“Just take me back to our-,” I stop myself. “My room.”
“Okay.” Jax points to a doorway behind me and I stomp up the spiral staircase hugging my shaking body. He lied about having a Tree of Light in my castle. He is no better than Darwin, but what makes them different is that I left Darwin burned and barely alive in a cell. Jax, I can’t even think about touching right now.
I reach a brick wall and Jax reaches across me. I press my body against the wall. I don’t even want him near me. His presence is already becoming too much for me to handle. He pulls a torch holder and it acts as a lever making the stones separate and slide open revealing a large bookshelf. My library.
“It was beneath my own library.” Not a question, but a statement. I can feel his body cringe without even touching him.
“Yes.” He whispers and I see him as a dog with his tail between his legs. Bastard.
“Don’t sleep in my room tonight.” I sob through my tears. I break and quickly run through the library, past the desk, into my room and land on my bed. My loud wails echo through the large chamber. The man I trusted, the man that slept in my bed, lied to me.
<<>><<>><<>>
Evaflora’s devious smiled glistened in the cell. Water was trickling down the damp, moss covered walls and a shadow was hunched before her, his back facing me. I approach the deflated form shackled to the chair. Evaflora adjusts the metal rings that give her fingers metallic claws. She quickly grips the captive’s shoulder and a deep groan escapes the male as his muscled back goes taut. Blood flows from her talons, deep in his scarred skin, and the rivers of crimson cascade down the groves and taut cords of muscle.
Evaflora doesn’t speak as she takes a dagger and glides the pointed edge against his defined jaw. The male’s hair is gone and when I take another step forward I almost vomit as my toes stick to the wet, blood soaked locks of dark silk on the floor. Evaflora cut off his hair, to the skin.
I hold back a gag and Evaflora’s smile grows feral as she takes a quill pen and slides the point into the cut she made. He hisses and she pulls out a piece of parchment, starting to scribble she goes back for more blood, using the male as an inkwell. My stomach twists and I throw up onto the stones and my own bare feet. Wiping the tears from my eyes I look up at Evaflora who is no longer smiling and she becomes aware of my presence. Her sky blue eyes crystalized in the darkness of the cell and she hands me the parchment. Gripping the folded paper in shaking hands I open it and written in the male’s blood is:
WINTER SOLSTICE
<<>><<>><<>>
When I awake from the nightmare I release the innards of my stomach onto the floor. A cold sweat soaks my skin and I stumble into the bathtub, even with the boiling water in the tub I can’t subdue the violent tremble that rattles my skin and bones.
I typically have nightmares about what happened when I died, but not since the summer have I dreamt about Evaflora. For a while I was thankful for not having the dreams about her, but something felt different about this one. It was more real than any other dream I ever had. Who was she torturing? Why would the paper say ‘Winter Solstice’? Maybe it’s just my brain overreacting to the upcoming Winter Solstice ball next week. That’s probably all and it is nothing more.
The water in the tub became cold too fast and Desirae came in to help me into the closet. She found a woven sweater and a pair of tight black pants. I made quick work of dressing and I sat at my vanity as she brushed my damp hair. She doesn’t say anything about the red surrounding my eyes or the blotched tear-stains on my cheeks. After I snapped at her the other morning I have been meaning to apologize, but I’ve been a little busy. Images of Darwin’s burnt body flash in my mind and I shake the memory away like a wet dog.
I talk first, ruining the silent communication we had going on. “I’m sorry for the way I snapped at you the other morning. I wasn’t having the best of days.”
She doesn’t meet my gaze in the mirror. “It’s alright Milady, but I should be the one to apologize. I shouldn’t have said such thing about your male.”
What she doesn’t know is that he isn’t mine. He’s a liar and he isn’t even my mate. I calm my boiling fire before I snap at her again. Desirae’s conversations have the best intentions I just take them too hard. “Ariadae,” I whisper. Her delicate eyes meet mine in the reflection. She quirks her eyebrow in silent question at my name. “Call me, Ariadae.”
