by HP Mallory
“Sinjin,” Lady Bryn began, not interested in taking the congratulations owed her.
“This isn’t a time to be humble, Bryn,” the frog spoke up from behind me. “It’s true, my queen—your sister acted in true honor and revealed her incredible ability.”
Of course, I was quite “peeved,” as Damek would say, that the fop chose to interrupt my debriefing and I frowned at him to illustrate as much. He merely frowned right back at me.
Dayna nodded. “Everything they’re saying is true.”
Jolie beamed at her sister. “I’m very proud of you; it seems you’re making leaps and bounds in understanding your own powers.”
Bryn nodded. “That’s true enough, I guess.”
“After your sister freed the young lady werewolf independent of assistance from anyone else, Dayna revealed to us that Luce has developed new plans,” I continued.
“And what are these new plans?” asked Queen Jolie. There was a grimace on her face; she knew the next part of my speech would contain nothing pleasant.
“He plans to attempt to invade Kinloch Kirk, Your Majesty,” I solemnly informed everyone in the room.
“Well, he’s attempted invasions before,” replied the Queen, most likely referring to a very recent battle the Underworld court had been fortunate enough to win.
“Dayna says it is different now,” I told her, with the gravity the situation required.
“It is,” Dayna chimed in. “Luce is rebuilding his forces.”
I nodded. “And, my Queen, we must assume Luce has learned something from the last battle. We must assume he is better educated, that he better understands the threat we pose.”
“Yes,” agreed the Queen, palpable sadness emanating from her body. “Rebuilding his forces certainly would be wise and the only thing to do.” She was quiet for a few seconds as she tapped her fingernails against the table top before her. When she looked up at me, her eyes were wide. “There’s more?”
I hesitated, but the queen was the sort of leader who wanted to know what the worst-case scenario was, no matter how gruesome.
“Should he succeed with this invasion—which, as your Lord Protector, I swear on the very existence of magic itself I shall not permit—”
Randall and the frog scoffed at the same moment, but I ignored them. It was not my fault they found me to be such a commanding and eloquent force. Ridicule simply covers envy in most cases.
“Should he succeed with this invasion,” I continued. “Your Majesty, the situation shall be dire. Luce plans to slaughter every male member of the Underworld. He wishes to expand that hellish breeding program—he would force each woman of the Underworld to birth future soldiers of the Tribe, regardless of their consent.”
“And he would murder the lot of us?” Jolie asked.
I shook my head. “The male members of your court, yes.”
I took another few seconds to gather myself for the rest of the information she sought.
“You, my Queen, he would imprison by any means necessary in order to harness your magic for himself. And he aims to extract the power of the Flame from your lovely sister so he can spread that ability among his people, regardless if the warrior princess survives the process. And, it is most likely, she would not.”
Chapter Eight
Sinjin
“Extract the Flame?” Jolie repeated, focused intently on her sister. “Is that even possible?”
The Lady Bryn shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s probably enough that Luce seems to think it is.”
Queen Jolie was silent as she absorbed the information with which I had just presented her. I did not envy the Queen in that moment: her reality, once again, had just been completely upturned. From this moment, she was no longer a peacetime queen with the privilege of being able to concentrate on the development of the Underworld Kingdom, working on bettering its culture, its diplomacy, or its advocacy for the underprivileged. She was now forced into the role of a wartime queen, obligated to direct her resources toward death, destruction, and battle.
“I now turn this conversation over to my panel,” Jolie announced, facing the room as a whole. “You have heard the same tale as I have. Our court is under threat, just as our people are under threat. I’m open to hearing your thoughts on the best path forward.”
“And we should trust the word of Dayna?” Mercedes, the prophetess, piped up from the corner of the room.
“Yes,” Lady Bryn said firmly. It was no secret that Mercedes and the princess butted heads on most subjects.
