All characters in this publication are fictitious, any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
The Last Queen Book Four
Copyright © 2017 Odette C Bell
Cover art stock photos: licensed from Depositphotos.
www.odettecbell.com
The Last Queen
Book Four
Everything will be different now. I’ve made my decision, and it’s time to join John. But it will come at a cost. Spencer isn’t willing to give me up without a fight, and this time he’ll fight with his heart and soul.
...
Tune in for the thrilling fourth instalment of The Last Queen Series.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 1
IT’S DIFFERENT THIS time. Walking into Rowley Tower.
Because this time, he knows who I am.
And he can’t stop looking at me.
Out of the corner of my eye as we stride through the atrium, I can feel Rowley’s attention all over me. It’s categorically different to the attention of Senator Rogers or Spencer. It’s... more directed. Less fiery and likely to burn me to a cinder.
I can’t really describe what my gut’s doing now. It’s turning circles, flipping, twisting. Kind of feels like a tornado has started right in my sternum. And yet at the same time, my hands are rounded into soft, determined fists.
Because even though a part of me still wants to hide from this man, the rest of me – the logical side – can appreciate that this is for the best. Because whether I like to admit it or not, things in this situation have taken a turn for the worse.
Though John doesn’t say a single thing as we make it through the atrium and to the big bank of lifts on the opposite side of the room, I can tell his mind must be whirling. Mine is, too. Despite the fact I don’t know what one of these so-called eater pieces is, I can’t deny that there’s a visceral reaction in my gut. It’s turning circles around itself, over and over again, and it’s sending pulses of fear slamming into my heart.
As soon as the doors are closed and the lift pings and starts to move, he turns softly on his foot, angling his head my way again.
I can’t really describe how I feel his attention because it’s more than just the sense that someone is looking at you. It’s... like there’s a special sense in my body that’s primed when a king looks at me. And that sense is primed even more so when Rowley specifically looks my way.
He clears his throat. It’s a soft, unsure move. “I know you have a lot of questions, and I will answer every one of them. But I know you need to take your time, too. Just don’t...” he trails off, obviously incapable of forcing the words out.
Though a part of me still wants to ignore him, the rest of me is brave enough to finally incline my head his way. “What, run away?”
I can’t really say if my voice is strong and determined or weak and wavering. It’s some confusing mix of the two.
Rowley chooses to take it as a joke, though, and that’s a good thing, as a certain kind of easy smile spreads across his lips.
Though until now I would’ve assumed that I’ve seen the full gamut of Rowley’s expressions, this is quite different. It’s....
I swallow suddenly as the elevator pings and, without warning, the doors open.
We reach the penthouse.
I immediately incline my head out of the doors to see if any of his staff are around. I don’t... don’t want to be on display right now. While I made my peace with the fact that Rowley now knows who I am, I can’t....
“Don’t worry,” he says as he takes several steps out of the lift and waits for me to inch my way out of it, too. “I won’t let the rest of my pieces know... until you want them to. Until we... come to an arrangement.”
My gaze slices toward him on the word arrangement.
Maybe there’s something particularly primal in the way I’m looking at him, because he slowly brings his hands up as if he’s dealing with somebody who’s unstable. “Please don’t misunderstand me. I have... no intention of acquiring you. But, as I’ve already pointed out... what happens next will be dangerous if you choose to be alone,” he says.
My stomach does all the weirdest kinds of things as he says choose to be alone. For some reason, I get flashes of my life up until this point. All of the decisions I’ve made. Sure, a lot of them have kept me alive. But equally as sure, a lot of them have kept me alone. And maybe if I had someone I could trust – someone batting on my side – I wouldn’t be like this.
I force myself to take a breath, then I wrench my gaze off him and nod toward his office on the opposite side of the room. “I guess it’s time to finally talk.”
He nods down low, the move stiff and yet somehow regal.
Then we walk together in total silence – just the sound of his shoes and mine – until we reach his office door.
He doesn’t need to shift out a hand, grab the handle, and open it. It opens at his approach.
It’s a strong show of magic, and I dart my gaze quickly over to him.
He concedes my observation with a shrug. “Now there is nothing to hide,” he says. I can hear it in his voice – that he wants that statement to be more than a simple throwaway comment.
And it hits me. Right there in the middle of my chest.
No more secrets.
As the door creaks open, I force a breath and I follow him.
I’ve been into Rowley’s office before. It’s different this time.
Literally.
When the horse attacked Rowley and I was forced to use this building to defeat the horse in a match, I came up to Rowley’s office. But at that point, it was a small, intimate, cozy affair. Now it’s wide and large and exactly what you would expect from a room occupying the corner of a penthouse floor. Two walls are just glass windows, and the room is huge and well-appointed with a massive desk, several lounge chairs, a couch, and various side tables and boards around the edges of the room.
It’s a tasteful mix of old and new. There’s lots of art, too.
