Page 6 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

Vyllanthra frowned. “An encampment for how long? How many troops?”

“I appreciate your immediate grasp of our misgivings. It is one thing to offer amnesty to people in need”—something Charis dearly hoped Solvang would extend to her people—“but it is quite another to welcome a military encampment. Especially one that would be difficult to defend against should that prove necessary.”

“And all this because they wanted jewels from Montevallo?” Gareth dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. “What need could Rullenvor or the Rakuuna possibly have for so many jewels that it was worth sinking ships and offering to fight Montevallo with you?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that we achieved peace with Montevallo through a treaty of our own design, turned down Rullenvor’s offer, and within days of that refusal, the Rakuuna invaded.”

“So they’re using your kingdom as a staging ground to go after Montevallo?” Vyllanthra tapped a finger on her lips. “Does that mean when they’ve gained the jewels they want, they’ll leave?”

“It’s possible, though I hesitate to put much faith in that assumption.” Charis met the queen’s gaze as the answer she’d been hunting for fell into her lap—the one thing that might scare her allies enough to make them promise to help her reclaim Calera. It was time to show Gareth and Vyllanthra the picture Charis needed them to see.

“Prince Vahn of Montevallo sent a palloren to the Rakuuna’s armada with a promise to pay them any number of jewels they required in exchange for leaving Calera’s harbor for good. Days later, the Rakuuna attacked us. They went straight for Mother—for the queen.” Charis swallowed hard, but the stone in her throat refused to budge.

“They intended to kill the royal family and put themselves in charge immediately. Despite being offered what they said they wanted.” Gareth shot a look at Vyllanthra.

“I believe they’d already done the same in Rullenvor. No one has heard from the High Emperor in some time, and Rullenvor’s ambassador was arguing for the Rakuuna’s interest, not for those of his own kingdom. I believe that the Rakuuna rule Rullenvor now, just like they rule Calera.” Charis let the words sink in, fraught with dangerous implications for the safety of Solvang and the rest of the sea kingdoms.

“They’re colonizing.” Vyllanthra and Gareth seemed to share an unspoken conversation.

The memory of being so connected to Tal that she could read his mind from across a crowded room cut deep, but Charis ignored it. Locking eyes with Gareth and Vyllanthra, she spoke with vicious confidence.

“If the Rakuuna had only wanted jewels, they could have had their fill. They could have reached out to us for safe passage to negotiate directly with King Alaric instead of involving Rullenvor. As you know, we’ve long had a policy of providing protection to the ambassadors of our allies as they travel to the Montevallian border so they can assume their posts in Alaric’s court.” Charis’s voice was cold as she went for the kill. “They could have left the High Emperor of Rullenvor alive. They could have left my parents alive. They didn’t. They’ve now taken two of the seven sea kingdoms by force, and it’s clear they mean to go after Montevallo as well. How long before they go after yet another kingdom on the map?”

Silence filled the room, broken only by the tick-tick-tick of a clock on the mantel behind Charis. Finally, Gareth and Vyllanthra seemed to reach an unspoken agreement. Turning to face Charis, Gareth said solemnly, “Tell us what you need.”

Three

“THIS IS A waste of time. I’d rather just sail straight to the Rakuuna kingdom and force them to tell us how to kill them than spend another day searching through old books for the solution.” Holland paused to let Charis leave the Royal Library ahead of him.

In the fourteen days since their arrival in Solvang, a band of pressure had wrapped itself around Charis’s chest and refused to leave. At Holland’s words, the band squeezed a little tighter.

Most of the Calerans were staying in an older building that had been hastily converted into refugee apartments. As nobility, Charis, Holland, Nalani, and Delaire were housed in the palace with access to the city’s palloren hub and a carriage at their disposal.

While Nalani and Delaire helped the refugees settle in, Charis and Holland had spent nearly every day studying the library’s vast resources—scrolls, books, even the official diaries of ancient Solvanish royals—looking for the key to the Rakuuna’s demise. They’d found almost nothing. There were few mentions of the reclusive species, and even fewer details beyond what Charis already knew: they were faster, stronger, and far more powerful than humans, and only a fool would go up against them in a fight.

The rulers of Solvang, Thallis, and Verace agreed.

Gareth and Vyllanthra had made it clear they would only commit troops to Charis’s cause if she knew how to kill the Rakuuna. The messages she’d sent to Thallis and Verace had received similar answers. She’d sent a palloren to King Alaric of Montevallo as well but had yet to receive a reply, which made sense given how far Montevallo was from Solvang.

Still, the tension of not knowing if Alaric would honor the treaty ate at her composure until it thinned and frayed.

A pair of Solvanish guards left the library first, followed immediately by Reuben and then Charis. A second pair exited on Holland’s heels, and the entire group moved quickly toward the carriage waiting at the curb.

Tendrils of fog snaked through the streets, clinging to rooftops and drifting through the gray afternoon sky like shreds of spun sugar. Charis was getting used to the frequent bouts of fog that blanketed the Solvanish coastline this time of year, but the inability to see more than a few carriage lengths in any direction never failed to unsettle her.

She stalked toward her carriage, the skin on the back of her neck prickling.

There were no assassins here waiting to kill her. No traitors standing by her side wearing the face of a friend. And still, every time she left a building, it took all her willpower not to flinch.

“This is getting us nowhere.” Holland moved to her side. “Now that King Gareth has given us a map of the entire northern sea, we could just sail to Te’ash and—”

“Demand they tell us how to kill them?” Charis snapped as a footman opened the carriage door and bowed.

“You sound angry.” Holland settled beside Charis on the slick black leather seat, while Reuben sat opposite them, his narrowed eyes examining the street beyond the carriage window, hunting for threats through the curtain of fog.

“Where to next, Your Majesty?” The coachmistress, a woman with silvery hair and deep creases in the corners of her eyes, stood at the doorway, her navy cap in her hands.

“Lady Estr’s home, please.” Charis made herself give the woman a tiny smile, her lips moving stiffly into the unfamiliar position.

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