“Well, Ariadae,” She grins and her face seems to glow with happiness. “Upon Captain Jeremiah’s return he has requested his queen’s court for dinner in the dining hall.” I haven’t seen my childhood friend in weeks except for the brief moment yesterday. I have so much to tell him.
“What time does the meal start?”
“In about an hour,” Desirae mumbles as she becomes distracted by the wet waves of my fiery red hair. “How would you like me to do your hair, milady?” she realizes her mistake and giggles, “Ariadae.”
I join in her laughter this time and answer, “I’ll leave it down today. Thank you for your help.”
She waves away my thanks. “It was a pleasure. Anytime you need me just call.”
After she leaves the chamber I sit in silence staring at my gaunt features. I’ve become awfully skinny since the start of my reign as queen. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think about what happened to my father. He thought he loved a kind woman who faked her death and ended up murdering him. She put the curse on his crown that made him evil, which made him try to kill me. When I learned that Evaflora was my mother I just… my world as I knew it just shattered. I’m left with nothing to put back together.
I thought I could break the curse on my father by taking a leaf from the Tree of Light, but Evaflora chopped it down destroying all curses, and allowing the blood thirsty monsters to leave Elkwood forest. Thank the gods I haven’t heard about any entering my kingdom, but it won’t be too long until they start coming after the Equadorian people. I need to be here to protect them, but I can’t do it by myself. My army is dead. I need soldiers to fight back.
The clock chimes six and I throw my drying hair over a shoulder and leave the chamber, silent and without Jax, the liar. No guards escort me to the dining hall and I’m thankful for the alone time before I enter the room.
When I arrive everyone is already deep in conversation and my court is happy to see me. I give polite smiles and silent waves to familiar faces and approach the backs of my friends, guardians, and teammates that traveled through Elkwood Forest with me.
Zube’s golden hair reflects the chandeliers. Jax doesn’t look at me as I grip Jeremiah in a tight, tight hug. Being the Captain of the Guard, he has become even bulkier since the return to Equadoria and the gleeful glow to his chocolate eyes has yet to vanish.
“I’ve missed you.” I whisper to him. Jax’s eyes stab into the back of my head. Zube looks between me and him, blatantly confused. I would’ve thought Jax told him everything and slept in his chamber last night, but I guess I assumed wrongly.
“We all have,” Zube cuts in attempting to lighten the mood. “How was Solaria?”
Jeremiah’s eyes fill with a dark gloom and his shoulders turn inward as if he is trying to hide. “We had to sneak into the kingdom and track down the dozen soldiers still alive. Each one was in a different place around the kingdom,” His voice dropping low. “They were all underground in secret tunnels being tortured with different techniques and tools; each one worse than the last.” My stomach drops at the thought. What Jeremiah had seen being done to those men must be haunting him. They’re his friends, mentors, acquaintances. I could only imagine his pain instead of thinking of my own.
I decide to change the subject, “Well you’re home now. The soldiers are safe here.” I look at everyone in the chamber, but Jax. “Is anyone else hungry?”
Everyone becomes suddenly aware of the polished table covered with ornate silverware and delicate plates and glasses. Servants come in with large carts covered in salads, meats, starches, and fruits. I di
ne on the fresh roast, some greens, and a couple of sliced fruits. It is all delicious. The entire table was silent besides the sounds of forks touching plates and the occasional sip from a glass of wine.
I sit at the end of the table, Jax and Jeremiah sit on either side of me and Zube sits to Jax’s left. Samuel Francis, the man who told me about my entire army being decimated, is beside Jeremiah. He looks at me and whispers, “We have received another letter, Milady.”
Jeremiah goes for seconds and eats like a savage. I hold back a laugh as I ask, “Is it from Solaria? If so, now is not the time, Samuel.”
Zube glares at Samuel as if telling him not to ruin the dinner. Samuel nervously glances between Zube and me. “It’s from Pangea,” His voice stutters on the name of our neighboring continent on the opposite side of the globe. There are two major continents on Corten; they are Abella and Pangea, but islands of varying sizes fill up the oceans. “They request our aid in fighting against a dark druid on their lands. They fear the druid may come for Abella once it’s finished conquering there.”
