Page 2 of Their Queen

I took a seat in one of Brannoc’s recliners, the man in question still sitting on the floor having woken just a few minutes ago. He looked like death warmed over, his skin pale and drawn after exhausting himself to get us out of there. Looking at him, I said the only thing I could think of. “Thank you.”

He jerked his head to meet my gaze as if he’d forgotten I was there, snapping out of the daze he’d been in. “I only did what any of us would have done.”

“Still. None of us were able to, so thanks for pulling us from the fire. I’m glad you’re on our side,” I told him with a shaky smile, falling back into my cocky asshole facade out of habit.

Arryn and Callum returned from putting Rhowyn and Baer to bed. Jude stayed behind to keep an eye on them while Cyerra and Jonathan joined us. We gathered around the fireplace, which seemed like it was becoming our meeting place, all of us naturally migrating there without instruction. Arryn clamped a hand on Brannoc’s shoulder as he passed him, a look exchanged between the two of them.

I still found it hard to believe sometimes that the two were friends. They were so different, opposites like night and day. Brannoc’s hand found Arryn’s as he placed it on top, squeezing briefly before releasing him. Arryn moved on, taking the center place among us and earning all our focus.

“So that happened,” I joked, trying to lighten the mood that had fallen over all of us. I was rewarded with a couple of faint smiles, but everyone stayed somber. My attempt was weak in comparison to Baer’s natural and easy humor.

“Yes, it did. It was a close call, and I’m sure everyone will grapple with that once we’ve all had a chance to reflect,” Arryn said. “That said, we didn’t come away empty-handed. We managed to ensure the ascension for Rhowyn and found out what Titania’s after.”

“All consuming power!” I said with a laugh as my mind wrestled with the truth. A part of me still hadn’t fully accepted the depths of her desire for power.

Smiling, Arryn nodded. “She plans to depose Avalonia and become a Goddess in her own right.”

“Is that even possible?” Callum grumbled, his question sending all of our gazes to Jonathan. With Jude occupied, Jonathan was the best source of knowledge we had.

He sighed, looking truly aged for the first time since I’d known him. The past events weighed heavily on him. “It shouldn’t be. But she also shouldn’t have enough power to match Avalonia either. It seems Titania has learned a few things that defy logic.”

“Exactly. How did she get access to such information?” Cyerra asked, invested in the conversation even though she was a new addition to the team.

“The Queens all have a private library, one that is only available to them and them alone. No one other than them has ever seen these books, so who knows what they have access to,” I explained, remembering the time I had tried to sneak into the library as a youngling and the resulting punishment that had followed when I’d gotten caught. A shudder coursed through me at the memory.

“Well, shit,” she said, slumping back in her chair.

“Exactly,” Arryn said.

We sat silently mulling over the fact that we were blind in this situation. Not comfortable with that silence, I decided to broach another topic that we all seemed to be avoiding. “Are we going to talk about the fact that Rhowyn was just possessed by Avalonia?” I asked them, searching their faces for the same sense of shock. “Has Avalonia ever done that before?”

“I’ve never heard of her needing to do anything so drastic before, at least nothing in recent history. Records are scarce for anything older than 10,000 years ago, so who’s really to say if this happened that far back or not,” Jonathan answered. I had to admit, it was nice having our own resident historians. I mean, Arryn knew his stuff, but Jude and Jonathan knew more.

Arryn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “If anything, it just proves how desperate Avalonia is.”

“And if she’s that desperate, then what does that mean for the rest of us?” Brannoc asked, his question sobering me.

“Shit,” I breathed out as the realities of our situation hit me. We had a crazy Queen who rivaled Avalonia in power, my own mother at that, and a Goddess who were using us like pawns in their war for control over Avalon.

“My sentiments exactly,” Arryn said, his face lined with worry, shadows of fatigue gathering under his eyes.

Desperately trying to keep from slipping back into a depressive state, I tried looking on the bright side, taking a page from Baer’s book. “At least Mother dearest didn’t get what she really wanted, which was Genevieve as her successor. We, at least, managed to take that from her. She might have been expecting us, but we were at least able to outsmart her this time. And if we did it once, we can do it again.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” Brannoc sighed, his arms draped over his knees from his spot on the floor.

I stood up, getting upset at the maudlin mood that had taken hold of my team. Usually, the pep talks fell to Baer, but since he was currently out of commission, I felt the need to fill the void. “I don’t know about you guys, but I plan to fight with everything I have, because if I don’t, then Rhowyn has no chance of surviving this alone. We all took a vow to stand by her, to be there for her. I plan to uphold my vow no matter what the odds are because I believe in her. If anyone can pull this off, it’s Rhowyn.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Rhowyn’s voice croaked out from behind me.

All of us whipped around to find her leaning against the wall, looking as if she might collapse at any moment. Callum and I both rushed over to her, but he swept her up into his arms before I could even look her over. He carried her over to the chair that he’d previously been occupying and sat with her cradled in his lap. Arryn kneeled in front of her. “How’re you feeling?” he asked.

She huffed out a laugh. “Like I’ve been hit by a semi.”

“A what?” Callum questioned her.

She laughed again. “It’s a type of vehicle on Earth.” When he still looked just as puzzled as us, she said, “Never mind.” Turning to Arryn, she smiled. “So, I managed to ascend, and we all somehow escaped Titania’s clutches. What now?”

Chapter Three: Rhowyn

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