Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,105

itched to reach up and latch the windows, but instinct whispered that Gunter wasn’t here to harm me. He was telling the truth.

So I left the window unlocked but closed the drapes. I jumped back into bed, scooping up Shiksa on my way. I returned my sword to its hiding place and buried myself and my foxling beneath the covers.

It was hours before I finally found sleep. I couldn’t help but fret over the new information Gunter had shared.

People wanted me dead.

Taelon had asked Gunter to watch over me.

I found myself smiling despite my circumstances. When I closed my eyes, it was Taelon I pictured.

For the first time in as long as I could remember, I did not dream of the dead. Instead, I dreamt of Taelon and our time on the cliffs.

29

“What would you do if you were allowed to be queen?” The question came from the Aramore king, Henrik Garstone.

It was the first time it had been acknowledged that I might be who I said I was. Henrik was about the age my father would have been. My uncle seemed to favor him, which made me instantly distrust him. But his question seemed honest. Open.

A good answer eluded me, so I let instinct guide me. “I would strive to rule as my father did. And his father before that. Like all the one hundred kings that came before me. I would rule justly. Fairly. With a firm hand but a listening ear. I would work to bring prosperity back to the realm and unite the nine kingdoms in single-minded purpose once again. Finally, I would eradicate the threat of the Ring of Shadows.”

Ravanna of Blackthorne leaned forward, resting her slender elbow on her knee. Her lipstick was black today. So black that it distorted the color of her teeth and skin. “Those are very big words for such a tiny thing.” I held her gaze. “But what if the Ring of Shadows aren’t inclined to leave? What if instead of allowing you to win a war you haven’t the first clue how to fight, they destroy your armies instead? They take your united kingdom and all the well-intentioned men that put their hope and trust in a child and burn them to ash? What then, Queen of the Realm? When you have no armies left to fight your bloody battles, how will you protect the nine kingdoms?”

“My armies will not fall,” I declared, but my words felt hollow and weak. Her questions were cruel, but fair. And I could not help but feel her same doubts. Still, with as much bravado as I could muster, I said, “The armies of the realm fight with honor and dignity. I have seen the Ring of Shadows. I have seen how they torment women and children and attack helpless villages that cannot protect themselves. If they are as skilled in combat as they claim, why do they not bring this war to Elysia? They are not as strong as they appear. And yet every day that we do nothing to stop them, they grow in numbers. We must step in soon or it will be too late. We must end this now before our armies are outnumbered and our villages are nothing but corpses and ash.”

“Where have you seen them?” King Maksim from Barstus demanded. “How have you witnessed their destruction and lived to tell about it?”

I had walked myself into a trap and realized it too late. Keeping my voice strong, I attempted to avoid the holes in my story. “As I already explained, I journeyed from Heprin. Over the last couple months, I saw a great deal of the eastern realm. Enough to understand the danger the Ring of Shadows poses.”

Tyrn made a sound in the back of his throat. “Yet you still have not explained how you witnessed the Ring of Shadows’ danger and stand here today. Alive. The details of your journey are still vague. Confess all or we shall be forced to conclude Conandra without the sum of the facts.” He gave me a pointed look. “Which does not bode well for you.”

I wanted to roll my eyes but I didn’t. Conandra had been called first thing this morning. Matilda had rushed into my room in a flurry of panic. I had been exhausted from my lack of sleep the last two nights.

Tyrn had changed the time every day. Either I wasn’t prepared for it to start, or the day had dragged and dragged before they