Page 36 of Their Queen

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” they stuttered out before hobbling off quickly.

Lennox leaned in from where he still sat atop his horse, his dark hair glinting in the light of day with dancing blue eyes as he said, “So benevolent, our Queen.”

I glared at him for his teasing, his smirk set firmly in place. “Careful, that benevolence only goes so far.” He laughed at my threat before dismounting, the bell ringing out in the distance. People came out in small groups, and everyone directed them to travel away from here as quickly as they could. Once people stopped coming out to us, we sent the soldiers to search the buildings to ensure everyone made it out while Arryn, Callum, Baer, Lennox, and I began to set up some defenses. We dragged out wooden crates and other items to form barricades as a way to funnel the forces toward where we wanted them. Arryn directed all the efforts, and I couldn’t help myself from pausing to watch him in his element.

Standing there, wiping sweat from my brow, I followed his movements. His strong voice and body belied the calm efforts, the insecurity at this moment discordant with how patiently he directed everyone. We were gambling on this plan, but you’d never know it based on his directions. Sweat continued dripping from my face, and I used my tunic sleeve to soak up the sweat that had gathered there even while just standing in place. Arryn’s eyes found mine across the activity of the soldiers. He smiled at me, trapping me in his gaze until he was pulled away by a question from another soldier. He turned and pointed, too far away for me to hear what he was telling the man.

My eyes turned back to the horizon again as I returned to my task, searching for either Titania’s forces or Brannoc. I needed him back here with us. I couldn’t help but think that he should have already rejoined us, my worry over him slowly starting to build the longer he was away from us. I trusted his ability to take care of himself, but Titania had more tricks up her sleeve than I would have given her credit for before. My experience was telling me that this was another one of her sleights of hand, but we couldn’t leave this or the other villages to face her wrath alone on the off chance it wasn’t.

As the sun settled directly overhead and then started to dip toward the horizon again, my fear only grew. Now, we were done with our preparations, waiting inside the general store for any sign of the forces that were heading this way.

Shifting from one foot to the other, Arryn and I stood on either side of the window, waiting impatiently. Or rather, impatiently on my part. Arryn was the example of cool, calm, and collected. His eyes darted to me briefly before returning to his watch. “Worrying won’t bring them any faster.”

I huffed, “I know, but it still doesn’t help me with any of this energy. I always get this way before a fight. Standing still only makes it worse.”

His lips turned up in a small smile. I wished I had some kind of distraction, something else to do, anything to keep my mind off what was coming. My eyes darted to the window across the street where Lennox, Callum, and Baer waited. The rest of the soldiers were also waiting in the now abandoned buildings for the signal. Looking toward the direction of where the forces or Brannoc should be coming from, I searched for any sign of either. “He should have been back by now.”

“He’ll get here soon. Trust me, he’ll be fine,” Arryn said.

“But what if this is just another one of Titania’s tricks? What if she’s somehow managed to capture him?” My fears tumbled out now that I’d opened the floodgates to my anxieties.

“Trust me, he was considered one of the best assassins for a reason. If anyone can get out, it would be Brannoc,” Arryn replied patiently, giving me an amused smile before turning his eyes back to the horizon, his blond hair reflecting the golden rays that streamed through like a halo.

“That’s if he has enough energy. You’ve been running him ragged until now. When he came in earlier, he looked like shit,” I snapped, praying we wouldn’t be the reason he was harmed.

“Brannoc knows his limitations. If he needed more rest, all he had to do was ask. He knows I would have given it to him or found another way. Using him was just the best of our options. Faster.”

“But…” I started before Arryn cut me off again.

“He’ll be fine, Rhowyn. Trust in him.” Arryn’s eyes met mine again, his arm snaking out to pull me against him in a hug. I leaned into him, and he pressed a kiss to my hair. Pulling away, I stepped back to my spot with a little better sense of calm. It still didn’t stop my eyes from constantly scanning the area, looking for any hint of Brannoc. As much as I believed in him, I had a nagging feeling in my gut that was telling me that things were not as they seemed.

I chewed my lip as I kept watch, my anxiety continuing to ratchet up until finally, a plume of dust on the horizon became noticeable. At first, I had thought it was just the sun setting, but as I studied it, the cloud of smoke and dirt grew larger and more encompassing until it obscured the entire sky. My eyes adjusted to the poor lighting, the thunder of hooves growing closer and closer, and still there was no sign of Brannoc.

