Page 11 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

Charis had to keep it that way until she had time to learn how to kill them and then leave Solvang’s shores far behind.

“What does he say?” Holland leaned closer.

“Let me read it, and then we’ll see.” Charis peered closely at the parchment in the dim light of the carriage interior.

A match flared, and then the lantern that hung on the wall opposite the door began to glow. Reuben shook the match’s flame into smoke and nodded to Charis as soft, golden light filled the carriage, illuminating the parchment.

“Thank you.” She scanned the parchment once and then went back to reread it with care, her heart swelling. “They’re resisting.” She handed the parchment to Holland as the carriage slowed to a stop in front of the building Nalani and Delaire had converted into makeshift apartments for the refugees. “Nobility, merchants, and peasants alike are organizing in the shadows and sabotaging the Rakuuna every chance they get.”

Holland swore and pounded his fist against his thigh as he read Lord Thorsby’s words, but his elation evaporated as he reached the last paragraph of the parchment. “Charis—”

“I know.”

Holland turned to Reuben. “The Rakuuna placed a bounty on Charis’s head. A generous reward for returning her to Calera, alive.”

Reuben glared. “Best not to mention that to the traitors on board the ship, then.”

“I hardly think Grim and Dec will return me to Calera just for some coin.” Charis composed her expression as the door opened. “They’re depending on me to rescue their prince.”

“May he choke on every bite he ever swallows,” Holland said.

“Indeed.” Charis exited the carriage after Reuben and instructed a Caleran girl playing in the courtyard to spread the word that the queen needed to speak to everyone immediately.

Fifteen minutes later, everyone who’d sailed with Charis—with the exception of Orayn, Finn, Dec, and Grim, who all slept on the ship—was gathered in the community parlor on the first level of the building. Charis had stationed every Solvanish guard outside. Only Calerans needed to hear what she had to say.

“I’ve received word from Calera.” She held up the parchment. A murmur spread throughout the room. Charis waited for silence, then continued. “There are three things you need to know. First, the Rakuuna queen has placed a bounty on my head.”

Cries of shock and anger rippled through the crowd, and Charis held up her hand for quiet. “Second, the Rakuuna are intercepting pallorens sent to Calera and are reading the messages. I can only assume they are doing so to hunt for news of my whereabouts and to make sure no kingdom is sending an armada to Calera’s rescue.”

This time, she didn’t have to ask for quiet. Silence settled over the room, thick as wool.

“Unfortunately, this means we must temporarily cease sending pallorens to your families as we cannot risk any accidental exposure of information that puts either Solvang or our people at risk. Once I’ve left for my next destination, you may resume communication.”

People shifted uneasily, exchanging swift glances.

“I realize that’s disappointing, and I’m sorry for that.” She lifted the parchment, calling their attention back to its content. “Finally, we’ve received the welcome news that a contingent of Calerans from all backgrounds have loosely organized themselves in the shadows and are mounting a resistance in our fair capital city of Arborlay.”

Conversation erupted, and Holland shouted them into silence again.

Charis’s head ached so badly, she felt sick. She wanted nothing more than to take a tonic, crawl into bed, and beg the sister moons for sleep without nightmares. Instead she said with quiet vengeance, “I intend to finish my tasks here in Solvang within the next two weeks. At that point, I will set sail for the enemy’s kingdom and turn the war to our favor. All Calerans who are in good health and do not have children to care for here will be sailing with me.”

Charis dismissed the crowd and climbed into the carriage with the twins, Delaire, and Reuben, trying desperately to think past the pain in her head and the pressure in her chest.

She needed a new plan to find the Rakuuna’s weakness, and she needed it fast.

Five

TEN DAYS HAD passed since the unwelcome news that the Rakuuna were intercepting pallorens and had posted a reward for Charis’s capture, yet Charis was no closer to finding the key to her enemy’s destruction. She’d talked to professors, visited shops in hopes that a merchant might know something, and stared at the sister moons long into the night, hoping inspiration would strike.

Today she was going to the docks to speak with sailors from returning vessels.

“I’ll just be a minute, Your Majesty, and then we’ll have you all sorted for the day.”

Charis sat at the vanity in her suite of rooms and tried to control her impatience as Nita, the handmaid assigned to her, gathered her supplies.

She should’ve already been dressed and downstairs, but she’d spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, her thoughts racing in fruitless circles while jittery spikes of fear startled her awake every time her eyes closed. She’d finally drifted off as the sky outside her window lightened to a rosy blush, only waking when Nita came in with her breakfast.

“Your Majesty, would you like your hair parted in the middle or to the side?” Nita was a middle-aged woman with firm, competent hands and the devout belief that, despite Charis’s natural curls, proper royals always wore their hair straight.

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