Zube slams his hand on the table and the whole court looks to the commotion. “Now is not the time,” he growls. “You are ruining this happy occasion.”
“Zube its fine,” I whisper. I look to Samuel. His bright eyes don’t meet my gaze as a blush blossoms on his freckled cheeks. “The truth is that we don’t have anything to offer for Pangea. As much as I would like to give assistance to them we have our own issues to worry about.”
“Like what your majesty?” The question comes from the other end of the table. The court knows we had problems within Elkwood, but they don’t know about the letters from my mother and the war she is declaring on us.
“My mother,” I start.
“Is dead,” An older man cuts in. He was a member of my father’s court.
“Is very much alive. While in Elkwood we had problems with her and she was the one who placed the curse upon my father. After his death, and the events that happened in Elkwood, she has been sending letters.”
“What kind of letters,” Jeremiah asks and I decide to stand, the entire table’s attention is on me anyway. Jax and Zube shake their heads, telling me no, but they need to know that the threat is growing bigger every day.
“The letters are threats to enslave the mortals of Equadoria. She has requested I hand over Equadoria and all its power or we’ll suffer the consequences.” Whispers between the lords begin to flood the chamber and their voices rise with fright and anger.
“Ariadae,” Jax groans. I ignore him.
“I am not handing over Equadoria. I am not going to let her enslave our people. We have nothing to fear.”
“Not yet anyways,” The same old man grunts and Jax’s warning growl silences any conversation lingering in the room. Everybody looks to the Fae warrior poised to pounce on the Lord. Zube gets between Jax and the man and pushes Jax back into his chair and whispers into his ear.
Jeremiah rises from the table and runs from the dining hall, so I charge after him. I leave Zube and Jax to talk to the court and find Jeremiah walking towards his wing of the castle. I call to him, but he ignores me. He breaks into a sprint and I keep up with him gaining speed. I’m far in front of him when I look back to notice he’s gone. I ran too fast, I completely missed him. He’s my best friend, so I need his support more than anyone’s. I can’t let him get angry with me.
“Jeremiah?” I call down the empty corridor. Where could he have gone? Suddenly I remember where I am. Before I went into Elkwood I used to walk down this corridor every day. I sprint through a door and the dark room is illuminated by the moon shafting through the giant floor-to-ceiling windows on the far wall. The double patio doors are wide open and the wind floods in. Howls echo off the vaulted ceiling.
On silent feet I stalk through the maze of weapon racks. No longer do I need to train with weapons because now I am a weapon. My powers will stop any threat to me or my kingdom. Again, images of Darwin’s burnt body flood my mind and I wonder if he has been healed by this time.
Jeremiah isn’t in the training hall, so I move through the glass doors onto the patio and immediately notice the moon beaming down on his muscled back, which is covered in scars. If he was in battle I could imagine the blood sliding down his back like a waterfall. Déjà vu stabs through me like a sword, but I can’t pinpoint why I have the familiar feeling.
Jeremiah swings a sword through the air and its twirling quicksilver blade flashes the moon-white reflection on the steel. His skin has darkened since his travel to the hot and sun heavy kingdom of Solaria.
“What’s wrong?” My question hangs in the air between us and all that fills the silence is his heavy panting breaths.
“Nothing,” He bites and I hear the flutter of his heart.
“Liar.”
“If you’re so good at knowing when I’m lying than why do you ask for the truth? Don’t you already know?” He is beyond upset. I didn’t expect the dinner tonight to end like this, with a fight. I was maybe expecting a fight between Jax and me, but not an argument with Jeremiah.
“I’m not Zube, Jeremiah,” I say trying to keep the bitterness of my words to a minimum and fail horribly. “I can’t read your mind.”
He just drops the sword to the ground and the clattering sound of steel on stone makes me jump, but when he looks at me, eyes full of tears, cheeks stained with them, a cry escapes my throat.
“I thought after we left Elkwood all of our problems would be gone, left in that damned forest. I didn’t want them to follow us out of there.” He cries and I can only answer with a shuttering breath. I understand everything he is saying. Nobody expected this outcome when we first planned on going into the forest. Things were easy then. I was innocent then.
