The Queen Maker

by Kristen Gupton

  Keiran, too upset in his own right to make sense of anything, met her gaze and spoke to her just above a whisper. “What of you? Will you leave as well?”

  She shook her head and reached up her hands to set them on his shoulders. “No, Keiran, not ever. You are the only thing I have in this world. You’ve been my son since the day you were born. You gave me a reason to continue, and I would never abandon you. I only wish I could have stopped Sorna.”

  He tipped his head back, on the verge of tears but not wanting to show it. With Sorna out of the room, his vampiric tendency to feel aggression was abating, leaving him simply heartbroken. “I intended to release all of you from unpaid servitude. I’ve already discussed it with some advisors, but she forced my hand. I couldn’t care less about Sorna leaving, but Thana…”

  “Legally, you can’t be with her anyway,” Corina whispered back, knowing how much hypocrisy laced her words.

  She’d defied class laws in her attempt to be with Athan. Corina once believed the promises he’d told her about taking her away from Tordania and making her his wife. She’d been foolish and lonely, willing to hold onto any hope of a better life than living in the castle with Turis Lee as her master. Athan had been convincing back then. Now, so many years later, it seemed as though it had been part of some grand plan the elder vampire had concocted.

  “God in heaven, what am I saying? I know you love that girl, what right do I have to say that? Damn these archaic class laws. Can’t you change them, Keiran? You are the king,” she said.

  He gave a slow shake of his head, averting his eyes to the side. “I only control the laws regarding the governing of the country and those that apply to the citizenry. The church maintains the laws ruling royalty, and I cannot change those.”

  “Surely, Father Beezle can do something,” she countered, turning away slightly and wringing her hands together. “I know your feelings for Thana are real. I know you well enough to have seen it, and part of me very much believes that girl cares for you deeply in return.”

  “I’ve never gotten the chance to talk to her about it,” he said quietly, moving to look toward the doorway. “There is a mutual attraction, and I know it’s more than simple wishful thinking. I will need to talk to Father Beezle and Thana if I find the chance. It’s no good to be the king and yet completely out of control when it comes to my own destiny.”

  “Sorna won’t let that girl out of her sight between now and when she leaves. I know where her family’s farm is in the valley. It isn’t far from where I lived as a child. We’ll think of a way to allow you and Thana a chance to talk, but you should see Father Beezle first. Find out if there is any hope.” Corina looked back over her shoulder and tried to offer him a smile, but there was something lacking in it.

  Keiran thought for a moment, wondering if it would be too much to question her about what Sorna mentioned regarding Athan. Unwed mothers who lost their own children often became nursemaids, so it wasn’t a novel event. The identity of the father had never crossed his mind before, and it would have been rude to ask prior.

  He decided to address it. “I want you to know, it doesn’t matter how you became my nurse, Athan or otherwise.”

  She didn’t reply right away, again fidgeting with her hands as was her habit. “Someday, it would have come out. If not from Sorna then Athan himself, I suppose. He charmed me back then, and I was so lonely. While other servants here seem to find mates and pair off, I just never seemed to find anyone. Tyrant of a man or not, he put up a good show.”

  He gave a small nod, knowing how the other vampire could manipulate the feelings and thoughts of others. He’d simply taken advantage of Corina. It’d most likely been nothing more than a game to Athan.

  Keiran was genuinely sympathetic. “It’s understandable, it truly is. The pain you had to endure shows Athan’s cruelty.”

  Her eyes closed lightly for several seconds before she stepped closer to lean against his side. “Even after my pregnancy became obvious, and Athan started to shun me, the prospect of having a child thrilled me. I knew it was a risk, though, not only with the Mother’s Plague raging but with Athan being a vampire. I didn’t know what to expect with the child. Perhaps it was for the best it didn’t survive.”

  Something in her words struck Keiran hard, and he looked down at her. “Which brings up the question, if I did manage to marry Thana, would we be able to have children? I’ve never considered how my condition would affect such a thing.”

