Alara stood with Cedric’s help and nodded to the men. “Then I don’t suppose we should keep the baroness waiting, shall we?” She looked cautiously to Iren and Scarlet.
Cedric held her with both hands, steadying her. He released one and stepped in front of Alara.
“We will all be traveling with the queen. Nobody is to touch her,” he added quickly.
“The Baroness has said as much as well, sir. She will not be harmed. It is not in the nature of the baron to crave royalty.” The man swallowed his last words slowly. So slowly, in fact, Alara could see the lump lower in his throat. “Shall we go?” He turned and bowed, offering them to take their leave ahead of him, which they complied with after collecting the items they had with them.
To Alara’s surprise, they never tried to touch anyone along the way, but once they arrived at the castle, things changed. Three men grabbed Scarlett and Cedric. A fourth took Iren to make up for the lack of Scarlet’s support. No one touched Alara, they left her free to walk ahead of the group on her own.
She took in the giant pillars that once stood in the great room of the castle. There was a pile of rubble at her feet as she stepped. A rumble off in the distance made the castle walls shake uncontrollably. The men released their prey for a split-second before gaining their senses. Alara put her hand up to steady herself on a broken pillar. The loose stones on the top slid and rolled down the opposite side of the broken structure.
A sweet, dainty voice sounded over the roar of noise in the distance. “I see our guests have arrived. Quiet yourself.” A small-framed woman entered the room from a large opening to their right. She stood atop the small staircase and greeted them as if they were still old friends. “Alara, it is so good to see you have woken.” She walked down the three steps to meet her.
Taking the queen by both shoulders, she leaned in and kissed both of Alara’s cheeks. “You must be exhausted. Let me have my men take you to your rooms.” She motioned for her men to move Alara’s companions.
“No, I don’t think that will be necessary. As I remember, you do love taking care of business first. Get it out of the way and whatnot.” Alara tilted her head to one side as she recalled dealing with Belinda Geleon in the past.
“You are so right. How did we find ourselves the ones taking up with these unfortunate dealings?” She took Alara by the arm and led her away from the entrance, farther into the den of the enemy. “It was a burden waiting for the men to conclude business on their terms so long ago. Now, I find it more difficult to deal with them myself more than I had the waiting.” She smiled at Alara and released her.
They stepped into another room in much the same despair. The pillars around the place had been reduced to ruins on the floor. Lanterns were smashed to pieces and scattered about. The once elegant council room resembled a war zone. Two large chairs sat at the far end of the room, or at least there used to be two, Alara remembered. Now one stood alone. She suspected the other was the pile of splinters next to it.
Alara looked around the room so she might glance behind her to see if her companions had been brought along with her. Realizing they were not there, she looked back to the Baroness. “Belinda, where are my friends?”
“Oh, I see no need for them to wait for sleep. Your friends need not be here to conduct business matters.”
“You would relieve me of my personal guard?” She sounded the part of an outraged royal. “I am your queen. You have no business—”
She was cut off by Belinda, who raised a hand to the guard at the door.
“Bring the queen’s personal guard,” she told the man, then glared at Alara. “Though I have no idea why you feel you would need a guard here. We are old friends, are we not?”
“That has yet to be seen. Regardless, there are protocols. You know this.” Alara sighed when Cedric was ushered in, even if they still held him tightly. “Our treatment thus far speaks volumes.”
“Protocols. Well, yes. If you were the queen.” She hesitated, a look of fear passed quickly over her, then she turned her head up. A smile as big as ever greeted Alara again. “I will allow you the courtesy of the guard, but my men will remain. As of right now, Talia is queen. Her son will sit on the throne.”
“He’s not the true heir,” Alara hissed. She could feel the metal of Brazen at her side, begging for her to pull it free.
“Regardless which one she puts in the chair, she’s raised them both.” Belinda walked around the chair and pile of twigs. She stopped behind her throne, placing both of her hands on the ornamental back. “She will rule the kingdoms through whichever takes rule, that is for sure.” She stopped again, a weary look took her expression and her mind away from the present.
“She will not have control of the king for long. I will get my family back… and my home.” Alara shouted, bringing the woman back to their discussion. Even if she were unsure of her status at court, she needed her old friend to believe she wanted her life back.
Belinda curled a light brown tendril around her finger. Contemplating something, she swished the yellow fabric of her dress across the tops of her feet. “Tell me, Alara. Why shouldn’t I ransom your pretty little self to the queen? My husband’s fate could be restored for the act of handing you over.”
“Where is the baron?”
The question of his state of mind needed to be answered once and for all.
“He’s being a good boy, for now.” Belinda moved back to the front of the chair and sat down on the edge of the seat. She crossed one knee over the other and placed both hands on her raised leg, with her back held straight ever the diplomat. “So, business is now concluded.” She lifted a hand for her guards to remove Alara and Cedric from her sight.
“Wait!” Cedric yelled, and Alara’s eyes shot wide open.
“What could you have to say to me?” Belinda asked.
For the woman to consider Cedric’s opinion showed uncertainty in her decision. Alara thought the fate of Lord Geleon must have been worse than the stories.
