by S. M. Boyce
She suppressed an eye roll. If she did become queen, she would have to talk to him about how often he used pet names with her.
“So what does this mean? I stand on the balcony and do the queen-wave? Judge rose contests?”
“You’re the commander of the army,” Eldrin said with a chuckle.
“You make or adjust the laws,” Lady Spry added.
“You rule with compassion and mercy,” Fyrn added.
“And yes,” Diesel added, “you judge rose contests on occasion.”
A few in the room chuckled, but Victoria stared at the table. It was all so much, so suddenly. Only yesterday…
Fyrn put an arm around her shoulder, and she looked up at her mentor. “Victoria, do you love Fairhaven?”
“With all my heart.”
“Luak was working for someone, and he said this woman is coming for us. You heard his threat yourself. Do you still want to protect these people? Do you still want to protect Fairhaven, even if something worse than Luak comes for us?”
“Of course.”
“Then accept. You are more suited for this role than you’re giving yourself credit for.”
She sighed in defeat, glancing around the room to gauge the expressions on everyone’s faces. Even Audrey seemed to be in on the plan, and she winked as Victoria caught her eye.
“If that’s what you want,” Victoria said.
Lady Spry clapped her hands and stood. “Marvelous. Everyone, I need a moment with our new queen.”
Chairs scraped the floor as most of the people stood, though Fyrn, Diesel, and Audrey remained seated. As the door shut behind them, Lady Spry’s smile widened.
“I’m so grateful you accepted,” the senator said.
“The monarchy hasn’t been offered up quite yet, Lady Spry,” a booming voice said.
Victoria stood, summoning her sword as she glared around the empty room. She balled one hand into a fist, ready to summon her shield to protect her friends. “Get down, guys! Under the table!”
Lady Spry chuckled. “Castle Fairhaven, you startled her.”
Victoria lifted an eyebrow. “That was the castle?”
A golden pool appeared in the air above the middle of the table. It shimmered and swirled like ink in a lake, but Victoria didn’t lower her guard. In the midst of the swirling gold a smooth face appeared, one that lacked nose or eyes. The mouth was more of a hole.
It looked like a talking mask floating in a molten pool.
“What the…” Victoria took a cautious step back, not quite processing whatever this was.
“Skeptical. Good, good,” the mask said as it studied her.
Victoria snorted. “Skeptical is an understatement, buddy.”
“Let’s have a look at you,” the mask said. In the wall behind her two of the stone blocks disappeared, and Fyrn stepped out of the way as two green vines shot from the holes. The tips lifted her hair, turned her around, and even popped open her mouth to have a look at her teeth.
She swatted at them, but they were too damn fast. “Will you stop it?”
“Hmm,” the castle said to itself.
“What exactly is this accomplishing?” Victoria snapped.
“Victoria, hush,” Lady Spry said quietly.
“Don’t you tell me to—”
“And fiery, good,” the castle said.
Victoria frowned. “Look you—”
“I’m satisfied,” the castle interrupted. He nodded once, and the vines disappeared back into the wall. “You were right, Lady Spry. She is perfect.”
The senator smiled. “I know.”
***
One day later, Victoria walked down the aisle in the palace throne room in an ornate gown. The room was filled with warriors and friends, as the good people of Fairhaven and their close allies from Lochrose all crammed into the hall to see her crowned.
Freaking queen. She couldn’t believe it, but if it put her in a position to keep Fairhaven safe she would unbegrudgingly judge a few rose contests.
Music swelled in the grand space, and the sweet aroma of lavender wafted through the air as she reached the platform at the end of the hall. The dress lifted itself as she ascended the steps, never under her heels, and she turned to face her people before sitting on the throne.
Her throne.
She straightened her back, astounded and grateful. Everything she had faced—the blood, the pain, the sacrifice—had been worth it, to see Fairhaven finally freed.
From her place beside her, Lady Spry lowered an ornate golden crown onto her head. Beams of light shot through the windows, filling the hall with an otherworldly glow. Dots of light danced on the ground as the light refracted off the stones on her head, and the crowd cheered.
Victoria couldn’t help but smile broadly. Luak had taken everything from her, but she had rebuilt from the ashes. And no one—absolutely no one—would ever take her home and family from her again.
CHAPTER 29
Victoria’s first royal decree had been to restart the Berserk championships.
Hey, a girl had to have her priorities.
She sat in the royal box with Fyrn on one side and Diesel behind her. Styx waved his tiny hands in the air from his perch on the edge of the box, hooting and hollering and chattering in his gibberish language.
