The Reign of Queens: A Kingdom of Diamond Antlers Novel

by Zachary James

  My hands tremble and I’m not sure from either shock or terror. I fear the death of Brennan. I fear the hundreds of Forsaken murdering people around me. I fear what will come of Jax and me. I am full of rage and hatred for Kane. Jax didn’t know that Kane and I had mated, and yet the bond was completed between Kane and me. How did he get my approval without me actually agreeing to the bond? Suddenly I put the puzzle pieces together. How could I not have seen it before?

  Ariadae Vox has proved her power to rule for the Winter Kingdom and accepted the mating bond of Kane Archaeminza. The Proving is completed by the Fae who will be ruling the Winter Kingdom. It was created to prove their ability as a High Lord and High Lady. Kane told Brennan, the night Jax was whipped in the throne room, right after we felt the bond, about our mating. The High Lord decided to make me be committed to his youngest born, through love or not, I cannot deny what’s now in my blood. But I can always avoid it the reality of it. I will ignore him until he dies of a broken heart.

  “You tricked me,” I speak my racing mind, more to myself than to anyone, but Kane’s ears perk at the sound of my voice. He pulls away from his whimpering mother, an emotional heap on the ground, and looks to me. I stare right back at him and I hope he sees the hatred burning brightly in my eyes. The anger that has come of his manipulation. “You had me believe that I needed to complete the Proving to have an army, but instead you just wanted to be mated with me.”

  “Ariadae,” Kane winces and I can see the physical cringe. Lhys looks up abashed at my words and seems to completely forget her husband’s corpse beside her.

  “You did what?”

  “Father wanted-,” Kane starts but Jax’s warning growl ripples through the barrier bubble.

  “You’ve done enough, Kane.” Jax’s claws are erected and he looks as if he is about to shift into the white tiger I grew up knowing.

  “Jax is right,” Lhys agrees and looks to me, her eyes full of sorrow. “I’m sorry for what has been done, but the bond can’t be broken once accepted.” A stab to my heart has me holding my chest and stifling a sob. I know my partner of many years hasn’t died, but I still feel sick at the idea that a relationship died today, and it isn’t just Brennan’s and Lhys’.

  “Ariadae,” Kane steps toward me, hand outstretched as if he wants me to take it. I am mentally revolted, but physically I want to lean into his form. “I’m sorry.” His sea-green eyes flood with tears and Jax snarls bearing his teeth.

  Jax leaps into the air and I don’t even feel connected to my body when I send a telekinetic blast at him, throwing his body against the barrier as he slumps to the floor. Kane looks thankful, but I also feel ashamed. I shouldn’t have stopped Jax from attacking Kane. He deserves everything Jax would do to him, but I still hear the crying women, screaming children, and howling Forsaken just beyond a barrier of wind. We can’t forget what is going on around us.

  My eyes flood with tears as I look at Jax who just stares at me, mouth in a sneer. He looks as repulsed as if I were a beggar asking for sex. I feel every bit of hatred in his eyes like a thousand swords to the chest. Each blade slices my organs and especially my heart. What has Kane done?

  I turn my glare to my mate, the Fae who burdened me with his being for the rest of my immortal life, the Fae who damned my relationship with Jax. The Faerie Prometheus birthed me to love. “I’ll never forgive you,” I say, not a whisper or a question in my tone. It’s a promise.

  Before Kane can answer an Arbor slams its fist against the wind wall. Fury burns in the dark pits of its hollowed eyes. The dark bark of its skin looks damp like it had waited in the snow. I can’t help but feel responsible. The Forsaken had most likely followed me here, it wouldn’t be the first time they followed me either. I still remember when my mother and her army trailed Jax, Zube, Jeremiah and me to the Tree of Light and chopped the source of magic down. It still haunts me.

  “Let me take care of this,” Kane storms to the beast. He does a small twisted jump and projects his hands toward the Arbor, projecting a large, horse sized icicle to draw from the snow flakes, fluttering within Lhys’ barrier and penetrate the beast’s middle. Bark cracks and shatters as the Arbor is lifted into the air from the sturdy spike of ice, glowing bright blue in the lights of the colosseum.

