Page 34 of The Shadowed Throne (Midlife Fairy Tale #4)

R o sat down on the nearest chair. She understood what Uldamar had said, but the words rang in her head like a clanging bell, making it difficult for her to hear anything else.

Gabriel rushed to her side. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, but she wasn’t remotely all right. She frowned. “No, actually, I’m not.”

“I am deeply sorry for being the bearer of this news,” Uldamar said. He sat across from her, the sorrow in his eyes impossible to ignore.

“She’s making plans to murder me,” Ro whispered. “How can anyone be that evil? What have I done to her? All I want is peace between our two kingdoms.”

“She’s lost her soul to the dark magic she embraces,” Gabriel said. “She has become umbraed .”

“What does that mean?” Ro asked.

“An umbraed is someone who is lost to the darkness. Literally someone overtaken by shadow.”

Uldamar nodded and let out a long, slow breath.

“Just like her mother.” He raised his hand, then dropped it back to his lap.

“Also, your highness, I fear I must tell you Anyka plans to kill your son as well so that he cannot take the throne after you. She believes she will be able to possess Merediem with the aid of a spell her Vice-Minister of Magic is working on.”

Ro’s stomach roiled. She flattened her hand against her belly. “I can only imagine what she’ll do to Aunt Vi. We have to stop her. Peace is not going to happen, I get that. But this is so far beyond…” She swallowed, feeling sick.

Gabriel took her hand. “I could use my ability and take care of her. I’ve offered before, but it seems right to mention it again.”

She gave him a weak smile. “That would be easy and simple, but you know I can’t condone her assassination.

That would be sinking to her level. No, she has to be removed in such a way that makes it impossible to argue against it.

She has to be caught in this act of trying to kill me. And there need to be witnesses.”

“That would be optimal,” Uldamar said. “Do you have a plan?”

“Not yet.” Ro’s brain was so overloaded with information that processing the bare minimum was about all she could handle. “Where is this neutral place Anyka wants me to meet her?”

“Tenebrae.” Uldamar frowned. “It was her valet’s idea, although I found out he’s now officially the Queen’s Councilor.”

“Tenebrae? Wow. That’s … interesting.” She knew nothing of the place except its purpose as a prison. Her eyes narrowed. “Anyka wants to meet me at a prison to discuss peace, but really it’s an ambush meant to result in my death.”

“Your highness,” Gabriel began. “Try not to?—”

“No.” She looked at him. “I need to think about this. I need to know everything I can about this. Both of you, tell me about Tenebrae.”

Gabriel looked at Uldamar.

The wizard shook his head. “It’s an island prison, designed to be unescapable. Because of the elevation, the barrenness of the place, and the wind, it is never warm. They say the wind howls around it, drowning out the cries of the prisoners.”

Gabriel nodded. “It sits on an island that is nothing but stone. The only things that live there are rockterns, which make their nests on the cliffs. There is only one path to the prison, a wide stairway carved into the stone that leads up from the dock.”

“Yes,” Uldamar said. “And everything, all supplies, must be brought up that same way. If a prisoner were to escape, they would have to swim to shore through cold waters infested with glassmaw and needlefin.” He shuddered.

Mouth open, Ro shook her head. “I don’t know what either of those things are.”

“Glassmaw are a kind of eel drawn to sorrow or blood. They’re nearly translucent and hard to see in the water, which is where the name glassmaw comes from, I suppose. They have rows of wickedly sharp teeth and can shred their prey into nothingness in a matter of seconds.”

“Terrifying creatures,” Gabriel confirmed.

Ro grimaced. “And the needlefin? Although I’m a little afraid to ask.”

“Not much better,” Uldamar said. “Tiny fish, maybe two or three inches long, but they school by the thousands and their fins are like blades. They are, unsurprisingly, carnivorous.”

Ro took a moment. “I can’t even watch Shark Week.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “What is Shark Week?”

“Something I will never be scared of again.” She clenched and unclenched her hands, then shook them out.

