Page 48 of Their Queen

“This door’s open. It’s never been opened before.”

“See? Now’s the time. The book must be inside here. Can’t you hear it calling to you?” she asked Bernard. A scuffle of steps sounded out against the stone as they entered the room. I could smell the sickly scent of her lilac and rose perfume, nausea rising at the scent I now associated with torture.

We all held our breath as Cyerra continued to clutch the book to her chest. “Where is it?” Titania demanded, her words coming from directly on the other side of the wall we were facing.

“It’s got to be here,” Bernard said, confusion tinting his words.

“How’d that door get opened anyway?” Titania asked, her tone indicating she was now suspicious.

More silence greeted us, a click of heels against the stone as she paced. “There’s nothing here, Titania. What you’re feeling is probably a residual from the magic.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” her voice began to drift away, and we slowly exhaled the breaths that we had been holding, our muscles relaxing.

Deciding to wait just to be safe, we remained frozen for a good thirty minutes after the last sound of their disappearing steps. Sweat dripped from my brow and down my spine as the humidity in the tiny room increased with no breeze or air flow to ease our discomfort. Finally, I nodded at Cyerra. They should have cleared out by now. We became smoke as she whisked us out of the room. Not needing to discuss it, we made our way out of the temple with haste. We needed to get this book back to Rhowyn quickly. Whatever it was, it was tantamount that we kept it out of Titania’s clutches.

We flew from the temple and through the foliage and vines, only to run into an invisible wall. The shock of impact into the blockade had Cyerra dropping us and turning us back to solid. We landed on the ground in a heap. I groaned from the impact, pushing up to standing as quickly as possible to face the threat. I knew before I saw her that this was Titania’s doing.

“I must say, after years of trying to reach that book, I am quite pleased that all I had to do was sit back and let you retrieve it for me,” Titania cooed as she gazed at the book in Cyerra’s arms. The Raven hunched her shoulders around the object protectively.

Stepping in front of Cyerra, I drew Titania’s focus. “What do you need the book for, Titania?” She hissed at the clear disrespect. I was done calling her Your Majesty. I took in the sight of all her consorts flanking her. Each of them were powerful in their own right, but Titania was the biggest threat. She was obviously more powerful and made all of the decisions.

Instead of snapping at me like I knew she wanted, she smirked, a false smile painted on her lips. “And look who it is. Two of my favorite subjects. I have been sorely missing your company lately.” Her smile only grew as Jonathan tried to shrink in on himself, his head lowered and unable to return her gaze. It had been a mistake to bring him. He wasn’t ready to face what she’d done to him over the last two decades even though he wanted to be. I knew the feeling, but I also knew when I should bow out and run.

Right now, the odds were not in our favor, and my mind raced as I tried to find an advantage. “If we give you the book, will you let us go?”

“Why would I do that?” she asked innocently. “I could just take it, and there’s nothing you could do to stop me.”

“What’s to say we don’t just destroy it. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll know that it’ll stop you from becoming the gods that you desire to be.”

“Don’t be foolish,” she snapped, losing patience with the game we were playing. She turned to look at her consorts. Taking the chance that she had given me, I sprang forward.

I rushed her, knowing my attack would fail. I swung my sword to distract her, forcing her to focus on me and defend herself. “RUN!” I shouted at Cyerra.

She did as I had told her, turning to smoke and fleeing as Titania’s hold on her magic was diverted to deal with me. Her magic lashed out at me, slashing across my chest to leave me bleeding from a massive gash that ran from shoulder to hip.

As I fell to the ground, I saw Cyerra’s smoke form already escaping into the distance. Titania screamed, “NO!”

My head impacted the ground, my muscles not functioning properly enough to catch me, and as my vision darkened, I noticed that Jonathan had also been left behind.

Shit, Trouble would not be happy about this.

Chapter Thirty Five: Rhowyn

Our mission to explore the village in the Summer Court had been fruitless. Although I could feel a malevolent force, it had only been the lingering sensation of something powerful that was no longer present, the power having long since faded. Whatever had been hidden there, Titania had already gotten to it. We returned to the Keep a lot sooner than I had hoped, while we waited for Callum, Cyerra, and my father to return. They had the furthest distance to travel, so we weren’t expecting them back for another day, two at the most. Brannoc and Baer should be arriving any minute now, so I tugged on the bond as I walked the halls of the Keep, eager to hear what they had discovered.

In the meantime, I set about trying to stay busy, anything that would keep my focus off my missing family. Callum would keep them safe, of that I was certain, but I still worried. I got a return sensation, one of love and comfort from Baer as Brannoc whispered into my mind. “We’re in the War Room.”

I turned to Arryn and Lennox to report their location. “The others are waiting in the War Room for us.” They nodded as I set off in that direction, hoping they had at least something to show for their journey.

Pushing into the room, I found we weren’t alone, other leaders and tacticians studying the map as Brannoc and Baer stood off to one side waiting for us. Before I could say anything, Arryn spoke up. “Can we please have the room?”

Baer swooped in and gathered me into his arms as the others left us. He’d been just as worried as I had been. I had hated separating, a sense of foreboding sitting heavily in the back of my mind, but there hadn’t been much of choice. Not if we wanted to find a way to defeat Titania and avoid all-out war. Baer claimed my mouth, and immediately everything fell away as I leaned into the comfort he was giving me.

When I pulled back, it was to find that the room had fully emptied, and Brannoc was standing there impatiently waiting for his turn. Baer’s arms relaxed, and Brannoc pulled me from him to bury me in his embrace. He kissed the top of my head, inhaling my scent deeply into his lungs as I buried my head in his chest.

Once my bonds had been sated at the nearness of our mates, I stepped back. Arryn smiled at me indulgently while Lennox smirked. “Now that that’s out of the way, what did you guys find?” Nox asked, getting down to business.

Baer shrugged. “Not much.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small metal orb as large as his hand. We all stepped closer to it and inspected the object. It was covered in inscriptions that matched Brannoc’s markings as well as the walls of the ruins we had found.

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