“We need to land.” I nudged my heels against Winston’s sides.
Instead, he turned us away from the palace and began to beat his wings faster, flying so quickly we did nothing more than blitz past the warring people below. He turned south and began to race toward the very farthest reaches of my kingdom.
I watched as the fighting below faded away and the city turned to countryside, then forest, as we soared across the lands of the kingdom I now ruled. It was dark below us, but I could make out lights in the distance from what looked like tiny villages.
Winston snorted, and I felt him shift his weight slightly, tipping downward. I tightened my grip on his neck and squeezed my knees around his wide shoulders, trying to keep from slipping forward and tumbling over his head to the ground below. This flying thing had definite possibilities, but he had to figure out some way to do the takeoffs and landings so that I wasn’t clinging for dear life. He circled once and dipped lower.
We broke over the treetops, and I saw that we were at a large lake. He skimmed over the top of it, his talons dragging along the surface, and I saw myself reflected in the water, eyes wide and crown gleaming.
We reached the shore and he landed silently in a tiny village square with a large fountain in the center. There was a yell from one of the houses, and before I could catch my breath enough to ask where we were, the square was flooded with people, most of them holding lanterns in front of their faces, surrounding me with a sea of bobbing lights.
I slipped down off Winston’s back and pushed my skirts down before I ran a hand up to straighten my hair. I wasn’t normally vain, but the idea of meeting people for the very first time as their queen sort of made me want to make a good impression.
“The Rose,” someone from the crowd said. They all dropped in front of me, pressing their heads to the ground.
Winston puffed a warm breath against my neck and then lumbered off into a large, barnlike building on the other end of the square where I assumed he was going to change shape.
“The junior ambassador has brought the Rose.”
“Where is Ardere? Where is the Drakos himself?” another voice called out.
“Hi.” I lifted my hand to wave. “It’s nice to meet you. Uh, Ardere was…” What was I supposed to say? He was delayed by the war I set off before I ran away?
“Queen Alicia.” A raven-haired man from the back of the crowd pushed his way through to me.
I stepped forward and held out my hand for him to shake. Instead he bowed his head, his eyes meeting mine.
“Welcome. I am Tevin, Keeper of the Flame for the holdings of Dramera. What brings you to visit on the night of your coronation?” He took my hands and bowed his head slightly in front of me.
“Well, there’s been a bit of trouble.”
“Trouble?” He lifted an eyebrow at me in response.
“I may have started a small war.”
His head jerked up, and both of his eyebrows were almost at his hairline, but in the next second his face was a mask of complete indifference again. “That sounds very ambitious for your first day as queen. I understood that most of the others were simply content to hold a ball to celebrate.”
“If you have somewhere that we can go and wait for Winston, I’ll explain everything once he gets back.”
“I can’t wait to hear about what happened to you.” Tevin picked up a piece of glass that had fallen out of the folds of my dress when we’d landed and held it up to show me. “Or why you’re shedding feathers of glass.”
“We left in a bit of a hurry.”
“Because of the war you started?”
“I wanted to stay and fight,” I said. “But my advisers thought it best if I left before the Fate Maker took the chance to kill me.”
“That was most likely the best course,” Tevin agreed. “Queens are not meant to fight wars. The risk of you being captured is too high.”
“It’s a risk I would have been willing to take.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Why hadn’t I? Because I was afraid? Because all I’d really wanted to do when the killing started was run away, just like Rhys said I would?
“Because I didn’t have a weapon, and I was in this dress, and there were people dying, and I just…froze… Winston and Darinda said to run, and I just did it. I didn’t think, I just did it.”
My heart sank. I had been afraid, and I’d just done what I was told. Just like my mother had. And now other people were dying in my place. I was no better than she was with the harvesting.
My hands started to tremble and I could feel tears burning in my eyes.
“Ahh.” Tevin met my eyes. “This was your first battle?”
“Yes.”
“Then I can see why you panicked. After all, it is natural that if someone is trying to kill you your first thought is to run away. That is what sane people do.”
“I’m not supposed to be sane. I’m supposed to be queen.”
“And I am the war leader of the dragon clans of Nerissette. But every time I see battle all I want to do is run as far away as I can. Although, I must admit, I’ve never done it by breaking through the three-thousand-year-old dome of the most sacred building in Nerissette.”
“How did you know?” I asked.
“The glass. It is unique.”
“Oh.”
“It seemed like the quickest way out,” Winston said from the darkness. He was wearing nothing but a pair of brown trousers and his crown, and I couldn’t help wondering how it had stayed in one piece while his clothing was destroyed.
“Your crown.” I pointed at it. “It should have been torn apart when you went from normal to dragon-sized.”
“Magic,” Tevin said. “Both crowns have spells woven around them so they always fit snugly on their wearer’s brow. No matter how thin or fat the head wearing them might be. Even if one of the wearers happens to be a big-headed dragon.”
“Yeah, well, it could have stretched a bit more.” Winston scratched underneath the crown, and when it shifted I could see deep red creases where the metal had dug into his skin.
