Page 27 of The Crimson Princess (The Ravengale Chronicles #1)

Chapter twenty

T he minute I join Idris, he lambastes me. “Your father will not be pleased you kept him waiting.”

I used to think he was nothing but a jerk, but now I am certain, he hides his weak magic behind bombastic behavior and bullying that won’t work on me. “Are you sure he won’t be far more displeased at the way you disrespect the future queen? And are you sure, I won’t remember this very moment?”

“If you’re anything like your mother, it won’t matter.”

His queen is barely in the Third World’s Nirvana, and he disrespects her.

I want to poke his eyes out with my magic, but I am, in fact, my mother’s daughter and a bigger gale than that.

“You never got to experience what my mother was like as a singular ruler, but I can promise you this, you would have discovered a kind heart and magic so fierce the Third World feared her entry.” With that, I step around him and walk toward the gardens.

He catches up to me in a few steps. “And how powerful are you, Princess Satima?” It’s not a true question. He says these words as if to mock me.

I take his bait and throw it right back at him. “Why don’t you spar with me and find out for yourself?”

Judging from the way he bristles, it’s not the response he expected, “I do not think your father would approve.”

“I think he’d be eager to watch.” I pause at the edge of the gardens, “but if you’re worried about looking bad, he doesn’t have to know.

” My lips curve and I add, “It’s an open invitation.

I’m not afraid.” I pause for effect. “Are you?” I don’t wait for his answer.

I’m already moving again down the path to the gardens.

This time when he catches up to me, he’s zipped his lips. Silence really is golden.

The formal table comes into view, and my father lowers his coffee cup to level me in an irritated stare. “What took so long?”

“Prior notice would have avoided my tardiness,” I close the space between me and him and slide into the seat to his left, and my cup is filled instantly. I thank the server, who turns out to be Evie, and who I now realize rushed off to the kitchen. “Thank you again, Evie.”

She gives me a tiny incline of her chin, while Idris settles in the seat across from me, silent no more. “I’d think the princess would be early to rise.”

“If I hadn’t been forced to deal with the werewolf infestation no one knew we had until early morning, I would have been up early.” In other words, him.

“Most of us don’t skulk around in the forest,” he says, sipping from the cup that was apparently filled before my arrival. His tone is defensive and if he thinks my father won’t catch that he’s sadly mistaken. As I’d learned hard and fast in my youth, my father is a master of subtle observation.

“They’re not solely in the forest,” I point out. “They’re in the forest en masse , which means they’re in the villages en masse. I’m terrified for our gales and what they will think of their king if they find out the danger the weres represent.”

He eyes my father. “Are we certain these are rogues? The werewolf king rules a society and now controls their shifting.”

I set my cup down with a clank. “Considering they were shifted and trying to eat me, yes, we are certain. Give me a little credit here. They’re Third World rogues living among us.”

“How?” he demands, his hands on the table, fingers curled into his palms. “There’s not more than a hairline fracture in that portal your father protects. ”

“Right now,” my father states, “they’re here. Focus on getting rid of them.”

My father’s swift avoidance tells a terrifying story. The leak is growing with a troublesome crescendo. Toren was right. Opening that portal for the Challenges is a problem and we’re set to do it again next week. No wonder my father allowed Toren to stay and offer aid.

Evie and two other maidens return and set plates in front of us, all of which are filled with sweet bread, heavy servings of fruit and syrup on top. My stomach growls rather loudly—yes, gales can get rowdy when we’re hungry, too—and I don’t hesitate to pick up my fork.

My father casts me an approving look, and follows my lead, lifting his fork. “I remembered how much you like sweet bread,” he says, a rare tenderness in his eyes, in his voice. “I asked for it to be made especially for you.”

“I’m excited about it,” I assure him, yet another pinch of emotions in my chest, at the realization that he really does love me.

He really is worried for me. Which only makes his willingness to sell me off to the druids all the more confusing but for now, I focus on his gesture.

“Thank you, father.” I dig into the lush bready delight and give a little moan as the deliciousness fills my tastebuds.

“So good. I missed this when I was on shadow duty.”

“I should have visited more and brought you some.”

I tilt my head in surprise, reminded that he had started visiting my mother on Earth in the months before her death.

They were trying to reconcile. He was trying to win her back.

The idea that they can never find a place of peace and happiness together gut me, but maybe, just maybe, he needs a connection to me to remain connected to her.

“I’d have liked that,” I assure him, my voice warm, a tiny crack in the depths.

He gives a tiny nod of approval, a hint of regret in his eyes. “Your mother loved sweet bread, too. I actually took her some not that long ago.”

“And not me? ”

“You were off with some guy who was courting you so she ate yours, too.”

I laugh and scoop another bite. “Of course, she did.” I glance skyward, and scold, “ Mother .”

My father actually laughs, but then seems to remember Idris is with us, his voice firming to a kingly demand. “Back to the important matter of eradicating the rogue werewolves.”

“I’ll take the team we discussed into the forest tonight,” I say. “And of course, report back to our king.”

