Page 23 of Their Queen

They kicked up dust that blew my way, the wind catching it and flinging it in my face. With a single thought, my air magic kept it from me, leaving me untouched by a single mote. The guards stared down at me from their perches once they slammed their horses to a halt as if they could be threatening to me.

“Rhowyn Hunt?” the leader asked from in front of me, towering over me from his perch on top of the saddle.

“Yes?” I asked them, hands clasped behind my back and appearing completely harmless. My head tilted to the side as I took in the details of each one of them.

“We’ve come to take you back to Titania to face trial for accusations of treason and conspiracy,” their spokesman said, so reminiscent of the previous soldiers I had faced. Although, this time, they threatened more than just a single fae woman and her tiny village.

“You’re welcome to try,” I told him gently, as if offering him a drink of water after his long journey, smiling at him genially. I could sense that it was somewhat unhinged if the nervous glances from the other soldiers was any indication, which only strengthened my amusement.

The leader dismounted, coming to stand in front of me, but I halted him by speaking again. “But I do have to warn you that any who raise their hands against the Chosen Queen of Avalon will face the wrath of Avalonia herself. This is your one and only warning. Turn around. Say nothing of this interaction. Hide from Titania if you must, but if you continue this course, I will be forced to fight back. Forced to kill you, and that is not something I wish to do. Not for soldiers simply carrying out their orders.”

They looked at each other, and several appeared nervous as their horses danced in place, clearly sensing the predator before them. I felt my magic surging forward, my hair dancing in the electricity again. “Now is your chance to make that choice. Disappear, or I will end you,” I warned them one final time.

Unlike before, four soldiers abandoned their posts, and I let them ride off as their leader glared at them with anger. He stalked over to the other side of the road, reaching down as if to grab something. A gasp sounded out as the glamor fell away, and the blood rushed from my face as I realized that the man had Aspen, Callum’s niece, in his grasp. “Either come willingly, or I will be forced to take this little girl’s life. We wouldn’t want that, now, would we?”

How had he known she was there? Instead of finding a benevolent Queen, she’d found herself at the mercy of the Guard who now held her captive, overly confident in her ability to glamor herself. “You will let her go,” I snapped, my anger ramping up my magic as it began to crackle around me, little sparks of electricity jumping as they looked for an outlet. There was no way I would let him harm her. He wouldn’t take someone so important to the man I loved. Someone he hadn’t had the chance to yet meet.

I noticed two of the remaining six guards swallow thickly as they shifted in their saddles, but they remained in place. One dared speak up, “Maybe we should just go?”

The leader turned to the man who spoke up and glared. “She won’t do anything to risk harming this girl.” Turning back to me, he said, “Now, will you?”

“Of course not. She is my responsibility. As are the rest of the citizens of Avalon, as is my right as Queen. I am ordering you to stand down. Walk away. Leave. Now.” My words seethed with authority, hoping he would listen; though, deep down, I knew he wouldn’t.

None of them took my offering of mercy. Instead, the leader pulled a dagger and pressed it into Aspen’s neck, raising a speck of blood. I watched as it ran down her throat. Despite the fact that she was clearly terrified, she held her head high with defiance. The same fire that burned inside of Callum was on display in her tiny form. “Turn yourself over now, traitor,” the leader hissed at me, his intent clear.

From my peripheral vision, I sensed a wavering of another glamor, and I somehow knew it was from Callum’s niece. She was protecting Liam, keeping him hidden while her life was being threatened. Honing my magic, I directed it to reveal what she had been hiding only to me. As the glamor shifted, allowing me to see behind it, I found the boy squatting, looking for an opportunity to strike. Brave, stupid boy.

His eyes met mine, and I nodded slightly. “That’s what I thought.” The leader smirked as if my nod had been my capitulation to his demands. Just then, the boy launched himself at the guard, startling the horse that didn’t have a rider. Chaos sprang forth, but again, time slowed for me, and I watched as the leader turned to avoid the boy’s attack. His horse danced away, bumping into the other guards and distracting them.

