Paladin's Fall: Kingdom's Forge Book 2

Home > Other > Paladin's Fall: Kingdom's Forge Book 2 > Page 45
Paladin's Fall: Kingdom's Forge Book 2 Page 45

by Kade Derricks


  Noor dismissed her, and the ambassador took her leave. The queen sat alone in the throne room. Her husband, Drogan, drooling slob that he was, had gone to bed hours before the ambassador’s return.

  Noor promised herself to ease up on his special treatments. His mind was slipping, and it would not do to have people asking too many questions about the fool man.

  Not before the proper time.

  At the far end of the room was an ornate table of carved oak and gilded gold. From between her breasts, Noor removed a small brass key. She fitted it to a hidden compartment on the table’s side and removed the tightly rolled parchment inside.

  Bremer’s weekly report put the Slide another ten feet along. In two more months, they’d have room to sink another shaft; the second this year. Overall, they were just over a hundred feet deeper than this time last year. So far, no one questioned what they were doing. That wasn’t a total surprise. Bremer and his men answered to her, not Wheeler, the Slide’s owner, and the kinship ties binding them to her were stronger than any other; they answered to a higher power, and this was his project, one not motivated by simple greed.

  No, that is not correct. He is as greedy as any other, but it isn’t gold he covets. Another few years, another thousand feet down, maybe more, and they should be there. Time mattered little—not to her, and certainly not to her master.

  She remembered only scraps of her life before the cavern. She had memories of a vast emptiness, but that wasn’t true. It wasn’t quite empty. He had been there. The Master. He’d broken her essence in the abyss and reformed it according to his own desires. Then he’d placed it in this pitiful human vessel.

  Noor had a few of the human’s memories. They were useful for hiding among the mortals. She knew their speech and habits. Their desires and emotions. The memories were her mask.

  Koren’s failure was a setback, and one that had been expected given her elven deformities. Elvenkind had ever been a disappointing race.

  None of that mattered to her, of course. Noor had followed the Master’s orders; other than the Black Corps, which she’d been commanded to send, she’d denied the elves aid of any kind.

  Where Koren had failed, Noor would not. Baelzeron would have what he sought, and then she could throw off this soft, disgusting body and her kind would rule once more.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Visit Kade’s website to keep up on the latest news:

  www.KadeDerricks.com

  Subscribe to Kade’s upcoming projects

  Visit Kade’s Amazon page

 

 

 


‹ Prev