The Last Queen: The Book of Kaels Vol. 1 (The Book of Kaels Series)

by Wendy Wang

  “Yeah, he said the princess would be coming through,” the bushy-bearded warden said. “But he didn’t say anything about you having brown skin and black hair. The princess I know doesn’t look a thing like you.”

  “I’m in disguise,” Neala said. “We were all in disguise.” His lips became a flat line, disappearing in all that hair as he seemed to think over her words. He glanced at the man next to him, jerked his head towards town and grunted. The warden next to him nodded and headed towards the wardens’ base.

  Nearly half an hour passed before the warden returned. She heard Cai before she saw him. He barked orders at the wardens to lower their weapons and back away. None of them disobeyed and they parted. Cai half-walked, half-jogged towards the landing stone. He had shed his Nydian robes and donned his uniform. A nasty bruise stained his cheek, competing with the gray shadows in the lines of his face, but he was more handsome than ever. He didn’t take his eyes off of her as he approached.

  Seeing him again affected her differently than she thought it would. Up to this moment, she had dreaded looking into his face; dreaded seeing anger or hurt or, worst of all, disappointment in his eyes. It shocked her when none of these things appeared.

  “I was just about to launch an invasion on Nydia to find you,” Cai said, his expression half fear and half relief. Tears welled in the back of her eyes and a lump formed, threatening to choke her. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the dull ache in her leg. She launched her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground. “Are you all right?” he said softly against her ear.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re all right. You’re safe now.” He gently lowered her to the ground. She clung to him for another moment, not wanting to let go of his warmth, breathing in his scent. He stroked her hair. “What happened?”

  “I found Peter,” she whispered. “I thought I could handle him on my own. I’m so sorry. I should have told you.”

  “Yes, you should have.” He smiled against her neck. “But you got away. That’s all that matters.”

  Neala withdrew from his arms. She stared into his expectant face. His thumb brushed across her cheek. “I remember everything now. I know why he took me.”

  “Why?”

  “For my blood,” she said. “It was never me he wanted. It was always my blood. That’s what that soldier meant—the one who killed himself.” Cai’s mouth opened and he shook his head as if he was trying to remember. “When I first escaped? He said the Queen’s blood would destroy her,” she said.

  “Yes, I remember.” Cai frowned.

  “It’s me. I’m the Queen’s blood. I’m the one who will destroy my mother.” Her voice shook and Cai wrapped his arms around her again but there was no comfort in them. No comfort at all.

  Seventeen

  Neala leaned in close to the ornately carved door, listening for the sound of voices. The governors of Iberebeth and Ethavia, Eustacia Beckett and Faedra Declan, had arrived about an hour ago and had been with her mother since. Cai had arrived not long after and had winked and smiled at her before disappearing behind the heavy door.

  Neala traced her finger over a gilded rosette and pressed her ear to the wood. She heard muffled voices but couldn’t make out the words.

  “If you wanted to attend, all you had to do was tell Mother,” Francie said from behind her.

  “Grizelda’s ghost, Francie! You need a bell around your neck,” Neala snapped. She pressed her hand to her chest. Her heart thudded against her breastbone.

  Francie chuckled and touched Neala’s elbow. “Sorry. What are you doing out here?”

  “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m listening,” Neala said. Francie shook her head and looped her arm with Neala’s.

  “There’s no need to do that,” Francie said, reaching for the burnished gold doorknob. “Come on. They’re expecting you.”

  Francie guided her inside. Their mother sat in the center of a floral, overstuffed sofa by the fireplace. The two governors each sat in coordinating chairs across from the Queen. Cai stood awkwardly next to the mantel. His arms hung in straight lines and even his fingers were tense, folded into tight fists.

  “I apologize for my tardiness,” Francie said. “It took me a few moments to find her.”

