Page 12 of Enchanted Queen

“Well, aren’t you lot just helpful,” the driver spit, none too kindly.

“Bart,” the other driver warned.

“Believe it or not,” Miles snapped, likely beyond tired of the man’s negative energy having had to sit by him this long, “we are here to help mend things between our countries. And we do not know anything of your culture either, but we are at least not pretending otherwise. You do not know us. We do not know you. Yet you had us pegged as dishonorable before the first wheel ever started rolling.”

I gave Dex a slight nod and he hopped down. He’d switch places to give Miles a reprieve from the man.

“Oh please let me sit by our driver, Your Grace,” John offered. “I’d love to take in the terrain.”

I gave him a nod as well. I was jealous, though I knew it wasn’t my princely place. I wanted to scan the trees and keep looking for these animals, or “pets” as my father had always rudely called them. Yet if they were bonded to the Enchanted of this land, then weren’t both weakened by not having that sort of connection anymore? And surely there were far more creatures that roamed this massive country than there were Enchanted.

Emric gave me a playful nudge as he came to stand beside me.

I gave him a smile. “Are we there yet?”

He laughed. “Soon enough, My Prince. Today, we hope! No stream or tree can deter us.”

Four hours later, though we were all feeling ready to never see a carriage again, after passing a long stretch of rolling grasslands, our first glimpse of the castle came into view.

The white stone of the castle sprawled across a green hillside, a long gateway extending from it, dropping off to jagged rocks below. It was massive, arching into the sky much like the castle I had grown up in, but the most immediate difference, at a glance, was the turrets. There were four massive turrets, one reaching farther into the air than the others. I wasn’t sure if they were lookout towers, but they seemed to be integral to the castle design. They were not added on as an afterthought, there was intention there.

I had read in a book before we left that Halikaara meant “embrace danger.” Quite honestly, I thought that was the most excellent castle name I had ever heard of. Now that I was seeing it with my own eyes, I had to say that she lived up to her name. This castle exuded power like I imagined most did, but also an undertone of danger.

“That gateway would be an excellent time to kill us,” Emric whispered.

I shrugged. Any one of us could use our magic to carry us back up and away from the rocks. Or catch us at the bottom. “They could try, yes; I daresay it is just to intimidate.”

John nodded his agreement with me. “We have arrived at least. Let’s get across that death inspiring gateway and go meet the queen.”

CHAPTER5

Three days.

Thunder rumbled off in the distance, and judging by the clouds out my window, a decent sized storm was heading in the direction of the castle. I typically loved the rush of a storm, the chaos of thunder and lightning, but this time, I felt annoyed. For three days we had now been at the castle with absolutely no audience with the queen. We had asked. I had written a letter every day, and yet, we did not meet with the queen. We were not given a luncheon, nothing. Just heavily guarded and left to our rooms and told not to roam the castle. For our own safety.

I was beginning to wonder if the queen was just going to wait it out until the last day of our week-long stay and then finally see what we needed.

Though I could appreciate a well-planned out insult, enough was enough. How were we supposed to help them if they were not even going to acknowledge our presence?

Our rooms were in a wing of the castle which did not have much traffic, likely their old foreign dignitary rooms. Just like in Keld, there was no electricity. Fortunately, we had basic plumbing for the toilet. And though the rooms were immaculate and decently sized with comfortable beds, it felt an awful lot like we were being caged. Watched and caged.

The question was, were they protecting themselves from us, or us from them?

Late last night, Archer had arrived after speaking to a few castle workers. He was the only one who was allowed to roam more than the floor we were on, and even then, his steps were limited. He informed us that if we wanted to get into the queen’s good graces, we should talk with someone named Amory.

I woke this morning with determination flowing in my veins. No more letters that would go unanswered. I would find this Amory. If the queen wanted nothing to do with us, I would make Amory see the seriousness of why we came. I couldn’t mend the rift between our countries if I wasn’t even allowed to leave my room. And though I did not wish to start a war either, I felt after three days of just sitting here, I had already shown an abundance of patience.

So I opened the door to my room, where Emric, John, Dex, and I had been game planning. I again wore my jacket and vest Bernadette had picked out for my first meeting with the queen.

As soon as the guard saw me, he asked, “Let me guess, you request an audience with the queen, much like every morning here?”

I waited to respond until I was closer, knowing that my height would tower over his. “No.” Normally I was cordial and smiled. Not today. Enough was enough. “I wish for an audience with Amory.”

“Amory?” he repeated. “What do you want with her?”

I gave him a tight enough smile that he stepped back a step. “If your queen would like to continue to blatantly ignore our presence here, I would like to speak with someone else. I am here to help.” I leaned in and squinted at him. “Do you realize there was a blackened lake in Wylan that we recently managed to return to clear?”

It was taking a shot in the dark. I assumed the way our forest punished my father was the same way my father had punished the other countries in the realm. Poisoning water sources.