“The prophetess raises ah good point,” said Odran, particularly resembling a lion as he pressed on. “Can we troost this prisoner? The lass may be lyin’,” he continued. “Who can be sure whether or nah Luce left the lass there as a trap?”
Many in the room seemed to agree with Odran, as I noticed a number of attendees were gently nodding their heads.
“Oh, stop doubting the newcomers!” interrupted Mathilda, much to my pleasure. “What’s wrong with you, my friends? We need to trust those who want to help us. Need I remind this room that there was a time when many of you doubted the loyalties of Bryn? And those of you who doubted her would have died at Luce’s hands had she not erupted into flame on the battlefield, saving all of us.”
“Besides, the information Dayna provided doesn’t stray from everything we’ve seen from Luce so far,” Randall pointed out, placing his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “This is perfectly consistent with Luce’s prior actions, and what we know of his motivations. This information may seem shocking—and, in a certain sense, it’s not unreasonable to be appalled by his evil—but it is the next logical step for him.”
Murmuring broke out among the council before the warrior princess cleared her throat. “I would remind you all that Queen Jolie is our leader. If she decides a particular piece of intelligence is accurate and asks for the council’s opinion on how to best react, she’s not asking for you to question her judgment on the validity of the intelligence. She’s asking you for your opinion on next steps. I’m sure you would all agree.”
“I believe Dayna is an ally,” I stated matter-of-factly. “And I am of the mind that we can trust her.” I glanced over at her. “I trust her.”
“Thank you, Sinjin,” she said.
“I trust her, as well,” the princess added. Dayna smiled at her in turn before facing the queen once again.
“If you had seen what Luce did to me,” Dayna began, her anger revealing itself in her features as she switched her gaze to Mercedes, “you would understand that any enemy of Luce is a friend of mine.”
“Dayna was a member of Luce’s breeding program,” Lady Bryn explained. “Enough said.”
The queen nodded. “I agree. Dayna is to be considered a friend to my court and nothing but.”
Chevalier cleared his throat, causing one of the most irksome noises my ears have experienced in the past few decades. “It’s worth noting that the Underworld’s forces have been reduced dramatically by our most recent battle with the Tribe,” added the frog. “As we prepare, we need to keep in mind that our own army simply doesn’t have the same numbers it did a few months ago. We’ll need to update our strategies and train our soldiers according to this new reality,” the dandy finished.
Of course, the frog had completely disregarded the fact that our soldiers had done quite well in the battle.
“Excuse me,” I interrupted, “but have we forgotten who won the battle? I would like to remind everyone in this chamber that the Underworld and Kinloch Kirk were, in fact, the victors in our most recent struggle with Luce. Furthermore, I would like to draw attention to the fact that Luce’s forces have been decimated, perhaps even more so than ours. Luce is now clearly on the run—when we arrived at his encampment, not one of his soldiers remained to defend what I would assume Luce considered his property. He did not wait for our expeditionary team and he did not put up a fight. Instead, he fled, suggesting he is weak. In fact, I would go so far as to posit that our royal p
rincess may carry within her something more powerful than any magic borne by Luce himself.”
“Those are strong words,” Varick pointed out.
I nodded. “Indeed, they are. Strong words for an overtly strong power.” I faced the queen again. “The bindings trapping Dayna were enchanted by the villain himself, strengthened and reinforced to the point where a sword wielded by a most capable fighter was unable to break them. But break them Lady Bryn did, brilliantly using the power of the Flame. I feel strongly that we have on our side a warrior more dangerous than Luce could ever dream of.”
With that, I ended my brief soliloquy. The room once again grew silent, as the attendees considered this new information.
Mercedes was the first to break the spell, injecting her opinion into the discourse once again. “Sinjin, what you’re saying doesn’t quite make sense,” the shrew said.
“I fail to understand why,” I grumbled.
“You’d like us to believe that Bryn was able to tear open bindings enchanted by Luce, simply with a power we’ve never seen before and that she’s only just started to develop? You do remember that Luce is ancient and has far more experience in magic than the princess. Your assumption that her power outweighs his seems… unlikely, let’s say,” she finished.
