'YOUR MAJESTY, YOUR MAJESTY! CATHERINE! Cat!'Leseach shook the pale, white lipped woman by the shoulder before snatching her hand back in shock. The woman gave no response, staring blankly ahead while tears trickled down her cheeks. The shoulder Leseach shook felt like ice. Her feet feeling uncharacteristically heavy, Leseach staggered back before twisting, racing for the door. She stopped short at it, taking a calming breath then opened it and locked eyes with Aldeern.'Could you please have Lieutenant Rashid fetched. Her Majesty would like to speak with him.'The guard inclined his head as she shut the door, her pulse racing. The lies fell from her lips with an ease that caused a rush of shame, a cringe rippling down her spine.The spacious quarters felt hauntingly empty. Leseach leaned against the door, mind whirling at the outcome of her words.A soft knock made her stand and turn, pulling the door open as Rashid pushed. His grey eyes calm until he regarded her face. With a n
SLEEP DIDN'T RELIEVE THE OVERWHELMING anxiety. It followed me into my dreams, faces merging with other faces, shadows everywhere, making me jumpy when I woke, mistaking furniture for hidden men. Panting with panic after waking from another horribly vivid yet bizarre and confusing dream, I flared my energy out, eyes searching the large room. All I saw was my own startled expression in the mirror, with Audi alert to my alarm beside me, crying as she too peered around the room. I shushed her before Leseach could hear, the Northerner sleeping in an adjoining room. Her permanent guilty expression was more than I could bear at the moment.It wasn't her fault. I knew that. But I hadn't the strength to deal with my own emotions at the moment, let alone hers. The last couple of days were a blur, I only moved from this room to the bathroom and when I did, Leseach always had food in my room by the time I got back.I missed the girls' something terrible. But there was no way I'd allow that s
THE DOUBLE THROATED SNEEPS SUNG out their warbling melodies, the last of the dawn singers, when Kassie woke. Though she'd only got to bed just before midnight each night since arriving back, she still woke early on this, the fourth day.Lying in bed, stretched out across the mattress, Rumal already up and out, she ran through the list of things she wanted to achieve today and added to it the items she hadn't ticked off yesterday.With a sigh she thumped her hand against the mattress, annoyed at not having more of this sorted already.A happy 'mirrup' made her smile, as Lucky, sleeping on one of the platforms of the cat climbing frame her youngest brother had made, made her daring leap across to the bed. Tail swaying as she purred loudly, the cat lowered its head when she reached Kassie, bunting its forehead against her chin.With a chuckle Kassie snatched the cat up in a cuddle, hugging her, rubbing her chin over her head like Lucky liked. Letting go a moment before Lucky went to b
WALKING BACK FROM CAT'S QUARTERS, Elena flicked her fingers in and out in irritation. Cat performed perfectly again in the Council meeting. Cold, polite, to the point. Such a vast transformation from the chatty, curious, and questioning young woman who had a tendency to nod off. Three days had passed since Elena realized Cat was still here, yet she refused to give Elena even the slightest information about whatever the argument she and Alek had had. Elena found out quickly enough that Alek had escaped to Delanta to lick his wounds and that in turn caused more irritation.That boy! He needed to learn to hold his ground with emotional matters! It didn't matter how well he fought in battle, when it came to a kingdom, to a realm the size of Elion, you needed to hold your head in emotional matters.Reaching her own quarters, she gave a curt nod to the guards at the doors as they opened them quickly, shutting them behind her.Standing in her own space, hands on hips, she growled. Pacing
EXITING THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, I TOOK the long way back to my quarters, needing to stretch my legs after the hours' long meeting. It did strike me as impressive that I hadn't been tempted to nod off even once. I felt almost professional, having held my own, challenged the Councillors and finally got one thing put in place.The council meetings almost seemed more like debates for the members, not really focused on results rather than scoring points against each other in front of the devoted audience of other councillors.Walking along, letting another sigh out, I tentatively reached out to Alek's energy.The flat blankness of a shield made me tilt my head back, blinking away tears as I increased my pace.Running up the turret helped to resist the tears. It was hard to run while crying. Nodding to the guards I walked swiftly to my quarters feeling my face begin to crumple and hands tremble.Aldeern looked about to speak to me but changed his mind, flinging the door open as I rushed i
SIX DAYS, KASSIE GROWLED TO herself while marching along the hallway to the room she and Rumal occupied. Nothing from her, but he's still here!Enough was enough. She'd been patient. Waited. Waited. And waited.Now was the time for Cat to confess just what the hell was going on. Kassie sniffed indignantly when the voice in the back of her mind reminded her of the promise they'd all made not to disturb each other.It's her fault I'm breaking it, she's the one who should have had the decency to get in touch when her husband vanished.Nodding in agreement with herself, she put on an extra burst of speed, shoulders square as she eyed the door she approached.A glimpse of movement, of curly grey and brown hair, out the left window made her pause then turn to peer out.There in the garden walked her mother, with a strange almost tentative waltz to her step. Bemused, Kassie stepped closer to the frame, keeping against the wood so not to be noticed as she looked to see what had her mothe
WITH A RISING SENSE OF anticipation, we moved between cantering and trotting, making what felt like fantastic time. The last bits of scattered forest gave way to grasslands, alongside which a river in flood raged. I watched it while clinging tight to the saddle, seeing bits of wood wash past, a tree trunk stripped till almost bare. The occasional rumbling thud rang out, vibrating through the earth when loosened boulders crashed along, unseen beneath the water. We followed the river for some distance, occasionally having to skirt higher up off the track as the river ate away at it. Ahead of us, heads bent against the driving rain, the cavalry soldier stopped and Rashid leapt from his back.The sense of urgency in his movements, looking like he searched for something, spurred Mhelyn to catch up. Moments later I slid down and shouted to Rashid. 'What is it?''The bridge!' He roared the words over the dense rumble of water rushing past, pointing at what looked like large lumps of roc
THE ROCKING OF THE WAGON put Loi into a sleep like state as she dozed on the top bunk in the full sun. Time passed pleasantly and she daydreamed away, occasionally slipping into real sleep then back. The creaks and groans of the wheels didn't seem as loud as on the way up, or perhaps it was because they didn't have the twins, and their cousins, with their fractious attitudes and clear dislike of distance travel in a wagon. Loi personally loved the experience. Minus those four girls.'How you doing up there?' Sabyn called from the other end of the wagon, stretched out diagonally across the bunks on the other end, propped up with a couple of pillows as he read.Rolling onto her stomach and peering his way with a dozy smile, Loi asked sleepily, 'How do you not feel sick?''What?' Sabyn's eyebrows lifted in surprise.'Reading, with the swaying?'He paused, considering. 'I hadn't really thought about it. I can read almost anywhere, even griffon back though Tomiar is likely to tease me