  “Oh, Keir, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have phrased it like I did. Who am I to speculate if it’s hereditary? So many women and their infants were dying from the plague we suffered, that I’m sure it is the reason my child didn’t survive. I am very fortunate I did, else who knows what might have become of you?” she replied. “The past cannot be changed, and as for how things would go with you and Thana, I cannot honestly say. Go talk to Father Beezle.”

  He sighed and moved toward the doorway. “Let me go find Jerris, and see if we can manage a trip into town.”

  ***

  Through the small window in the guard shack, Jerris looked out across the courtyard. Winter had crept in, and a few inches of snow covered the cobblestoned ground. Activity carried on as usual, but Jerris had no desire to be out in the cold. He would leave that to the people and animals already out in it.

  The door to the room opened, a gate sentry sticking his head in. “Sir, there are men at the gate. They are demanding an audience with the king.”

  It wasn’t unusual for people to come to the castle to seek a meeting, and Jerris saw no reason to be disturbed over a routine visitation. He tugged the dark woolen cloak he wore tighter around his shoulders, showing his displeasure with a small frown.

  “See if there is an appointment available with the castle’s scheduler. I have no idea if they can get in,” he said.

  The sentry stepped into the room¸ leaving the door open behind him. His expression was serious. “These men, Sir, they say they are from Edinau. The Sadoris have invaded, taking the town and the mines again. The military outpost there was destroyed.”

  Jerris remained still for a moment, his mind racing. His father, Kanan, was a veteran of past Sadori conflicts, and he was well apprised of how awful it had been. A feeling of dread settled over him.

  The military outpost near the town in question had been running on a skeleton crew for more than a decade. They wouldn’t have been able to fight off an invading force. This was a serious matter, and he needed to see the men to verify their claim. He shook his head and then brushed past the sentry, heading directly toward the gate.

  There was a commotion at the gateway, several voices trying to speak at once. Jerris cut through the crowd, finding seven men. They were filthy, the clothes they wore ragged and bloodstained. He noticed some of them didn’t have boots on, and only a few wore cloaks or coats. Clearly, these men had not been prepared for travel when forced from their home. Their eyes were wild, sunk in from dehydration and sleep deprivation. Their motions were punctuated by violent shivering, and the young guard realized his first priority had to be to get the men out of the cold.

  Jerris whistled loudly to cut through it all. When they gave him their attention, he locked gazes with the one he felt most likely to be their leader.

  “Follow me. Once we’re inside, you can tell us the story. We need to get you warmed up. The lot of you look like you’re about to freeze.” He glanced back, spotting the sentry who had initially alerted him. “Get inside the castle, and tell the staff to bring tea and blankets for these men at once.”

  Jerris walked toward the entryway to the castle’s interior, the small band of men eagerly following behind him. As he crested the top of the stairs and pulled open the door, he spotted Keiran on the other side.

  The king started to say something to Jerris until the seven visitors behind him filed in. Keiran could see what poor shape they were in, and he turned his questioning gaze toward his friend. “Who are they?”

  Je
rris grabbed Keiran’s left arm and led him a few paces away from the refugees. He met the vampire’s eyes, his expression deadpan.

  When he spoke, his voice was low. “They just arrived here. They told the sentries they were from Edinau. The Sadoris have invaded again. They claim the small outpost there was overrun. I brought them inside, seeing they needed to be out of the cold.”

  Keiran’s eyes went wide, and he gave a slow nod. If that was true, his personal problems with Thana would have to be put aside. “All right, get them something to eat and drink then bring them into the throne room where we can talk. I’ll be in there.”

  Jerris gave a quick nod before Keiran headed off to prepare. The men had never seen Keiran before, and they hadn’t recognized him for whom he was.

  By the time Jerris brought the men into the throne room, Keiran was sitting with a map of Tordania across his lap. Two advisors were present, already being asked by the vampire assorted questions about previous conflicts with the Sadori military.

