Page 22 of The Final Battle

Aldred flinched a little, knowing I was directing that at him. “It shall be done as you’ve requested, your Majesty.“

“I do value your thoughts, Aldred but when it comes to this battle, we need to be prepared for all the worst moments,“ I pointed out. “If the village gets attacked, or heaven forbid destroyed, I need to know that our people will live on. Those in the hideout will have the chance to either fight if they can, but if it looks as if all is lost, then they need to run to the Dragon Lands where they will be safe to hide until they can carry on. We’ve done it more than once and I refuse to let this noble group of people be wiped extinct. It might not be the outcome we want to hope for, but I don’t have the luxury of thinking things might not turn out so bad.“

“Our queen is right,“ Eleazar interjected. “The one thing our people have always done is prepare to have those that carry on.“ He paused letting that sink in at the table before turning to me. “How many are you taking to Creisal?“

Taking a deep breath, I pushed up from my seat and stood looking at the men before me. “You are in this room because you are a trusted member of my inner circle, or you have an alliance with me. That being said, I will be clear that nothing that is said in this room will be spoken of outside those doors to anyone. Not your wife, not your children, and not each other when you think the coast is clear. The Lost King has already wormed his way into our people before, and that of every other kingdom. I refuse to give him any more information to use against us.“ Everyone nodded and muttered their agreement.

“Queen Catharine was manipulated by the Lost King during a visit to a friend in Utros three years ago. He’s been having her send supplies, and I’m sure information, along. What doesn’t make sense to me is the fact he didn’t take Creisal when he already had a strong inside member. Every time I come back to this one inconsistency of his, it makes me believe that there is something hidden in Creisal that he doesn’t want us to find. This is yet another reason that I want to go there. In answer to your question, Eleazar, I want to bring all able-bodied men, women, and dragons with us. I don’t think the fight will ever get to Sheca. It doesn’t serve him any purpose now that I’m the one connected to the magic that was locked within the castle.“

Aldred shot to his feet, slamming his fist on the table. “You would leave us here vulnerable with the weak, young, and elderly?“

“Yes and no,“ I answered, holding his irate gaze. “You will continue to have the members that are guarding the lands, which is also why I want them doubled. They will be the first to know if the enemy is coming your way. At that point, you can choose to fight or run to the hideout where the hundred dragons will be waiting. I’m not going to abandon you like the previous king, but I will not bring the fight to these lands. Sheca is an amazing defense, but to have a battle here would put us at a disadvantage, trapping us in this valley back to the mountains and front to the sea. Our women are just as skilled at fighting as our men. The elderly might not make the journey into battle, but I have no doubt they can defend their homes, or do you have such little faith in our people? I will also be creating a shield to protect this valley the best I can, to deter dragons laying waste to it.“

Aldred seemed to deflate after hearing my words, sinking back into his seat. “I’m sorry, your Majesty, I never should have accused you in such a manner. While I’ve never shared the same sentiment as some of my brothers about us being abandoned, I just couldn’t help but believe for a moment it was going to happen all over again.“

“You’re forgiven, Aldred, times of war bring out sides of ourselves we never knew were there,“ I commented. “A year ago, I was sitting in my bedroom as a noble lady, praying that I would one day be accepted into Norden’s court so I could get away from my mother who beat me. Then I was given the strength and skills to stand up for myself, giving me the strength to never be a victim again. That is what I want for our people, I don’t want them to be victims of this war born out of greed and pain.“

Taking my seat, I took a long drink from my glass of wine before moving on. “King Thomas, I don’t know why I think this, but is there something your wife brought back from that trip to Utros?“

The king rubbed his chin, thinking about my question, and slowly shook his head. “Nothing other than silly women things like dresses, shoes, and other frivolities.“

“What about is there a place in the castle, city, or surrounding area that she goes but never lets anyone else but a select few come with her?“ I pressed.

A flash of recognition shone in his eyes as he snapped his fingers. “We have a summer house near the sea, and she goes there from time to time to get away. The children aren’t even allowed to come with her most of the time, it’s just her and her personal maids.“

“Is that something that started to happen after she came back from Utros?“ Abbott asked, catching on to where I was going with this.