“Yes, well,” Tevin said, “being the prince consort isn’t all balls and dancing. Sometimes there are downsides. Now, if we could return to explaining why you decided to destroy the Hall of the Pleiades?”
“It wasn’t like I was going to fit through the doorway.” Winston took the dingy white shirt in his hands and slipped it on over his head.
I looked down and noticed that his feet were bare. He had long, almost elegant toes, and for some reason it made my heart start to beat harder. The stars protect me, now was not the time to get all stupidly in, like…love with Winston and start mooning over his freaking toes.
“You could have shifted outside,” Tevin said dryly, bringing my attention back to him and away from Winston’s weirdly attractive feet.
“I could,” Winston said, “but I thought smashing through the ceiling might have a bit more impact.”
“I would agree.” Tevin led us into a small hut. “Usually. Now, though, I’m curious about how you’ve managed to come home to Dramera with not just the queen, but a new accessory as well…”
“That might be why the war started,” I said, glancing at Winston. “Well, it’s not really the reason, it was just sort of that last straw that flipped the Fate Maker from slightly crazy to full-on psycho.”
Winston reached out and wrapped one of his muscled arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. He smelled like brimstone and sweaty boy but not in a gross gym-class sort of way. More like a “hanging out together on a hot summer day” sort of way.
“Queen Alicia has named me her crown prince,” Winston said. “The Fate Maker obviously took issue with it.”
“He went nuts and tried to kill me with black magic,” I added.
“Ah, well, congratulations on your marriage, Queen Alicia and Prince Winston.” The man sat down in one of the chairs and motioned to the other one across from him. “And may I s
ay I’m glad the Fate Maker’s assassination attempt didn’t work.”
“Marriage? What do you mean marriage? We’re not married. Winston’s my co-ruler, not my husband,” I said, completely ignoring the whole assassination thing because hello? Marriage?
“He’s your crown prince,” Tevin corrected. “The Golden Rose doesn’t share power with anyone. You rule, and we are ruled by you, and by law the crown prince is your partner and mate.”
“Wait, what? The Fate Maker didn’t tell me that I had to marry my crown prince. I thought it was some sort of ceremonial thing, like all the bowing and scraping.”
“It is a ceremonial thing, as you call it,” Tevin said. “You’ve just performed a ceremony marrying you to the crown prince.”
“But if I’d have known it involved getting married, I would have never done it.” My voice was small and squeaky. “I’m way too young to get married. I haven’t even gone to college yet. Forget that—I haven’t even managed to pass chemistry. I can’t be married.”
“I don’t think the Pleiades are concerned about the things you may not have done yet. You’ve performed the ceremony, and now you are married.”
“We’re not married.” I pulled my hand away from Winston’s. “No one told me that the coronation was also a wedding. People our age don’t just go out and get married in one night.”
“How many of them become queen?” Tevin stood up.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“How many of these other people become the absolute ruler of Nerissette? How many of them become not just ruler of a country, but of nearly an entire world? How many of them even know the World of Dreams exists, much less agree to actively rule it?”
“Uh…” I turned to Winston for support, but he just shook his head at me, his eyes wide.
“Exactly,” Tevin said. “Things are run a bit differently here. Besides, my queen, it is merely a formality. After all, I believe your mother had nothing to do with her crown prince once she’d decided to return to the World That Is.”
“Wait, what? My mother was married?”
“Of course.” Tevin started toward the door. “Who else would the goddess Fate have made regent? The Fates declared her queen, and the Fate Maker himself was to be her crown prince. When she was trapped on the other side it became his duty to guard her throne until her return. Or, in this case, yours.”
“Excuse me? The Fate Maker was my mother’s what? That means he could be my…” I swallowed and then shook my head, trying my best to ignore that thought and focus on the more important stuff first.
“Wait a second…but he’s the Fate Maker,” Winston said. “He’s supposed to interpret the will of Fate, right? So, what? He told you he was supposed to be the crown prince, and no one thought to question it?”
“It was the will of Fate,” Tevin said. “Who were we to argue?”
“People with your own minds,” I said.
“Yes, well,” Tevin said. “Perhaps we could focus less on the past and more on the war you’ve started?”
“Right, okay.” I jerked my head up and down once. “War now. Marriage mix-ups later.”
“I can have scouts sent out within the hour,” Tevin said. “And the rest of the clans will be waiting for your orders at dawn. I suggest you decide where it is that we’re going to attack first and then get some sleep. You’re going to need it.”
I watched the older man walk out the door and turned to stare at Winston. “This is so messed up.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me.” He sat down in the chair Tevin had abandoned and then wrapped his fingers around mine.
I stared at the floor, then looked up into his eyes. “The Fate Maker could be my dad.”
“No.” He shook his head. “There’s no way you’re related to that guy.”
“How do you know? I could be.”
“Allie, you heard Tevin. Your mother had nothing to do with the Fate Maker once she was crowned. And besides, you said yourself that he and the Court of the Silver Thorn basically deposed her. That’s why she ran. Do you think she’d have a baby with someone like that?”
