“Are you feeling sorry for yourself?” Teyla rose to help her.
“I’m… tired and overwhelmed. Do you think there’s any chance that Ravoran and Fograth will be so delighted that we’ve gotten shielders back up around all our islands that they’ll acknowledge my wondrous right to rule and return to their previous lives of their own accord?”
“No. You’re going to have to deal with them, one way or another. At least you’ve got a dragon.” Teyla pointed to Wreylith, who was already returning.
After closing the door to seal the chamber, Syla and Teyla climbed out and onto the dragon’s back for the quick trip to the fleet. The ships had sailed out beyond the barrier, probably to put distance between themselves and the dangerous clouds, andSyla had the opportunity to sense the tingle of flying through it. She closed her eyes, telling herself to be pleased. This was a major victory, one she’d been working toward for weeks—after all she’d endured, it felt like months, if notyears. Even if she wasn’t able to get the throne back, she’d done her duty to protect the islands from dragons and scheming dragon riders.
Wreylith flew toward theFanged Whale, but they spotted Major Hixun waving from the deck of another ship. Was that the one Ravoran had been riding on?
Captain Vonla stood next to Hixun, and their faces were grim. Syla worried something had happened while she’d been gone. Had lightning strikes killed crew members?
Take us down there, please,Syla said to Wreylith.
The dragon banked and alighted on the wheelhouse of the ship.
When Syla climbed down, Hixun met her and said, “We have a new problem, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, good. I was afraid we’d solved all our issues and the rest of the week would be a bore.” Syla snorted since the ominous clouds wreathing the volcano were clear in the background beyond the ship.
Not smiling at the bad joke, Hixun pointed toward a door leading belowdecks. “Normally, I wouldn’t take you to see this in person, but as a healer, you’ve presumably seen death.”
“Often, yes.” Syla sighed and followed him, though she didn’t want to. Just because she was familiar with death didn’t mean she wanted to see more of it. She wanted to sleep, preferably without adding more fuel for nightmares.
“I’m not a huge fan of death,” Teyla called after them, “so I’ll wait up here.”
Syla waved an acknowledgment. Vonla trailed after her, silently assigning herself Fel’s duty as Syla’s bodyguard.
A soldier stood outside an open door to one of the officers’ cabins.
“Have your men found anything yet, Gerig?” Hixun paused to ask. “Anyone willing to confess to being responsible?”
“Not yet, sir. It must have happened in the dead of the night. Nobody has reported seeing anyone slip into the cabin, nor did anyone hear anything over the rumble of that weird storm.”
“All right.” Hixun stepped into the cabin, then made room for Syla to follow. “We figured you’d want to see, Your Majesty, and thought your magic might tell you something, so we haven’t moved the body.”
“I…” Syla trailed off asthe bodycame into view. By then, she’d guessed that someone had been murdered, but she hadn’t expected Lord Ravoran to be lying dead on a rug, his throat slit in the same efficient manner as that of Teyla’s father. By an expert. “I see,” she finished softly.
Hixun and Vonla gazed at her. Expectantly?
“I don’t think… My magic can’t tell me anything about this. It doesn’t give me visions about what happened in places or anything like that.” Syla remembered the weapons platform carrying her mind to Vorik’s camp, and admitted that had been similar to a vision, but it had been of the present, not the past. “You’ll have to do an investigation, Major. Or assign someone to do one. It’s a serious crime to murder one of the island lords. The perpetrator is not only supposed to be executed but, further, if the perpetrator’s family owns lands, they’re taken back and given to the crown.” Syla didn’t care about any of that and mostly mumbled the information because it came to her tired mind.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Hixun exchanged looks with Vonla. “I was wondering… Well, given the circumstances, that Lord Ravoran was threatening to back the usurper, would this be treated like… I mean, as queen, were you planning to leave him in that position? As island lord?”
Syla hesitated. “If this had happened after I got the throne back, I might have removed him from his position, but he is—was—still island lord as of this time, so I think the law would punish the perpetrator to the fullest extent. And aside from that, he’s a Kingdom subject and was murdered. That’s not something we can allow to go unpunished.”
“Yes, of course, Your Majesty.” Hixun bowed to her. “I’ll make sure the investigation continues.”
“Thank you.” Syla stepped outside.
The soldier in the corridor had left, and she leaned against the wall and removed her spectacles to clean the lenses and gather herself. Did it mean anything that Ravoran had been killed in the same way as Teyla’s father? Or was it a coincidence?
Inside the cabin, Vonla murmured, “That’s what I expected.”
Syla was surprised she caught the soft comment, but her hearing had been improving since she’d bonded with Wreylith.
“I just wasn’t sure if she would want the investigation,” Hixun said in an equally soft tone. “He was an ass to her, and it crossed my mind that she…”
“Shedidn’t do this,” Vonla said dryly. “Even if the queen wielded blades, she was over on the island all night.”
