AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"The two who were believed to be involved in the incident were chased out of the castle and into the forest on the east side. I have someone speaking to the warlocks right now to find someone who can do a location spell and we’re checking rooms. We should know shortly where they are, what direction they're heading, and if we know the warlock. Guests have been quarantined to the ballroom and we are doing a thorough search and questioning before anyone else is allowed to leave." He waited for the queen’s approval.
"Good." She lowered her staff back to the ground in front of her and leaned her weight onto it. She closed her eyes and all she could picture was the girl with the all too familiar pointed nose, rounded jaw, and beautiful doe eyes. But it couldn't be her. It was impossible for it to be her. A lot of things were possible. Most things were possible with magic, with help from the gods or the blood of the gods but this… What she imagined was happening right now couldn't be possible. She hadn't heard of anything like it since the times when gods still walked the land.
"I want both of them brought back to this castle. I do not care if the warlock lives or dies but the girl—I want to speak to the girl. She is only to be put down if it's the only way to get her here and even then I want to see proof of her body."
"We will do an immediate spell and I will dispatch guardsmen swiftly," he said
"No." Sienna lowered herself onto the couch. Only the best would do to settle her nerves. "I wantyouto go. Send out the best guards, I can defend myself if it comes to it." She could defend herself, however, magic was draining.
"Me? My Queen?"
"That's what I said, isn't it?"
Des nodded. "I will go as soon as the spell is done."
"Do try and bring the girl back alive. I have questions."
Des’s eyebrows bunched together on his forehead but he turned toward the door, pausing as he reached the knob. "Quite a few of your suitors are worried on your behalf. Would you like me to pass along any messages before I go?"
He was wasting time. He was standing here when he should be out there. Rage laced with fear boiled inside the queen. She couldn’t care less about her suitors! Even Hollis. No matter how it made her heart ache.
"Get out!" she hissed. She wanted to throttle somebody. Let her hands circle their throats and ring the life of them herself. Or better yet call upon her magic and get another taste of her power.
Queen Sienna didn't have to say anything else as Des swiftly stepped into the hall closing the door behind him. One of the guards in the room stepped in front of the door again without a word. Sienna pressed herself into the firm cushion behind her and tipped her chin up to the ceiling. She couldn't just sit here. She wanted to dosomething. She wanted to do anything! She thought she’d gotten everything in order these past twelve months. Though she'd gotten away with it. Yet here it was, her past coming back for her.
Setting the staff across her lap, she brought both hands up to rub her temples where a migraine was starting to pulse. Ophelia shifted on the arm of the chair causing the furniture to creak. Sienna cracked an eye open.
"My Queen, we really must give our guests some sort of response.”
They were right. Even if Sienna was queen she couldn't get away with saying nothing, even if there was an attempt on her life. The members of her court were probably also locked away in their guest suites and they were likely grumbling that they hadn't heard something yet. Being queen wasn't exactly what she thought it was going to be. Insignificant, little peons were about to drive her nuts. But without them, there was no one to follow her.
"This really ruined the first event didn't it?" She sighed.
Ophelia lifted one brow. "Yes, my Queen, I think it did. But we can salvage it with the next event, unless you wish to postpone it. We can make it so grand everyone will forget that this even happened."
“No, don't postpone it.” Everyone else might be able to forget, but not her. How could she forget what she saw? Queen Sienna dropped her arms back into her lap resting them on the staff. "Please ask that Mr. McHaynes, Mr. Delroy, Mr. Dean, Mr. Maverick, and Mr. Weebly all stay here in the castle for the time being. We might have lost time because of the incident but surely if they join me here for my meals I will have more time to get to know them."
"Yes, I think the court would really enjoy getting to know them too."
"Of course they would." Sienna couldn't keep her annoyance from seeping into her voice as she sagged into the couch.
Just a couple years ago Sienna had been a young woman in a poor village who'd bought a shabby excuse of a dress to attend a birthday party. She had hoped that this dress would catch the eye of the boy who now looked far too much like a man. Hollis. She hadn’t known then that it would be the last time she saw him. Nor had she known that the birthday party would propel her into the reality she currently lived.
She'd been through loss. She'd seen war. Hell, she fought in the war. Now she was here…and Hollis was here…amongst others who were probably far better suited for her and her status. Queen Sienna already knew that Hollis was too smart for his own good. She needed an idiot husband, someone she could take advantage of, but she still enjoyed the idea of getting to play with the boy who held her heart as a child.
Sunlight edged its way around thick curtains. The material hadn't been completely closed before bed and a strip of light cut across the room and over Queen Sienna’s face. She stared into the light, her body warm and numb under the blankets.
Her mind was still racing. Nightmares filled with Fae and glimpses of her parents' death-slackened faces haunted her. Reality was better than sleep. Sienna reached out and grabbed a leather-bound notebook that sat next to her bed. She flipped through the pages, only three of which had anything written on them, and stared at the fourth very blank page.
She'd been trying for months now to master the art of making a grimoire. She didn't much care to share her magic with anyone or even to sell this particular book to someone for endless riches. She was already the queen. She was already rich. But sometimes it bothered her that the warlocks taught themselves and she who had sacrificed for this power had no idea how to use it properly.
The well of magic inside of her staff that flowed through her could do many things, if not more than the warlocks could do, but hers was like a stampede of wild horses. Her magic hadn't been broken in yet, so whenever she opened the floodgates inside of her, if she wasn't careful to hold onto it, it easily would get out of hand.
While they were fighting the Fae, it was okay that her magic got out of hand because it allowed her to cut down so many of those immortal beings on her own. But she couldn't let herself be so reckless again, not now in this castle. It had been a feat of magic just to get the building erected; she couldn’t risk bringing it down to rubble. She figured if she could make one grimoire by herself then maybe she could consider herself as good as any warlock.
With her suitors agreeing to stay in the castle she couldn't spend her time expelling the energy to make said grimoire, so she set the book back down and looked out across the room. At some point, servants had come and gone, leaving a dress hanging on the outside of her wardrobe, a warm cup of tea, and nearly an entire field of flowers on the small table she often took her breakfast on. She smiled a little. It looked like her suitors were already putting their best foot forward, offering her an abundance of gifts.
Sienna had never received anything from a boy unless the one time Hollis had given her an old worn book that he liked to read counted. And even then, that hadn't really been a gift; it was something that was borrowed and should've been returned. She turned to look above the mantle of the fireplace for the book that somehow survived a war and had followed her all the way here. If you opened up its pages and looked inside, Hollis's scribbles would be there. He'd underlined his favorite parts and left comments about where he thought the book was kind of cheesy. Of course, that was anywhere the book mentioned anything about love, because to him love was just sentimental crap.