“Okay, we need to make a plan and put it into action right away. I don’t see any way that you can stay here, Uldamar.

Not if we’re going to make this work. You’ll have to go back at least long enough to tell Anyka that I’ve agreed to the meeting. ”

“I may have to go back for longer than that,” Uldamar said.

“No, no, no .” Gabriel sat back. “Sparrow, you cannot go to this meeting. She means to kill you.”

“I know that. But she won’t know I know that. And we’re going to use this meeting as a way to finally put an end to her, at least as queen of Malveaux. And, if it goes really well, we should be able to imprison her in the very place where she hoped to watch me die.”

He glared at her. “And if it doesn’t go well?”

Reality settled over Ro as she answered him truthfully. “JT becomes king.” She stared at her hands before making eye contact with them again. “Between us—and I mean that, this goes no further…”

They both nodded.

“I don’t think he’s ready for that. It’s a huge responsibility.

One I don’t want him to have to bear just yet.

The day will come, years from now, and when it does, he’s going to be an incredible king.

But right now, I want him to enjoy his youth, learn everything he can, and hopefully find the right woman. That’s enough.”

Gabriel’s eyes held some compassion. He had a daughter, after all. He had to empathize with what she wanted for JT. “But going to this meeting? When you know what’s at stake?”

“That’s exactly why I have to go.” She smiled at him. “I know you don’t want me to. You think I really want to go? I don’t. But this is an opportunity to deal with Anyka once and for all. We would be foolish to waste it.”

“Do you have any ideas about what you want to do?” Uldamar asked.

Her stomach growled again. She ignored it. “Not yet. Have either of you been to Tenebrae?”

They both shook their heads.

“Know anyone who has been?”

Gabriel looked at Uldamar. “Denwood, maybe.”

Uldamar seemed stumped. “There must be someone. The place is staffed with men from Summerton and Malveaux, men who have chosen to do the job. They are well paid, but it cannot be enjoyable. We might find a man in the village who’s retired from that work.”

“That would be good. I want to know the layout of the place, anything that can help, really. Also, I want to talk to Denwood. In fact, it’s time we bring him in concerning Uldamar taking Nazyr’s place and Nazyr being in the holding cells, if he doesn’t already know.”

Gabriel stood. “You want Denwood in your office?”

“No, bring him here. Let’s get lunch sent up, too. Anyone else either of you think we should include in the planning of this?”

“If you require magic, you will need someone to take my place,” Uldamar said. “I cannot stay too much longer.”

“You have someone in mind?”

“Yes. A woman, Ecclesia Skyforge. She was the Second Professor of Magic for years.”

“Was?”

“She left court when her husband died. Her grief was overwhelming, and with the lack of a king on the throne, she felt no duty to stay. She was a powerful mage then; I see no reason why she wouldn’t still be.”

“Do we not have a Second Professor of Magic now?”

“No. Her position was never filled.” Uldamar shrugged. “Again, with no king…”

“Right,” Ro said. A lot of things had been left undone with no king, something Ro had figured out not long after she’d become queen.

“I will send word to her, if you like. See if she has any interest in returning.”

“That would be great. Please do that. And thank you.”

He bowed his head. “You are most welcome.”

Gabriel and Uldamar got up to leave. Gabriel addressed her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can with Denwood.”

“Wait.” She took a few steps toward them. “Uldamar, are you leaving for Malveaux after you send for Ecclesia?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ll be able to leave until you give your official word that Nazyr is allowed to do that. The guards would only stop me.”

“Hmm. Good point. Okay, I’d better get Posey to write up something for you to take back to the barracks so you can get your horse. I’ll have a guard go with you, too, just so it’s as official as it can be.”

“That should do it.”

“But not until you have some idea of what the plan is. I don’t want you going into this blind.”

“Neither do I, my lady. Lord Nightborne and I will talk on our way.”

He and Gabriel left, leaving her alone.

She went to the balcony to stare at Malveaux once again. Anyka wanted her dead.

What an evil woman. Ro glared at the kingdom in the distance. “You are not going to get what you want.”