“I’ve got it,” Idris asserts. “It’s beneath you to do such things, princess.”

“Anything that protects my gales is not beneath me,” I counter.

“I’ve got it,” he insists. “ I’ll report back to our king in the morning.”

“The frostburns will attack you,” I remind him.

“And you,” he counters.

“No,” I say easily, “they will not . I’ve become their alpha.”

He snorts. “What nonsense is this?”

“No nonsense. I killed the alpha. I became the alpha.”

“Now I’ve heard everything.” He shakes his head in disbelief. “And even if that’s true—”

My father sets his fork down. “Are you questioning the future queen’s honesty?”

Idris holds up his hands. “No. No, my king. I apologize.” He eyes me. “I’m sorry. I don’t doubt you, but if you are on the front lines, how will the gales feel secure you will be around to stabilize our future?”

“By knowing I survive, and our enemies do not. But I’ll tell you what, you want to do this without me, do it.

Just let me know your body count tomorrow.

One survival tip you’ll want to pass along to your team.

The forest and the frostburns have a magical connection.

Don’t kill the frostburns or I promise you, the forest will make you pay. You may never get to leave.”

He smirks. “If that’s true, why didn’t the forest make you pay when you killed a frostburn? ”

“I chose right. I killed the alpha and created a new ruling order.”

My father bristles and waves his hand in irritation. “She’s going with you, Idris. Now both of you, finish eating.”

Idris grits his teeth, and glares at me, resentment brimming from his stare. “I’m done, my king.” He shoves his half-eaten plate aside. “If I may be dismissed, I need to put together my hunting team.”

“Considering I can barely tolerate the two of you together, go do what you need to do.”

Idris stands, his attention on me. “Ten p.m., on the forest line at the back of the castle.”

“See you then,” I state, but he’s already bowing to my father.

It’s not until he is out of sight, that I refocus on my father. “How big is the problem with the portal?”

“Nothing has changed.”

It’s an infuriating reply I reject. “We both know that’s not true.”

He studies me with a hooded stare and shoves the bowl in front of him aside. “If you must know, there’s been a random surge of magic that attacks the portal. It forces it open. I shut it, but that becomes more challenging each time.”

“The sorceress,” I assume.

“That’s my assumption.”

He offers nothing more and I do my best to pry it out of him. “Are the druids behind this?”

“King Darus assures me they are not. In fact, he’s expressed grave concern over the sorceress.”

“He’s lying,” I say without hesitation. “I can sense Bellar’s deceit when I am with him.”

“You think I trust them? I’m controlling them, teasing them with you, and you need to play the game.”

His intent is to stay on the throne, no matter what the cost to me. “We need allies,” I state, trying to find reason he will follow before I add, “Toren—”

“Is my sworn enemy and we cannot trust him to choose us over his brother.”

“His brother is trying to destroy him.”

“If they ever manage to fully come together again, the vampires will rule us all.”

“Then why let Toren stay? Why accept his offer to protect the portal during the Challenge?”

“I do not believe Toren wants the war, but if Third World is breached, and his brother is in power, he’d be a fool not to join him.”

“Let’s make sure he’s never in a position to make such a choice. Let him help us.”

“Toren is not who you think he is, Satima. Besides, he won’t kill his brother. I will. The druids will.”

“I told you. The druids mean us harm. Toren does not.”

“Spoken like someone who was all but undressing for him in front of her father.”

“No,” I repeat, unwilling to be distracted from my point. “ No . The druids will strike us. Toren will stand with us.”

“And you’ve read the Book of Life?” he challenges. “You know what it’s telling me to do?”

“I don’t pretend to have the Book of Life as my guide, but I have the gifts I’ve been blessed with, father. King . I beg of you to at least consider my input. What happens if the book tells you that you’ll cede power to another king, and think it’s the wrong king?”

He grabs my arm and pulls me to him, a rough jolt that sets my heart to racing. “How do you know what it says?” he demands.

“Magic,” I bite out, fighting the urge to yank against his grip. “I know things. That’s what turning twenty-three did for me. I keep telling you that, but you don’t seem to want to hear me.”

His eyes burn into mine with the fierceness of the fires that humans describe as their hell. “You’d be smart to remember that your magic is no match for mine, nor is it rich with experience nor the depth of centuries of living. Your ‘feelings’ are dictated by your personal wants and needs.”

My fingers curl in my palms. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it? Are you absolutely certain you know where your feelings are derived from?

” He allows me no time to respond, adding, “ Thanks to me and the book, we have lived in peace for centuries now. We continue to do so with me on the throne.” He releases me.

“You are promised to the druid prince. Act like it. Our worlds might depend on it. I expect to see you at the Laudation tomorrow night.”

The Laudation being the mixer that honors the participants of the Challenge the evening before it launches. I incline my chin, push to my feet, and bite back my accusation. He used Toren to win a war and then tried to kill him. And now, he’s using me, perhaps even sacrificing me.

I walk away.