  Jax rises from the ground and Lhys does everything in her power to not look at Brennan, but she’s failing miserably. So am I. The High Lord is gone and now, the new High Lord is fighting for his people instead of mourning his father. I feel the seed of sadness within my gut, but I can’t tell if it’s mine or his.

  Lhys looks to the fighting Faeries of the Winter Kingdom. Some are attacking the Forsaken and others are running. What I don’t understand is why a thick parade of marching Troglodytes begins to descend the stairs I had walked towards the pit. The adrenaline rush from the battle with Reyluke hasn’t gone away yet and I let the familiar pinch of the Void pinprick my hands. The lizard men march in unison and one of them at the front wears a flowing cape of raven’s feathers and what I assume is a sentinel beside him carries a large barrel. Never have the Troglodyte’s worn clothes, or carried themselves with grace.

  “Are they learning to be?” Kane drawls, his question floating into the air. We want nothing more than to fight back, but we’re frozen still in fright and confusion. “Are they learning to be coherent?”

  The Troglodyte sentinel stumbles on a single step and the barrel tumbles down, faster and faster, approaching the bottom. Bouncing against the stone, the barrel lifts into the air skipping chunks of stairs at a time and landing, hard. Each smack against the stone is another splinter in its wooden surface. I cringe and wince at every bounce and every flip of the large cylindrical barrel. I try to ignore it and focus on the parade and I notice that every single Troglodyte carries one of the wooden barrels.

  The Troglodyte with the flowing cape of feathers, as black as its large amphibian eyes, turns to the sentinel who dropped the barrel and with a croaking, voice shouts, “You imbecile! What is wrong with you?” A chill slides down my back. I see the physical shiver on the three other people in the barrier. I assumed that the Dreag being, faster, stronger, and smarter in my trial was an alteration made by Brennan, but now I understand that he found the Dreag in Elkwood. My mother is teaching and altering her army to be better, stronger, and a step ahead of me. This is a never ending game of chess, but I never make a move.

  I draw my focus back to the barrel as it smacks against the final five steps and the momentum carries it right over the railing and into the pit, a twenty foot drop, and shatters about thirty meters from the barrier. Black, oil slick liquid erupts and puddles around the splintered wood. Somewhere above, in the seats surrounding the pit, an arrow flies from a bow and strikes the cord holding a chandelier. The large crystal and metal work falls until the glasswork smashes against the oil and the hot candles, still lit, touch the inky black. Fire plumes into the air and I barely have time to throw up a telekinetic shield before the flames shatter both Lhys and I’s barriers and launch us all into the air with the debris, glass, smoke, and flame. The mountain shakes and my body slams against the dirt floor, hard. I can’t hide the pain that flashes through my body and any reign I had on my power vanishes. I hiss at the burn along my skin, but when I look to my hands, no red skin or black charcoal is there, but when I look towards a hissing wince I see the red blisters already formed on Kane. I want to run to him and make sure he is okay, but I can’t pull my eyes away from the burning black wax. Blast wax. It was used during the immortal and mortal war centuries ago to start never ending fires in Elkwood Forest. I don’t understand why the Troglodytes are carrying so many barrels until I notice how many there are…hundreds if not a thousand. They are becoming smart and they formed this attack and are planning to bring down the mountain, with everyone inside.

  Although I still can’t find it in my right mind to move, I watch Lhys, covered in dirt, burns, and blood dripping from a cut on her temple, scramble to Kane and heal his burns almos
t instantly. Jax is gone from sight, but large hands, lifting me from my arms tells me he’s still on my side. No matter what Kane did to ruin our relationship, Jax and I will find a way to work together. I work to get my feet under me and mumble my thanks. Jax doesn’t answer and just hands me a bow and slings a quiver on my shoulder. He leans down into my ear and watches the Troglodytes flood into the pit. They scatter and begin stacking and placing barrel upon barrel around the outskirts of the mile long pit. The blast wax at the center is still burning making the depiction of the Troglodyte with the raven cloak flicker between the flames. It is a horrific, but somehow beautiful sight. The wide mouth of the green scaled abomination is grimacing at me and the hair on my arms stands on end. With shaking hands I knock an arrow onto the curving shaft of the longbow.

