Page 53 of Their Queen

Chapter Thirty Seven: Rhowyn

The words began to blur as I squinted my eyes. Squeezing them shut, I rubbed them with the palms of my hands. We had been reading through the books for hours and had yet to find an answer. Sighing, I stood, needing a glass of water to help wake me.

Arryn lifted his head in question, but I shook mine to indicate he should continue. Walking over to a side table, I poured myself a glass and took a long swallow of the cool liquid. After drinking half, I was more alert. Looking at the clock on the wall across from the table, I noted that Callum and the others were still within their travel window, but with each hour passed, I grew increasingly concerned.

Sitting back down, I resumed my search. Some of this stuff I had gathered through my travels and conversations, but most of it was all new. As fascinating as it all was, I couldn’t focus on it. We needed something to help us now. The history lessons could come later after the realm was safe from Titania. Right now, we needed to know more about these ruins.

What was it about these sites that had Titania fascinated enough that she had dragged Lennox along as a child? Was she searching for the power in those objects? Were there more orbs in the other ruins? Granted, we hadn’t found anything in the ruin we had inspected, but I also wasn’t a Raven. Did that mean that Cyerra had been able to find something?

“I can practically hear your mind working. Do you want to talk it out?” Arryn asked, his eyes still scanning the words in the book he was reading.

I huffed out a breath. “Not really? I mean, I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing as I am. All of these questions and no answers. I’m sick of not having the answers,” I admitted, my frustration leaking into my tone.

He paused from his reading and looked at me. “We’ll find them. Have faith. My instincts are telling me that the answers are here; we just need to keep searching.”

“I know, but for once, it would be nice to just get a simple answer to even a single question. Why must we dig and search and work so hard for the answers?” He just eyed me as if unsure how to solve my problems. I sighed, blowing out my tension and frustration as I did. “Sorry, I’m just worried. It’s a lot, and not knowing where Callum, Cyerra, and my father are is getting to me. And before you say they’re still in their window, I know this. It doesn’t stop me from worrying, though.”

I ran my hands through my hair, fortifying myself as I did so. Worrying wouldn’t solve anything, and it wouldn’t bring us the answers we needed. All I could do was focus on the task at hand and do as Arryn suggested. I had to have faith that Avalonia was watching over them. “I’m good now. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You’re right; this is a lot. Sometimes, you just need to get those thoughts out, and I’m always here for you,” Arryn said, studying me.

“I know. I’m good now. Let’s read some more. Fingers crossed, the answer will come sooner rather than later,” I told him, forcing a smile onto my face. I could be positive. Sometimes. Okay, maybe that was a job better left to Baer, but it wouldn’t stop me from trying.

We both dove back into the text, and I set my brain to hunting for the words: temple, ruins, or ravens. When my eyes started to swim again from fatigue, I finally found a reference that had me sitting up straight and tensing with hope. “Arryn,” I said, drawing his attention, but continuing to read the section I had just discovered. “I think I found something.” I heard the scrape of his chair against the stone floor as he came to read over my shoulder.

I pointed to the section that had me excited. “It says here that Avalon wasn’t always Avalon. Before the Fae and magic we know, another race lived here in peace. Then another race, called the Fomorians, led by their King Balor, showed up. They were like spirits that sought malevolence, chaos, and destruction. The Fomorians apparently arrived to conquer the lands, and when Avalonia tried to reason with their king to allow her creations to live in harmony with them, the Fomorians fought against them. Avalonia blessed her people with the power to destroy them, the magic that we now know, before banishing the Fomorians for good. However, not all the Fomorians were evil.

“Look here, it says that the Fomorians were split into two tribes. One was bloodthirsty and sought to bring about death and drought, but they also had a tribe that was focused on justice, though they could be just as ruthless. They were the keepers of the temples, and Avalonia smiled on them, sparing them from destruction when she directed the Fae to revolt against the Fomorians because they didn’t seek to end her people.”

I gasped, leaning back in my chair as the pieces started falling into place. “That’s why they could access the items. The Fomorians that fought for justice and honor were the Ravens.” I glanced at Arryn to see if he was thinking the same thing.

“Fuck. That makes sense,” he said. His eyes immediately went back to scan the rest of the history. “Here it talks about how the Fomorians were darkness, often in spirit forms, and were able to travel under the sea and land. The Ravens share the same traits.”

“How could they have forgotten this?” I asked, confused at how the legends had been twisted.

“When they were hunted. Many of their leaders were killed until Avalonia granted them a safe refuge, the Enclave.” He blew out a breath, his eyes wide as his mind worked. “We both know that history is often told by the victors. At that point, their numbers had been depleted, and for the longest time, it had been believed that they’d been eradicated. It wasn’t until the last hundred years or so that more began to leave the Enclave, proving that they hadn’t actually been killed off.”

“So, do you think the orb was from the Ravens or from the other Fomorians?” I asked. “I’ll be honest, that orb held only evil. I have a hard time believing it could have been from the Ravens. They’ve only ever appeared as warriors for justice. Of course, maybe thousands of years ago, they weren’t all that way?”

“I think it belongs to the Fomorians. The Ravens must have hidden items of power in their temples, encoding entrance only to other Ravens,” Arryn reasoned with me.

“Okay, I agree, but why would Titania want what they had hidden millennia ago? What could she want with these ancient Fomorians? And what does she have planned for these magical items?” I asked, fearing I already knew the answer.

“It can’t be anything good. It’s just another reason to stop her before she can use them,” Arryn admitted. He turned to me, his eyes wide with the same fear I now had. Surely, she didn’t hope to bring the Fomorians back. What could she possibly hope to gain by doing that?

Before I could ask that question to Arryn, Cyerra puffed into view before collapsing onto the floor in the room, gasping for breath. Jumping up, I rushed over to her, rolling her onto her back as her chest heaved with tears in her eyes. “What is it? What happened?” I demanded from her.

She began sobbing, her hands clutching a book in her arms as she turned her face away from me, unable to look me in the eyes. “I’m so sorry, Rhowyn. I tried, but I couldn’t get them away from her.”

Blood rushed from my face at her words, as what they meant sank in. “What happened, Cyerra? Where are Callum and my father?”

Arryn moved to comfort the girl as I sat frozen on my heels, fearing the worst. Baer, Lennox, and Brannoc burst through the door, my distress and fear having called them to me. They took in the scene, Brannoc moving to help Arryn with his cousin as Baer and Lennox came to hover next to me.

Finally, Arryn got Cyerra calmed down enough to speak, her sniffles still sounding out occasionally, but a whistling noise sounded out in my ears. I could feel it now, feel the muted bond with Callum. He was blocking me out, or rather, he was trying to. When I focused on it, sending a pulse of consciousness down the bond, I could feel his distress, his fear.

“We found the temple, found this book, but when we tried to leave, Titania showed up. We hid and listened to her and Bernard speaking. They left, not having found this book. Or so we thought. We waited for a long time, and after not hearing anything, we left the temple, but Titania was waiting there for us. Oh, goddess!” Cyerra’s words rushed out with guilt and pain, crushing me in the process of her explanation.

“Shhh,” Brannoc consoled her, rubbing her back. “What happened?” he gently cajoled her to continue. I hung on her every word, needing to know what happened, straining to hear above the ringing in my ears.

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