Page 20 of Their Queen

“Well, two days ago, a contingent of guards rode through the village and threatened to kill us all if she didn’t turn herself over.”

“What. The. Fuck!?” Callum growled out. I was beginning to agree with him. Trouble seemed to follow our woman wherever she went.

He cowered again with Callum’s harsh words. “What happened?” I said gently, trying to coax the information out of him.

“Well, it was magnificent. She stormed out there by herself…”

“I’m going to kill her,” Callum growled under his breath as the priest continued explaining.

“...and proceeded to take the lot of them out with her lightning magic.”

“Lightning magic?” Lennox burst out, just as confused as the rest of us. “You must not have the right woman. Short, human, with green hair and the nicest a...” he trailed off when I threw a fist backwards into his gut.

“Surely, you’re mistaken.” I started, “Our bonded doesn’t have light magic.”

“No, I’ve got it right. She came in with the Raven. I even watched her compete in the trials, but I assure you, her magic was lightning.” He nodded his head eagerly trying to convince us. Well, shit. I guess we’d missed a lot more than she’d told us, I thought to myself.

“Where is she now? Is she okay? Was she injured in the fight? Can we see her?” Lennox spit out his questions rapid fire, barely taking a breath until he was done.

“I’m sorry, that won’t be possible.” The priest’s face fell, sadness gracing his soft features.

“Why’s that not possible?” Callum threatened him again.

The priest held his hands up as he cowered away. “She left that night. Said she had to follow Avalonia’s call to build her army.”

“I’m going to kill her,” Callum snapped out. This time, my own thoughts echoed his.

Chapter Fifteen: Rhowyn

It had been two days since the incident where I’d broken my glamor and set my magic free. Two days of this incessant pull in my gut, which only intensified the closer I got to wherever Avalonia was taking me. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed me somewhere quickly, causing me to push our little group harder than we’d probably be able to stand.

After the standoff with the guards, I found I was brimming with energy. It felt unstable, ebbing and flowing through me, threatening to burst from me at the most inopportune times. Throughout our travels, I kept having to clench my jaw and close my eyes to focus fully on pushing it back down. Instinctively, I knew that if it did burst from me, carnage would follow. Even though it threatened destruction at an unheard-of magnitude, it didn’t feel that way. It felt like light and life, love and happiness, everything that was good in the world. The destruction wasn’t for destruction’s sake but a means of rooting out evil, of bringing good into a world that had fallen to evil. My magic felt the same as when I’d been possessed by Avalonia?full of righteous anger, promising violence only when it was unavoidable.

Right on cue, it swelled inside me as we continued walking, so intense this time that I had to stop, fists clenched and trembling as I bore down to keep it inside of me. Sweat beaded on my forehead, dripping down my nape as it threatened to slip from my tenuous grasp. My breaths came out in choppy gusts as I clamped down as hard as I could on it. My ears started to ring, my head swimming from the effort I was putting forth, but finally, just as I was about to fail in my efforts, it ebbed, sliding back inside me. The sudden relief had me falling to my hands and knees as I gasped for air and gathered myself.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Cyerra asked me hesitantly, her voice full of concern.

“I’m fine,” I told her, pushing back to my feet and starting our trek again.

Her hand grabbed my elbow and jerked me back to face her. “You’re not fine.”

“Cyerra…” I warned her, not wanting to talk about it, unsure of what we could even do to fix the problem. The only thing I was sure of was that I needed to get to wherever Avalonia was pulling me.

When she didn’t let me go, I jerked my arm free. “What do you want me to say? That my magic is threatening to break free and destroy everything? What does that change? Nothing. But I’ll tell you that what matters is not my problems. Avalonia needs us, and if we don’t get there in time, it will all be for naught,” I snapped at her, tired from our frantic pace and having to fight myself. “Now, if you’re done, we need to get going again.”

“Fuck, Rhowyn,” she cursed me as I turned and started walking again, determined to get to our destination on time. We’d already been slowed because I couldn’t risk carrying everyone with my volatile magic, and Cyerra didn’t have the strength to carry us this far. “What happens if you lose control of it?” she asked me, jogging to catch up with me.

I sighed. “I don’t know, which is what truly scares me. I get the feeling though that it definitely won’t be pleasant.”

“Maybe we should call the guys? You know they’d be here in a heartbeat to help you,” she tried reasoning with me.

“I can’t, okay. Avalonia insists that I do this without them. You don’t think I want them here? That I’m not going crazy without them? That I’m not barely holding myself together because all I want is for one of them to help me?” She didn’t answer me, knowing the truth deep down. I could feel our new companion watching us, or rather me, like I was going crazy, but he was smart enough to keep his concerns to himself.

I turned back around, speeding up my pace as I continued on toward goddess knew where. All I knew was that we still had a ways to go, which meant more time away from my men. While we walked in silence, Cyerra and her boy toy wisely keeping their mouths shut, I worked hard to compartmentalize. Reacting emotionally was not what was in everyone’s best interests, and the sooner I could reign mine in, the better off we’d all be. It took me longer than I expected to get control of my thoughts and feelings, whether that was from fatigue or something more, I didn’t care. All that mattered right now was that I did regain my composure.

What felt like hours later, hours of walking through field after field, dotted only by the occasional cottage, vacant and devoid of life, I was beginning to think that Avalonia had me on a wild goose chase. Before, she had sent me an image, something to help guide me. Now, it was just a feeling, a gut instinct that I was close to where I was supposed to be, but there was absolutely nothing in sight.

A prickling awareness had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, and I slowed my pace, using my new eyesight and hearing to strain for the source. Cyerra approached me. “You feel it too?” she asked, her voice barely audible on the wind that blew my hair into my face.

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