  The vampire’s mind was reeling from the news. It had been a long time since the Sador Empire’s last incursion into their country. When their previous emperor was ousted, their aggression had ceased. Keiran wondered if something had befallen their aging leader. Unfortunately, news from within the Sador Empire had been difficult to come by, and most of his questions were met with only speculation from his advisors.

  The refugees, each with a blanket around his shoulders and a cup of tea in hand, stood in a row before the king. They seemed more collected than they’d been at the gate, but desperation and fear were still readily evident in their postures and expressions.

  Keiran rolled the map back up and handed it to one of his advisors before standing and approaching his visitors. One of them stepped forward, and Keiran came to a stop before him.

  He assumed it was their spokesman. “Jerris said you are from Edinau.”

  The man was short of stature but rugged. He gave a slight bow before reaching up and pulling his simple leather work hat from his head, pressing it to his chest. The tracks of tears were clearly visible in the dirt and dust on his face, and his anguish was washing out and hitting the vampire hard.

  “Aye, we are, and we may be the only ones from the town alive,” he said, voice wavering.

  Edinau was a southern town, resting just a few miles away from where the Tordan Mountains leveled out along the river. It wasn’t a huge settlement, but it was significant, being the hub for the assorted mines in the mountains there. If these men truly were the only survivors of the alleged invasion then the loss of life would have been profound.

  “Of all those living there, only you seven made it out?” Keiran asked, moving just a bit closer, trying to let his ability to feel the emotions of others focus in.

  He was definitely getting a good hit of anxiety and sorrow from the group. He flicked a brief glance at Jerris, silently letting the young guard know this was real.

  The man twisted his hat tightly in his hands. “Perhaps others did, Sire, but we ran and came here. We were working the evening shift, and when we neared the town, much of it was in flame. There were men, women, children, all dead, scattered everywhere. They’d waited until most of the people were in their beds for the night and then started to slaughter them. The Sadoris were cutting down everyone. The men in our group with families ran in, wanting to fight, but surely they were overwhelmed in short order.”

  Keiran felt his fangs pushing downward as he listened. There was a growing anger within him as the deaths of so many of his people filled his thoughts. He tipped his head forward, trying to hide his fangs.

  “My God,” Keiran said. “My father drew down the forces in the area, thinking the Sadoris wouldn’t invade again. Such a foolish mistake.”

  “There was no military help for us. We went to the outpost hoping to find refuge, but it was a burned out hull. The few soldiers there had been killed already. Once we saw that, we fled the area and came here, knowing that someone had to get here to you,” the man said. He reached up a hand, trying to wipe away new tears, smudging the dirt on his cheeks. “We left with only what we had with us at work that day. There were a few more of us, but some were injured, and others died once the snow started to fall.”

  Keiran’s head swam, and he quickly tried to reel in his empathetic ability. What was coming off these men was incredibly intense. More than that, however, was the rage stirring within him at the thought of his homeland being violated. “This is the first we’ve heard of it, so you were right to get here. My father left most of our frontier outposts nearly vacant and useless.”

  “We took the only wagon we could get out of the town, but our horses…” The man gave a small shrug, his eyes averting to the side. “They couldn’t make it. Is there any chance at least some of the others might be alive as prisoners?”

  Keiran gave a slow shake of his head, well enough versed in Sadori tactics. “If they kept anyone alive, it would be only to use them to work the mines until they could move in their own workers. They don’t expend resources to feed prisoners, and they don’t use them for negotiations as Sadoris simply do not negotiate.”

  The miner’s shoulders slumped, and he drew in a jagged breath, losing his composure. A younger man in the group moved close and put a hand on the shoulder of the previous speaker, deciding to take over.

  He locked gazes with the vampire, showing no trepidation with facing royalty. “Had the horses held out, we could have gotten here sooner. We stayed on minor roads, away from the towns, not knowing how far the Sadoris had gotten and not wanting to be spotted.”