  Kane helps Lhys onto her feet and Jax stands in front of me, protecting me. Although we both know I don’t need the protection I am not going to deny it. The High Lady and her second born son, the new High Lord, runs to Jax and I. I look out into the colosseum seats. Forsaken bodies cover the space and black blood runs in rivers, staining the pale brown stone, night black. Other bodies, Fae corpses, seem to be easily visible throughout the hundreds of seats. My stomach flips and flips for the people I can’t help. Smoke from fires scattered throughout the colosseum cloud the expanse beneath the Archaic Mountain Range with black plumes, and waltzing, bleach white ashes, that fall like snowflakes. The parade of Troglodytes is still leaking into the arena and the stack of barrels, in a matter of minutes, has grown to a large hill. I can no longer see the first five rows of seats beyond the railing that is now hidden behind the wooden tubs of blast wax. If one barrel can cause a ginormous explosion that shattered two shields, threw all of us into the air, and shook the mountain, and is still burning with bright blue flames; that number of barrels can surely split the continent in two. We can’t let that happen.

  I stand onto my toes and mumble to Jax, who doesn’t break the glare from the Troglodyte leader, “We need to do something.” I glance back to the Winter Kingdom Faeries still battling and the legion of Frost Guards diminishing. “Preferably fast.”

  Before Jax can answer me, the Troglodyte wearing the cloak of feathers, shouts across the pit to us. “Thank you for this lovely welcome to the Winter Kingdom!” A hissing laugh wheezes past his lips. “If you haven’t figured out what is happening, let me explain. I am the General of the Troglodyte legion of High Lady Evaflora’s army! We have learned of recent ties of the Winter Kingdom and the Equadorian kingdom. Now the Winter Kingdom is openly at war with the Summer Kingdom. Now we are ending this war before it can begin!”

  If he thinks he’s ending this war he is wrong. He is starting the rife between the Winter Kingdom and the Summer Kingdom! The Winter Kingdom hasn’t even gone after the Summer Kingdom and Evaflora has gone out of her way to hurt me. She is doing it without even touching me, but she is easily harming my people and my friends. I feel the boiling rage build up at the thought of everything my mother has done. She murdered my father, stole my human life, attacked my people, and is now attacking my only ally. I’m not going to let her destroy another chance of leverage I have.

  “Shield the barrels,” My words spiral into the churning smoke that is building up beneath the mountain. I pray either Jax, Kane, or Lhys heard me.

  “The demise of the Winter Kingdom will open up a path to the Mortal Kingdoms of Abella, which Evaflora would like to acquire,” The general starts talking again. My ears grow sick of the sound of his croaking voice. “I am following my queen’s strict orders and now for the grand event. My Troglodytes will now light the barrels and bring down Archaic-,”

  The Troglodytes words are cut off as long, blue feathered arrow slices into his mouth and out of the back of his skull. He falls like a chopped tree in the wood. Kane, Jax, and Lhys all turn to me, my bow empty of the nocked arrow; their faces show the pure shock of what they have seen. I will not let my mother destroy my only ally in this battle.

  I stalk past my companions and approach the gaping Troglodyte parade, who doesn’t even notice the almost invisible layer of ice, covering the barrels, protecting them from any oncoming spark. The abominations look from me to their General, a corpse on the ground next to the still burning blast wax. I smile a devilish grimace at my attackers and stare every single monster in the eye, my voice sounds like a mighty warrior shouting over an army. “Tell your queen that nobody fucks with my kingdom. Not anymore! Now I will reign as queen and rise above my mother. Equadoria and the Winter Kingdom are officially at war with the Summer Kingdom! May we start the rife of your ruin!” Before the words can sink in, the doors explode inward and large Faerie warriors wearing thick, ice colored armor and brandishing an array of weapons storm into the colosseum. The Frozen Army, my army, has arrived.

  <<>><<>><<>>

  Faeries cry and shake as we leave the Proving arena. Plumes of smoke lift out of the large open gate and Forsaken bodies lay everywhere. It’s as if the soldiers Brennan had sent to the gates were protecting the colosseum for as long as possible. I place a kiss on every Frost Guard’s corpse that lay near the gate, thanking them for what they had done, what they sacrificed.

