Page 7 of A Kingdom of Destruction

The view showed the first blossoms of spring in a nearby garden with the green heads of herbs poking up out of the rich earth.

“Sit.” Geleis physically pushed her onto the cushion and settled beside her. Iona chose a nearby seat and dropped into a graceful flounce on its edge. “What’s wrong?”

Aven gnawed on the inside of her cheek and debated what to share with them. No doubt the twins would take the King’s side of this argument. Neither one of them remained secretive about their desire to tame her. To make her into their image.

Except Aven had no interest in marriage. Or relationships in general. She was much too busy to look sideways at a man and wonder about his suitability.

There were six of them in total. Herself and the twins were the youngest, with her older brother Fionn first in line for the throne. Her second oldest sibling, Maeve, had her own skills and talents with herbs. Healing, Maeve always claimed. Then came Emmett, a headstrong young man rutting his way across the kingdom and playing at being a warrior.

None of them had what Aven offered to the army.

“Father merely wished to convey his thoughts on my occupation,” she said with as much diplomacy as possible. Her words were bitter and dried her throat further.

Geleis’s touch shifted to her knee and tightened. “I’m sure you aren’t too happy with him.”

Aven pushed to her feet to break the hold. “I don’t have time for this today. There is too much to do before I have to be off.” She glanced wistfully at the door.

“Of course she isn’t happy. Look at her face. Her blush has practically mottled her neck, and she’s ready to pace,” Iona said with a chuckle, a calculating look draping over her face. “Aven has never liked being told what to do. She’s more comfortable giving the orders. She should have been born the Queen herself.”

Aven shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to be queen. Only want to do what I’ve always done.” She moved her hands in time with the words, and her new rune began to burn, her skin itchy and tight.

“Mother never should have let you run wild,” Iona insisted with another light sniff. “You were the baby, and so she coddled you. Perhaps Father is right.”

“You don’t even know what he said.”

Iona returned Aven’s scowl with one of her own. She’d never allow anyone else to see her in such a state; the look was reserved only for her siblings. “I can guess.”

“Whatever your opinions are, of me and what I do, there is nothing keeping me here to listen to them.” And she’d wasted enough precious seconds having these conversations. Aven strode to the door and paused there, her palm hovering above the hammered gold handle. Should something go wrong in the battle, she forced herself to acknowledge, she didn’t want to leave on this note with her family. “I love you.”

In case she didn't make it. In case the worst happened. And she did love them, somehow. Despite their differences.

“Aven, please, don’t run off this way,” Geleis started.

Too late.

Aven rushed into the hallway like she wanted to outrun the enemy rather than her family, her attention already fractured in too many directions to count.

The battle, and her father. Her duties. Herdesires.

A few hours ago, she knew her place without a shadow of a doubt. Now her future split into two distinct paths, and what she wanted and what she had to do were no longer the same.

3

Aven struggled under the weight of the pack strapped to her back and, rather than complain, she swallowed hard and kept those thoughts to herself. She pushed forward at a faster clip than the soldiers around her to prove to them she deserved to lead them.

Their destination lay outside the walls of the castle at the base of the foothills in the distance. A far enough distance to make carrying so many supplies by herself a hassle and an exercise in endurance.

Whatever it took,she thought with her teeth gritted, to show her men she took her responsibilities seriously. And although her father wasn’t here, to prove it to him as well.

Her battalion, along with several others, was primed to stage a strategic campout beyond the main field stretching away from the hills. They’d chosen the perfect place to ambush the oncoming army and now had several hours between their moonlit trek and the first rays of light to get their camp set and maneuver their men into position.

The approaching Mourningvale battalions wouldn’t expect it. She and General Hunter calculated that the fae would anticipatethe bulk of the Grimrose armies would stay behind the walls of the citadel to protect the royal family. While the majority of their people would stay with the city to defend the borders, it made sense for several arms of their forces to circle the field. They’d cut off the fae to make escape impossible and ambush them from all sides.

The night hid Aven’s secret smile.

The plan was good, solid.

She’d gone over every detail with Hunter before heading down to help her men pack.

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