  “Thank you for fetching her,” the Queen said. “Why don’t you two come sit by me.” Francie took the seat on her mother’s right, and Neala on the left. “All right, we are all here. Let’s get started. Chief—”

  “Yes, Your Majesty. There has been some new intelligence regarding Nydia.” Cai began. Neala sat forward on the edge of her seat, her eyes focused intently on Cai’s face. He did not look at her as he spoke. “I received word this morning that Atraxis is dead. The capital of A’Lumara has fallen.”

  “To Peter?” Neala said, a little too loudly. She glanced at the governors, her face heating as she met Faedra Declan’s eyes. Governor Declan was a notoriously hard woman. It showed in the lines of her face, which always reminded Neala of one of the carved stone goddesses in the gardens. Both of her sons could freeze their features just as their mother did, never letting anyone see their true feelings. Neala cast her eyes down at Faedra’s hands, which were clasped together as if in prayer.

  “Yes, Your Highness. Peter Declan has taken the capital.” He said Peter’s name as if he was an enemy, like the Bohrs or the Nesciens. Peter was the enemy now, she thought. Perhaps he’d always been. “We expect the realm will fall within the week,” Cai said, finally looking at her. “As you all know, there is evidence that Peter has been working with the Nydians on a new technology. From what we know, Peter’s people have been extracting the blood of women who have more than three affinities.”

  “Jerugia’s crown! What for?” Governor Beckett said. Shock marred her usually jovial round face. Of all the governors, she was Neala’s favorite. Happy and easy-going, quick with a joke or a kind word, Eustacia Becket was one of the Queen’s dearest friends and had been since girlhood.

  “It’s to make them lethal,” Neala found herself saying out loud. “Their weapons will kill any Kael, regardless of their affinity for an element.”

  “How can that be?” Faedra asked, her stony façade cracking.

  “He’s infusing their blood into the weapons. Whatever affinities they may have no longer offer protection. Binding the blood with the weapon renders them defenseless to them,” Cai said. “A simple fire ball could kill a Fire Kael or water can drown a Water Kael.”

  “And if you have none of these affinities? It will kill you, regardless. Am I correct?” Governor Beckett asked.

  “Yes, we believe so,” Cai said. Eustacia Beckett flopped back against the pale green overstuffed chair. Defeat lined her face.

  “My whole realm is at risk, then.” Eustacia muttered. Iberebethan’s fed all of the other realms, growing grain and livestock. They also provided healers to the other realms. Where Fire and Water Kaels could defend themselves outwardly, the Earth Kaels hid away behind intricate boundaries that were impervious to the other elements. Their boundaries had never been broken by other Kaels, only by outsiders. The last Bohr’s attack had been nearly forty years ago and with the help of the Queen, the boundaries had been made so strong that only those who had an invitation could find the realm.

  “So is mine.” Faedra Declan’s eyes stared, unfocused, towards the window. Her knuckles whitened as her fingers squeezed her joined hands.

  Neala glanced sideways at her mother. It always amazed her how calm and regal her mother always appeared.

  “What do you recommend, Chief?” the Queen asked.

  “I suggest that we do as we discussed, Your Majesty. I think our first step should be to sign a treaty with Casilladin, recognizing their sovereignty as a nation, and join alliances with them to fight Nydia. We cannot win two wars,” Cai said.

  The Queen pursed her lips and nodded. “Francilene, what are your thoughts?”


  Francie cleared her throat and shifted on the couch. “Your Majesty, of course I would defer to your good judgment.” Neala sighed and rolled her eyes inwardly.

  “What about you, Neala? Do you have an opinion?” the Queen asked. Neala felt all of their eyes train on her at once. Francie peered around their mother and looked her sister in the eyes. Sometimes Neala wished she could be as diplomatic and proper as Francie. No one could make conversation the way her sister could. But it wasn’t in Neala to smile and nod and say flattering things. She saw Francie shake her head back and forth. It was just a tiny movement. No one else noticed.

  Neala took a deep breath. “I think we should fight back. I think we should build our own weapons.”

  “Using the blood of Kaels?” Francie said, sounding disgusted.

