Throne of Shadows

by Emma Fenton

  Ria plastered on a fake smile. “You’re too kind, General.”

  “I wonder,” he said, tapping this forefinger against his chin, eyes alight. “If you would honor us by sparring with one of my soldiers?”

  Her stomach turned to stone. Every ounce of air that had been in her lungs felt as if it had been forcefully punched out of her. Her mind was screaming at her to refuse, but she couldn’t seem to make her mouth work the way she wanted it to. Time was inconsequential. How long had she been staring at him, unresponsive? She forced a shaky breath, though she barely felt it.

  “I’m sure I’m no match for their considerable skill,” she finally said.

  “Nonsense.” Lord Izan smiled. “Her majesty is being far too modest.”

  General Turco nodded vigorously. “Indeed. We had heard rumor of Jaya’s tremendous talent with a blade. But we all saw who was truly the better swordswoman in the end.”

  Ria forced a smile. It was important to show strength to her people; that’s what they valued more than anything. She was stuck in a tight spot, though. If she continued to play humble in order to avoid fighting, they would lose respect for her. She would be perceived as a coward, or worse, as a weak leader. But fighting would be disastrous. They would see how little talent she possessed, and they would wonder how she’d ever managed to win the crown in the first place.

  And she was no fool. She knew that Izan wanted to see her flounder. He wanted to make her look weak in front of her soldiers.

  “Alas, I did not come prepared for such a demonstration,” Ria said, one last feeble attempt to avoid being forced to fight yet again. “I have no weapon.”

  “Easily remedied, your majesty,” General Turco said. He waved his hand. The four soldiers in front of her drew their swords and held them out to her so that she may have her pick.

  “How kind of you, General,” Ria said through her teeth, still faking a smile. Hadn’t she told herself that she would never allow herself to be forced into a situation like this once she was queen? No one would be trying to kill her this time, at least, but that did very little to quell her nerves.

  She took a sword from one of the men and held it out experimentally. It was well-balanced and not too heavy, and her shoulder did not ache in protest as she tested the movement. But she had no armor, no protection. This would not be a pleasant experience.

  “Excellent.” The General clasped his hands together, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet. He gestured towards the tall woman. “Kaari should give you a bit of a challenge. She’s one of the few pursuing a mastery in all weaponry.”

  Brilliant, Ria thought as she followed Kaari to the center of the courtyard. Her stomach clenched. She tried to steady her breathing. Remember, Ria, you’re relatively safe. No one here is going to kill you. These are your soldiers. You’re safe. But with the sun looming overhead, the heat dripping down her skin, and the weight of the sword in her hand, Ria’s mind dragged her back to her fight against Jaya. The logical part of her brain pushed back. This is a different opponent. A different woman. This one isn’t crazy or intent on killing you. It’s different. You’re safe.

  She clenched her left hand into a fist, just enough for her fingers to brush against the scar on her palm. Peryn’s magic still fizzled pleasantly under her skin, but she knew he wouldn’t be coming to help her now. Not like last time.

  Ria stood across from Kaari in the center of the courtyard, the other soldiers all pressed to the walls, their eyes locked on the fight that was about to take place. Ria tried to ignore the weight of their gazes and focus on Kaari. She’s strong, for sure, so I’ll never be able to overpower her. But if she’s an elite soldier, she’ll probably be fast, too. The best I can do is dodge and block for as long as I’m able.

  They circled each other, swords at the ready. Kaari lunged forward, apparently done with waiting. Ria blocked and spun to get out of the way. And then there was a jarring tug at the hem of her skirt, and she was falling. Ria could do little to stop herself aside from angling her body to send the impact away from her face and bad shoulder. Her body collided with the stone tile of the courtyard. Hard.

  The sharp tip of a sword-blade pressed lightly against the back of her neck. Ria stiffened, every instinct in her body screaming danger. Her entire body trembled, with the place where the sword touched her neck as the epicenter. Logically, she knew Kaari wouldn’t hurt her, but logic had nothing to do with fear. A bitter, metallic taste flooded her mouth as she waited for the killing blow, her body anticipating death.

