Riven (Exile Book 2)

by Colleen Vanderlinden

  What she saw in his eyes was something she had desired for most of her life. Defeat. Fear.

  “You won’t get away with this,” he whispered. “My palace is full of guards—”

  “Not all of them will be loyal to you,” Shannen said. “You stole something from me, my darling uncle.”

  Edwell gulped. “Lies.”

  “It is so easy to hide an Immutable law when the populace is prohibited from reading. Ironic how that works, no?” she asked. He stared at her, and she extended her hand, brandishing her blade, still wet with Smith’s traitorous blood. “Now, kneel to your Queen.”

  “I will never kneel to you, you worthless whore, you sick piece of filth, you utter embarrassment to my house,” he shouted, spittle flying from his bloated lips.

  Shannen merely smiled. “You should be careful, uncle. I will not kill you, but I can make your existence quite miserable.”

  “They will not accept you.”

  She smiled again, and she delighted in the way he cringed. “They already love me. I spent my life making a mockery of you, and they loved me for it. They will accept me, and they will rejoice in your imprisonment.”

  “And the Maarlai? You have angered them, broken the treaty. They’ll come for you,” he said. The Maidens snickered, and Shannen did her level best to remain placid.

  “Well. I will deal with the Maarlai, should it become necessary. Now. Kneel.”

  He spit at her, hocking a giant gob of phlegm on the toe of her boot.

  “Well. That was not very polite,” she said quietly. Her gaze flicked to Camille, who walked up behind Edwell and struck him, hard, in the back of the knees with a short club she carried. He groaned and buckled, falling forward.

  “You think you would know at least one thing about me by now uncle,” Shannen said. Edwell looked up at her with absolute hatred in his eyes, and she grinned. “I never lose.”

  “Your worthless father was just as cocky,” he snarled.

  Shannen smiled wider. “And we all know how you have spent your life trying to live up to him.” She glanced at her Maidens. Camille still looked as serious as ever, but there was a glint in her eye that almost made her look happy. She waited for a moment as two of the other Maidens looked out of the garden and toward the tree-lined avenue that would lead them to the palace’s private quarters. Having gotten the signal they were waiting for, the Maidens walked over to Edwell and hoisted him up. Reena went to work tying his hands behind his back, and Camille plucked the silver circlet from his head and held it toward Shannen.

  “I believe this is yours, my Queen,” she said. Shannen bowed, and when Camille set the crown gently onto her head, even Edwell’s enraged shouting was drowned out by the tidal wave of emotion that swept through her. She had thought she would feel pride, victory, a sense of vindication.

  Instead, she felt the weight of thousands of lives resting on her shoulders. Every person in her kingdom, those had supported her and those who had not, would now have to depend on her to put their lives before her own. Maybe, after all this time, they did not even realize that was the purpose of a monarch. Edwell, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, her father, had certainly never put them first.

  As the realization of what this truly meant settled over her, Shannen missed her husband. He had supported her in this insane endeavor, and she had managed it. At least, she had to this point. She knew there would be more fighting, more blood spilled before this was all over. She wished he was at her side. She would need his calmer, quieter sensibilities, his experience in ruling… and they would need each other to truly unite their people.

  Shannen straightened her crown and nodded to Reena and Camille. She pretended not to notice as two other Maidens pulled Smith from the toolshed. He was alive. She had missed anything vital, and she was not sure if she was relieved about that or not. At least now, maybe she would get some explanation for his treachery.

  They must have made an odd little procession as they moved toward the castle: Shannen at the front of the line, flanked by Reena and three other Maidens, Camille and another Maiden dragging a struggling, bound Edwell behind them, and two more Maidens dragging Smith, who was still bleeding, bringing up the rear. As they neared the castle, more of Shannen’s Maidens flowed from the surrounding areas. They’d been hiding between buildings, behind structures, in trees.