But there isn’t that fire I shoved my hand into – the one that allowed me to access Rowley’s chessboard.
He clears his throat again. “The other office you entered was... my real office. This,” he spreads his hand wide, “is what I use for the public.”
I slice my gaze over to him. “Does that mean—” I begin.
He stops me before I can question whether I’m just some member of the public.
He offers me a crinkled-lipped smile. “No. It simply means that for now, considering,” his lips become a little stiff, and I suddenly notice that he’s holding his shoulders lower than he should be, “my recent fight,” he stretches his knuckles in and out, “I need to conserve my magic. And even though you probably assume that you’re fine, you also need to conserve your magic.”
I look at him directly, a frown etching across my lips. “I do feel fine. I think... I think I recover from a fight quickly.”
His eyes are all over me now. They feel like hands on my body, trying to pry back my secrets. Again he clears his throat. And I realize it’s a nervous move for the man. Which somehow means he has the capacity to feel nervous. And that in turn means he doesn’t have all the answers.
My stomach kicks at that thought.
“Though it is true that the queen has virtually incomparable power, you must be extremely careful of your physical situation. You should not overtax yourself. A
nd though it may feel – on the surface – that you are fine after that fight, you must rest. Because I fear that it is only the beginning.”
My stomach kicks. Without invitation, I walk over to one of the large chairs in the room, drag it until it faces his desk, and wait.
He hesitates then walks around and sits in his own chair.
We don’t do anything. We just face each other. A stupid part of my mind thinks this feels a little bit like a job interview. And hey, maybe it is. Because though I’m not entirely sure how this situation is going to work, I’m presumably gonna have to stay close to Rowley from now on. Which means that if he doesn’t want to make me conspicuous, he’s going to have to give me a reason to be in his building.
“I must admit, I don’t entirely know where to start,” he says, taking a deep breath through his teeth. He brings up his fingers and presses them into his brow in a telling move of fatigue.
Maybe this is where I should try to make the situation easier for him, but I don’t do anything but sit there and blink. My hands are stiff as I clutch the armrests of the chair. Stiff enough that my fingers feel a hell of a lot like little sticks of steel as they indent the expensive, rich leather.
Eventually Rowley lets his fingers drop as he stares at me.
“What do you want to know?”
I was kind of hoping that he would just launch into an explanation where my every question would be answered.
This throws me. And the reason it throws me is I can’t really think straight right now. Though once upon a time, I had a laundry list of questions I would ask the moment I found somebody who knew about my situation, now there is just fog in my brain.
When I don’t immediately come up with an answer, he takes a deep breath, and there’s an undeniable tender edge to it. “I suppose, most of all, you probably want to know why you?”
Though that thought hadn’t been on my mind, as he says that, it activates a deep sensation within me, and I twitch forward on my seat.
His eagle gaze notes my reaction, and he nods down low. “Genetics,” he explains simply. “Lineage,” he expands.
I shake my head. “No one in my family was... was...” I trail off as I realize I can’t spit it out. I just don’t know how to put into words what I’m thinking. Because it still sounds completely ridiculous. I want to point out that no one in my family was a chess piece, but listening to the thought makes me realize it’s crazy.
Again I let my gaze flick up to see John has the most tender of expressions. Though there would’ve been a time that I would have kicked myself for showing any form of weakness in front of this man, that time is long gone, and I allow myself to be softened by his kindness.
“Involved in the game,” he explains.
I blink quickly. “What?”
“When we refer to somebody with... magical powers, the common vernacular is saying that they are involved in the game,” he says. As he says the words game, his lips do the strangest thing. They twitch and yet remain stiff, making it look as if he’s trying to swallow his own face.
I blink hard. “You hate the game, don’t you?” I suddenly say.
Though I’m the one who keeps getting derailed, this comment affects him, and I watch as the hand he has on the desk stiffens.
He breathes hard and eventually nods. “I wouldn’t call it hate. It is a much more complicated emotion than that. Just like you, I was born into this game. But unlike you, I have been living with the knowledge of it my entire life. And it is no... easy thing. I do not wish to complain, and yet....”
I watch John as the most remarkable thing happens. Though I’ve already proven on multiple occasions that he is not as strong as I once assumed him to be, this is different. This is that sharp vulnerability of someone who can’t escape the hand Fate’s dealt them.
For the first time since we entered his office, finally my own expression softens.
“Though being part of the game involves a certain amount of power,” he says as he rolls his knuckles back and forth, drumming his fingers unevenly on the table as if he’s not entirely sure how to use his hands anymore, “at the same time, it is a curse,” he says flatly, his voice bottoming out low.
I blink hard. “Curse?” Though I try to control my voice, there’s no way I can. It shakes up and down, twists back and forth. Makes me feel as if there’s no way I’ll be able to control my emotions again.
