Xander's jaw tics before he relaxes and squeezes my hand back. "I know, Princess. Doesn't make it any easier knowing that we were in too much of a rush to stop them from sneaking in those damn berries and killing themselves."
"Berries? Seriously?" I eye the dead man on the floor in front of us. "What kind of berries are they? I've never heard of berries that'll kill that quick."
"They're called spidaj berries," Kade explains as he takes my hand and starts to lead me out of the dungeon with the others following close behind.
"Spidaj?" I shoot him a funny look. "That sounds really weird," I admit.
Kade chuckles. "You grew up speaking and hearing Earth's languages. You keep forgetting that we're not in the same dimension anymore. We've got a whole different set of languages here, mia."
I purse my lips as we make our way to my room. "Trust me, Kade, I'm well aware that we aren't in the same place where I grew up." My voice is quiet, somber.
Kade stops inside my room and waits for the rest of us to get inside before shutting the door, his gaze focused on me. Ignoring his gaze I move to the balcony doors, opening them wide and stepping out to lean against the railing.
"Cherish," Kade says as he steps behind me and wraps his arms around me. His lips press against my temple. "I promise, we will get you home soon. You'll get to see Lucy and Zoe once things start to calm down a bit."
"We can't go right now, it would be highly likely that we'd just be leading the Ikishri to your friends," Andrei explains. "If there were no risk to them or you, we'd take you tomorrow."
"But until the threat from the Ikishri King is gone, we don't want to risk it," Xander clarifies.
"Then maybe it's time we focused on that," I muse, a small smile on my face as I watch a few kids kick a ball around beneath the balcony.
"We'll start tomorrow," Andrei announces. "A lot has happened today. There's nothing wrong with taking a breather."
I sigh. "Fine. Tomorrow."
Chapter 7
Cherish
I grin at the woman standing in front of me as she frowns down at me.
“What are you doing?” she asks, an eyebrow raised.
“I’m making food.” I look up from the half-made sandwich and meet her eyes. “Want some?”
“Cherish,” she chides, looking amused. “You’re supposed to be a Queen. Queens do not make their own food in this world.”
I snort. “Well, I think we can all agree that I’m definitely not like the other Queen’s in this world, Lyra,” I point out, a small smirk on my face.
Xander chuckles as he walks into the kitchen. “She’s got you there, masha,” he says. Come to find out, ‘masha’ is ‘mom’ in their language. I knew that Xander was old, so obviously his mom had to be too, but the woman looks only a couple years older than Xander. It’s kind of weird to be honest, but I’m starting to get used to it.
Lyra scowls at Xander. “You should be helping her to blend in, Xander, not letting her stand out.”
Xander’s eyes are warm as they scan me. “Cherish will always stand out, masha. And it will never be a bad thing that she does.”
I feel heat rush to my cheeks and I throw a piece of bread at him that he catches, taking a bite out of it as he laughs. “Stop making me blush. It’s annoying.”
Lyra fights a smile as her gaze bounces between us. “Him making you blush is annoying, or blushing in general is annoying?”
“Blushing in general,” I grumble slapping a piece of bread on top of my now finished sandwich. “It’s literally the stupidest thing ever.”
Xander snorts as he invades my space, running the back of his finger down my warm cheek. “You may think so, but I think it’s cute.” I grouse under my breath before taking a bite of my food, making him chuckle as he kisses my forehead.
“Are they back yet?” I ask after finishing my bite.
“No. Andrei warned us that it might be a day or two before they can get back.”
I frown. “Why the hell would it take that long?”
“They’re meeting with the people we have placed in the Ikishri Kingdom, Cherish. They need to make sure they aren’t followed and that the people they’re meeting aren’t followed,” Xander explains. “It might seem like a bit much, but until we know exactly what the Ikishri have planned we’re playing it safe. We won’t play with your safety like that.”
I purse my lips before taking another bite. "I never actually said that you're being paranoid," I point out, my lip twitching.
Xander narrows his eyes at me. "No, but you were mo
st likely thinking it."
I shrug as I finish off my food. "Guess we'll never know."
Xander shakes his head. "You're a pain in my ass sometimes, you know that?"
"Xander!" Lyra chides. "Language. And you don't tell your girlfriend who also happens to be your Queen that she's being a pain in your butt."
I grin at him as he winces. Oops. Didn't mean to get him in trouble, but it's kinda funny that I did.
"It's fine, Lyra," I assure her, trying not to laugh at the glare Xander's shooting my way. "I swear more than he does some days. And I know full well that I can be -and usually am- a pain in the ass."
Lyra sighs at me. "That isn't the point, my dear."
I laugh. "I know what you mean, but I really don't care either way, Lyra. I'm not as," I tilt my head from side to side as I try to find the right word before giving up and just going with one that made some sense, "classy as other royals might be, but I won't change myself just to please other people. It's just not in me. I'm my own person, and I wouldn't ever punish someone for making a joke."
Lyra eyes me. "You see things very differently than many in this world," she says matter-of-factly.
I chuckle softly as I meet Xander's warm eyes. "So I've been told."
"What do you two have planned for the rest of the day?" Lyra asks as she hip checks me out of the way and begins to pick up the mess that I made.
I frown at her. "Lyra, I could have done that."
She waves my words away and repeats her question.
Sighing in defeat, I cross my arms and lean my hip against the counter. "I kinda want to walk around the village, maybe go visit the baby dragon. If Xander says yes, anyway." I meet Xander's eyes as I finish my sentence and grin at the nod he gives me.
Lyra chuckles. "Well, get going. It's around noon right now, so you should have plenty of time to make it back before dinner."
"Unless she gets distracted by all the artwork in the village market," Xander counters.