A Queen of Thieves & Chaos (Fate & Flame, #3)

She’s right, but I ignore her for now. “Any sign of Queen Neilina?”

“Yes, that is why I am here. Our lookouts have seen her carriage arrive, along with her elementals and Mordain’s Shadows.”

My king’s armor left behind in Cirilea still wears the battle-ax mark from the last encounter I had with one of those Shadows. They’re daunting, as skilled with weapons as they are with their honed affinities. “I imagine she will want to exchange words before battle.” I’ve never met Neilina in person, but I’ve heard she loves the sound of her own voice. I would be shocked if she doesn’t seek the opportunity to meet me. “Keep a watchful eye and inform me as soon as their gate opens.”

Gaellar’s brow furrows. “Do you think that wise, to go yourself? If what you have told me about Queen Neilina is true, then she is not honorable. She will bring her elementals with her and use the opportunity to attack.”

“Possibly. But I cannot hide. Besides, I welcome the meeting, so I can brief them on all the lies their precious ruler has fed them.”

Peering over her shoulder at the arid fields filled with soldiers, Gaellar offers, “Many here feel that it is not much different in Islor.”

I want to argue with her, but I can’t because it’s true. I’ve been at the root of some of those lies. But I’m not sacrificing others for my own gain.

Abarrane clears her throat … again.

Point made.

“How are strategic plans coming along?”

“Well, Your Highness, I feel we have the right plan laid out.”

They cannot possibly have the right plan because they have no idea what’s coming. “Gather your officers. We will meet in the command tent in thirty minutes.” Maybe it’s time for some candid truths.

That is what Romeria would do.



“If we leave a wide perimeter around our wall and then unleash several volleys of arrows, some of them will get through.”

“But most of them will not.”

“Bragvam said to aim for the Shadows, who will come in behind them.”

Telor and I share an amused look as the officers around the table bicker.

“I thought she said her strategy was already laid out,” Abarrane says mockingly, earning Kienen’s chuckle.

Gaellar grimaces. I feel a pang of sympathy for her. She just inherited this position and while I’m sure she earned it, it takes time to prove herself against older, weathered soldiers who think they know everything.

“The last time Ybaris attacked—” one begins.

I bark with grim laughter, cutting him off. “You are strategizing maneuvers based on what they did the last time, one hundred years ago?”

The voices die down as stern faces stare at me. A few, I recognize, but most I’ve never met before. They don’t know me any more than I know them, and by some of their expressions, my presence here is not appreciated. Some surely don’t see me as king.

That’s fine. They don’t have to love me, but they damned well better listen to me. “Let me save you the trouble of too much quarreling. There is nothing about this battle that will resemble the last one, or any that Islor has fought in two thousand years. And that is because, at the height of the full Hudem moon, the Nulling will open.”

Gaellar’s face blanches. “There is a key caster?”

“There is, and it is Queen Romeria of Ulysede.” I don’t hesitate anymore. She is what she is, and I believe she is bound to be Islor’s savior. “Because of Queen Romeria, we will finally have an end to this blood curse that has plagued us for too long. The Ybarisan poison will no longer be a threat to us.”

Silence fills the tent as several sets of eyes flicker to the emblem on my chest. An answer to their unspoken question.

“But she’s the one who brought the poison!” one of Gaellar’s captains exclaims.

“Queen Neilina is to blame for the poison in Ybaris, regardless of how it arrived. And she should bear the full brunt of everyone’s anger. You have heard many things over the last weeks and months. Some were outright lies, some were exaggerations. Know that what I say to you now is the truth and only that. King Barris was a good ruler. He and I wrote to each other several times over the years. He was a tough negotiator, but he was fair, and his love for Ybaris and its people was deep. We had every intention of honoring our alliance. My father, King Eachann, considered him a friend.” An unexpected lump rises in my throat. “Islor had no part in his death, but I will gladly avenge it.” I look to Kienen, hoping he sees the truth in my declaration.

“Queen Neilina never wanted an alliance and has been working against King Barris’s wishes for years, going so far as to summon Aoife to create a poison meant to kill Islor’s immortals.”

“Yes, her daughter’s blood!” the same captain complains.

“Yes, her daughter. But the Romeria who sits on Ulysede’s throne is not the one she birthed. One only needs to look to her caster abilities to know that. And this Romeria? She is the only being in our entire realm who can help save Islor and Ybaris.”

“King Atticus has declared—”

“King Atticus is not here!” I bellow. “He did not come to help fight Neilina. He did not even answer the rift army’s call for aid!”

A few beats of silence hang.

“And where is Queen Romeria?” another captain asks, looking around the tent. “If she is this powerful key caster who can save us, why is she not here to do so?”

I could have this officer dragged outside and flogged for the way he speaks to me, but it wouldn’t help morale and, besides, he’s right. As much as I don’t want her in immediate danger, Romeria is the best weapon we have.

And she is not here.

I don’t know where she is.

“The queen of Ulysede had another important task to attend to. She will join us when she is able.” It’s a white lie but also the truth. I know Romeria too well to believe she will remain in Ulysede while we are at war.

If there is a way to get here, she will find it.





CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT




ROMERIA


“The wielder of the elements was not long for this world, anyway.” Lucretia weaves around where I sit on the floor, my back against one of the gargoyle statues. I’ve been here for hours while Ulysede’s mortals help settle all those who arrived from Cirilea. Lucretia’s frugal white smock is gone, replaced by gauzy black. She may as well stroll around naked. “I could sense the cracks in her affinities. They were waning quickly.”

“Is that supposed to comfort me?” I would rather Gesine be here as a seer than not at all.

I can’t even tell Zander the horrible news because she’s no longer here to guide the taillok. He would have expected a letter from us this morning. He will be beyond worried about me—the last thing I want for him when his focus needs to remain on the rift.

“She died valiantly in battle. Is that not what these beings strive for?”

“We weren’t in battle. We were running from it.” I don’t feel a millisecond of regret for Boaz’s death. I hope it hurt, but I know he was gone in an instant. “And that’s not what Gesine strived for.” She loved history and knowledge.

She respected prophecy.