Page 50 of Their Queen

“I’m good now. How about you, Brannoc?” I asked, turning to find his gaze. His eyes were lighter, not the bottomless pits of darkness from before, but fear still lingered.

He exhaled. “Yeah, I’m good.” However, his words weren’t convincing anyone. Both of us had been seriously rattled by that experience, and I had a feeling neither of us would rest easy until we had more answers.

Before any of us could figure out what to do next, the door to the War Room burst open, and an out-of-breath soldier came to a stop. “Forces are approaching the gate,” he said, his eyes wide in worry and concern.

Chapter Thirty Six: Rhowyn

Bursting into action, we rushed from the room. Turning to the soldier, I told him, “Find Arryn and tell him to meet us at the gates.”

The soldier nodded, running off in the other direction as I sprinted toward the gate. Aurelia met us as we exited the doors to the Keep and raced down the steps into the courtyard. Everyone was standing around in tense anticipation, ready to act at the first order. Reaching the gate, I met the eyes of one of the soldiers guarding it. “How far out are they?”

“Still just on the horizon, but there’s a large group of them. We couldn’t get an accurate count.” I nodded, and instead of going into the room off the side of the gate, I raced up the stairs that led to the battlements. I’d get a better view from there at the distance they were. My thighs screamed at me as I pushed myself up the stairs as quickly as I dared, swinging around to sprint to the edge of the walkway at the top. My hands grasped the ledge as my eyes widened in shock.

“Shit! There must be hundreds!” Baer swore under his breath, the same shock in his voice as I felt.

“Think they’re friend or foe?” Lennox asked, all of us standing there in awe at the size of the group.

“There’s no way of knowing; they’re still too far away to make out, but they’re not traveling like they’re in a hurry. I can only hope that means they’re not here to harm us,” I said.

“What should we do?” Baer asked me as we all stared at the approaching mass, dark specks on the horizon steadily crawling toward us.

“Our glamor over the castle still holds, right, Aurelia?” I asked Callum’s sister as she finally reached the top, her breaths heaving in and out.

“Yes. Loki has kept the magic topped off,” she answered as soon as she could, her face flushed from the exertion.

“We need more of an idea of who we’re facing. We need time to prepare for an assault, and if we wait for them to get too close, it’ll be too late,” I reasoned, my mind racing. Turning to Brannoc, I asked, “How’s your magic? Can you scout the advancing crowd?”

“Aye. I have enough left for that,” he said, his brow furrowed.

Before he could turn to smoke, I stopped him with a hand on his arm. “If you don’t have enough, I can go. I have plenty. I don’t want to leave you completely depleted. You’ve used so much of your magic lately,” I rambled on, worried he wouldn’t tell me when he was at his limit.

He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss on my lips, smirking as he pulled back. “I’m good,” he reassured me as I watched him turn to smoke, disappearing from everyone’s view but my own. It wasn’t that I could exactly see him, but it was more of a feeling of where his power was that allowed me to see a slight smudge in the air. My heart remained in my throat as he flew away from us. I didn’t tear my eyes from him even when Arryn joined us. I ignored his questions, letting Baer and Nox give him the update.

Arryn’s warm hand on my waist had me leaning into him, the small gesture reminding me that I had them. “He knows his limits. He’ll be back as quickly as possible.”

I wanted to trust him, but the crowd continued to approach, seeming to pick up pace as if they knew their destination was near. Finally, I sensed Brannoc returning. He landed in front of us, his legs nearly giving out upon turning to his fae form, and Lennox steadied him. I waited for him to give me his report, worried that he had indeed pushed himself too far. Finally, he met my eyes, a slow smile spreading on his face. Getting aggravated that he seemed to be dragging this out while I stewed, I gave him a soft punch to his arm. “What is it?”

He laughed. “It’s Juniper. She’s arriving with others who wish to support the rightful Queen of Avalon.”

“What!?” I questioned. “How’d they know to come here? I thought we had kept this place a secret.”

Arryn spoke up with a smile. “I think you’re forgetting the fact that when Avalonia possessed you, she had told those who supported you to find you. That she’d lead them to you should they trust in her and you.”

My eyes widened at that thought, and I looked back out to the swarm of people slowly coming into view. “There’s so many of them,” I whispered.

Baer smiled and hugged me into him. “They see what we see. That the chance for a better way is now. There won’t be any place for them to hide from this decision. They’ll have to choose a side instead of remaining neutral. Titania will continue to ride through the lands, burning down anyone who doesn’t outright swear allegiance to her. We’ve seen that evidence.”

I weighed his words, knowing he was right. Titania had forced them into this war, forced them to choose sides. If we could offer them safety and a place to support us, we would. “What are we going to do with all of them?” I asked no one in particular. There were so many of them that I knew they wouldn’t all fit into the Keep itself, already out of space from those who had joined us.

“We’ve got tents that we can hand out. Hopefully, some of them brought supplies. I’ve been preparing for this for decades, so I know we have enough to go around. However, we’ll need all of them to pull their own weight. It’s a lot of mouths to feed and support, but we can do it together,” Aurelia said, chiming in with the same awe that I felt.

“Can you get Loki for me, Baer?” I asked him, because I knew that Lennox was easily annoyed by the Puca, and Brannoc was exhausted. “Nox, can you get my grandfather? We’ll need to figure out a way to extend the glamour to encompass them as well and possibly put up a stronger shield. Should there be an actual assault on the Keep, we can bring everyone inside, cramped though it may be.” My brain was in full planning mode, thinking of the best way to fit these new arrivals into the fold.

I didn’t have long to wait for Loki, a mischievous smirk on his face when he found me. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

For the first time, the title didn’t bother me as I grew into the role I had been tasked with. Turning from the horizon, I looked at him. “We need to drop the glamor on the Keep. I want to give them instructions before we let them inside. Unfortunately, we can’t fit them all in here to stay, but I’d like to extend the glamor to encompass their tents and temporary shelters.”

He bowed his head with a wink. “Your wish is my command, Your Majesty.” He lifted his hands, and the shimmering veil that had covered the Keep dropped without a second thought.

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