“Yes. I won’t go too far into the history. It may be a little too much for you now. But the fact of the matter is this. Many years ago, our descendants – and every descendant of everyone who has ever been part of the game – made a deal.”
My stomach twists. It’s one of the strangest sensations I’ve ever felt. Because I swear it’s not me making my stomach twist – if that makes any sense. It’s something beyond me, within me. Something that’s part of my magical legacy, and yet, at the same time, something so frigging anathema to the human side of my body.
“With an ancient force,” John explains. From one look at his stiffly held hands to his equally stiffly held lips, it’s damn clear he’s holding back some emotion. And remarkably, it’s stronger than any I’ve ever seen him display yet.
“Ancient force?” I ask, voice shaking. It’s in part from John’s strong reaction and in part from the crazy sensations that are now ripping through my body like earthquakes plowing through a fault line. Seriously, my stomach is grumbling away as if someone’s trying to tear holes through my torso.
John takes another breath, obviously centering himself. “As far as accepted history goes, it seems that in medieval Europe, the descendants of the first players of the game encountered an ancient force. One that had been known since prehistoric times. One that was... other.”
“Other?” My mouth is completely dry as I ask that. I try to swallow, but it’s like my throat is lined with sandpaper. “What do you... mean? Are you talking about some kind of... God, I don’t know, alien?”
I feel like it’s the stupidest possible thing I could ask – something a child would suggest, not a fully grown adult.
As for John? He shrugs. “The force that controls the game is mysterious. Inherently. All you really need to know is that your ancestors made a deal with it. The power,” he adds, and his voice does it again, just sounds all wrong and twisted as if he’s a completely different man. Not the controlled debonair millionaire I’m so used to, but somebody who’s been dealing with the greatest burden in the world all his life and someone who’s never known freedom.
“Why? What did they want power for?” I ask, though part of me already knows the answer.
He stares at me steadily for several seconds. “The same reason anyone wants power. To defeat others. To gain resources. To do what they wish against their enemies,” he adds, lips all stiff again.
I swallow hard. Though I’m trying to do a good job of controlling my emotions, I’m failing. Dismally.
“While the pact with this ancient force certainly did bring power, it came at a cost. And that cost is this.” He sweeps his arms wide. Though he could just be referring to this office, it’s damn clear he’s referring to the game itself. To the mess that’s taken over my life, twisted my mind, and stolen my destiny.
I look at him. My expression is even, but it’s not because I’ve suddenly come to a good place about this. It’s because I can’t feel my facial muscles anymore. Heck, my whole body has become numb.
It takes me a hell of a long time to process this. But eventually I nod. “So what does that... mean for me? You said... you said that I’ll never get free,” my voice breaks on the word free. “But... you also said that...” I stop speaking. The words just won’t come.
“That you can save others. You can also destroy gameboards,” he says, and for the first time since this conversation began, John Rowley moves quickly. He presses forward, locking both elbows on his desk as he looks at me. His gaze couldn’t be more direct and more serious.
To say the least, it’s sobering, and I sta
re back. Though he doesn’t say a word, I know what he’s thinking.
“You want me to... destroy gameboards, right? Can I... can I save people by doing that?”
He nods. It’s a hard, direct move. Almost as if his body has been waiting to make this exact move his entire life. “Yes.”
I press a tight breath through my teeth. I bring up a hand, but just before I can try to hide behind it, I forcefully let it drop.
I wouldn’t have done that several weeks ago when this entire situation was still new and raw. But there’s something about facing John right now that’s like facing every single fear I’ve had about magic. The more I sit here and listen to this, the freer I become. Though that doesn’t make sense, as John is pretty much saying I’m now trapped by the responsibility of destroying gameboards – it’s still the truth. And they do say that the truth will set you free.
I sit back in my seat, forcing a stiff breath through my teeth. I momentarily go to lock a hand on my brow, then I let it drop. I face him – and he faces me back. “So what happens now? Do you want me to... go around the city and... I don’t know, destroy gameboards? What about other kings? Do we have an action plan around them? Won’t they... try to come after me no matter what we do?”
Now I’ve started, my questions are like water falling through badly cupped hands.
Fortunately John doesn’t even blink. “Yes, we need to make a plan about the other kings,” he says through clenched teeth. “Though the one that we need to be most concerned about,” I watch his gaze become more direct, and it’s clear he wants to gauge my reaction, “is Spencer.”
I surprise myself when I don’t react. I should react. Because it feels as if my body has always been primed to react whenever Spencer’s name is mentioned and certainly whenever I see him.
And heck, considering that... incident in his car, you’d think my reaction now would be worse.
But I don’t move. A muscle.
I just look at him.
And he looks back, a slow smile spreading across his lips. But the smile doesn’t get far until a dose of seriousness flashes through his gaze again. “We need to act as soon as we can. We must go to the butcher’s warehouse that you described and ensure that Spencer hasn’t somehow acquired an eater.”
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