I could not decide whether the prophetess doubted the veracity of what I had said or if she instead could not bring herself to believe that my little hellion was a powerful creature, capable of defending Kinloch Kirk. In either case, her words were offensive.
Once again, Mathilda came to the rescue with her combination of kindness and willingness to say what everyone else needed to hear. “Mercedes, you may not want to see the power in Bryn, but I do,” said the ancient enchantress. “In fact, I’ve always seen it; we only needed to wait for it to develop and grow. Bryn’s done a remarkable job of mastering her abilities in a short time,” she pointed out. “We owe her our thanks and our appreciation, not our doubts.”
Much of the room clamored in agreement, demonstrating the massive amount of respect the royal princess had earned in the relatively short time she had spent at Kinloch Kirk. It was a testimonial to the high esteem in which most members of the Underworld court held her. Mercedes’ opinion was not the opinion of the majority, it seemed.
“Thank you, Mathilda,” said Queen Jolie. “I’m certainly glad you feel that way, as I happen to be in complete agreement,” the queen went on, making it clear that there were to be no more doubts regarding the powers of Lady Bryn voiced during the meeting. “As a few of us have already said, we need to come up with solutions, not question the intelligence we’ve already gathered,” she said more pointedly.
“Perhaps you should enlighten us as to where you stand,” Chevalier replied, looking directly at her.
She nodded. “I feel strongly that the best defense is a strong offense. I believe we should go to Luce before he comes to us again, and destroy his forces before they can even think about reaching our gates. And, though my sister will be instrumental in helping us to defeat him, she can’t do it alone. Dureau did raise a salient point when he said we lost many of our soldiers in the last battle.”
Once again, my dear friend Queen Jolie and I were of the same mind. I raised my hand politely to ask for the floor. She immediately turned to me and nodded, granting me permission to speak.
“My Queen,” I began, “I wholeheartedly agree. While it is wonderful that we have a warrior among us more powerful than Luce, we do not need to rely solely on her for our every protection.” I took a breath. “I am of the belief that we should, instead, guard her and value her safety dearly. To that end, I propose that I take leadership of the force we shall send to fight Luce.”
“Sinjin!” Lady Bryn railed at me.
“Please,” I answered, holding up a hand to silence her. I knew she would not approve of my plan, but so be it. “I am happy to fight in the name of Kinloch Kirk and to take on all responsibility regarding the training and organization of our troops. Our Lady Bryn should be our last military strategy, not our first,” I said, hoping bête noire would not take offense at my words. I desperately wanted her to understand that I came not from a place of underestimating her abilities as a warrior, but from a desire to keep her safe.
“Sinjin,” said Lady Bryn, “while I appreciate your acknowledgment of my abilities as a warrior, you more than anyone should know that a true warrior never lets others do the fighting for them,” she continued. “The fact is, I have the one magical ability we’ve seen that can definitely outgun Luce’s enchantments. The Flame is the only thing we have that’s able to get past Luce’s magic. We’re going to need it in this war,” my little hellion pointed out.
“You are not wrong,” I answered. “But I do not want you to feel like you are our only weapon.”
“And I don’t,” she answered. “But Luce has done more to me than anyone else at Kinloch Kirk, with the exception of Rachel and now Dayna,” Lady Bryn said, as the attention of every magical creature in the Green Room directed itself entirely to the royal princess. “Beyond the fact that he imprisoned me and used me as a vessel for his breeding program, he stole my childhood. He kept me from my sister for years and from the community she now leads, completely warping my perception of who I am and what I’m meant to be doing.” She spoke stoically, no hint of tears or any sort of melancholy. She recalled traumas more horrible than most of the members of the Underworld court could ever experience or even imagine, but her words remained unhurried.