  The blow never came.

  The blade dropped away from her skin and Kaari fell to her knees next to Ria, head bowed, sword held out in front of her. Ria scrambled to her feet, sucking in her breaths as if she was starved for air. She resisted the urge to rub at the back of her neck where the faint tingle of leftover fear lingered.

  Ria’s hand tightened on her sword, instinct screaming at her to kill the threat. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe through her nose. Kaari is not Jaya, and neither am I. Ria opened her eyes. The entire courtyard was silent, waiting with bated breath to see what the queen would do.

  “Forgive me your majesty,” Kaari said. She did not look up, did not dare to meet the Queen’s eyes.

  “There is nothing to forgive.” Ria’s voice did not waver, though her fingers shook.

  The other woman’s eyes flashed up, brow furrowed. “I held a sword against my queen. I deserve death.”

  “And punish you for excellence?” It was what Jaya would have done. And there was a part of Ria that wanted it, too. The part that begged for safety. The part that wanted every potential threat eliminated. But I will not succumb to my fears. “No. Put your sword away.”

  The woman complied immediately, though her confusion did not fade. Ria held out her hand, and Kaari stared at it for a long moment before clasping it in her own. Ria helped pull the other woman to her feet. She forced herself to smile in General Turco’s direction.

  “A true testament to your training, General,” Ria called. She turned back towards Kaari. “And to your skill.”

  “Thank you, your majesty,” the woman said, bowing again.

  “I confess, your majesty, that I did not expect your demonstration to be over so quickly,” Izan said once Ria had returned to him and the General. “I do hope you’re uninjured.”

  “Entirely.” Ria smiled pleasantly, but she did not think she succeeded in keeping the coldness from her eyes. She turned to General Turco. “We can proceed with the tour now, yes?”

  General Turco cleared his throat. “Yes, of course.”

  General Turco took them through some of the other parts of the outpost such as the mess hall and the barracks, but they’d already seen all of the other interesting bits. Ria was polite, but hurried them through the rest of the tour, asking as few questions as possible in the hopes that they would leave soon. Thus far, the General had not mentioned Ria’s utter failure in the courtyard. She suspected he was disappointed that Ria had not been able to put on more of a show. The last thing she wanted to do was dissect her lackluster performance with one of her highest-ranking military officers. She had suffered enough embarrassment for the day.

  “I hope you found this visit informative, your majesty,” Lord Izan said as he climbed onto his horse. “I know I did.”

  Ria’s head jerked towards him. The smug undertone to his voice informed her he wasn’t talking about General Turco’s tour. I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s always enjoyed seeing me fail almost as much as Jaya did.

  “I was certainly impressed by General Turco’s competency as a leader,” Ria said, doing her best to ignore Izan’s jab. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction letting him get under her skin. Or at least, she wouldn’t let him see that he had.

  “And your soldiers, too, I’m sure.”

  Ria bit the inside of her cheek to keep from cursing him. “Yes, my soldiers too.”

  “Of course, if I’d known you’d be in such danger, I never
would have allowed you to fight that woman,” Lord Izan continued. “Perhaps I…underestimated her abilities.”

  Ria breathed heavily through her nose. Izan wasn’t being direct, but she could still hear the insult buried in his words. She’d never had his loyalty or respect in the first place, so it was no great loss to have his opinion of her sink even further. But word of Kaari beating her in two moves would spread, and Ria’s reputation would be damaged. She’d have to work twice as hard now to secure the nobles’ and the Council’s respect.

  They were quiet for the rest of the ride back. Ria had no desire to talk to Lord Izan any more than necessary, and she didn’t trust herself to respond politely to his veiled insults. For his part, Izan seemed content to let the conversation drop. Perhaps he was satisfied with her humiliation. Perhaps he thought her powerless, weak.

