by Chloe Cole
She chewed on her bottom lip, seeming to consider my words for a long moment. Finally, she nodded.
"All right, then. I guess that'll do." She eyed me as she swung her bag off her neck and reached inside. She pulled out a crumpled piece of parchment and held it out to me. "Once I realized you weren't coming back, I gathered my things and chased after you. I was able to catch your scent and followed it toward a small village where someone was handing out these."
I took the paper from her and looked at it, wincing at the rendering of my face with a cloud of auburn waves surrounding it, dead center. Beneath it were the following words.
Your king is a fraud and a villain and our one true queen has been found. Come to Ironhaven square for the proof and to witness history in the making as we crown our new ruler.
“It’s you,” she murmured.
I stared at the scrawled words in awe, my body feeling numb with shock. The writing looked eerily familiar.
Theodora's.
I'd seen it in her first missive delivered by the eagle shifter. It was a smart maneuver on her part. She was trying to ensure that there would be enough people present that the king would be hesitant to send his men out and behead us in front of all of them. The last thing he wanted to do was give credence to any of this or show fear. Better for him to play it as if I was some crackpot with no true claim than to make me a martyr, which would give the people time to make their decision and mobilize if they were so inclined.
I had to appreciate the healer’s wily maneuver.
The only problem with this tactic was that it required the community to take the notices seriously enough to show up. And that was a whole other matter entirely.
"Explain it to me, Anaya," Iris said, her brows knit in confusion. "We grew up side by side. How are you queen?"
I wet my lips and quickly relayed the story Viktor had told us back at his cave in Hammertown forest. It sounded ludicrous coming from my mouth and I waited for her to burst out laughing or stop me. But she was silent until the very end when she shook her head in awe.
"I'm not surprised one bit," she said, her tone matter of fact.
"What do you mean?" I asked with an incredulous laugh. "How can you not be?"
"Because I always knew you were different. Not just the red hair,” she said with a smile warming her lovely face. "Special. So different than Mother and I. And so different from Father, too. God, he hated you. He'd been mean to me as well, but to you, he was outright cruel. Now it makes so much sense."
I'd thought much the same thing as far as the latter when I'd heard the prophecy. Now that I'd had a little more time to think on it, part of me didn't blame him. If it was true, my mother never loved him and her heart would be with Robert forever. To have to then raise a child who was a constant reminder of that must have been difficult. If only he'd known that one day I might be queen and finally bringing him the honor he so greatly desired, maybe he would've been kinder to me…
"I think many people would've done the same in his position," I said with a nod.
"Don't give him a pass, Anaya. When he agreed to marry our mother, knowing she carried the cub of another, he gave up the right to be angry about it. He was awful to you and you were just a child," she said, her wide eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry I wasn't better able to shield you from that."
I wanted to comfort her, but suddenly the Saint John men had returned dressed and in human form, circling around us.
"Sorry for interrupting your talk with your sister, but something is happening," Gatlin muttered, his gaze scanning the forest around us as he tipped his head back. "Michael scented animals in the distance. Lots of them."
Iris stepped back, a smile spreading over her face. "Excellent."
I stared at her, nonplussed, as Michael, Connor and Lucian came closer, looking just as puzzled.
"They're here for you, Anaya,” my sister said, her tone matter of fact. “We all are. I ran ahead, but I was only one of hundreds."
She spread her arms wide as the sound of a veritable stampede filled the air. A pair of fox shifters scampered into the clearing, followed by three, massive grizzlies. All of us watched in wonder as shifters of every type poured in from all directions.
Lions, tigers, stags, wolves, even birds of prey from overhead.
They formed a circle around our camp, crushing in close.
"Excuse me. Pardon me. Out of the way, would you?" a loud voice called. A moment later, Theodora appeared. And by her side stood Viktor, towering over her, his bearded face split into a beaming smile.
"Your people have come to bend the knee and offer their support, Your Highness."
I watched in awe as everyone around me bent low. My throat went tight and I swallowed hard to dislodge the knot there before I could speak.
“Thank you for coming, Theodora. And for this,” I murmured with a wave of my hand. I faced the crowd of shifters who bleated and roared and stomped the ground in excitement. “I will do my very best to make you all proud and get you all the freedom to mate and marry and bear children that you so richly deserve," I managed with a sniff.
Then, I lifted my chin high.
"Let us go together then, and get our kingdom back!"
Chapter 16
The rest of the trek back toward Ironhaven proper was an emotional one. At every turn, I expected to run into the king's army, ready and waiting to attack, but we marched forward, untouched. It was both encouraging and suspicious, and we all treaded gingerly.
The Saint John brothers prowled close by my side to keep vigilant watch as I spent much of the journey in human form, talking with my sister as well as Theodora, Viktor and the other shifters nearest us.
They told me how they and some cohorts had papered villages and towns for hundreds of miles with the news in the dead of night and had been thrilled to find that others had taken up the mantle.
"We went to one village and there were already signs that we hadn't posted," Theodora murmured excitedly. "That was when I knew we had a real chance."