Angelique cheered too, but the sound cut off as she winced sharply. An ogre had just knocked an elf flat on his back, and his arm now bent the wrong way. “What a brutal sport!”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Victoria said with a chuckle. She stood and yelled at the top of her lungs. “Destroy him!”
In Victoria’s peripheral view, Angelique leaned toward Diesel. “She certainly gets into it, doesn’t she?”
Victoria shrugged and sat back down. “I can’t help it.”
Diesel laughed. “A queen can’t show favoritism, my love.”
“But that’s half the fun! Audrey, you’ve got my back on this, right?” No one answered. Victoria tilted her head, looking for her friend. “Where did she go?”
Diesel gestured to the grass below. “Down to the field. The Plits are up next.”
“What? I have to get ready! Why did no one tell me?”
“Victoria,” Fyrn said sternly. “You can’t play.”
“Like hell I can’t play.”
The old wizard huffed. “I already went over this with Audrey. Certainly you have a little more sense than this, girl. You’re the queen. I hate agreeing with that infatuated idiot of yours, but he’s right. You can’t show favoritism.”
“Hey!” Diesel snapped.
“Besides, it would hardly be a fair game with you on the field.”
“But—”
“Game!” the announcer called from the field below.
The remaining three players—the last to not tap out despite their limps and broken arms—smacked each other on the backs and limped in unison off the field.
“Next we have the Plits versus the Snarxes!” the announcer shouted.
Below, nineteen players rushed onto the field from opposite directions, and Victoria watched with a widening smile as Audrey waved at her. Seconds later, Edgar and the remaining team members followed suit. The nine of them huddled at the end of the field, leaving her spot empty in solidarity.
They wanted her to play too.
“Screw this,” she said, lifting the crown off her head and setting in gently on her chair.
Fyrn groaned. “Victoria, what—”
“I’m the queen, Fyrn. I can do whatever the hell I want.”
With that, Victoria jumped from the box and braced herself for impact with the field. She landed hard in the dirt, her enhanced strength leaving her unfazed. The crowd roared as she took her place beside Audrey, who winked.
“I knew you wouldn’t leave us hanging.”
“Never,” Victoria said, grinning. “Now let’s play some Berserk!”
***
End of Book 4.
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AUTHOR NOTES – S. M. BOYCE
Written December 27, 2017
Well now, how did you like the first arc of Victoria’s story?
The first part of Victoria’s adventure is over, and I hope you enjoyed her ascent to power.
I was certain from book 1 that I wanted Victoria to rule Fairhaven. I mean, come on, she’s basically a superhero. She’s super-charged with dark magic, wants nothing more than to protect her home city of Fairhaven, and—according to Fyrn anyway—has one helluva a hero complex.
Even more than that, she’s a reluctant hero. When Lady Spry suggested Victoria take the throne, Victoria’s first reaction was “hell no are you crazy” when most people would be salivating for that level of wealth and power.
And come on, who doesn’t want a castle with a biting personality? I know I do.
So now Victoria is queen of Fairhaven, one of the most powerful kemanas on Earth. Her very existence is illegal, and yet she has ascended to power and has the full weight of not only the golems, but also the Fairhaven army (which will have decidedly fewer mercenaries now that she’s in charge).
She will have to find her place in a magical world that doesn’t believe she should exist… a world that will actively try to kill her.
And, to boot, her successor will have to merge with her newest Rhazdon Artifact in order to control those golems. If no one controls the Rhazdon Artifact, no one controls the golems and they go on a killing spree. She has effectively created a new kingdom that will be run by Rhazdon hosts forever.
Oh, the delicious implications…
So now Fairhaven is forever changed, Berserk is once more the national pastime, and Victoria has a host of new problems ahead of her—namely, Luak’s boss. We know his boss is a chick, one he’s terrified of, and that’s about it. On top of that, Luak had… coworkers, shall we say, that are going to try to prove themselves by succeeding where he failed.
Man, what a crazy ride. It’s hard to believe this idea hadn’t even formed 6 months ago, and now there are 4 published novels in the series. Crazy how time flies, huh?
2018 is going to be a busy year of publication. You’ll see a lot of novels with my name on them, and not all of them will be in Oriceran. Unfortunately, that means I need to step away from the Fairhaven Chronicles for now.
Oh my god, stop throwing tomatoes at me.
Even though Michael, Martha, and I had originally planned to publish all 12 in rapid succession, I bit off way more than I could chew. It’s a bad habit of mine I’m trying to kick.
In short, I need a break.
