Page 49 of Their Queen

“What is it?” I asked, puzzled by the seemingly innocuous object.

Baer glanced at Brannoc, who answered. “We’re not certain. However, it had been hidden behind a door in the temple. We stumbled upon it by accident, really.”

Baer chimed in. “When we entered, we noticed that the tattoos Brannoc wears were like the markings that lined the walls. However, we weren’t able to decipher the words. But that wasn’t the weird part. When he got close to the walls, his tattoos began glowing.”

“What? How?” I asked, eying Brannoc as if I could see it now, perplexed by what that could mean.

“If I had to guess, it’s because Ravens are linked somehow to these ruins. It’s been long believed that Ravens were not the original inhabitants of Avalon, but perhaps those suppositions were incorrect. What if we had been here longer than the other races? A leftover from a previous society,” he stated while his mind tried to find the logic behind what they’d found.

“Jude would know for sure, wouldn’t he?” Arryn asked, his own mind trying to decipher this new puzzle. “I’ve never heard of a prior race, but these ruins or temples are much older than anything I’ve heard about.”

“As if that wasn’t enough, I found a crack in the stones, but I couldn’t get them to budge. However, as soon as Brannoc touched the door, it swung open for him without any effort. Inside, we found that sitting on a pedestal. It seemed important, so we took it. There wasn’t anything else that we could find,” Baer said, explaining the origin of the orb.

My brow furrowed as I leaned in to look at it closer, my hands stretched out to take it from him without my thinking. He released it, handing it over to me without a fight, but as soon as the orb touched my palm, I gasped. Images and feelings rushed through my mind. Pain and violence and anger seeped into me. A dark shadow brushed against the back of my mind, sinister in nature, as it searched along the cracks in my mental walls. Instinctively, I reinforced those walls, sealing it off quickly.

I tried to drop the orb, but it wouldn’t relinquish its hold on me, whispering dark and destructive thoughts like a demon intent on corrupting me. There was no doubt in my mind that if I let my defenses slip, I’d succumb to the malevolent desires that were calling to me.

A hand jerked the orb from my grasp, and as soon as the temptation was gone, my knees gave out. Arryn’s arms wrapped around me, keeping me from collapsing. “What the fuck was that?” Arryn demanded, my eyes fluttering open to see fear and worry on the faces of my men.

I shuddered at the memory of the sensation. “I don’t know, but it wasn’t good. That orb is evil.” I eyed the object in question, cradled to Brannoc’s chest protectively.

“I didn’t feel anything when I touched it,” Baer said in way of an apology.

“Brannoc, let me hold it,” Arryn demanded, releasing me to step forward. I watched as he jerked away from Arryn’s outstretched arm on instinct, curling his body around it as if to hide it from us.

Stepping forward, I spoke, concerned by his reaction. Was it already seeping into his mind? “Brannoc, what’s going on? Do you feel it? The whispers calling to you?”

He glanced up at me. “No.”

“Then why won’t you hand it over?” Arryn questioned softly so he didn’t spook him. Whatever was happening was keeping Brannoc hostage, and a part of me feared he would bolt before we could figure out what exactly was going on.

His eyes darted around as if searching for a threat or an exit. “I don’t know. My instinct is to protect it. To keep it safe. It’s important, but I don’t know how I know that,” Brannoc said as if realizing just how crazy that sounded.

“If the inscriptions are like Brannoc’s tattoos, could this be a part of his heritage, too? What I felt could have been a defense against me using it or touching it. What if he was somehow meant to protect it?” I tried to find an explanation for what was happening.

Lennox spoke up. “There’s no way to know, but he can’t carry that around with him everywhere. Until we know more, we should lock it away to keep others from touching it. If it is evil, we don’t need someone else succumbing to it.”

“Agreed. Baer, can you go get a box of some sort? We’ll lock it away until we can do more research. We need to find Juniper, and hopefully Cyerra, Callum, and Jonathan have discovered more,” Arryn said, taking charge again.

Baer nodded, rushing off to do as he was instructed. As long as we kept our distance, Brannoc relaxed, but the minute we stepped closer, he pulled the orb into himself, prepared to use his body to protect it. So, we all stood in the room, watching each other for something crazy to happen, everyone tense as we waited for Baer to return.

He pushed back into the room, holding a wooden box with velvet on the bottom and sides. “This should do.” He placed the box on the table and then stepped back.

“Brannoc, if we all step back, can you put the orb in the box? Will it let you do that?” Arryn asked.

Brannoc weighed what Arryn was asking him before answering with a nod. “I should be able to. Just stay back.”

We all walked to the edge of the room, our backs pressed to the wall and hands raised with our palms out to show that we weren’t a threat. Finally, Brannoc seemed satisfied that there was enough distance and took a hesitant step toward the box. Each movement seemed strained, as if the orb was fighting his desire to relinquish it to the box, his muscles bulged as he extended his arms. With shaky hands, he finally dropped the orb into the box and slammed the lid closed. His eyes shut as he took in a deep breath, exhaling in relief. “Don’t let me touch that again,” he begged us while his eyes were squeezed shut.

“We won’t,” I swore, daring a step forward. Then another and another until I was standing next to my mate, placing a hand on his arm in support. He opened his arms to let me inside his embrace, fear swimming in his dark eyes as he gazed at me.

“Whatever that is, it’s powerful. It wanted me to protect it by hurting you all. Anything to ensure it was safe,” he exhaled guiltily.

“But you didn’t. You resisted its call. I had a similar reaction, but mine was like it was trying to get me to do evil, to conquer the land, and bring back the power that was calling to me. It was heady and terrifying. I blocked most of the magic, but a part of me can still feel the fingers of magic trying to get inside my head,” I admitted. Turning to Arryn, I said, “We need to hide that away until we have more answers. Somewhere that only we can access. I don’t trust anyone else with whatever that is.”

He nodded, sweeping up the box and leaving to do just that. As soon as the orb was gone, my shoulders slumped in relief, Brannoc’s movements mimicking my own. I felt exhausted both mentally and physically after that encounter, and I could only imagine that Brannoc felt the same.

After a few minutes of deep breathing and reminding myself that the threat had passed, I fully relaxed. I looked up from where I had been clenching the edge of the table to find Baer and Nox watching me worriedly. “You okay?” Baer asked.

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