Iris nodded, her eyes shining. "There are a lot of people on your side, sister."
"So many of them personally affected by the actions of the king. Not just the parents of those afflicted during the Great Sick, but also those forced apart by his laws," Theodora said, regret plain on her finely lined face. “We even had some of the marauders join us. While many were and are criminals who chose violence over his rule, some were just males who refused to accept the attack on their freedoms and left the fold under their own accord and were ostracized for it. They’re overjoyed to be a part of this revolution.”
Viktor lumbered closer and slipped his arm around his mate.
“It’s going to be a new world," he boomed, gesturing to the hundreds joining us.
“I hope so, Viktor. But remember, it will be our word against his," I reminded him, trying not to let the ember of hope in my chest blaze to a full-fledged fire. "He surely won't admit what he's done."
"He doesn't have to," Theodora said, burrowing closer to Viktor and lengthening her strides to match his. "We lived through the Great Sick. Watched as the world fell apart in confusion, unsure of how to stop the disease...unable to figure out why it was so volatile. Parents of cubs lost will know the truth when they hear it. Look at the ones behind us. Already, they believe.”
I thought back to the Saint John brothers and their immediate acceptance of the prophecy and my legitimacy. Maybe she was right, but as I glanced around, I couldn't deny that this was a lot of lives to risk on a maybe.
We plodded through the forest, our numbers growing with each mile as word of the prophecy spread.
By the time we reached the hill that overlooked the valley of Ironhaven kingdom, I was a mass of nerves. Gatlin, Connor, Michael and Lucian had all shifted to stand by my side as we looked out over the gleaming palace and surrounding villages.
"They'll be waiting for us," Lucian said, reaching out to slide an arm about my waist and pull me close. "But t
hey won't be expecting this many. We've got a real chance, here, little one."
"And if we win?" I asked. "I'm to rule over hundreds of thousands. I'm a farmer, Lucian," I reminded him, panic rising up in my throat.
"You are a queen, Anaya. Never forget that. We will be by your side every step of the way to help advise you."
"Or we'll all be worm food and we won't have to worry about it at all," Connor said, shooting me a grin.
I managed a smile back and nodded. "Well then, we might as well get it over with one way or the other. Worms need food too, after all.”
I led the march down the steep hill, the power of five hundred or more behind me now. The closer we got, the more speed we gained and soon enough, we were all but running. As we approached the first village, we slowed as one, realizing with a start that it was entirely empty. Some cows mooed from their pastures as we passed through, some chickens squawked from their coops, but there wasn't a villager in sight.
When we reached the second village and found the same, I began to worry in earnest. It wasn't until we stepped through the wall that surrounded the city that I realized what we'd walked into.
Shifters everywhere, not hundreds, but thousands had come from far and wide. Their villages were empty because they were all here. Waiting, ready to hear the tale that had been promised. There were so many faces. Some with hope, most with doubt, all with open curiosity. Now it was up to me to deliver the truth and pray that they believed me.
"Step forward, Anaya," Connor murmured, propelling me gently into the space the townfolk made in the center of the crowd.
I looked back in wide-eyed panic but the Saint John brothers watched on in silence. I turned imploringly to my sister, but she just shook her head. It was finally Theodora who took pity on me and marched forward to stand by my side, her regal head held high.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Ironhaven, today marks a new day," she cried, her words sending a smattering of hushes through the crowd as they went silent. "You can choose to live under the rule of the imposter king, Du Monde. Or you can stand with the true heir to the throne of Ironhaven, granddaughter to King Patrick Lonnergan and his wife, Queen Anne. Daughter of their son Robert the Red...meet Anaya, your queen."
She stepped back and executed a sweeping bow, holding out her hand to me.
I stepped forward on trembling legs as the crowd broke into murmurs again.
“She looks like a boy.”
“I thought they said she had red hair.”
“She doesn't look like a queen.”
But I dug deep inside and remembered Lucian's words. It didn't matter what I looked like. What mattered was the truth, and I was armed with that in spades.
I bent and reached into my bag, pulling out both leather-bound tomes and then holding them high.
"This is the truth," I shouted so even those in the far back could hear me, and the crowd quieted. "The history and prophecy your king tried to destroy. These pages tell the tale of a king who had his own cousin, aunt, and uncle murdered by cutthroats so he might inherit the power. They chronicle a romance cut short between my mother and her lover, Prince Robert, and the birth of their daughter." I swallowed hard as I thought again of the father I'd never known but I pressed on. “But worst of all, they bring into question the validity of the great sickness that swept our nation two decades ago and took so many of our daughters with it. Today we can stand together and say no more. Join us as we say no to tyranny. No to deceit and lies and evil."
My words grew louder and more clear as the energy in the crowd shifted. I could see it in their faces. They were listening. They were hearing me, murmuring to one another as they tried to come to terms with what they were hearing.
"Your king would have murdered our kind into extinction if that was what it took to keep him in power," I said, my heart ringing with the truth of my words. But the rest of them died on my lips as the sound of bleating bugles filled the air.