We’re not quite sure when or if Blaze will be published, but I’m hoping it’s the near future. Make sure you’re on the email list to be notified when it comes out, okay? I don’t want you to miss it.
Sign up for email alerts here!
Talk to you soon. I’ll have more for you to read in the near future!
Much love,
Boyce
AUTHOR NOTES – MARTHA CARR
Written December 27, 2017
Nightfall is the last new book of 2017 for the Oriceran Universe and our 21st original title (plus two holiday shorts) by six different authors, myself included. All of those books were released in five months that went by in a blur! What a year it’s been… That is a tremendous accomplishment especially when I also think about how many of those books have been on the bestseller list on Amazon and how many FANS have reached out to us to say what a good time they’re having right alongside us. What an amazing thing Michael and I have created.
But… we didn’t do it alone. Far from it.
Along with S.M. Boyce who has a great story with the Fairhaven Chronicles, there’s Sarah Noffke, A.L. Knorr and Flint Maxwell. In the New Year, there will be David Berens and Meg Jolly. There’s even a rumor that Michael Anderle will be joining the fray with a series all his own… Stay tuned for that one.
And behind the scenes are a lot of people who take care of a lot of details so that the authors don’t have to or maybe we wouldn’t even think to do it. There’s the grand master behind the curtain, Stephen Campbell who takes care of so much that if he goes, we may have to turn off the lights and call it a day. There’s his lovely wife, Julie who creates a lot of those mugs for us that we give away on release days. There’s Jami Crumpton who posts all the snippets and S.M. Boyce who also doubles with doing the newsletter and minding the website. There’s the Just in Time readers who catch more typos and gotchas (I think I hold the record for typos…) so that you guys never have to see them. There’s even new people joining us with new ideas about how we can do things that you’ll be hearing about in coming months. A lot of cool stuff.
And then… there’s all of you. THE FANS! Over a thousand fans have joined us on the Facebook page, and over 300 have joined the Fan Group on Facebook. (If you haven’t, come join us – there’s a party going on in there!). All the hard work and long hours and figuring out how to make something work when a snafu hits at the 11th hour… it all goes away when we hear from you in the Amazon reviews and on Facebook and in emails how much our stories of magic and Elves and underground worlds (and that troll) add to your lives. Your enthusiasm and the way you’ve taken all the characters in and chat about them have made this one of the best years of my life… and we’re just getting started! So, let’s raise a Dr. Pepper and a handful of Cheetos and march on into 2018 and see what trouble we can raise! Aloha Everyone… More adventures to follow. A lot more.
PUBLISHER NOTES – MICHAEL ANDERLE
Written December 27, 2017
Woop!
Book four and the end of an arc! I hope you are excited about Fairhaven, and are loving the Oriceran ride so far in 2017 with Boyce’s amazing characters and seeing where things might go in the future!
So, I was chatting with Boyce today and I laughed and admitted it was funny she calls me ‘Anderle.’ Like I’m back on a football team or something.
She admitted she calls JN (Jeff) Chaney “Chaney” all the time for the last seven years, so calling people by their last name is just her thing.
Apparently.
Or at least it is if you are Chaney and Anderle. I wonder what she calls Sarah Noffke? Noffke? They have the same first name, so would that be weird if she didn’t call Sarah Noffke?
I’ll have to ask Boyce about that next time we chat.
Of course, Boyce could edit this and add her answer right here since she will get to read this publishers note before the book is finished.
From Boyce: I actually call her Sarah, just to be difficult and confusing.
Now, I’m going to take a moment and announce that I’m going to be stepping out from behind the publisher’s closet and starting my own series in Oriceran in 2018.
The series title is The Unbelievable Mr. Brownstone and I have already written the short, short prelude for my character, his ward (a teenage girl he didn’t ever know he wanted to take care of… and still doesn’t) and his new friends.
He didn’t want those (the friends), either.
He’s a guy with a good heart, an ugly face (and a dog that loves him anyway), and a desire to do his job, get paid the bounty and go home.
On a planet called Earth where he wasn’t even born.
Hell, for that matter, he wasn’t born on Oriceran either, but Earth is the better of the two and frankly, he doesn’t care to take a chance getting caught in that nasty in-between.
Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. For Mr. Brownstone, the world is a better place because he did.
It’s just how he rolls.
I look forward to introducing you to Mr. Brownstone and his friends in the next few months!
Happy New Year and I hope you have a FANTASTIC 2018!
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
ABOUT S. M. BOYCE
Author of unforgettable, magical, hauntin
g stories that steal you away from the world. Specializes in adventure with a dash of mischief.
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