Page 75 of Scourged
Once, a long, long time ago, she’d wandered the grounds of Khento, a delicate blonde-haired girl with pigtails and ocean blue eyes. Most of the year it was so cold there in the north, but it had been her home. The place she’d grown from girl to woman, before leaving to become Queen.
Before she’d made any of the mistakes that had all but doomed her country. Mistakes that now had theirallumefaltering, had Kizar Pirates in their bay for the first time in centuries. Mistakes that forced another young woman through so much agony endured within the same hallowed halls where she’d once known joy.
Even with her body failing, the way she’d failed Onita—the way she’d failed Mariah—made her sick.
A hand squeezed hers, and she tilted her head to meet Kalen’s warm brown gaze. His face was sagging and aged, handsome skin now worn with wrinkles and pockmarks. But he was still beautiful to her, everything she never knew she needed. Even after these centuries, he never ceased to surprise her, to make her laugh. To bring her light when she felt most lost in the dark.
“Your thoughts consume you today, Rey,” he whispered to her, voice cracked and hoarse.
She squeezed him back, shuffling forward. “Just nervous. To see her. To see what I did to her.”
“You did not do this to her. This was all the doing of those lords.”
“I know you always mean well, Kalen,” she said. “But do not lie to me. Not now.”
He didn’t respond. Only squeezed her hand again.
They turned down the final curve to the queen’s suites. The corridor—one Ryenne knew very well, as she’d called it her home for many, many years—smelled of fire and wind as if several hearths had been lit, and then all the windows opened to the mountain air.
Their slow steps took them to just outside Mariah’s doors. Matheo stood there, posture relaxed but eyes alert. Ryenne disentangled herself from Kalen, putting more weight on her cane, giving the young warrior a soft smile.
“Is she awake?”
Matheo nodded, returning her smile. “Yes, Your Majesty.” He turned, knocking twice on the door.
“Mariah, Queen Ryenne is here.”
“Let her in, Matheo.” The feminine voice was muffled behind the wood. It was a voice that once was so strong, so vibrant, and full of fire and life. But now it was dull, carrying an emptiness that twisted Ryenne’s gut into further knots.
She steeled herself. She knew Mariah well, about as well as she knew herself. The last thing she would want to see was pity, even if it wasn’t directed toward her. So Ryenne shoved down her guilt and pushed through the carved gold and white doors.
The foyer was much the same—white and clean, with the glass doors to the parlor study on the right. The study was dusty and unused, which was a bit of a surprise to Ryenne, given the excitement that had danced in Mariah’s eyes when she’d first seen these rooms those many months ago.
But when Ryenne turned back to face the main living area of the suites, when her eyes rested on a woman with a forest in hereyes, she realized that the similarities between this woman and the one who had looked at the study with light in her expression ended with those eyes.
Mariah’s hair was still near black, but what once were long strands spilling down her back was now a blunt bob, just brushing the tops of her collarbones. Collarbones, which were now much too prominent, made clearer by the hollowness of Mariah’s cheeks, the paleness of her skin, the gauntness of her frame. The girl who once was a force of her own, a creature exuding as much strength and power as the men who surrounded her, was now no more than a waif. A shell of her former self.
And it was all Ryenne’s fault.
The click of Ryenne’s cane was the only sound as she hobbled forward, Kalen steady and patient at her side.
Ciana stood rigidly beside the dining table, gaze darting between Mariah and Ryenne. She remembered her decorum at the last moment, dipping her head to Ryenne and dropping into a lackluster curtsy.
It was that same protectiveness Ryenne had seen the day of the Choosing. The same protectiveness that knew, innately, that Ciana and Mariah were destined for each other, in the way only best friends could be.
Ryenne’s heart squeezed as she remembered the first lady of her own court. She’d left Ryenne, many long years ago, but Ryenne still carried her memory with her all these centuries later. That was another person Ryenne was eager to see once her journey on this earth was complete.
But when she looked at Mariah, she knew it would be a bit more time before her successor would be ready to take that final step.
Ryenne swallowed heavily.
“It is good to see you, Mariah.”
Mariah’s throat bobbed. “It’s good to see you too, Ryenne.”
Ryenne. NotMy Queen. Tears pricked behind Ryenne’s eyes. Despite everything, all this girl must have endured, she was still, at her core, the true queen in that room.
And they all knew it.