The crowd broke into excited chatter as the sound of pounding horse hooves reverberated through my chest. In the distance, cutting a path through the audience that had gathered in the town square, I could see a line of men on horseback. And in the center of them all, Sebastian Du Monde, the traitor king himself, dressed in royal purple.
The crowd split to allow them through, most jeering, a few cheering, as they approached.
“Boooo! Boooo!” the group in front howled.
A filthy shoe was lobbed in the air, heading straight for Sebastian’s head before it was batted away by one of his quick-thinking guards.
To his credit, Sebastian looked none the worse for wear. He was calm as could be as his men flanked him and he slowed to a stop.
“Shifters of Ironhaven,” he bellowed, his tone deep and authoritative. “You see before you a sad little miscreant who managed to trick four traitors to the crown and a handful of peasants that she is more than just a plump, plain-faced farm girl.”
He turned to me and slowly clapped his hands, and then tipped his head in silent acknowledgement.
“Well done, lass. So well done, that I almost wish I could show you mercy. But you’ve hurt my people. You’ve preyed on the deep, never-ending grief they’ve suffered—we’ve all suffered—during the Great Sick, and you gave them something they’d wished for so badly. Someone to blame.” He shook his golden head slowly as he gazed down on me from atop his horse. “When my people hurt, I hurt, Anaya. And I cannot let this nonsense continue. It’s time for the game to end, I’m afraid.”
He gestured for his men to proceed and they did, clip-clopping toward me a handful at a time.
I tried to speak, to find my voice and argue, but he was so big, so strong, so…kingly. I could feel the doubt spreading through the crowd…and through myself.
What did I have here, really? An old book and a journal from a hermit? Somehow, I’d imagined that it would be enough. Now, though, as the king and his soldiers stood before me against the backdrop of the palace, I found myself questioning everything.
My feet were frozen in place as I struggled to find my tongue. To defend myself.
The king’s men were still a few yards away when Gatlin stepped in front of me, swiftly followed by Lucian, Michael and Connor.
Their faces were fierce, their muscles tense and ready for battle.
“What about all the girls, Du Monde?” Gatlin demanded, his voice low and lethal. “The ones that have gone missing from the harem? Explain that.”
Du Monde let out a low whistle to stay his men and gave Gatlin a tight smile. “As much as I pride myself on being a great lover and a generous benefactor, you of all people should know that some girls decide harem life isn’t for them.” He shot me a glance and raised his brow. “If they decide to leave, I won’t stop them.”
“Yet you chase this one down like a rabbit gone to ground?” Connor asked softly. “What makes her different?”
“Aside from that atrocious hair?” he asked, a cruel smile twisting his lips. “The fact that you five conspired against me and took advantage of my patronage. I have to draw the line somewhere.”
My cheeks flamed with humiliation but then it hit me in a rush. This was his plan. This was exactly what he wanted. There were no armies to greet us, catapults or battle plans, because that would lend credence to the idea that this was even a contest or a battle at all. He believed he could come out and swat me away like a fly.
I decline, sir.
On knees shaking now from fury instead of fear, I stepped forward, pushing between the Saint John brothers to face the king again. “As even you can attest, my hair was dark red before we left and were forced into hiding. Red like my father’s.”
Chatter began to spread through the crowd again as I pressed on.
“And so strange, as atrocious as it may be now or have been then, who chose me from a crowd just weeks ago. Was I less plain-faced at the Offering Ceremony? Less plump, mayhap?”
A titter of laughter erupted from the crowd.
“S
ee, this is what you do. You use your loud voice and intimidating presence to roll over anyone who tries to get in your way. You twist the truth to fit your own purpose. But answer me this.” I turned and waved to the crowd of people behind me. “Answer us all this. You say some of the harem girls left. Why did they never go home? And what of the ones who were found dead in their beds without cause? Did you fear them to be the girl in the prophecy, or did they just displease you one night?”
As the voices in the crowd grew stronger, so did my own.
“And please share with us, Your Grace,” I all but spat, anger now as I thought of baby Lilliana Saint John, drawing her last, weak breath. “How does a sickness kill almost entirely baby girls? A sickness that traveled in a way no other had before. No rhyme, no reason.”
“Magic!” a loud voice piped in from deep within the crowd.
“Sorcery!” another cried.
“What magic is this that could do such a thing?” the king replied with a booming laugh, but I could hear the strain in his voice that hadn’t been there before as he looked wildly around the crowd. “It’s unreasonable. These are all the fantasies of a sick and broken mind.”
Theodora shouldered her way past Lucian to stand beside me.
“You had an advisor at the time. Named Anton. A known healer and herbalist with great power. At the tail end of the sickness, he, too, succumbed. Is that a coincidence, Du Monde? Just like the coincidence that, the one time the royal family traveled together in one coach on a trip to the country, a trip to see your grandmother, they were attacked and killed by cutthroats?”
Viktor’s voice joined Theodora’s. “Cutthroats that were never apprehended? It seems our majesty doesn’t like loose ends.”
The voices exploded around us as the crowd noise began to swell.
“What about my Bethany? She was part of the harem and has been out of contact for months,” a woman railed.
