Page 5 of Crown of Slumber

“I know.”

“Then, why even bring it up? There is nothing we can do.” My eyes narrowed as I thought of the rumors floating among our guards. “Wait a moment… I’ve heard people whispering of how we captured a dragon. Mother, is that true?”

She scoffed and waved a hand. “Pay no attention to idle gossip, Fennick. Don’t you think if I had a dragon somewhere, we would be using its fire by now?”

I sighed. I supposed it was too good to be true.

She placed a hand on my arm, and I met her gaze. A fierce intensity burned in her eyes that matched the anger pulsing through me. “We've received word that King Stefan is abdicating tohis eldest daughter. She is young. Inexperienced.” A serpentine smile spread across her face.

My eyes narrowed. “What are you suggesting?”

“We are desperate, Fennick,” she said, her tone sharpening. “We cannot simply sit back and watch our people suffer. The time for pleasantries is over. If Summer will not assist us, then we will take what we need by force.”

Alarm shot through me, cooling my anger. “Mother, you speak of war. Our kingdom cannot support a war on top of the stardust shortage.”

“What are our other options?” she snapped. “What else would you have me do, Fennick?”

I fell silent at that. I had no other possible solutions. Enchanted fire was already hard to come by in the Realm of Valora. No other kingdoms had easy access to it.

Except, it seemed, the Summer Court.

Mother was right. We had no other options.

“I know you can…convinceher,” Mother continued, her tone full of meaning.

I whipped my head to look at her in accusation. “You mean use my gift?” My fae magic allowed me to persuade others to agree with me. But it only worked if their minds were amenable.

I doubted the Summer Princess would be an easy target.

Mother seemed to read my apprehension. “I hear the Summer Princess is quite beautiful. And you are alwayssocharming with the court ladies.”

I fixed a flat stare on her. “Not with ladies from an enemy kingdom.”

Mother shrugged. “You do love a good challenge, don't you?”

I glanced down at the braziers along the riverbank. Another one was fading, its dying embers floating into the night.

Could I charm the Summer Princess? Even with my charismatic personality and fae magic, it would be difficult to erase centuries of hatred and tension between our kingdoms.

“What can I offer her in exchange for her help?” I asked. “Gold? Steel?”

“You can offer her safety. A promise that we will not invade and seize what belongs to us.”

I stared at her. “You wish me to go to their kingdom and charm the princess only to turn around and threaten her people if she does not comply with our demands?” I loved my mother, but she was known for being a brutal queen for a reason. Some called her heartless. And while I understood why she made the decisions she did, it didn’t mean I wanted to be the same kind of ruler as she was.

The idea of entering an enemy kingdom uninvited and demanding they surrender their most precious resource to us did not sit well with me.

Mother leaned closer, her gaze sharpening and her smile cold. “As I said before, Fennick. The time for pleasantries is over.” She withdrew and stepped away from the balcony. “I know you will not fail me.” The threat lining her words made me stiffen as her heels clacked on the marble floors. I didn’t turn to look at her as she left my chambers.

My jaw was taut as I faced the balcony once more, my eyes upon the darkness of the southern sector. Faint torch lights still bobbed in the distance. My arms grew tense as the tree branches quivered, and bestial roars echoed.

The unseelie creatures had come.

My eyes crammed shut as screams filled the air. The screams of my people.

Despite my mother’s callous nature, she was right; I would do this for our people.

And I would not fail.

---