“I-I,” I start to talk through shuttering breaths. “I thought it was g-going to be e-easy. I n-never imagined this, I’m s-so s-s-sorry.” Jeremiah just grips me into a hug and a wail escapes me and him. In this moment when I try to think back to the day we left to go into the forest it feels so long ago. It’s almost like it was a dream. What has my life become? What have I done?
Chapter Ten
~Ariadae~
Rasgard and Theon woke me up this morning and I rolled over to an empty bed, again. I’m still upset with Jax and haven’t spoken to him unless I had to during court, but otherwise he hasn’t bothered me. I can’t lie and say that I don’t miss having someone in my bed beside me, protecting me. It gets lonely. Through the seventeen years of my life Jax has slept beside me; whether he was a man or a snow white tiger, he was always there. Now I’m utterly alone.
Today is the day of the Winter Solstice ball that I am supposedly hosting. I begged the court all week to not continue planning the celebration because if we can barely handle a dinner together than what could we expected at a party? They all decided to have the event anyway to help the Fae citizens feel welcomed by Equadoria. Sometimes I forget my father banished magic sending the Fae into hiding, but after they made their point I agreed with the court.
The dress I was fitted into last week looked nothing like the one I’m putting on now. The corset is too loose on me, even with all the tightening and I apologize to the males. They ignore my apology with concerned stares. They’ve always cared for me. After getting into a tighter corset I am given an under gown and then finally the gown itself. The gorgeous chiffon is gold and it’s so pale it even looks white. Across the hem and rising up the trail of the skirt are snowflakes embroidered to look like frost.
“This dress is gorgeous,” I say breathlessly in awe. Not even in the Summer Kingdom had I worn something so stunning. It even challenges Seri’s Summer Solstice gown that transformed at midnight. I doubt this gown has any faerie magic, but it’s beautiful enough to go without it. “I love it.”
Theon grins wickedly, his needle thin teeth shine in the light of my bedroom. Rasgard’s stone skin actually flushes and I give them each a big hug and I’m careful of the sleeveless bodice covered in small whit
e diamonds and crystals like snowflakes.
“May I do your hair?” Theon leaps with excitement and I don’t deny him his happiness. We sit at the vanity and he curls my red hair into a beautiful loose bun at the base of my skull. “I notice the fading smell of a male. Is everything alright?”
I pick at my manicured nails, painted like iridescent pearls, pretending that I didn’t notice the slowly vanishing scent of Jax that once clung to my every pore. “Yes, I mean no,” I sigh through my nostrils. “Jax has been growing a Tree of Light beneath the castle and didn’t tell me about it.”
Rasgard’s head whips to me and he stares at my reflection in the mirror. Theon’s snake-like face becomes sickly pale. “How? I didn’t even sense its power,” Rasgard whispers.
“When Jax brought me back to life he used leaves from the Tree of Light and I assume he had some left over because he planted them.”
“How did we not notice its presence?” Theon questions looking to his mate for an answer, but Rasgard only shrugs, they both look at me.
“I didn’t feel its power either, so I assume it doesn’t have the same powers as the original Tree of Light once did. It’s different somehow.” I just shake my head and become suddenly worried I may have ruined Theon’s work, but he just smiles with a grin that doesn’t meet his eyes.
After the conversation Theon hums to himself as Rasgard works on doing my makeup. He lines my eyes with kohl and brushes glitter onto my lids with a beautiful gradient of midnight blue and white. He glosses my lips very quickly and whispers, “You are very beautiful, Ariadae.” My cheeks heat at the compliment.
“Thank you. Will you be staying for the ball?”
He shakes his head and I become sad.
“Why not?” I ask.
“Theon and I have nothing to wear, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, but it doesn’t begin for thirty minutes! I bet my maidens could find something in Jax’s tunic collection for you two!” Rasgard only grips my hands and gives them a slight squeeze. He doesn’t want to come. I was just excited because they are my friends and helped me not feel completely alone, even if it was just for an hour or two.
The Reign of Queens: A Kingdom of Diamond Antlers Novel Page 8