“No, but…” I swallowed. “What if he is? My father, I mean.”
“It doesn’t change anything,” Winston said. “It really doesn’t, and not to be a jerk but it’s not something you can really freak out about now. Once the war is over we can find out who your dad is, and you can lose it if you want, but right now we’ve got to focus. There are lives at stake.”
I let the conversation drop. He was right—but it still niggled in the back of my head. Mom had never talked about my dad. What if this was why? What if he was some evil sorcerer who tried to steal her crown?
“So what do we do now? I mean about us?” I asked. Sure, he was right we had a war to deal with and everything, but hello? We had just gotten married. It was probably something we should talk about.
“What about us?”
“No one told me that naming a crown prince meant that we had to get married. I wouldn’t have gotten you into it if I’d have known.”
“You heard Tevin,” Winston said. “It’s a formality. Everyone will call us married, and that will be it. It’s like my little cousin Teresa making Daniel Bailey down the street marry her all the time. It’s no big deal. Not compared to the war.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re not six, and there’s a lot more at stake here than whether or not I’ll share my bubble gum with you.”
“That was at stake no matter what,” Winston said. “We were going to war anyway, so the risk hasn’t changed. To be fair, though, I think I’d have preferred the bubble gum.”
“Win!”
“What? Look, I know this is all sort of freaking you out right now, but we’re not really married. It’s all part of the craziness of Nerissette. We’ll get rid of the Fate Maker, and then we’ll figure something out, okay? You being queen, me being your prince consort, how you want to go about doing us, all of it.”
“Us?” I asked. “You want there to be an us?”
“Yeah.” He squirmed in his seat and didn’t look at me. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t want an us, but right now we have more important stuff to worry about. Like finding out what happened after we left. Then we can decide what we’re going to do.”
“I’d like there to be an us,” I said quietly.
“Me, too. But first, we have a war to win.”
“Right. I hope Mercedes and Rhys are okay.” I looked down at our hands and then back up at him. “We just left them there, and now we’re here and they’re there, and what if something happened to them?”
“They’ll be okay.” Winston gave me a tight smile. “Rhys won’t let anything happen to her. Besides, you probably couldn’t see from behind Darinda, but the battle was going our way.”
“So why did we run?”
“Because the Fate Maker wasn’t going to just give up,” Winston said. “And we couldn’t risk him getting to you. If he captured you, or even worse, managed to kill you, the entire rebellion would have died with you. The people would have been too afraid to fight.”
“We have to go back. Even if he does capture me. We can’t hide here, waiting for someone else to fight our battles.”
“Scouts will be sent to let us know where the dragon forces are needed. Then I’ll take the warriors, and we’ll finish this.”
“Good. If someone can find me some clothes to change into and a sword, then I’ll be ready to go. But I can’t fight in this dress.”
“No.” Winston shook his head. “The dragon warriors will go. As soon as the battle is finished I’ll send a messenger back to get you.”
“So, you want me to do what? Wait? There are people out there dying, and you want me to just wait here while you go fight my battles for me?”
“There’s nothing you can do tonight.”
“Because you brought us here.”
“I needed to keep you safe.”
“I’m not going to just sit here and let everyone else fight a war I started.”
“Allie—”
“No! I’m their queen, and I need to be the one leading them. No matter what might happen.”
“Fine, you’re right. You’re the queen, and I have to let you do your job. So when the messenger comes back and says that it’s safe, we’ll go. We won’t wait. But for tonight, until we know what’s happened, please let me keep you safe. Okay? Just for tonight.”
“Win…”
“Please.”
I sighed. “Okay, but just until the scouts come back and tell us where we’ll be most useful.”
He let go of my hands and brought his fingers up to trace along my cheek, leaning closer. I licked my lips and leaned forward to meet him. “Thank you.”
He let go of me and stood. Before I could say anything, he had made his way to the door and slipped out.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Queen Alicia,” a soft voice called out a few hours later. I stopped staring at my hands to look up at the front door.
“Queen Alicia?” the voice broached again. “Are you awake?”
“Yes,” I croaked, my throat feeling grimy and raw. I sat up and tried to smooth down my rumpled dress. “I’m awake.”
“Good.” A girl about my age with flaming red hair smiled at me as she slipped into the front room of the cottage, lugging a large bucket of water in front of her.
“The scouts are expected back soon, and I thought you might want to wash before they arrived. Things will become hectic once they’ve returned, and there won’t be much time for a bath. Or food for that matter.”
“A bath?” I instantly felt every single speck of dirt that was embedded into my skin. “You have some way for me to take a bath?”
“Not a real bath, unfortunately.” She wrinkled her nose, and I noticed that her face was covered in freckles, as were the exposed parts of her arms. She hoisted the bucket up and poured the water into a kettle over the fire. Then she put some more wood in the fireplace and blew a low stream of blue flames onto them.
Everlast (The Chronicles of Nerissette) (Entangled Teen) Page 21