  Shannen was about to say something to Reena when she heard that now-familiar buzzing overhead. They all looked up. It was louder than she’d ever heard it before, and her heart started pounding when she saw not one, not two, but easily a dozen of the silvery aircrafts above them, hovering still in the sky above the city.

  Their group stared up at the sight overhead, and then it felt as if, slowly but surely, all of the air was being sucked away. It felt like trying to breathe through mud.

  “Gods help us, get down!” Camille shouted, turning and shoving Shannen to the ground at the base of a large statue.

  “Wha—”

  The words were taken from Shannen’s mouth as the buzzing sound grew deafening and, in the next instant, the was an ear-splitting “boom.” Shannen shielded her eyes as the world seemed to flash with lightning all around them, white, blinding light that made her eyes tear up. A crack, an explosion that had Shannen clutching her head. Camille stayed on top of her, shielding her from whatever was happening. Shannen tried to see what was going on, but her vision was spotty from the intense light a few moments before.

  “Stay down, Your Highness,” Camille said near her ear. “It’s not safe yet.”

  Shannen blinked several times, trying to get her eyes to work correctly. Tears streamed down her face and her ears were ringing. The air smelled acrid, and she knew the city was on fire.

  The screams of her people rose on the wind, accompanied by the crackle of flames.

  “How bad is it?”

  Camille patted her shoulder. “It’s bad. Gods above, what just happened?” she asked, sounding dazed. A few moments later, she moved, and Shannen sat up. Her head was pounding, but her vision had improved enough that she could take in her surroundings.

  The palace, what was left of it, burned. It looked as if the entire top floor of the white stone castle had been torn off. Stone did not burn, Shannen knew, but the building had been full of wood furniture, tapestries, rugs.

  People.

  “Oh, gods,” Shannen breathed. She clutched her stomach and forced herself to stand up. She heard shouting, and traced it to her left, further up the road toward the castle, where Edwell was screaming, shouting, fighting to get away from the Maidens who held him captive.

  “His wife and daughters were in the palace,” Camille said softly. “We verified their locations when we arrived.”

  Shannen nodded. She had no love for her aunt and cousins, but she had never wanted them dead. She turned to Camille. “When it is safe to get closer, please take some of our people and search the palace. Hopefully they were on the lower level when the attack happened. If so, they may still be alive.”

  Camille nodded. “And him?” she asked, nodding toward Edwell.

  Shannen grimaced, listening to his screams. “You have my permission to knock him out for a while. We need to help anyone we can, not waste our time trying to rein him in.”

  With one more short nod, Camille left her side and walked up to Edwell. One quick hit to his temple, and Edwell slumped between the Maidens.

  “We will tie him to that,” Camille shouted, pointing at the metal garden gate. “I’ll leave a few Maidens to guard him.”

  Shannen nodded and gazed at the palace again.

  Whoever was behind this attack would likely return. Perhaps they would actually land next time. She had to get her people out of the city. They needed to get away. And they needed to find safety in numbers.

  And Shannen knew just where to find those numbers, and the safety they provided. As soon as she could gather everyone, it was time to go home.

  Chapter Six

  Shannen and h
er Maidens, as well as the rest of her small army, worked tirelessly throughout the morning and afternoon, and late into the night, searching homes and businesses. They did their best to gather and care for the living.

  There were so many more dead.

  Barely a single building in the human capital had escaped the destruction wrought by the alien ships, or whatever they were. The palace was simply the largest. The temples, the inns and shops, the homes, the market square… all of it had been destroyed, targeted, demolished. The sky was full now of billowing black clouds, smoke, and ash.

  They left the bodies where they lay. All they could do was finish the job the original fiery attack had begun.

  Camille and the Maidens had returned from the palace with grim expressions on their faces, and Camille had bent to Shannen, speaking to her quietly as Shannen cleaned and bandaged a child they’d found near the temple.

  “We found the bodies of your aunt and cousins. They were in the dining hall, along with several servants. None survived.”