  A howling mother pulls my attention, I run to her before I notice the devastation in her arms. She falls to her knees and I sit with her and cry. I close the faeling’s blue eyes and pull her into a hug, very aware of her child’s body between us. I’m sorry; I silently say because the words can’t leave my mouth, they can’t get past the rock lodged in my throat. These people didn’t need this to happen to them and it’s entirely my fault. The only reason Evaflora came is because of my being here. How she found out about my travels, I don’t know, but all I do know is that she needs to pay, she needs to lose this war, and I want her blood on my hands.

  I help the wailing mother to her feet and refuse to hold back my own sobs of grief, as I guide her to a light-blue armored Frozen Sentinel. He nods to me and walks further into the city. I try to offer my help, but then I see him, Jax, limping with his mother under his shoulder. Kane follows behind, but is sure to stop and help anyone with a single smudge of dirt on them. Lhys is crying louder than the mourning mother as she moves through the bustling crowd of panic, pain, sorrow, and loss.

  I raise my hands to Jax to pull him in a hug, but he turns away with his mother leaving me to fall onto my knees and cry out the aching feeling within my chest. I feel like I did this, but it was my mother, my blood, my own creator who caused this devastation. I watch as another wave of injured Fae get carried out, limp out, or walk out of the dark grotto. Another tear slips down my cheek as I make a silent promise. I promise that Evaflora will get what she deserves. And I promise that I will never hesitate tearing her head from her damned shoulders, Prometheus help me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ~Ariadae~

  The aftermath of the attack on the Proving was pure devastation. No other word can describe the raid. Sixty two faelings had been murdered, taken from their parents. Large mourning shrines have been erected throughout the Winter Kingdom and candles burn before portraits. Flowers cover the sidewalks and cobblestone alleys. The Winter Kingdom is mourning. The grief hangs like a cloud over the city. The number of Faerie deaths is beyond counting, but many mourn the children. It is very rare for Fae women to become pregnant let alone give birth, so the faelings are very important to sustaining the life of the kingdom. Many children are still alive, but not enough to complete a generation.

  After the clearing of the Forsaken and the removal of the barrels within Archaic Mountain, I sent word to Equadoria of the attack and the alliance with the Winter Kingdom. Zube had left his position at Equadoria to one of my father’s sentinels and came straight to the Winter Kingdom to help us, within a day of travel. It was no surprise to see his rushed arrival, but he immediately felt the loss of the city the moment he walked through the gates two days ago. Now we, the Archaeminza family, Zube, and I all sit silently at a long wooden table in the dining ha
ll in the castle. Iron chandeliers illuminate the otherwise dark chamber, the flickering shadows make my heart flutter, the memory of the Umbra still a fresh one. I fear the darkness, shadows, and oblivion that come with death and the Forsaken. We haven’t even spoken of the abominations or the attack since the moments it was over. Now, in this room, we, as allies, need to decide the fate of our kingdoms and what we will do to better our chances in the war I started with the Summer Kingdom.

  “I am no longer High Lady,” Lhys says, her voice dreary instead of her typically light-hearted tone. She flicks her ice blue eyes, Jax’s eyes, to me. I still can see the stains of where tears lay along her cheeks. “You are.”

  “I don’t know how to be a High Lady,” I admit and I wouldn’t have the title if it wasn’t for Kane who forced me into it. This trickery and lies will end tonight. “No longer will we lie, manipulate, or plan behind one another’s back. From this day forward I wish that the allegiance between the Winter Kingdom and Equadoria be honest.” I slide my glare to Kane who only pushes the food on his plate around like a child plagued by boredom.

  “You don’t get it,” Jax growls from beside me. “You are the Winter Kingdom. You are the High Lady, you are Kane’s equal. You can create laws and obliterate them. You have even more powers than just your Telekinae abilities and the purple flame you can conjure.”

  I look to my hands and ignore the sound of the Void whispering sweet nothings. Now that I think about it, no longer does the cold bite at my skin, and I even feel the bitter ice, nipping in my blood, but it isn’t pain, it’s like a comfort or a firm hug. The thought of training and controlling this new power inside me makes my stomach twist. How many powers can a Fae have? I know now that I am part of a prophecy, I am the Fae Druid of the Void, but what else will I be? Immortal Queen of Equadoria, Queen of Titanium Antlers, High Lady of the Winter Kingdom. What other titles must be added before I can defeat my mother?