  “Yes! If that’s what it takes.” Heat spread from her chest to her face and she had to stop for a moment to get her voice under control. She blew out a breath and continued. “Tamarik has the highest concentration of Kaels with three or more affinities. The request will be voluntary but I have no doubt the people in Tamarik will gladly step forward. Especially if they know what we’re up against. And it’s not as if we’re asking to drain them of their blood. It won’t take pints, just drops.”

  “A persuasive argument, Your Highness.” Faedra Declan locked her stony eyes on Neala’s. “But how do you know this?”

  “Because—” Neala frowned. Did Faedra Declan know what her son was capable of? Had Cai mentioned it to her? Neala glanced sideways. With soft eyes, Cai nodded at her. “Because Peter Declan lured me to Nydia on false pretenses, where he held me captive for several days.” She kept with Cai’s distancing of Peter from the Declan family, hoping it would make it easier for the governor to learn of her youngest son’s deeds. “There was a laboratory where they took my blood, infused it with several different metal weapons and then tested it on me to see if the element would turn against me.”

  “And did it? Turn against you?” Eustacia Beckett asked. She had slid to the edge of her seat and stared at Neala, captivated by this information. Faedra Declan bit her lips together and cast her gaze towards the window. Neala wished she could hear the governor’s thoughts, but like her sons, she was an impenetrable wall.

  “Yes,” Neala said. “The pain was like none I’ve ever experienced before.”

  “Do we have time for weapons? Or the resources?” the Queen said.

  “Mother, how can we not have to defend ourselves?” Francie said, incredulous. The Queen stared at her oldest daughter. It was the first time Neala could ever remember her sister saying anything contrary to their mother. At least since she started training to be Queen. “To defend all of the realms? Are you admitting defeat before we’ve even begun?”

  The Queen’s jaw clenched and Neala almost imagined steam coming from her mother’s ears. The Queen opened her mouth to speak.

  “Francie’s right, Mother,” Neala said softly. “We have to do this. We can’t allow him to win.”

  “What do you suggest?” the Queen asked.

  “That we start with the three of us – the only people in this realm with all five affinities—donate our blood and start working on weapons and armor that will protect our people,” Neala said.

  “How can we do this?” Governor Beckett asked. “Nydia has always been our weapons-maker. Do we even know Kaels in the other realms that can forge a sword or an arrow as effectively as the Nydians?”

  “Eustacia, there are plenty of metal forges in Tamarik.” The Queen sounded indignant. “And just as many Tamarikians that know how to use them.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty.” Governor Beckett sighed as if the prospect of weapon-making made her tired.

  “It’s settled, then. We fight?” Francie asked.

  The Queen fixed her eyes on the governors. “Governor Beckett? What say you?”

  Eustacia Beckett straightened her spine unsuccessfully, stretching her fleshy body. She gave one quick nod. “Yes. We defend our people.”

  “Governor Declan? What say you?”

  Faedra Declan’s neck thinned as she sat straight and jutted her chin. In a low voice, she said, “We defend our people.”

  “Very well. Chief, I need you to contact the governor of Casilladin. Let her know we’ve come to a decision and our terms. If she is in agreement, we can sign a treaty by tomorrow.”

  The chief crossed his arm over his chest, his fist landing, right above his heart and he bowed his head. “As you wish, Your Majesty.” Cai turned and got halfway across the room before stopping, as if he’d forgotten something. “If it pleases Your Majesty. I’d like your permission for Princess Neala to accompany me to the wardens’ base. With her experience and her expertise with metallurgy, she could be very valuable in developing the weapons we need.”

  Neala straightened her spine and perched on the edge of her seat. She held her breath, waiting for her mother’s response.

  “Yes, of course,” the Queen said. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”

  “Thank you, Mother.” Neala jumped to her feet and bent to plant a kiss on her mother’s cheek. “You won’t be sorry.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Her mother cupped her cheek and gave her a look of uncertainty. Neala placed her hand over her mother’s.