The leader raised a boot to kick Liam, his hold on Aspen loosening just enough for her to bite down on his arm and gain her freedom. She ran toward Liam, grabbing his hand and leaving me to deal with the six guards who had yet to show allegiance to their new Queen.

I smirked, narrowing my eyes on the leader. Now, there was nothing holding me or my magic back. “That was a stupid decision, and now you’ll pay that stupidity.”

Not giving him a chance to respond, my magic burst forth and struck the man, electrocuting him and leaving a pile of ash in seconds. Turning toward the others, they charged me foolishly, not deterred, while remaining on their horses. Letting my magic fly on instinct, I spun and ducked blows as if I knew where they were going to strike a second before they did. I didn’t know what this was, but I followed the instinct without question, letting it lead me through the fight.

A boot landed in the small of my back, knocking me forward onto my hands and knees. As soon as my hands hit the dirt, my magic exploded forth from me in a burst of energy that didn’t care who it struck. It simply lashed out blindly to protect me as I tried to recover. Like those images of a nuclear bomb detonating on Earth, my magic grew and sought to make someone pay for the destruction that had been wrought on this land.

I gasped on my hands and knees, praying that Aspen and Liam had made it behind the shield in time, unable to bear the thought that they hadn’t. Magic coursed through me, lighting up my nerve endings as it threatened to consume me, continuing to grow out of my control. Desperately, I grasped at it, trying to pull it back, but it was like trying to hold water in a sieve. More magic leaked from my hold until I was exhausted. After pushing it down for days, my magic was happy to be out. It was reveling in its purpose, chaotic as it danced around me.

I didn’t know how long I had been here, but it seemed like an eternity of me trying to regain control. Weary, I knew I was losing the battle, and magic was about to consume me from the inside out. No matter what I tried, it only seemed to grow and expand, rushing from me with no regard for who was caught in the middle of it.

Just as I was about to give up, a cool spot appeared, and I wanted to cry from what little relief it provided from the burning intensity of my magic. The spot grew, coming nearer. Familiar and foreign all at the same time as it wrapped around me. “Shhh…” a voice sounded out gently as arms wrapped around me. My sobs wracked my body as my magic continued to wreak havoc inside me. “Princess, I’m here.”

I didn’t recognize the voice, so consumed by the magnitude of power that was flowing through me, but I snuggled into the body that was now holding me, giving me a brief reprieve from the uncontrolled magic. “Princess!” the voice snapped at me. “You’ve got to pull it back inside you.” A hiss of pain sounded out as a burst of my magic snapped.

“I can’t,” I told the voice. “It’s too much.”

Another voice, this one inside my head, soothed my thoughts. “You are stronger than this. Do what you do best. Fight.”

“I’m trying,” I told the voice out loud, desperate to succumb to the agony of the light that was burning through me, leaving my nerves raw and ragged.

“Trouble, if you don’t get your shit together, I’m going to kill you.” Another harsher voice had me smiling softly, my soul recognizing the men though my brain couldn’t focus on anything long enough to think of their names. “Hell, I just might do that anyway for all of the shit you’ve put us through.”

I laughed, another sob tearing from my throat, but the voices were right. Avalonia chose me because I was a fighter. I grasped a thread, trying one last time to pull on it, dragging it back into me as I grabbed another and another. Slowly, so painfully slowly, I was able to get the majority of my magic back under my control, reality starting to return. I gasped as the rest was consumed by the body that held me. Not just anybody, Lennox. “Nox?” I questioned as my eyes finally started to make out details, the light fading as my power ebbed.

He grunted out in acknowledgment. “The rest, Trouble. Pull back the rest!” Callum yelled at me.

“I’m trying, asshole! It’s not as easy as I’m making it look,” I snapped at him. “I’d like to see you try it,” I murmured under my breath, completely and utterly exhausted by this point. Too tired to care about being bossed about like a child.

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