Page 19 of Queen of Legends and Lies
Yet her earnest gaze tells me she’s actually serious.
I’m utterly flabbergasted, so I nod, pretending to consider her words.
“Choose the back. It sits better,” Alannah’s murmur comes from my other side, her hands deftly mimicking the settling of an invisible crown along her own pale hairline.
Nira raises her well-defined brows at me, and when I shrug, she pats the table in a decisive gesture. “Back it is. That’s one less choice to make.”
The council continues discussing various trivial matters.
After a moment, Rafe clears his throat. “Back to what we were discussing before we got off track. Along with those strange circumstances, there’s another thing we all should’ve seen coming.” He’s pointedly not meeting my eyes. “Our scouts have spotted an army near Tír Ríoga.”
A chill races up my spine. It’s like Nyc herself is whispering in my ear, her voice cold as the night she governs.
Large armies are growing even bigger…
Tír Ríoga is on the continent north of Tirene, separated by an ocean. Not exactly nearby but too close for comfort.
My hands clench into fists, and I sit up straighter, causing Serle and Moise to gape. “Are they corrupted?”
The council members shift in their seats, some clutching at the papers before them as if they might divine a solution among the ink blots.
Only Dalya meets my gaze, giving me a subtle nod. She hasn’t said a word this entire meeting.
My frustration finally boils over. “You’re talking about wells? And melted gold? When Xenon has another army of corrupted on the move?”
Rafe reclines, folding his arms across his broad chest. He regards me as if seeing me for the first time. “What would you have us do,Your Highness? Send troops into the thick of thingswithout knowing exactly what we’re dealing with? We need to plan, consider?—”
“Then stop talking about crown placements and other things that don’t matter, and let’s start forming a plan!” I slam my fist on the table. Now might be a good time to remind Rafe that in Tirene, the monarch’s word is law.
To insult them is to court death.
He doesn’t need to know I wouldn’t skewer him on a spike for all the palace to see the way King Jasper had done to anyone who opposed him.
Though I’d rather just let the dragons eat him.
In the back of my mind, I feel Ryu grow curious, then annoyed. In my anger, I’ve allowed my mental dampening shields to slip, projecting my emotions to the dragons. A low roar of warning rattles the windows.
Suddenly, everyone else at the table is on my side, demanding answers from a startled Rafe and scrabbling for solutions. It’s a storm of half-formed ideas and conflicting opinions that bounce around the room like hailstones.
“Are they approaching from the north or south?”
“Have they docked? Are they on the march?”
“Where exactly? On the beaches, or farther inland, in the mountains?”
“Numbers, Rafe! How large was this army?”
Their cries are cacophonous, each trying to drown out the other. But I know better than to think loud words will solve anything. This is more than just a puzzle. It’s a declaration, a shadow stretching across Tirene.
And I’ll be damned if I let it reach us unchallenged.
Leaning forward, I lock eyes with each person in the room, my voice wrapped in steel. “We cannot let Xenon and his drachen take Tír Ríoga or its neighboring kingdoms. That will bolster the number of corrupted who can come for us. Worse,there will be armies to the north and south of us. We must stop them.” My words hang in the air like a challenge.
Vicar Moise cocks his head, showing off one of his dimples. “That is not a plan. That is an aspiration. It’s ridiculous.” His dismissive tone could flay skin from bone. “If we knew how to stop them, clearly we would.”
Fenton scrunches his brows, eyeing my clothing like he’s noticing my flying gear for the first time. “Pardon me, Your Highness, but where were you going?”
I snatch up my satchel, push back from the table, and stride toward the door. The council’s murmurs buzz behind me. Before my hand can reach the latch, the door bursts open.