  “Yes, understandable.” The young king gave a nod. “So, there is no certainty of which way the Sadoris entered the country, or how many of them there may be?”

  “Sadly, no, I can’t say.”

  Keiran’s hands came up and ran down his face as he forced back his fangs before he looked over at Jerris. “Get your father. We need him to get in contact with the military command. Firstly, we’ll need scouts sent out to see what we’re up against and how far the Sadoris have pushed. They’re after those damn mines again, and I will not cede them.”

  “He won’t be happy to hear about this,” the redhead muttered to himself, turning sharply and jogging out of the room. “He’d been on your father about leaving the area unprotected.”

  The vampire heard the remark and felt a good deal of guilt. In hindsight, he wished he’d immediately sent reinforcements to the region, but their military had been cut down across the board by his father for years. Turis Lee preferred to keep the soldiers’ wages in his own coffers rather than use them to defend the country. The man had been short-sighted to believe the Sadoris wouldn’t return there at some point, despite their history of doing just that.

  Keiran gave a few quick orders to have the men checked by the castle physician. He told them to let someone know if they remembered anything else important, but he doubted anything would be forthcoming.

  ***

  Several hours after the conflict that morning, Sorna was finished packing the few possessions she and Thana had amassed in their shared room over the years. The older woman ordered Thana to stay in the room while she went down into the courtyard, looking to hire someone to take her to see her brother. She intended to have him return with her to the castle with a wagon, so they could move out.

  Though Sorna hadn’t wanted to let Thana out of her sight, she didn’t think allowing her impudent daughter to make a bad impression was in their best interest. If they decided not to let Sorna and Thana live there, they would be homeless.

  Thana sat and watched from the window until she saw her mother get onto a delivery cart and depart the castle. Sorna would be gone for a few hours at the very least, she supposed, giving her possibly her last chance to find Keiran and talk to him.

  She slipped from the room and made her way out of the servants’ wing. Even after seeing her mother leave, there was a fear in her the old woman would be around every corner. When she saw othe
r servants, she tried to avoid making eye contact, afraid that one of them would call her out. With paranoia eating at her, she didn’t know if her mind was toying with her, or if the tone of the activity within the castle had changed.

  There were more guards inside the castle, all moving about in a hurry. Thana realized they weren’t paying her any particular attention, but she watched them, looking for clues as to what was going on. Pieces of conversation drifted by her as she strode to the throne room, but without context, it remained meaningless.

  The throne room doors were wide open, sentries on either side. The men flanking the doors recognized her and thought nothing of her going inside, assuming she was simply going about her work. There were multiple people within, which disappointed her. It was obvious Keiran was going to be busy.

  Keiran stood a short way in with an advisor and Kanan. The vampire sensed her approach easily enough and lifted his gaze. He’d been looking over a map again and passed it off to Kanan abruptly. He knew it wasn’t a good time to break and talk to Thana, but his personal feelings over her departure preempted everything else temporarily.

  He closed the distance between them, setting a hand on her shoulder. “Where’s your mother?”

  Tense and stressed, she was unable to appreciate the small gesture of his touch. Thana glanced back over her other shoulder, still worried her mother would appear without notice. “She went into town to get my uncle, so we can move out.”

  He gave a nod and started to walk, letting his hand fall away from her. “Follow me.”

  She was quickly led to the vacated dining hall. Once they were inside, he closed and locked the door, ensuring their privacy.

  Keiran stood before her awkwardly, not certain what to do now that they were finally alone. With all the events thrown at him in such a relatively short time, he was out of sorts.

  “So, is it really happening? Is she taking you away from here?” he asked.

  Thana looked up at him and nodded. There was something else beyond their personal drama taking place, she was now certain of it. “Aye. In a few hours, she’ll be back with my uncle to take our things. Keir, what’s going on out there? Why are there so many people and guards?”