Page 21 of Kill the Queens
“I wouldn’t say I’m a fan but I know magic. Unless they’ve got good reason to do it poorly, warlocks always do good work. I purchase grimoires almost every time I go to market or find a nice shop. Fuck, I’ve got a grimoire in the back.” He pointed to the back of the wagon.
There was the faintest smile on Shelby’s lips as he sunbathed and listened to the conversation. Ace smiled when she caught the ghost of happiness on his features.
“Do you know what I think is happening?” Petu lowered his voice though there clearly wasn’t anyone around for miles.
“What?” There was a nervous flutter in her stomach.
“I think the queen is dead.”
Shelby sat upright and turned to look down at Petu. “What?” His voice was hoarse. He cleared his throat and waited patiently for Petu’s answer.
Ace’s leg was really bouncing now. She couldn’t stop fidgeting as the little nervousness gave way to a greater dread.
Petu coughed a laugh. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the unease in Pasia. Are you not sick of these queens? They’ve been on the throne for only a year and there are people who wish the Fae would rule once more. I don’t know about all that, but at least the Fae weren’t actively killing people by the dozens. They mostly killed on accident when they got carried away with the Impelling. I think Queen Sienna has been assassinated.”
Petu leaned into Shelby who quickly shifted to put space between them, pressing him into Ace’s side as she tipped towardPetu. “No one saw the royal caravan leave the castle. There are so few guardsmen on the streets too. The few I talked to had no answers but repeated that they were loyal to all four queens. Well,” he smirked a little, “three now.”
“That could all be hearsay.” Ace waved a hand.
The wagon rounded a curve in the road. How many people had guessed at Queen Sienna’s death like Petu? Ace was wondering the same thing herself, even if the gods had confirmed it. Could gods lie?
Ramdon laughed somewhere in the back of her consciousness. That couldn’t be a good sign.
The more she got to know Ramdon the more she wondered if he wasn’t the quiet mischief god she thought he was and more of a meddlesome troublemaker. Not that she didn’t mind some trouble now and again, but the last few weeks of her second life had given her more than enough trouble to last forever.
When the road straightened back out again there was something lain across it that at first Ace thought was a shadow. Petu had fallen quiet as she leaned forward and squinted. The closer the wagon came the clearer the shadow was becoming. It wasn’t a shadow or even a tree.
It was a woman. A lovely woman by the looks of it.
Black curls cascaded over her shoulder and pooled on the ground around her face. There was a thick pearlescent headband shoved behind her curling bangs. Her large doe eyes were closed, her body relaxed. Her lips were a shade of ruby that Ace had only thought women who could afford makeup or grimoires to alter their looks could have, but the rest of the woman’s face remained makeup-less.
She wore a simple white blouse that was almost spotless except for dust along her back where she was stretched out across the road. Her blue skirt had fallen around her legs soperfectly it could have very well been staged. A thin orange scarf was tied at her waist too, with several small charms dangling from it. Her feet were bare.
The feeling in her gut twisted and turned, stabbing her like an invisible knife. This didn’t feel right. Why would a girl just be lying in the road? Maybe she wanted to get run over?
“HEY!” Petu shouted.
The woman didn’t respond.
“Maybe I should go check her pulse?” Ace asked meekly. They couldn’t very well sit there all day staring at the body.
Shelby angled himself toward her. “I think it’s safer for you to stay here in this wagon.”
Ace was already climbing down from her seat. “We can’t leave her there and I don’t see either of you getting up to do anything about it.”
“Ah, let the girl go. Dead bodies give me the heebie-jeebies.” Petu shivered again.
“Who says she’s dead?!” Shelby asked.
Ace crept toward the woman. She looked at the road for any signs of a struggle. There were footprints from the edge of the road to where she now lay. Perfect little outlines of the woman’s small feet. She let her attention drift up into the woods as she came to a stop at the side of the girl.
Birds called to one another and the breeze tousled the leaves of trees and bushes alike but there weren’t any signs that could help Ace identify what was happening. She nudged the woman with her boot.
“Hey. You alive?” She looked coldly at her chest watching it rise and fall. She squatted, though the muscles in her legs protested the movement. “Well, she’s breathing so we know it’s not a dead body.” She hollered back to Shelby and Petu.
“Try and wake her up!” Shelby called.
“No, my next move was to take a nap next to her.” Acescoffed. “Obviously, I’m going to try and wa—”