  That was fine. Let him underestimate me. I won’t make the same mistake with him. She wouldn’t forget his hand in pushing her to fight Kaari. She would not forget how he stood at Jaya’s side, eager for Ria’s death. And she would not allow herself to forget that Izan had nearly a thousand soldiers he could use against her at any time. He was as dangerous as he’d ever been.

  Peryn will want to know, Ria thought as she left her horse in the palace stables and went through the entrance hall. Though he’ll probably say that a thousand soldiers are no match for a demon. She could picture the tilt of his head, nose in the air, and the arrogance in his voice as he would remind her that he was an all-powerful force of darkness that no mortal could ever hope to defeat. Ria rolled her eyes at the thought and entered her chambers. She wanted to change into something that wasn’t currently sticking to her skin with sweat.

  It almost wasn’t a surprise to see Peryn lounging in her favorite armchair. He was in her room so often these days it was almost like he was a permanent fixture. At her entrance, he looked up, his eyes scanning her from head to toe.

  “As you can see,” Ria drawled, “I didn’t die.”

  “Obviously,” Peryn said, standing and smoothing the wrinkles from his clothes. He looked her over again, a small line between his brows, but after a moment seemed satisfied that she was, in fact, unharmed. “Learn anything interesting?”

  “Izan has a thousand soldiers at his disposal,” she said as she sat across from him.

  Peryn hummed. “And how many do you have?”

  “Fifteen times that.” She sighed and sunk further into the seat. “But that means nothing if they don’t respect me. I was asked to prove myself today, and I failed. Jaya would not have.”

  “Ria, darling, you’re not a warrior.”

  “But I—”

  “You’re much more of a strategist.” He smirked at her open-mouthed expression as she warred between being indignant and pleased. “You really must stop holding yourself to the same standard as your sister. You’re different people. And maybe she was a skilled fighter while you faded to the background, but only one of you became queen, and it wasn’t her.”

  “Yes, but I cheated.”

  “You played to your strengths,” he corrected with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It doesn’t matter how you won, only that you did.”

  “A demon would think that the ends always justify the means.”

  “A great ruler knows that there’s no such thing as cheating, only changing the odds of the game.” His dark eyes pinned her. “And you, Ria, have all the makings of a great ruler.”

  He stood and placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. It was warm through the cloth of her dress, and his magic thrummed through her even without the skin-to-skin contact. She resisted the urge to lean into his touch.

  “You’re clever,” he said, voice soft. “You’ll figure out how to make them all bow.”

  He left her sitting there, all fears of Izan and his thousand soldiers forgotten, something terrifyingly warm blooming in her chest.

  ***

  “And this word, durkrasen,” Prince Feodor said, pointing down at the page, “does not have a direct translation in Helish. I think the closest translation would be: he who is a stranger in his home. It is used to describe the feeling that a person has changed irrevocably while the world around them stays the same, so much so that they no longer feel like they belong.”

  Ria could relate to that on some levels. At times, she certainly felt like a stranger to herself. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she was sitting in this same library trying to learn Anorian in order to please Mikhael. Now, she sat next to a different prince from a different country, trying to learn a different language. And now, she was a different woman. A killer. A queen.

  “How beautiful,” Ria said instead, finger tracing the ink on the page.

  “I think it’s rather sad,” Feodor said. “You can never go back to the person you were before. You can never see the world the way you used to see it.”

  Ria laughed softly, startling the prince. “True. But sometimes that is better. I am a different person now than who I was two months ago. Yes, I miss the things I lost in the process, but I do not regret it. Everything I sacrificed brought me to this moment.”

  Feodor stared at her with wide, warm eyes. “And you are happy in this moment?” he asked with a seriousness that indicated he thought this was the most important question he could have asked.