“I didn’t know how wonderful life could be until I started living at Kinloch Kirk,” she explained. “I didn’t know what friendship was, what it meant to have a family, or what it was like to make my own decisions. I didn’t know what it meant to care about the people around me, beyond valuing them for their fighting abilities as fellow members of my Supreme Leader’s army. The Underworld gave me the chance to feel all of those feelings. Being at Kinloch Kirk—yes, even if I did come here as a prisoner—has done more for me than I can tell any of you. It’s made me immeasurably happy. Defending the Underworld is my honor and my duty. I’m here to fight for Queen Jolie and for Emma. I’m here to defend Kinloch Kirk.”
She took a deep breath, then turned to face me. “Thanks, Sinjin—I appreciate your offer, but I can’t accept it. I believe it is my duty to lead this force against Luce, and I won’t have it any other way.”
I was more than proud of the warrior, the princess, and the hellion all wrapped into one woman—but I was also terrified for her safety.
Chapter Nine
Bryn
My heart was pounding. The impromptu speech I’d just given hadn’t been easy for me. I wasn’t exactly comfortable speaking in front of people—especially people who were ready to gun down my thoughts and feelings.
I hadn’t had a normal childhood or a traditional education. I’d never been given the benefit of training in the art of public speaking. No Socrates or Abraham Lincoln for me—a Tribe youth’s education was all about learning how to be physically dominant and dangerous in battle. Luce wouldn’t have gained any advantage from the members of his Tribe being taught to speak persuasively.
And yet, by some miracle, I thought I’d done alright just now. I’d spoken from my heart, and the others sitting in the Green Room seemed persuaded by my argument. At least, no one had immediately jumped in with a rebuttal. I looked around the room to see nodding heads and facial expressions that looked like they were, at the very least, considering what I’d said.
Just as I was ready to congratulate myself, hoping for an opportunity to end the meeting early, there was a painfully loud knock on the door. Everyone glanced at each other with confusion, because anyone who had any business being in the Green Room was already here. The knocks continued, so loudly that it was impossible to continue discussion. Finally, Rand strode over to the door and threw it open, obviously annoyed.
An unusually tall woman possessing a straight carriage and the determination of a small army marched into
the room. It took me a second or two to place her, but once I realized she was Lady Maetta, I was beyond surprised. Lady Maetta was of the Unseelie Fae, a woman warrior we had freed from Luce’s cages in our recent trip to America. We’d found her and her fellow warriors in cages, forced to serve as vessels for Luce’s breeding program. I remembered Maetta, in particular, fighting alongside our team upon receiving her freedom. She’d also done us a good deed by contracting with Monsieur D to save Damek’s life. I wondered what that contract would ultimately cost her, and felt a shiver run down my spine.
“Excuse me,” growled Rand, clearly offended at the breach of protocol, “this is a private meeting, open to those specifically invited by the Queen and closed to everyone else.”
I had a feeling that Rand’s emphasis on protocol had more to do with his intention that his wife receive the respect he and I both felt she deserved as Queen of the Underworld. Personally, I’d noticed that many of the council members didn’t hesitate to interrupt my sister at meetings or question her decisions. It infuriated me to no end.
Lady Maetta’s broad shoulders clenched, suggesting she was ready to stand her ground no matter the consequences.
“Please, allow me to introduce the Lady Maetta,” Sinjin said and quickly took the steps separating her from him. “She is a friend to your court, my queen.”
“Allow her entrance,” Jolie directed Rand, who merely nodded and allowed the lady to walk inside. Lady Maetta strode right up to Jolie and bowed with reverence.
“I mean no disrespect to this meeting,” she stated clearly, loudly enough to be heard throughout the entire room, “and I respect your royal highness, especially given the fact that your soldiers recently saved the lives of my women and me.”
“You are welcome here, and thank you for coming, Lady Maetta,” Jolie replied with a broad smile.
Maetta nodded and then took a deep breath. She seemed eager to do away with the niceties and get down to business.