A loud crash of thunder startled Evelayn and she jumped, only to half fall out of the chair she still sat in. Her neck and back were stiff and her right arm was entirely asleep, her hand numb. The council room was darkened, with the occasional flash of lightning illuminating the abandoned table and chairs. She was completely disoriented.
Why hadn’t anyone come looking for her, or woken her up? How long had she been asleep in the council room, with her head on the table?
Evelayn stood up, her body protesting the movement, but froze when lightning struck yet again—a blinding flash of light. The outline of the windows was burned onto her retinas, along with what had looked like a dark bird, careening wildly through the gusting wind and rains of the cloudburst. But when she blinked and squinted into the darkness, there was no sign of a bird. Had she imagined it? Or had Caedmon come through with a message after all?
It could just be a bird from the forest, she chided herself. Though it would mean that her time to figure out a plan was short, she longed to have a message arrive—to prove she hadn’t misplaced her trust.
Evelayn waited for the next flash, but when it came, there was nothing there but an empty, rain-drenched courtyard and the swaying trees beyond.
With a shake of her head, Evelayn turned and exited the room, passed the Light Sentries who waited on either side of the door, to hurry to her room, and nearly ran directly into High Priestess Teca.
“Your Majesty.” Teca seemed far less surprised to see Evelayn than Evelayn was to see her, which led her to believe the High Priestess had been standing in the hallway the entire night waiting for her to emerge. “If we might have a private word?”
Evelayn wanted nothing more than to climb into her bed and try to rest as much as possible before meeting Lord Tanvir in the morning for their run, but instead she sighed. “Of course.”
They went back into the darkened room, shutting the Light Sentries out.
“I am sure you wish to retire to your quarters, as do I, so I will make this brief and to the point,” Teca began. “You are now the queen of éadrolan, and the only royal left with the ability to act as the conduit for the Light Power.”
“Yes …”
“Normally you would be considered far too young to broach such things, but bearing in mind the direness of our situation, there’s no avoiding the issue.”
Another flash of lightning illuminated the stern downturn of Teca’s mouth.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.” Evelayn tried not to let her irritation bleed into her tone, but she was too drained to summon her usual mask of geniality. “What are you saying?”
“You need to be Bound and produce an heir. And quickly.”
Evelayn’s irritation flared into anger in the blink of an eye but she bit it back through sheer force of will. “Excuse me, but I don’t think it is your place—”
“It is my place, because you are the queen,” Teca cut her off. “If something happens to you before you have a daughter, there will be no one left who could reclaim our power. None of us knows what would happen to éadrolan, Lachalonia, and even the world beyond ours if that happened.”
A sudden clap of thunder accentuated Teca’s words, rattling the windowpanes with its ferocity.
“Even if I were to be Bound tomorrow and impregnated immediately following the ceremony, I wouldn’t be able to give birth to an heir before facing Bain.” Evelayn’s voice was practically strangled from the effort of holding her anger in check.
“That may be true, but—”
“So I will ask you to allow me to focus on the problems immediately at hand,” Evelayn continued over Teca’s protest, “and refrain from adding unnecessary pressure to the situation.” Even as the words came out, she knew they made her sound like a youngling.
“You are the queen now, Evelayn. ‘Pressure’ is guaranteed to be your constant companion. You’d best find a way to deal with it, no matter how great it becomes.”
“That is quite enough.” Evelayn held one hand up, palm flattened toward Teca. “There is nothing I can do about being Bound at this moment, or about providing an heir. Our only hope is for me to focus on surviving Bain’s attack and somehow defeating him. Then I can worry about that.”
“If you don’t succeed, there won’t be anything to worry about.”
Evelayn turned on her heel and flung the door open. “Good night, High Priestess.”
Teca stiffened at the dismissal but then strode toward the Light Sentries who still stood guard in the hallway. “This discussion is not over, Your Highness.”
Evelayn waited for the older Draíolon to disappear around the corner before allowing her shoulders to sag slightly. She understood Teca’s fear, but it was too late now. Even if there were time, who would she possibly hope to be Bound to? The memory of the near-kiss on the turret with Tanvir flashed through her mind, but she quickly forced it away.
No, she told herself firmly as she finally made her way to her quarters and her bed. Do as you told Teca. Focus on the problems at hand. Focus on surviving. Because if she didn’t, Teca was right. There was no one else to reclaim the power, not even an infant who could one day grow up and travel to the Immortal Tree.
If she failed, the Light Draíolon were doomed.
EVELAYN SLEPT UNEASILY, WAKING EVERY HOUR OR SO, vacillating between nightmares and thinking she heard phantom knocks signaling that she had received a message from Caedmon. But no one came to summon her, and she reluctantly rose at dawn to put on her loose running pants and leather shoes. After quickly braiding her hair, Evelayn hurried out into the humid, gray morning. Her Light Sentries silently followed her down the stairs and into the courtyard where Lord Tanvir already waited in the mist, swinging his arms to loosen up. With Teca’s words from the night before still ringing in her mind, Evelayn had to quell sudden nerves that sprang up when Tanvir glanced over and their eyes met.
“There’s no need to accompany me.” She turned to the sentries, trying to compose herself. “Lord Tanvir will run with me this morning.”
“Your Majesty, our orders are to guard you at all times. We could lose our positions,” one of them spoke up.
“I am your queen, and I say that I shall be quite safe with Lord Tanvir’s protection. We won’t go far. We’ll merely circle the castle a few times.”
The sentry looked uneasy, but gave her a little bow. “If you insist, Your Highness.”
“I do.” Evelayn smiled to ease the severity of her tone and then turned to where Tanvir stood.
“Shall we?”