  She was going to answer yes—because she knew that was the right answer, the answer he wanted to hear—but she hesitated. She couldn’t remember, really, the last time she had been happy. Or at least, she couldn’t remember when her happiness had not been tainted by fear. With Mikhael before everything went wrong, was her first thought, but no. She had always been worried about his approval, or worried that Jaya would kill her before they could get married. Maybe when I killed Jaya, she thought next, but instantly discarded. That had not been happiness; it had been pure relief. And not because Jaya was dead, but because she couldn’t hurt Ria anymore.

  When you’re with Peryn, a tiny, traitorous voice whispered. Ria shoved the thought down. He did not make her happy. He made her frustrated. He would say things that no one had ever told her before—nice things that warmed her cheeks, and scrambled her brain, and actually made her believe in herself for once—and the next moment he was his usual grumpy, kind-of-rude, demonic self. One moment he was telling her she was unstoppable, and the next he would get all cold and distant and remind her that he was only sticking around because of their bond. It’s not happiness, she thought, more to convince herself than anything else. It’s…well, I don’t know what it is, but it’s not happiness.

  “I’m…at peace,” Ria finally said after a moment. She smiled at Feodor. “Which is close enough.”

  Feodor nodded and broke out into a grin. “Then I will try to be happy enough for the both of us, and maybe some of it will rub off on you.”

  She laughed. “Maybe.”

  The double-doors to the library swung open and in walked Lord Izan, his dark green cape swirling behind him. He spotted Ria and Feodor quickly and began making his way over to their table, head held high.

  “Ah, your majesty, I thought I might find you here,” Izan said. He glanced over at the other man disdainfully. “Prince Feodor.”

  “Pompous ass,” Feodor muttered under his breath. Ria scraped her teeth across her bottom lip to keep from smiling too broadly.

  “Lord Izan, what can I do for you?” she asked. She hoped he was not planning on taking up too much of her time. If she had to pick between Izan and Feodor, she’d much prefer to spend her afternoon with the latter.

  “I’m in search of a book—”

  “Well, this is a library,” Feodor deadpanned. Izan ignored him.

  “And since you spend so much time here, I thought you might be able to point me in the right direction.”

  I don’t know why you wouldn’t ask the Elder Scholar, Ria thought. Izan probably just wants to interrupt my bonding time with the other suitors.

  She smiled politely anyway. “Which book is that?”

&nbs
p; “I’m afraid I don’t know the title,” he said.

  Feodor huffed. “Of course not.”

  “But,” Izan continued as if the other man hadn’t spoken, “I do know it’s about ancient Helish witchcraft.”

  Ria froze, her smile staying firmly in place. She hoped her terror wasn’t showing. What if he’s looking for my book? What does he want with it? Of course, it was obvious what he could do with it. She’d read every page, after all. But knowing Izan might be after it had her tempted to burn the damned thing. If the book fell into his hands…she didn’t even want to think about what could happen.

  “I’m afraid I haven’t read any books on witchcraft,” Ria lied. “I’m really only familiar with the politics and diplomacy section.”

  Disappointment flashed across Izan’s face for a split second. “But surely you might have an idea of where I could find such a book?”

  Ria forced a shrug. “The history section, maybe? You did say ancient Helish witchcraft. If not, perhaps ask the Elder Scholar. He’s much more informed about these things than I am.”

  Izan stood there for a moment, lips pursed as though he was trying to find another set of words to ask the same question again. Ria tried to stop her leg from shaking too much. His insistence on asking her, of all people, put her on edge. Does he know something? But he couldn’t have found out about Peryn. Could he?

  “Well,” Feodor said, breaking the tension. “If that’s all, Lord Izan, Queen Honoria and I were in the middle of something.”

  The older man did his best to hide a scowl. “Of course. Thank you for your time, your majesty.”

  As soon as Izan disappeared into the bookshelves, Feodor sighed.

  “I really can’t stand that man,” he whispered. “I don’t know how you put up with him.”

  “Because my Council likes him, and I can’t afford to anger them?” she joked.