“The man with us. He is Iren. He can help the baron.” Cedric yelled as he worked against the force of the men trying to move him to the door.
“Release him.” Belinda stood. “Bring the old man.” The tree of them stood, waiting for what seemed like hours for Iren to be brought to the council room.
Alara and Cedric took Iren from the guards handling him. The men protested, but one look from Alara and they jumped away.
“Now, tell me. Can you help the baron?” Belinda took deliberate steps from her chair to where they stood with Iren.
Iren looked up at her the best he could. Still weary and drained from the magic he used upon the ship, he gave her a grim look. “No, lady, I cannot.”
Belinda let out an audible sound, just as the rumbling from before reverberated through the castle walls once more. “Quiet!” she yelled at the walls.
“I can offer this,” Iren said, stopping to catch his breath. And giving Lady Geleon time to compose herself. “Alara has recently been given more power than even I. I can train her, and she can free the baron of his plight.”
Alara glanced to Iren, and then to Belinda. “Iren, how can I?”
“Just as I said.” He smiled at her, then spoke to their captor. “I will require a full day of rest, then we can begin. When her training is complete, I will be able to extend a bit of support, but ultimately, your queen will save your husband.”
“Well”— she turned to eye the wall behind her— “let me introduce my husband, Baron of House Geleon. If you’re going to help, you’ll need to know what you’re up against.” She walked back to the chair and its sad, splintered companion. “Darling, please come out.”
Alara’s breath caught in the back of her throat as she gasped. The baron came through a large doorway that led out the back end of the room. He was covered in hair…no, fur like a wild animal, though much more abundant than any animal Alara had ever seen. He was wearing a blue tailcoat and tan trousers as if he tried to keep the pretense of bei
ng a man. His tawny fur coat stuck up all over. His eyes glowed yellow, but what she feared were the large spiked teeth jutting from his lower jaw up to the mid-section of his face like tusks. The man she once knew was gone, and in his place stood a monster. He let out a low growl as if he could read her thoughts, and Alara felt her body twitch in place with fear.
“You’ll have to excuse my appearance. I don’t seem to be myself these days.” The Baron spoke with a gruff voice and a low growl deep in his throat. He moved slowly into the room and stood beside his wife.
“Talia will pay for this. She will pay for all of it.” Alara heard the words come from her mouth but couldn’t believe with any part of her that she was the one that spoke them.
When the couple held each other’s hands, Alara knew she meant every word of it. Whether she took her position as queen or not, she would end Talia’s reign over her people. She wouldn’t let the witch continue to hurt those she cared about.
IREN got one day of rest, then Belinda insisted he begin training Alara. The old man gladly accepted his role as a teacher. The student, on the other hand, had a hard time with the way things unfolded.
It was not that she didn’t want to learn how to use the magic she had been given by the sisters. She just wanted to get to Declan before Talia could do anything to him in the name of power. The thoughts running through her mind kept her from concentrating on the task at hand. Iren got irritated with her lack of concentration on more than one occasion.
“If we are to get to the prince, then you will need to do this properly. I need you to concentrate, Alara,” Iren chastised when she’d blown up a small rock.
They were seated in the great room. The remnant of stone around them worked well for target practice. First, Alara needed to control the power within her if she would ever be able to handle the amount required to make the baron’s transformation.
“I just wish I knew what was going on out there.” She tossed the pebble, and it hit the bottom of the small table set in the middle of the room.
Belinda brought the table out of her personal chambers to show them the magic keeping the baron trapped inside his current form. The glass orb held a small red rose inside. Talia placed the spell on the rose and said if ever the enchantment was broken, the rose would turn purple and die. Otherwise, neither the rose nor the baron could escape their current fate.
Belinda had tried everything imaginable to get the rose to die. Short of casting it from the tallest tower, she tried it all, and nothing worked.
The glass was impenetrable. Nothing shattered it.
Belinda’s only option was magic. Since Talia had all the magic users trapped on Ikrith, and the fae wouldn’t help her, she was left to deal with the baron’s temper on her own.
It was he who, in a rage, demolished the castle they called home. He never even attempted to step outside the walls. Other than the guards they employed, no one stuck around the castle for too long after the transformation. It’d taken several years to get the baron to agree to keep his temper at bay so they may employ a few maids and a cook, though Geleon did not eat the same food he once had.
The worst of the stories told over the years were more accurate than the lesser ones. The Geleon household had an empty dungeon for several years. All of those who committed crimes against Esix, and who was worthy of imprisonment, were hung up and fed to the baron. Belinda watched as he gorged himself on human flesh and bone.
“If I could show you what is happening to your son, would you put more concentration into this?” Iren asked her.
“Yes, of course.” Her interest was taken, and she moved toward the sorcerer.
“Fine then, give me your hand.” He took her hand in his and placed it upon a rock no more significant than her fist. He muttered something under his breath, eyes closed.
