Page 55 of The Nightmare Queen

He stops mid pace to look at me. So much palpable discomfort rolling off of him. “I committed treason by bringing you here. They could string me up and then you’d be left to fend for yourself. And how would the tiny queen fare if it came to that?” He barks.

Irritation pricks underneath my skin. “Oh quit your whining. Youchoseto commit treason. You aren’t ignorant, or maybe you are, and I’ve been trusting an idiot all these days.” He seethes at my harsh words. “Youwant to break the rules for your own cause? You want people to listen to you? Grow a pair and deal with the consequences of your actions. Untuck your tail from between your legs and go confront them like a real General. If it costs you the noose then, well, at least I’ll get to go home early.” I snap, slamming the door behind me.

The hall at first was a bit dizzying to navigate, all the winding turns, but before I knew it I was spit out in front of my men's bedrooms. I knock twice on the door and Orem answers. His face is surprised as he steps aside to let me in. “Boys! She's here.” He shouts, looking at me nervously, his feet shifting underneath him. “I’ll uhm. I’ll go get Armond and Ezra.”

“Good plan, O.” I murmur wandering over to the window.

It's not long before a heavy arm drapes over my shoulders. Axel doesn’t say anything, instead the two of us just stare out at what we can see of the post. Golden rays of sunlight filter throughout the room, highlighting parts of the crystalline glass. “Eveera?” Armond’s voice echoes through the suite. We turn around and I detach myself from Axel, clasping my hands in front of my stomach. “Is everything alright?”

I bob my head up and down, “oh it’s better than alright.” I state, their faces twisting in curiosity. “We’re going to meet the king. Tomorrow.”

For some reason I thought my men would share my enthusiasm about going to Valen, then I remembered I didn’t share with any of them my secular ambitions for this agreement and the arguments started almost instantly.

“We agreed to be here.” I explain again.

“Wedidn’t agree to anything.” Orem grumbles.

My fingernails dig into my palms as I hold back most of my irritation. “Orem, dear, if you’re going to try and have a backbone I suggest you do it without hiding behind Maxwell.” He scowls, but makes no move to step up in front of his brother.

“Leave him alone E. He’s not wrong.” Axel tries to mollify me.

“Oh mygods!" I shout, my fingers pinching the bridge of my nose. "Can you all please stop the damnwhining, this is not negotiable for me. This is what I am doing. It doesn’t have to be whatyouare doing. And if I have to hear this ‘we didn’t agree’ thing one more time I will lose my fucking mind.” I don’t know how many more times I can express this. I am not keeping any of them here, regardless of their quote unquote bound duties. “I know you have an order to protect me, but as queen I can release you from that. You don’t want to follow me into this madness? Then don’t.”

Ezra laughs darkly. “You think we have a choice? If we stay we’ll probably die. If we leave they’ll hang us for abandoning you. You act like you’re giving us an out just because you’re sovereign but we didn’t make these oaths to you out of friendship or kinship.” His words sting as he steps closer to me. “We made them out of necessity. We made them to the crown.” Maxwell reaches out his hand, tugging on his commander’s shoulder.

“Speak for yourself.” Axel snaps, his tone sharp, stepping in front of me.

"What was that Mecham?” He bites.

“I said speak for yourself. Not all of us took the oath to climb the social ladder. Just because you fell from her favor doesn’t mean you get to talk to her that way. Sheisthe crown, whether you like it or not.” The two of them stand nose to nose, steam rolling from both their ears. Armond steps up to separate them, looking at me to continue.

I back away from Axel, lifting my chin to look over the five of them. “You’re right. You no longer have a choice, how silly of me to offer it.” I keep backing up until my heels hit the wooden door and I grab hold of the doorknob. “One more complaint.” I say over my shoulder, giving them my profile. “One more deflection of orders. Just one more - and I’ll do the work for the council and hang you myself.” From my peripheral I can see their faces shadowing over. “You all have gotten too comfortable. A mistake, I see.”

The conversations with Rorin were no less pleasant when I returned. We spent the better part of the afternoon arguing between going on foot or portaling.

I hate portaling, it makes my head turn fuzzy.

He, however, doesn’t seem to care about that fact and is adamant that he wants to be in and out of Valen as quickly as possible. When I prodded him as to why the rush he began griping to himself about the summons. Something about not wanting to be a “trussed up swine” for this Celebration that the court throws every year.

Since I didn’t really want to know what that meant and I knew we’d be coming back here anyways, there wasn’t much to do in terms of packing. I decided to fill my time and impatience with training. No harm in sharpening up my skills.

Winding through all of the obnoxiously lit halls was like taking a tour of the sun. Everything here in this kingdom is bright and glowy - another difference between Obsidian and Vellar. There are windows that line most of every hall that keep the daylight flowing in. It’s all very open, trying a little too hard to show that they’re a passive people in myopinion. But I can’t argue that it would seem that - should the gods be real and actually care about us - between our two kingdoms Obsidian is not the favored one.

I shuck off my weapons belt while walking out into the ring to set the targets. My body is anxious to sweat off the pent up tension from the past few weeks. I choose one of my ruby hilted daggers and with a swift throw I launch it at a horizontal angle. The trajectory allows it to slice through the “neck” of each of the targets in one fluid motion, lodging itself in the side of the final one.

Ready to go again I pick up another one of the rubies and throw it directly into the “head” of the second target. Repeating the maneuvers, I keep going until my hands feel raw and I’m out of breath. By the end each target is filled with daggers, knives, throwing stars, and arrows made of Obsidian steel. Sweat is rolling off me in streams and the towel I brought does very little to fix it. Lining myself back up I ready myself to go again. The movements are routine enough that my mind loses focus and drifts off to a memory of Armond and I.

-

“Pick your feet up! You’re shuffling! You’ll never best an opponent with feet like that!” I want to slap the smug grin off his pale skin. I charge again focusing this time on my feet, too hard apparently because he checks my shoulder and I land on my back.

“ARMOND! YOU INSUFFERABLE BASTARD!” I snarl. He never lets me have the upper hand. “YOU’RE TWICE MY SIZE YOU MISERABLE OAF!” His laughter ringing through the room only serves to anger me more. He Voids in and out of the place. Leaving me to only hear that blasted laughter.

“Such harsh words from such a tiny queen. Little venomous serpent.” I whip around to face him but heisn’t there.

“Stupid Voiding powers.” I say to myself.

-

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