  Shannen closed her eyes. “Any survivors in the palace at all?”

  Camille shook her head. “They seemed to focus their attack on it. It has easily sustained the most damage. There is barely any of the structure left. The west wall collapsed while we were making our way out.”

  Shannen finished working on the child and gently rumpled his hair. “Your mother is over there,” she said quietly, pointing toward where Reena was working on a young woman whose arm and back had been badly burned when she’d thrown herself over her young son. The child nodded and thanked her, then ran to where his mother was.

  “What a nightmare,” Shannen muttered, rubbing her hands over her face.

  “You should rest.”

  Shannen shook her head. “Not now. We still have one quadrant of the city to check. And I need to speak to Edwell.”

  Camille met her gaze and nodded. “He is awake now. Asking about them.”

  Shannen patted Camille and told her to find something to eat. All they had were the meager rations they had been living on, and whichever fruits and vegetables from the market that had not been damaged by the inferno. Shannen made her way back through the city, stopping often to talk to the people who recognized her. She did not offer them promises, because she had none. The best she could do was to direct them to the areas where they were encouraging the citizens to gather, where they could get a small meal, some clean water, and medical attention. They could also, hopefully, be reunited with any loved ones who had survived the attack.

  Over half of the city’s adults were dead. They had died protecting the children that now sat in the palace garden. A few of the Maidens and soldiers who were accustomed to being around children watched over them. Shannen was useless there, but she knew she would speak to them in a while.

  Reena had told her that she made the children feel safe. It was the one moment that Shannen came close to succumbing to tears, and she had had to excuse herself, claiming someone she needed to attend to.

  First day as a Queen, and she was already failing her people. Running from children.

  “Such a brave queen,” she muttered as she made her way toward where Edwell was being held, surrounded by soldiers and two of her Maidens. When Edwell saw her coming, he immediately started shouting.

  “Where are they? What have you done with them, you vile whore? Give my wife and daughters to me!”

  One of the soldiers made to strike him, and Shannen waved him off. Edwell was tied, hands behind his back, to the gate near the garden where the children were. She could hear their soft voices, their laughter, so incongruent amid the death and destruction. She crouched in front of Edwell.

  “I am sorry. We searched the palace… they were in the dining hall at the time of the attack. None survived,” she said quietly.

  Edwell looked at her blankly, and then he snarled at her. “This is your fault!”

  “Mine?”

  “You brought this on us, with your betrayal. You have cursed us, you whore,” he shouted, spitting, crying, struggling against his bindings.

  “Can I please hit him now, my Queen?” the soldier, Maxim, asked dryly. Shannen gave s small shake of her head.

  “Do you know what those were?” she asked Edwell, pointing toward the sky, where the attack had originated.

  The fight seemed to go out of him. “We were guessing aliens. Not Maarlai. We have a few Maarlai books from their old world, showing what their craft looked like.” He paused, slumping. “I told them to leave the city the first time those things appeared in the sky. I told them to leave, and they said they wouldn’t go unless I went with them.” He turned an angry glare toward her, eyes glazed with unshed tears. “I was too busy trying to track you down, watching out for you and your treachery.”

  “You mean you put your own ambition before the safety of your family?” Shannen asked, crossing her arms. “Not a great choice, in retrospect.”

  “You are vile,” he hissed.

  “Must run in the family.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments, Edwell glaring angrily at Shannen, Shannen waiting for him to speak again. She did not like her uncle, obviously, but she knew he would be in pain. He was not a good man, but even bad men can love, and he adored his daughters.

  “Where are the bodies?” he finally asked, voice thin and tired.

  “Still in the palace. We have been setting pyres for the bodies we find throughout the city, but I thought you might want to see them… to say goodbye.”

  Edwell looked away. His bottom lip quivered, and Shannen did him the courtesy of looking away as he began to cry.