A sudden movement behind me had me jumping what seemed like ten feet in the air as I whirled to face this new threat. Lurching forward, I rushed to Brannoc’s side as soon as I recognized him. He was here, but unconscious with his back leaning against the side of the room, his head slumped forward on his chest. My knees slammed the ground as I reached him, searching for signs of life.

His weak inhalation and exhalation made me nearly weep with relief, but instead of crumbling, my eyes scanned his body in the poor light. My hands ran along his body, starting at his shoulders and arms before drifting to his torso. It was along his left side that I felt a warm, sticky substance that had me jerking my hand away so I could peer at what I knew would be his blood.

“Shit, Arryn. He’s hurt,” I said, knowing Arryn was attuned to Brannoc and I despite keeping his eyes on the horizon. I put my hands back to the source of the blood, finding a jagged hole in the side of his tunic. Sliding my fingers into the hole, I jerked until the satisfying rip sounded out. Now that the hole was bigger, I could just barely make out an entrance wound, too small to be a sword and too large to be from a dagger. If I had to guess, I’d bet it was from an arrow. Not really caring either way, I put my hands on his wound, slowing the bleeding as I sank my healing magic deep inside him. My entire focus was on mending the wound as quickly as I could without causing more problems for him.

As my magic worked, color slowly started to return to his too pale skin, and his breathing became deeper and more rhythmic. I exhaled the breath I had been holding at the sight, leaning back onto my heels, my shoulders relaxing.

“Rhowyn,” Arryn said urgently, drawing my attention back to him. When he didn’t say anything else, I rose and moved back to the window to see what had his full attention.

I wiped my hands on my leather pants, pulling my weapons as my eyes scanned the soldiers riding into the village. Trying to count them, my brow furrowed as I realized that this was all of them. Forty. There were only forty of them. Glancing back at Brannoc, my mind raced.

When he’d first come to us in the war room, he’d made it seem like there were so many more than this. Either he’d gotten it wrong, or this wasn’t all of them. “Arryn?” I called his name softly, hoping he had a different answer than the one I could come up with. His eyes met mine and he shook his head, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. Fuck! This wasn’t all of them. Somehow, Titania had outsmarted us. Which meant that we needed to deal with these assholes quickly so we could find out where exactly the rest of her forces went.

Before I could think further on the matter, Arryn sent the signal out for us to spring our attack, the soldiers all finally in place and where we wanted them. As the debris we’d stacked toward the entrance went up in a flash of fire behind the soldiers, they whirled on instinct.

Callum and Lennox led their soldiers out of the buildings to pin them on three sides, letting Arryn and I close the trap around them. As much as they wanted to, they couldn’t back up or flee, not with the fire that Callum had created cutting off their exit.

“Lay down your weapons, surrender to us, and we will let you live,” I called out. As much as a part of me wanted to flay them all alive for what they had done to the other villages, I couldn’t let myself succumb to their level. I had to be the bigger person and offer them a chance to surrender, even though that part of me also wished they wouldn’t take me up on it. I wanted them to pay for the lives they had taken, but I also didn’t want to risk the lives of my people if I didn’t have to. Once the war was over, I could deal with them properly and justly.

“Traitor Bitch!” one of the soldiers called out, spitting in my direction. Before I could respond, he fell to his knees, hands going to his throat and gasping for air. Turning, I found Baer there with his one hand clenched into a fist and extended toward the man, holding him captive until the soldier fell forward onto his face. Either dead or knocked out cold from the lack of air, he was no longer a concern.

As soon as the soldier hit the dirt, another soldier yelled and lunged at Baer, sword raised to strike him down. Now, it was my turn to defend him. I thrust my own hand out and let lightning fly from my fingers, catching the soldier and sending him into convulsions before he could make it within ten feet of Baer. His gorgeous blue eyes turned to find mine with a smile. I winked at him as the other soldiers attacked at once, knowing they didn’t stand a chance one-on-one with us. Their best hope now was to use their numbers, which were easily two to one, on us.

I tried to use my magic from a distance like Arryn had wanted, but as my soldiers and Titania’s mixed, I didn’t dare take the chance of throwing out my lightning. As much as it pulled on me to release it, I gritted my teeth and shoved it back down, doing my best to focus on the chaos happening in front of me.

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