The Forsaken Throne (Kingfountain #6)

“What’s strange is that I had fallen half in love with him this last month. Even though he attacked us without a cause, I’d come to forgive him. There is much I admire about him. And I thought . . . I believed that he truly admired me.”

“He did,” Genny said emphatically. “Which is what makes his pain all the greater. He was in love with you, Trynne. He manifested it in a thousand different ways. Perhaps he was in love with the idea of you at first. You have your father’s gifts from the Fountain. You’re uncommonly pretty.”

Trynne glared at her.

“You are! Despite what happened to you. You radiate courage and goodness. You’re reliable and faithful. You are exactly what he needed. What he needs. Which makes you the biggest threat his Wizrs have ever experienced. Coldly and deliberately, they removed your father from court to make Drew vulnerable. What they didn’t expect was that the Fountain would call you to defend us.”

Genny paused and clasped her hands in front of her. “People are ruled by superstitions,” she finally said. “Even ours! Take a coin from the fountain and you’ll be thrown into the river. The Fountain didn’t punish the Forbidden Court, but Gahalatine upended his Wizrs’ plans by swearing an oath of fealty to Drew. He made a decision that could not be easily undone. What horrifies me is how many people the Wizrs were willing to kill to try and counter it. How many of their own people.” She gave Trynne an impassioned look.

“Such power cannot be trusted without firm control. I see that now. I have a feeling these Wizrs will want revenge against us for their defeat. And you, Trynne, are the last Wizr that we can trust.”

Trynne knew it was true, and it grieved her, for she had never wanted to be a Wizr. Myrddin had vanished over a year before, telling them that the Fountain had called him to help settle a desperate situation in another world. Then it had called her mother, Sinia, to the Deep Fathoms. Morwenna had been allied with the enemy all along, so she could not be trusted to save Kingfountain.

“I don’t want this,” Trynne whispered helplessly.

Genny walked up to her and took her hands. “I know. I know your heart, Trynne. But still I must ask you to help us. We don’t have your mother’s visions to guide us. We don’t have your father’s strategies. You must be both of them right now. Even while you endure heartache. Even though you’d rather be in the training yard with Captain Staeli. I hear he’s on the mend.”

Trynne nodded forlornly. “I will do my duty,” she said. It was not what she wanted. But when did life ever work out the way one wanted?

“I know you will,” Genny said. “Go back to Ploemeur. Send your husband whatever aid you can. Over time, his heart will soften to you. He will begin to see the truth.”

“I must hope that he does,” she replied.

The two embraced, holding each other for a long moment.

When they finally drew apart, Trynne gave the queen a serious look.

“What did Fallon talk to you about?”

The question had obviously surprised Genny. Her cheeks flushed slightly and her eyes narrowed.

“Oh no,” Trynne groaned.

Genny patted her cheek. “I don’t know if I should tell you. I was hoping to bear this burden for you. At least for a while. Nothing may come of it.”

“Please tell me,” Trynne pleaded.

Genny turned, pacing slowly away from her. “It was a private conversation. One between brother and sister, not between a duke and his queen. He didn’t tell me to keep it in confidence. He was merely asking for my advice.”

A feeling of panic and doom was building up inside Trynne. She hadn’t thought it possible to hurt more than she did, but . . . it always was . . .

“I’ll be miserable if I don’t know. Please, Genny.”

The queen nodded but still paused, choosing her words carefully. “You know that Fallon has always looked up to your father as a role model, as an example. The years he spent under Owen’s tutelage are some of his fondest memories. It’s where he fell in love with you.” She turned and looked at Trynne. “Much, I’m afraid, like our mother did with your father. The water wheel keeps turning, doesn’t it?” Genny was silent for another moment, pondering her choice of words carefully. “I still have memories of when Severn ruled. I was but a child.” She smiled self-consciously. “I even remember asking Owen if he still loved my mother. How brash I was back then! He was truthful. I’ve always admired that about him. It was the truth that helped him defeat Severn in the end.”

Trynne was still on tenterhooks. She gazed mutely at Genny, waiting for the awful truth to spill out.

“Fallon wanted to know if I thought Owen had wasted too many years mourning the loss of our mother.”

A shudder rippled through Trynne. Her mouth went dry. She understood the implications immediately. “Fallon wants to marry . . . ?”

She couldn’t bring herself to say the other woman’s name.

Genny looked at her. “He didn’t ask specifically if he could marry Severn’s daughter. His feelings for her are rather conflicted.

He’s sorry for her. Afraid of what may happen to her. They have been friends for many years.”

Trynne bit her lip. “You didn’t mention that I found his clothes in her tower, did you?”

Genny dimpled and winced. “No. I am still his sister. There are some things I might not wish to know about him.” She breathed out heavily. “As I said, I was hoping to bear this burden for you by not telling you. Will he ask the king’s permission to marry her? I don’t know. He can be rather rash, although you must admit he has gotten better.”

Trynne shook her head, still amazed at what Genny had told her. Part of her wanted Fallon to find happiness with someone else.

Someone who would inspire him to be someone. To make himself the best he could be.

Anyone other than Morwenna Argentine.

“I will say this in my brother’s favor,” Genny said, coming up and hugging her once more. “He does not resent that Gahalatine chose you. He respected him for it. That respect has been tarnished because of the way he treated you earlier today. Fallon told me that if he hadn’t been so weak, and if he hadn’t known you would disapprove, he would have punched Gahalatine just as he did Elwis all those years ago. You remember that affair?

“But even though he was furious, he knows firsthand that someone stops thinking clearly after they’ve lost something dear to them. He said that about himself mostly. About how it felt to lose you.

But he also realizes that he would have died in Dundrennan if you hadn’t intervened in the battle. He would have lost everything, including his own life.”

Genny smiled and pressed a kiss to Trynne’s cheek.

“We must be prepared for what is coming,” the queen said.

“Something is approaching. Right now, we are blind to it, so we must step cautiously. Standing still isn’t a good choice. We must all move forward, even though it hurts.”

Trynne knew Genevieve had spoken the truth. But it still hurt.





Emotions rule people. The stronger the emotion, the more vivid and influential it becomes. The Dochte Mandar discovered a magic in another world that controls emotions. It’s contained in a little medallion, a series of twisting vines, which they wear around their necks. It can produce fear. It can feign love. It can imbue one with courage. It can make one a coward.

The Mandaryn believed they could control me through my emotions. They believed they were chaining me.

That I would submit and yield to their whims if they threatened to kill my father. Well, my father is dead now and I can’t even feel it. Love is a manipulation. An illusion. They believed that Rucrius controlled me. Now they are beginning to know that he was only my tool.

I’ve broken the power of the East Kingdoms. And I will break down Kingfountain as well.

Morwenna Argentine





CHAPTER FOUR


The House of Pil ars