Page 26 of Scourged
“I may be old, Lady Visseau, and my magic may be all but gone, but I have a few tricks left to me still.” The old queen turned, gesturing to Ciana with a pale, splotched hand. “Come. Sit with me.”
Ciana obeyed, her rage now replaced by interested confusion. She’d never really interacted with Ryenne before, not beyond the few shared moments with Mariah and the others of Ryenne’s court. Ryenne was also absent from any governance meetings, leaving most of Ciana’s dealings, however fleeting, with Ryenne’s ladies instead of the queen herself.
Ryenne settled on a marble bench beneath a rich green frond, the shading dappling her pale gray hair. Ciana sat hesitantly beside her, twisting her hands in her lap as she stared at a pile of golden stones stacked by the spiraled trunk of a tree several feet away.
They sat there in silence for a long moment, Ciana daring hidden glances beneath her lashes at Ryenne. The queen was still, her blue eyes misty, gazing across the courtyard at nothing.
“I have been doing much thinking, these past several weeks. About my reign … and about how it shall end,” Ryenne said after what felt like an impossible eternity.
Ciana’s hands paused their anxious twisting. She slowly turned to face the queen; her shock written across her face.
“I don’t think I understand … Nothing can happen to you until there is a coronation, right?” Ciana hadn’t been the best in schooling—far from it, actually—but she remembered that there was some final, secret ceremony that happened at a new Queen’s coronation, some last transfer that conferred all Qhohena’s magic and carried the old queen to the afterlife.
Ryenne smiled sadly. “To my body, yes. I will linger on this earth until Mariah has made her seventh bond and is ready to ascend. But the formal transfer of power is not what I speak of.” She inhaled deeply. Her hands shook, brushing across thecrushed velvet of her gown. “All of this … this entire situation we now find ourselves in. It is not what I planned, what I foresaw, but perhaps I should have.” Ryenne ducked her head, a curtain of grayed golden hair falling around her face, but not before Ciana caught what gleamed in the edges of her ocean-blue eyes.
Tears. The queen was crying.
Ciana hesitated.
For one fleeting moment, one in which Ciana was nothing more than a scared little girl afraid of the big world that had tried so hard to break her, she thought about running. It was what she was best at.
Then, the image of her best friend, her queen, leaped into her mind. The picture of Mariah on the Winter Solstice, pressing her bleeding palms to the panel oflunestairbehind the throne, bridging ropes of silver-gold light from twin pillars together to form a dazzling display of power and magic. The feeling ofallumethrumming through the earth, a knife slicing into Ciana’s palm, her own blood feeding the beautiful, cacophonous magic.
Ciana reached out a hand, resting it gently atop Ryenne’s. The queen stiffened, and with a shuddering inhale, straightened her shoulders.
But she did not wipe the tears from her eyes.
“All of this. The Royals and their reluctance to give up power, Ksee’s rejection of Qhohena’s will, Mariah’s capture, the falteringallume, the Kizar pirates playing their games … all of it is my fault. There would not be such strife if I had simply been strong enough to hold on to my power all those centuries ago. But I was not, and now here we are. A Chosen stolen, our lights and wards failing, our people in danger. Mariah’s reign shall begin with blood and pain, and it is all my fault.”
Ciana was silent for a moment. Not that she disagreed with the queen’s words; she would never voice the thought aloud, but from the second she’d heard from Mariah what Ryennehad done with her power, she’d felt betrayed and furious and shocked.
But Ciana had known that information for a long time now. Had been able to dwell on her feelings and think through what it truly meant.
“You know,” Ciana began, her hand still atop Ryenne’s. “A few months ago, I might’ve agreed with you. I would’ve told you that thiswasall your fault.” She inhaled deeply, expelling the air through her lungs. “But now … now I think it’s more complicated than that. I think whatever is happening, whatever led to Mariah’s kidnapping and the failing magic and the arrival of the pirates, has been brewing for a very, very long time. I don’t think the propensity of men—and some women—to take things they don’t deserve was born overnight. This is a malignancy that has festered for … well, maybe even since Xara’s time. Hidden, but still there, just beneath the surface, waiting for a chance to burn its way out.”
Ryenne shifted her gaze to Ciana as the young woman spoke, a curious expression spreading across her face. Ciana blinked once in surprise at the queen’s attention.
“You have known great pain in your life for someone so bright.”
Ciana started, her lungs freezing with her shock. She’d only told the stories of her past to three people: Mariah, Delaynie, and Sebastian. She didn’t believe one of them capable of sharing that history with Ryenne, but …
The queen chuckled. “Relax, Ciana. I do not know the details of your past. But I can see it—feel it in you. And the way you speak about an evilness that has always lurked beneath the surface … I have lived enough life to know when words are spoken from personal knowledge and not mere observation.” The queen turned to the sky. It was still day, but the sun wasbeginning its descent towards the horizon, shifting into the late afternoon.
“Mariah needs you. Even the Chosen of a goddess has her limits, and I worry what might happen if she reaches hers.”
Ciana followed Ryenne’s stare to the sky. “I want to find her. But …” She swallowed. “But Sebastian …”
“Let me guess. That Armature won’t let you leave the palace.” The queen turned. “They mean well. They are Marked, trained, and Selected to be protectors. But sometimes, there are things more important than our safety, and they struggle to see that.” Her blue eyes flashed. “Don’t be afraid to disobey. They can defend the city; you must find your queen.”
Ciana liked the sound of that.
Chapter 10
The temporary war room in one of the many palace conference spaces smelled of coffee and sweat and frustration.
“I told you: if we can convince one of the wealthier merchants to use a few of their ships, we can sail out to the Kizar fleet and surprise them?—”
“Which merchants? Do you really think any of those greedy oafs would let us use their precious vessels?” Matheo snorted. “You’re brave, Ryland, but be realistic. Even if we garnered a few ships, what then? The Kizar fleet is larger, faster, and better equipped than any Onitan ship. They’d sink us in a matter of minutes—even with the element of surprise on our side.”