  “I am,” she whispered, trying to reassure her mother with a soft smile. “Believe and see, remember?” Her mother pursed her lips and nodded. Neala ushered Cai out of the room, before the Queen had a chance to change her mind.

  ******

  Neala, Cai and Gordon leaned over the long meeting table in Cai’s office. Neala had her sketchbook and some metal samples that Gordon had brought her from his father’s blacksmith shop. She had tried using her dagger to slice across her palm, but she had made it too well. It would not go against the original intention Neala had used when she created it. She held up a flat, hammered piece of iron, kneading her thumbs into it stretching it. She loved the way it felt in her hands, the way it yielded to her with just a thought. Of all the elements, metal was her favorite.

  “Gordon, may I see your knife again?” Neala held out her hand. Gordon nudged the folded blade towards her and she picked it up from the table.

  “Still not sure how this is going to work.” Gordon watched as she opened his knife and pressed the sharp tip into her finger. He winced and grimaced. A small drop of blood pooled on her fingertip and she milked the finger, making the drop grow. Closing her eyes, she wiped her finger across the small iron plate, rubbing it into the metal in circles. Her energy connected with the metal and it thrummed against her skin. She laid the metal flat against her palm and covered it with her other hand. The picture of a star entered her mind. Five points. All of the edges as sharp and deadly as a sword. Heat began to generate between her hands and the metal shifted into shape. As the heat began to dissipate and the metal began to cool, she infused her intention—this weapon must pierce the skin of any Kael. No matter their affinity. Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth Kaels would fall, should this star strike their body. Neala opened her eyes.

  “Like this,” Neala said, holding the star out for Gordon to take. He pressed his finger against one of the points and it drew blood.

  “That’s just wonderful,” Gordon scowled, wiping his hand on his pants. “How are we supposed to test this?”

  “I have an idea about that, but I have to ask my mother first,” Neala said.

  “Really? That sounds intriguing,” Gordon said.

  “Yes. There is a practice room in the palace but no one other than our family has ever been allowed in. So I must ask first,” Neala said.

  “That sounds good,” Cai chimed in. Metal was not his strong point and he had watched patiently as Neala drew sketches and she and Gordon made them into reality. “At least that sounds like something I can help with.”

  “You are helping,” Neala said as she fashioned two more of the deadly stars. “Your design ideas are excellent.”

  “They are, sir,
” Gordon said. “I think my father would definitely be able to hammer some of these out in no time. I think the blood imbuing will be the tricky part. But I also think he can figure it out. He’s an excellent weapons maker.”

  “I’m sure he is, Captain,” Cai chuckled. “It’s getting rather late. I should get Her Highness home. It’s getting near dinnertime.”

  Gordon nodded and pressed his hand against his belly. As if on command, it gurgled. “Indeed, it is. I should get down to the dining hall before all those youngsters leave me nothing to eat.”

  “Thank you, Gordon, for all your help,” Neala said.

  “Pleasure was all mine, Highness. You have a good evening.” Gordon bowed his head to her before turning and disappearing through the door.

  “You must be exhausted. We’ve been at this for three days now,” Cai said.

  “I’m more hungry than tired tonight,” Neala bent over her drawings, gathering the paper and tidying it up. The thin, leather strip hanging around her neck slid out of her blouse and almost reached the table top. Her fingers wrapped around the small, carved stone embedded in a silver pendant. “Sweet Jerugia, I almost forgot I had this.” She slipped the leather over her head and held it out to Cai. “This is yours.”

  Cai’s eyes fixed on the pendant swinging back and forth. His face fell, as disappointment marred his features. “You don’t want it?”

  “It’s not mine to keep. It belongs with you.” Neala pressed it into his hand. “But I’m grateful that you let me wear it. It saved my life.”

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do about your match?” he asked softly. His eyes went to her hand, resting against his .

  “You sound like my mother,” she chuckled, trying to lighten things a bit, but he didn’t look up. She sighed. “Honestly? I think a match right now would be frivolous.” She pushed her palm against his; the pendant thrummed in the slight hollow of their hands.