When he opened his eyes and hand, he held the stone up to her. She looked into the rock, but instead, she saw a picture of her old home. Inside the stone, she saw Declan and Landon talking. Besides looking tired, Declan seemed well. “See there, Talia has not injured your child.” Iren sighed. “Now, can we please get to work?”
“I wonder what they're talking about,” she said, staring into the stone, but the image disappeared. “What happened?” She looked to the sorcerer, who rubbed his hands against the unkempt hair hanging from his chin.
“The magic is only going to last in small spurts. I don’t have the energy to put more into it. We need to concentrate on Belinda’s task.”
She pouted but set the rock aside. “Fine.”
“I’ll tell you what. Each time I feel you have improved, I will give you another glimpse. Agreed?”
“Yes. Thank you. It’s just so hard to concentrate on all of this knowing Talia has him. Both of them, really.”
“Oh?’ He shifted on the cushion they were provided for comfort. “You worry about Landon too?”
“Well, yes. Landon is Tomas’ son as well as Declan, and Declan’s brother.”
“He killed people,” Cedric said under his breath. He’d been permitted to stay close to Alara as her personal guard but was not supposed to interact during lessons.
Alara acknowledged she heard him, only by looking down at her lap. “Yes, but many good people have done wrong because of that witch. He’s a child. He deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
“Good. Now that we have an understanding, can we please accomplish something?” Iren sounded exasperated.
Alara straightened her back and sat at attention for Iren to teach.
First, she had to focus her energy on making a single rock rise from the floor and hover above it. Then he tasked her with holding a conversation while keeping the rock in midair. The first proved easy enough to handle. The latter sent the stone shooting across the room. When it shot out, hitting the glass orb and ping-ponging around the room, is when Scarlett walked in to announce lunch.
Alara sat and stared at the bowl in front of her. Again, her mind wandered to the prince. She felt the heat inside her body build to a boil as she thought about her hatred for Talia, and how she wanted to get her revenge on the woman. She thought of all the years she missed with her own child because of the curse. When she couldn’t handle the thoughts anymore, she tried to pick up the utensil given to her to eat her food.
The four of them sat in the dining hall alone. Apparently, it was a room the baron had never visited since it hadn’t been demolished. All eyes were on Alara as her fork lifted from the table before her hand caught it.
“What?” She stared at Iren.
“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering how you were able to do that?” he asked, nodding in her direction.
“You taught me this.” She grabbed the fork from the air
and Iren shook his head.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Scarlett stood from the table. Her red cloak circling her, she moved to the opposite end of the room past three more long tables like the one they sat at. She plucked an oval mirror from the wall and walked back.
“What is this? What’s going on?” Belinda stepped into the hall.
“Oh, lady,” Scarlett said, the mirror held at her side. “I was just about to show the queen what she’s learned to do today.” She pointed to the table with her friends seated.
“Oh, my!” Belinda gasped.
“What? What is it? You're all starting to scare me.” Alara stood from the table. The fork forgotten, though it still lingered in the air as she let it go.
“Just look, Your Majesty.” Belinda inclined her head to Scarlett to hold up the mirror. “It would seem you age beautifully.”
Alara didn’t believe her eyes when they came to rest on the image before her. Her face hadn’t developed twenty years’ worth of stress marks or worry lines, but it gave truth to her added years.
Her skin was still fair and firm, but her features changed, somehow making her look and feel her age. Matured. Like someone who wouldn’t feel strange saying she was the mother of a s
ixteen-year-old prince.
Although no longer the lanky nineteen-year-old girl, she had the same body and build. She could somehow tell she’d broken the remainder of the curse, leaving her in her natural state. Her body finally caught up and aged naturally.
“But the curse,” she said to Iren.
He smiled. “It seems you have shaken it. The curse holding your mind lifted when the splinter was removed from your finger. Now, your body and mind are one. The remainder of Talia’s curse that kept you from aging has been broken.”
“I guess that means you are very powerful indeed.” Belinda seemed joyful at the new insights into the powers Alara had been given. “I feel like my old friend has finally come to visit.”
“Except you’re holding us hostage until she fixes beastly.” Scarlett scoffed.
“Scarlett,” Alara lectured, now feeling the elder of the two. “She is doing no such thing. We are going to help the baron because it’s the right thing to do. Then afterward, Belinda will get Iren to Idrisi and give us transport to Shagari.” She looked at Belinda, who smiled and nodded her agreement.
“Shagari? Why are we going there? Don’t we need to go to Anaphias to get Declan?” Scarlett wasn’t feigning surprise at the mention of her home but didn’t want to get her hopes up. It had been too long since she had been home.
“Yes, we will go to Anaphias, eventually. There is nothing Talia can do that can’t be undone. If we are going to keep her from the flame, we are going to need an army. I believe your lands have the very force we need.”
Scarlett let out a high-pitched squeal at the thought of going home, clamping both of her hands over her mouth. “Sorry. It’s just been so long since I’ve been there.”
“It’s okay,” Alara said.
“Um, Alara?” Iren cleared his throat behind her. She turned to look at the sorcerer, and he pointed to where the fork still hung in the air. “I think you’ve got part one learned. Shall we finish lunch and try some more?”
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