Page 117 of Faeling
Ravenna resumed walking, thinking the best thing for them all was to continue on.
She was due to attend her first council meeting with Vallek, and she didn’t want to be late.
As they walked, Ravenna pressed the heel of her palm into her stomach, willing her nerves to settle. She’d hardly slept the previous night, kept awake by all the ways she could embarrass herself and Vallek. She knew the ministers’ names and faces but little about their natures; they were all eminent orcs, most of them paladins, many elders. They were meant to be a moderating voice for the chieftain or monarch, and even Vallek admitted he didn’t know how favorably they would look upon Ravenna.
The visions and her nerves meant that she was in no mood to be stopped on her way.
Nevertheless, when Lady Silvia, at the head of her own group of retainers and guards, rounded the next corner, Ravenna found herself stopped.
Despite her forbidding glare and not acknowledging Lady Silvia’s half-hearted nod of greeting, the orcess put herself bodily in Ravenna’s way. Stopping short, Ravenna lifted her chin and her glare up to meet the orcess’s saccharine smile.
“Good day,” said Lady Silvia.
“Good day.”
“You seem to be in quite the rush,” Silvia noted. “No doubt on royal business.” Her retinue tittered behind her, as if the idea of Ravenna attending to important matters was laughable.
“I am indeed. If you would move—”
The orcess did, sidestepping Ravenna to run a curious finger down her shoulder. With her back partly exposed by the swooping neckline of her gown, Ravenna felt the dulled point of Silvia’s claw trail along her skin.
“It’s too much to believe that you manage to hide those wings away. We’ve been debating since the king announced your existence whether it was a trick or not. Settle a bet, would you?”
Ravenna felt her guards move in closer, knew that with one word, they would surround her, cutting off Silvia’s loathsome touch. If she ordered it, they might even detain or harm the orcess on Ravenna’s command. It was probably a bit evil to take pleasure in that knowledge, that she could have Lady Silvia thrown from the nearest window with a mere wave of her hand, but Ravenna withheld her baser inclinations.
For now, at least.
Besides, she couldn’t be seen as weak and reliant on her guards to defend her.
She motioned for the guards to halt, and they did, although she could still sense their concern pressing against her back.
“My wings are real, and they’re certainly not for you.”
Lady Silvia blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“I am your queen, not a pet monkey to poke and prod.”
The orcess smiled maliciously. “And yet you are hardly bigger than one.”
Ravenna rolled her eyes. If Lady Silvia would resort to teasing her size, then Ravenna would play just as dirty. She had places to be.
Her magic wrapped round the orcess’s wrist. “You don’t touch me.” With a forceful yank, she jerked Silvia down by the hand. Forced to her knee, Silvia struggled to pull her hand up from where it was mashed to the flagstones. Her retinue gasped and whispered, looking amongst themselves to find if anyone knew what to do.
Silvia sputtered, eyes gone wide in horror as she struggled. “You’re mad!”
“I’m your queen,” Ravenna corrected, taking the opportunity to smile maliciously herself. “Chosen by your king. He had every opportunity, every chance to choose you, Silvia. Even just to take you to bed. And he didn’t.”
The orcess stopped struggling long enough for a dawning anger to overtake her face. “You dare—”
“When he first saw my true face, he threw me over his shoulder and claimed me.Iam his choice, Silvia. You will respect it, or I will tell you in great detail everything in your life that will come to pass.” The orcess paled to a sickly green, and Ravenna nodded. “No surprises, no questions, just the dreadful knowledge of what’s to come and being unable to stop it. It’s a horrible fate, Lady Silvia. Don’t bring it upon yourself.”
Without giving her the chance to respond, Ravenna stepped around the orcess, continuing down the corridor. The soundof Silvia struggling to stand and her retinue arguing amongst themselves followed her, and it wasn’t until she rounded the corner that she released her magic.
Ravenna didn’t miss the quiet huff of amusement and twitching grins from her guards, and while she wanted to take pleasure in the little victory, it ended up feeling as cheap as Silvia’s accusation of false wings. Compared to the unsettling vision she kept having, the orcess hardly mattered at all.
Ravenna continued her path down the corridor, her worries dogging her steps.What do they mean?She’d never let herself ponder her visions too much—looking at them too closely yielded no more answers. They would come to pass, one way or another, whether she wished it or not. Yet, these past few days, it was difficult not to worry herself sick over this particular vision.
She’d never seen something like it, her ownazaiin danger. Ravenna refused to stand for it—but without more information, she didn’t know how to thwart it. She had to keep him safe—but how?
