Page 39 of Knight's End
Chapter Ten
Ismashed open the door to the private royal library. It was a room kept separate from the literature and histories provided to the courtiers. This room had been solely for my mother and fathers’ research.
The library rose three stories in front of me. The bottom floor was lined with windows on the left and two additional floors could be accessed by ladders. Those floors were lined with marble balustrades and narrow aisles with plush red carpet to muffle footsteps as courtiers looked for books. When we were younger, Connor and I had once used the carpet to our advantage to sneak to the edge of the balcony and pour an ink pot down on Lady Agatha.
I rushed past books and scrolls, maps and ledgers. I ignored the scent of aged parchment. Normally, when I came to this room, I could appreciate the beauty and the knowledge that it held. But my heart was beating furiously, and I was so enraged I saw red. Declan looked up from the scroll he was studying.
"What is it?"
"Your mother's responded." I seethed.
"She killed our messenger," Connor said softly behind me.
Declan closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he breathed.
Ryan appeared at the balcony of the second floor, a book in his hand. He gripped the railing hard with his free hand and said, "Too bad all of her ambassadors have turned into such cowards. We could have responded in kind."
I walked over to Declan's table and slammed my hands down on the tabletop. "Sedara is the reason for this mess. This war is against them and Queen Diamoni’s unfair trade practices. But Evaness is the only country suffering."
Connor took a seat next to Declan, rubbing my scholar’s shoulder in solidarity. Ryan descended the ladder to come stand behind me. My giant knight wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back into him. His fingers traced circles on my hips. “It’ll be alright, Little Dearling.”
I sank back against him, drinking in the comfort of his hold. I tried to let go of my anger. But urgency still gnawed at me. I stared down at Connor and Declan. "What can we do?"
Connor rubbed his forehead thoughtfully. "We can send messengers south to Lored. But they haven't the battle power. Neither does Macedon to the north of Cheryn. At best that country could be a distraction." He trailed off chewing on his lower lip as he sank deeper into thought.
Declan’s contributions didn’t help the matter. “Everything I’ve read said that the sea creatures we’re likely to face are sirens, who can lure you to drown yourself, and ashrays—which are worse.”
“What are those?” I asked.
Declan grabbed an open book next to him and pushed it toward me. I leaned forward to look. The page showed an illustration of several murky blurs with glowing green eyes floating in the water. They looked almost like the sea jellies I’d seen washed ashore, but for the eyes, which were hauntingly human.
Declan’s finger traced the outline of one of the ashrays. “They are sea ghosts. Humans tempted to die by sea creatures. Their souls become trapped under the sea. They spread terror. But, more importantly for us—they spread cold. They can take a sixty-degree patch of ocean and turn it into one that’s just above freezing. Our soldiers wouldn’t have time to drown before they died of hypothermia or fear.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of falling overboard and being surrounded by these creatures. I tried to combat my fear by returning to my anger. My frustration. “Hell!” I cried. “Why can’t our enemies be sarding human?”
Declan cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking about this. I’ve only ever manipulated physical things. But temperature is technically physical. I wonder if Ryan—”
The clank of armor interrupted Declan’s train of thought. We turned to see one of Ryan’s soldiers standing in the doorway.
“Sir,” the man had clearly come straight from his horse. He still wore his cape and his riding boots, though he’d pushed the cape back to reveal his balding head. He saluted and waited for Ryan to address him.
Ryan turned away from the rest of us, but stayed next to us, so we could overhear the conversation. “Commander Blythe. Proceed.”
“Duchess Agatha’s province is overrun with djinn.”
My heart drummed so quickly that I couldn’t separate the beats. “We had mostly evacuated the province due to the dragon threat, hadn’t we?” I hated how tight my voice came out. It was not confident or calm at all. I took a slow breath, hoping to ease the tension that had me wound so tight.
Sard it, Bloss, I scolded myself. Hold it together for this man. Who knows if he’s got family there? I couldn’t tell by the look in the soldier’s eyes, but Ryan tried to station soldiers within a two hour walk of their home village.
Ryan looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking. He frowned as he said, “Evacuations were in progress.”
My heart fell. That wasn’t a good sign. I resisted clasping my hands together. I looked back at the commander. His eyes were lined with crow’s feet from years of smiles. But he didn’t smile at me now.
“They’ve taken the Duchess Agatha’s estate, sir,” the soldier reported.
“Were any of her husbands there?”
Commander Blythe nodded and his lips thinned. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
