Page 51 of Queens Will Play

Lealara shook her head. “Even surgery wouldn’t help matters. Your uterus is so damaged that I’m surprised you haven’t had issues already. There’s no chance for an egg to even implant in that environment.” Pausing, she set down the chart. “Whoever did this to you…I hope they’re dead.”

I swallowed hard, pushing images out of my head. “He is. Trust me, he’s long dead.” After a moment, I added, “You have to tell the advisors?”

“Yes, and they will tell the other queens. But the laws are simple. You must be able to bear a child in order to remain queen. Not adopt, not use a surrogate…you must physically bear a child.” She looked so sad that my anger diminished. “I’m so sorry.”

I let out a long breath. “All right, we have the answer. Set up the meeting for this afternoon. We might as well get this over.”

“Your Majesty…” Amrey stepped forward.

“Yes?” I turned.

“I wish I’d never examined you,” she said.

I patted her on the arm. “No, you did your job. And this was nothing any of us expected. It’s not your fault.” I finished dressing and turned back to Lealara. “Surgery…if I need it, if I’m no longer queen…”

“I’d be honored to perform it, Your Majesty. Just contact me. No charge, no worries. I’ll make sure it’s done right and that you heal up right as rain afterward.” She was crying now. “You’ll always be the queen to me,” she said.

“Thank you. Call me when the advisors are gathered. Let me be there. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled.” As I swept out of the office, Smoky, Morio, and Trillian stood. I gave them one look, shook my head, and we left the office in silence.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As I walked into the meeting, all of my advisors were there, along with Lealara, Aeval, and Titania. I was wearing full regalia. If this was my last stand as the queen, I’d dress the part. I’d asked my men to keep quiet about it for the moment. I’d tell my sisters this evening. Hell, whether we’d even have a place to stay was up in the air. Everything had fallen into chaos, and I thought back to what Carter had said about Desanguas bringing chaos with him.

The room was silent as I walked to my chair and sat down. I thought about how to approach this. Chances were there would be silent cheers going up from at least half my advisors. I had no idea how Titania and Aeval would react, but given Aeval’s recent actions toward Vanzir, I had no doubt she’d join them. She might like me, but she didn’t like my ideas now that she had to interact with them.

I placed my hands on the table. They were waiting for me to say something. By the looks on their faces, Laralea had been good to her word and hadn’t said anything.

“I’m going to make this simple,” I said. “It’s been brought to my attention that I’m sterile. I can’t have children, and can’t produce an heir for the throne. There’s no remedy for it.” I always preferred a good offense as opposed to scrambling for a defense.

The silence was so thick that I could have drown in it. After a moment, Aeval stood.

“You know what that means?”

I nodded. “That’s been brought to my attention as well. I’m not going into details, but Lealara here will verify the findings. My next question is: What are you going to do?” I felt like I was facing the guillotine.

Aeval and Titania looked at one another. “Give us a moment,” Aeval said, motioning for Titania to follow her into the next room.

I sat there in silence, looking at my advisors. At least half of them had smug looks on their faces. “You think you’ve been dealt four aces. Let me tell you this: with what’s coming our way, you’re going to wish you had someone like me at the helm. I know how resistant you are to change, and I’m going to be blunt. Systems that do not evolve, do not survive. Keep things stagnant and you’re going to find that you’re heading for extinction.”

“Your…Majesty, we understand that you think modernizing the Barrows is the best idea but—” Welton, a little prick with a big ego, stopped abruptly as Titania and Aeval returned.

“We won’t stand on ceremony,” Aeval said. “This has never happened in this manner before, but we can’t make an exception. I’m sorry, Camille.”

I nodded. It was exactly as I had expected. I stood up and shrugged off the luxurious cloak. Slowly, I reached up and took off the crown, setting it on the table. “How long do I have to leave? I need to find a place to live. And I’m taking the Keraastar Knights with me. I’m still the Queen of the Keraastar Diamond, and you have forfeited our help.”

Welton started to speak but Aeval shot him a look and he quickly shut his mouth. “Can you find quarters by the end of the month?”

“I’ll be gone before that,” I said. “I guess it doesn’t matter who I’m friends with now, does it?” I glanced at Aeval. “If you ever threaten me again, I’ll remember. And trust me, even though I may no longer be one of the Fae queens, I’m not a pleasant enemy to have.” I paused, then added, “What about my wings? What happens to those?”

“They’ll never leave,” Titania said. “We’re truly sorry,” she added. “I wish we could ignore this and let it be what it is.”

I turned to my advisors. “Have fun trying to keep the status quo. As I said, something very big and very bad is coming. I’ll let Aeval fill you in. If there’s one thing I know, it’s how to handle battle. I wish you luck sorting things out in the coming weeks and months.”

They sputtered but I turned my back on them and strode toward the door. “We’ll be gone in a week. And don’t worry, I won’t take anything that belongs to the Barrow.” And with that, I slammed the door behind me and—once again—walked into a new life.

Back in my chambers, I threw myself on the sofa and called Delilah. “Hey, I’ve got news. We’re coming over tonight, all of us. Maggie included.”

Sounding perplexed, Delilah simply said, “All right.”