Page 1 of Fate of Draga

Chapter One

Joslynn

The Queen’s Solar

Planet Draga Terra

The Draga System

Joslynn splashed water on her face and took a deep breath. It had only been a few weeks and already the babe had her sick enough she could only manage a few hours a day of work. Otherwise most of her time was spent near the toilet where she vomited three hours in the morning and three hours in the evening.

It had made her eating habits strange and she ate at odd times. It was bad enough her own physicians had sent her to Draga Terra to be monitored by the best in the kingdom, and since Adelina had offered…Joslynn had gone.

Countess of Pedranus – exiled from her own planet along with the rest of her people. They nearly hadn’t made it to the safety of the Core. It was thanks to Adelina’s privateers that they had. Without their rescue, her small fleet would have perished as all the warships had gone to the front lines.

Joslynn felt guilty about it. Leaving her people in Colin’s capable hands as refugees on someone else’s planet, it hadn’t been easy. She had prayed to all the gods and goddesses to keep them safe on Avvis, wishing she could be with her people. But no one wanted her risking the child – the first possible heir to Pedranus.

Her child. And Sirus’s.

It was difficult to think of him, on the front lines. Joslynn missed him. She wished she’d listened to Adelina and at least had the ceremony so they were married before the war, but it didn’t particularly matter. He was everything to her, and a vow said in a temple was not any more powerful than her promise to him and his to her.

At least she was where the best physicians in the Draga System were. They’d warned her it would be a very difficult pregnancy and it hadn’t been easy with the last few weeks being so dangerous.

Since they’d escaped the pirates and made it behind the safety of the inner shield things had settled down, but it was still chaotic. Giselle abdicating had only made things worse, but Joslynn had hope now. Adelina seemed a far more capable ruler, though she wouldn’t have said so several months before.

Long live Queen Adelina.

It was still strange to think, to say out loud. Here in the palace they were so far removed from the danger and the war, aside from what they saw on the livestream. But it just wasn’t the same as that feeling she’d had as she wondered if the pirates would strike them all down. Yes, the death and destruction on the vid was horrible but it wasn’t experienced firsthand.

The horror hadn’t been real to her until the evacuation – until Sirus had called to say he was alive after what had happened to Scyria, though not all were as lucky.

Joslynn wiped the tears from her face that always surfaced when she thought of his family – the tiny babe that would never have a mother – that almost hadn’t survived and was born on a battlefield in blood and death and destruction, taken from its mother’s lifeless body.

She splashed more water on her face. The hormones had taken her captive yet again. There was no way to fight the mood swings, Joslynn just had to bear it and wait for the emotions to pass.

Goddess, she wished she was at her family’s seat, safe and surrounded by people who wouldn’t judge her or whisper secrets like those at court. Thanks to the war the only ones left were those too young to fight and those who held administrative positions.

Teenage females were ruthless and the constant recorders were exhausting.

“Lady Joslynn, is everything all right?” the queen mother asked from outside the washroom door.

Adelina had been right about that as well. Adele had taken Joslynn in with open arms, saying she’d received a cast from Adelina before Joslynn had even arrived. Ever since she’d had the best care, and the queen mother made sure to request her presence each day, helping to keep her fear for Sirus from paralyzing her.

“I’m fine, Queen Mother,” Joslynn called back, wiping the slight sheen of sweat from her forehead. “I’ll be right out.”

Turning to the side she inspected her stomach. She was only five weeks along, so there was nothing to see, but Joslynn always checked. Knowing something was growing inside her was a bizarre and novel idea. She couldn’t wait to see her belly swell. At least then she’d be able to see the effects of her child other than the sickness.

Joslynn opened the door and Adele smiled at her. “It should pass soon,” the queen mother told her. “Has the food I’ve recommended helped at all? I was pregnant five times and each one affected me differently, but there were always tried and true remedies.”

She bobbed a slight curtsey, still feeling a bit shaky. “It has, thank you Queen Mother.”

“I’ve told you to call me Adele, I’m no longer queen,” Adelina’s mother teased. “Are you feeling up to helping me with this next batch of books?”

They walked back to the Queen’s Solar together and Joslynn was grateful summer was finally over. Autumn on Draga Terra was still much hotter than Pedranus, but it had a cool breeze that eased the stifling heat.

Ever since Adelina had sent a request to her mother with access to the secret royal library, Adele and Elara had studied non-stop when they weren’t dealing with shipments for the war.

They entered the Queen’s Solar and Joslynn saw that Elara was the only one currently there, reading a book with her tea and an array of foods and such on the low table before her. She looked so beautiful and happy in that moment, and Joslynn felt her heart swell knowing Adele and Elara could openly be with one another now.

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