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I lift the cup with one hand and reach for the parchment with the other, continuing through each crisis methodically.
Military patrols for the dryad-infested regions. Water purification experts to Southmark, along with earth users and plenty of water-wielding soldiers. Earth elementals specializing in plants and fire users to assess the blighted crops.
With each order, my voice grows steadier. Each page is required to report back with any additional information so we can change plans as needed. I don’t know if these are the right decisions, but they are decisions. And sometimes that’s what people need most. Someone willing to act when the world is crumbling.
After I’ve taken all the complaints for the day, the room empties quickly. People hurry off to fulfill my orders. Sipping my cold and over steeped last cup of tea, I catch a glimpse of myself in a polished shield mounted on the wall.
Brown hair hangs slightly disheveled over wide hazel eyes and a stubborn chin.
I’m looking the part, if not feeling it.
An unbidden thought creeps in that Sterling is probably flying over mountains right now, discovering ancient secrets, and fighting tangible enemies. Not trapped in…this nightmare.
Ashamed, I push the thought away.
Sterling was exactly who we needed on this journey. And managing a kingdom in crisis is my duty. Tirene needs a queen, not another adventurer.
“Not bad for someone who claims she doesn’t know how to rule.” Bastian walks in, interrupting my thoughts.
Before I can respond, Helene appears in the doorway, Rafe at her shoulder.
They were supposed to be gathering scientist-priests. There’s no way they could have finished that already, let alone gotten answers from them. “What is it?”
Helene glances at Rafe, who appears unusually subdued. “We just learned that a number of the most renowned scientist-priests have gone missing.”
“Missing?” How could such a large group of people go missing? “Since when?”
“Over the past month.” Rafe doesn’t glance away or hide the anger simmering in his caramel-colored eyes. “One by one. Thinking they were isolated incidents, the temple authorities kept it quiet.”
I massage my forehead, trying to ease the building ache. “And they were not?”
Helene tightens her lips. “There are rumors of Devoted involvement.”
Staring at the wall behind them, I attempt to process this new information. Is this genuinely ridiculous, or is this just a normal day in the life of a royal? Fanatics who wear star-marks on their hands and preach about the supremacy of Zeru. And now we have stars collecting tolls on bridges. Missing priests. Temples with doors that lead to nowhere.
I’m struggling so hard to be the perfect queen while the world dissolves into chaos around me.
Perhaps that’s exactly what a queen does. When the kingdom is falling apart, she holds it together. Any way she can.
I inhale another sip of tea, the cold liquid soothing me. “Find out if that’s true. If the Devoted have moved from being a religious nuisance to a national security threat. I want to know where those scientist-priests are and what connection, if any, exists between these incidents.”
Once they’re gone, I start to sag. Then I catch myself. Guards still line the walls. Pages sit just out of sight, waiting for Astrid to call them again.
“Bastian, care to take a walk with me?” He’s at my side before I can finish pushing back the heavy chair I’ve been sitting in for the last few hours. “I need some air.”
And to stretch my body before my legs go numb.
“With my favorite sister?” He gives an exaggerated bow. “Always.”
Once we’re in the hallway, and the guards are trailing behind us, I blow out my breath. “I’m making all this up as I go.”
His mouth quirks up at one corner. “That’s called ruling.”
He startles a small laugh out of me. “Is it always like this?”
“Going from my knowledge of court life,” he gives me that big brother look he’s perfected over the last several months, the one that says he’s older, wiser, and more experienced, “sometimes it’s worse.”
Fantastic.