“Now that you mention it, I suppose it was. Before it was every other time she would go alone, otherwise the children always went, since they loved the place. It’s been awful for them to be denied enjoying time there. When they were first born, we would go as a family, letting them play in the water. I became too busy and couldn’t get away as easily, so she took them herself,“ King Thomas explained. “Then when she came back from Utros, we fought so much more that she claimed she needed space for herself. Our fights were always blamed on me feeling threatened by her trying to step up and take more on. While I can’t argue that the matters we fought over the most were things I didn’t agree with, and didn’t see us needing to do, it was never about me not wanting her help.“

I gave him a reassuring smile, as I saw how much that seemed to weigh on him. “You’ll just have to keep reminding yourself that she wasn’t her normal self. She was being controlled by the Lost King. The reason that I ask you that is because I believe she might have something in her possession that the Lost King doesn’t want us to find. I have no idea what it might be, but it’s important enough to him that he refuses to let anyone get close to it, even himself.“

Everyone seemed stunned by this revelation, but to me it’s the only thing that made sense. Why else would he control the queen, use her for supplies to maintain his army, but never move for her to take Creisal from the inside out? Queen Catharine could have easily won over the people and removed her husband from the throne over the past few years. The only reason that he wouldn’t do that is because he couldn’t risk drawing attention to something.

Chapter fourteen

Paxton

Everything Cassarah was saying made sense. While I was a spy for Creisal, I saw lots of strange things and reported them or kept them safely written down, hidden in various places to use at a later time. The spymaster was an idiot and no matter how we explained things, if the king didn’t ask for it then it was never shared. We knew there was an army amassing between Errit and Utros but it was too far away for the spymaster to see any threat to the kingdom. Yeah well, look at us now, dealing with the problem we told him about.

The rest of the meeting was dull and boring going over supplies, crops, and other normal life things that a queen had to deal with when ruling a country. This is why I’d been so good at being a spy, being on the move searching out the things people missed or just didn’t see happening in plain sight was where I excelled. Not sitting in boring meetings.

As for Cassarah, that woman had a brilliant mind that could see everything all at once, connecting the dots to things I don’t think I’d even consider. To hear her stories of growing up and how her mother used to treat her made me furious. Why the fuck would they want to cage such a person into a role of doting wife and mother, when clearly she was meant for something more?

That’s what I didn’t get about court life. I’ve watched it over the years in Creisal and none of it makes sense. The mercenaries have always maintained that women have every right to be as involved as the men. In many cases, they were better in certain areas than we were. Royalty and nobles just couldn’t see past their pedigree long enough to choose what would be best for the kingdom as a whole.

“Thank you all for your time, I will confer with King Thomas and the healers to see when it might be best for us to leave for Creisal,“ Cassarah announced, snapping me out of my doodlings on the paper she’d given us.

Dayson peered over at my paper and snorted. “Is that what you think the Lost King looks like?“

Lifting up the page, I took in the creepy form I’d drawn of a man with multiple arms, sharp teeth and crazy eyes. In the background was a dragon that was looking more like a melting stick of butter, but I thought it fit.

“Well, you knew who it was right away so I must have done a good job,“ I quipped, flashing the big man a grin.

I still didn’t feel like I truly blended with this group, yet things were getting better. Cole still hated me and Abbott seemed to think I was an insensitive prick, but the others managed to tolerate me fairly well.

When things had gone down this morning with Cassarah, I was utterly shocked to have Gavin of all people willing to play my game. Then he’d turned around and done the same thing to Zan. I had to give that man more credit, he had a savvy mind to drive our woman wild and get others to play along. While watching wasn’t a major turn on for me, pushing people out of their comfort zone was. I craved knowing just how far I could push someone to see them discover another side of themselves. That is what I thought I was doing, until I quickly learned our queen was veracious in the bedroom.

None of us compared notes about our time with Cassarah, but you hear things in passing and when I found out her and Cole fucked on the beach… Well, let’s just say I had some mad respect for Cole.