  “Take me to my family,” Edwell demanded a few moments later. Shannen nodded to Maxim and the others, who got Edwell on his feet and started marching him toward the palace. Shannen followed silently. Several of the citizens who had been resting nearby noticed the small procession and joined as well, following behind Shannen. The silence was oppressive, the only sound the constant crackling of flames and the scuffling of tired feet on gravel.

  They snaked through the corridors of the palace, her guards leading them away from the more treacherous, unstable areas, until they entered the dining hall. The former queen and her two daughters had been sitting at the head table. The explosion had thrown them all back against the stone wall behind the table, and they lay like rag dolls on the floor.

  Edwell let out a small sob and fell to the floor. The guards stood close to him, making sure he did not get away, but allowed him a moment to take it all in.

  “The priests—”

  “The priests are dead,” Shannen said. “The temples were among those structures targeted.”

  Edwell was silent for a long while, staring at his wife and daughters as if he was determined to memorize them. More and more people crowded into the dining hall.

  “Set the pyre,” Edwell said in a shaky voice. Shannen nodded toward Maxim, who brought a torch as several others brought wood scavenged from around the palace. They stacked and arranged, and when Maxim lowered the flame of his torch toward the wood, Edwell looked down, lips moving silently, as if he was praying.

  The assembled citizens lowered their heads for a few moments, and then Shannen’s soldiers and Maidens started directing them out before the fire spread more. They filed out, Shannen bringing up the rear with Edwell and her Maidens.

  “You step into the city again and look at what happens,” Edwell said. “Death. Destruction. Our entire society destroyed, in a matter of seconds.”

  “Blame me if you like, but we both know it is nonsense. And I have no time to argue with you,” Shannen said. She pointed a finger toward the sky. “They will very likely be back.”

  “Why?”

  “This seems like annihilation. They destroyed as much as they possibly could before disappearing again. I just have a feeling they will be back to ensure there are no survivors.”

  “You are an idiot. No one would bother putting that much effort into making sure every single pers
on was dead,” Edwell muttered. “You might, but most would not be that vengeful.”

  “I hope I am wrong. In the meantime, I need to make sure we find all of the survivors.”

  “For what?”

  “To get them out of the city.”

  Edwell gave a bitter laugh. “Why? They’re as good as dead. See? You know nothing about ruling. The primary duty of the king, and yes, I said king, not queen, is to ensure the legacy of their rule. The king should be the first one out of a city at the sign of danger. Citizens are fodder, nothing more.”

  “My father did not believe that,” Shannen said. He had many faults, but George had never had the disdain for commoners that her uncle did.

  “Your father was as idiotic as you are.” Edwell paused. “He found them useful. Soldiers. Bodies to throw at the enemy. He was not wrong about that part, at least.”

  “Well, if that is the case, then you were both the idiots.”

  “This is precisely why women cannot lead. Too soft, too sentimental.”

  That particular statement was met with more than a few laughs from her Maidens and soldiers. Edwell gave them a dirty look as they walked.

  “Is that why you kept my crown from me?”

  Edwell simply gave her a look of disgust, then kept his eyes trained straight ahead as her soldiers guided him back to where he would be tied up again.

  Shannen looked up at the night sky, still hazy with smoke. The fires still burned, and they were gathered in the one area of the city that the ships had not bothered targeting. What was the point of destroying a flower garden, something so useless, so unimportant?

  For now, it was their solace. She wanted to move everyone as soon as possible, even if part of her wanted to believe Edwell. Perhaps she was being overly careful. Perhaps she was running.

  And perhaps, she just wanted to see her husband again.

  At any rate, they would leave the city and march east. As she looked up at the sky, she worked through an internal debate about whether they should move now, or wait for morning’s light. If the ships came by again, they would die for sure. But her people were weak, tired, and heartsick. She could feel herself flagging after the long day, every bone in her body complaining when she moved. Her throat and chest burned from being too near the fires.