Fragile Reign (Mortal Enchantment Book 2) (2 page)

Marcus turned his head sharply. “Do you hear that?”

I listened closely. “Nothing.”

He stood, pointing to the left. “It’s coming from that direction.”

A scream rang out. “I heard that.” I unsheathed my sword.

I ran in the direction of the noise. Pained wails got louder the farther we went. I could tell by the sound, it was definitely an elemental in danger—most likely a woodland fae. When the ground shook, I glanced to the side. Marcus had changed into his hound form. He must have been expecting a battle. I hoped whatever rest I had gotten was enough. My power wasn’t at full capacity, but I could swing my sword. As long as there weren’t too many, we would be all right.

Then we saw the source of the pained cries. Two nasty looking goblins in armor were attacking a tiny tree elf. The elf used his sand magic to shift away their fireballs, but he wouldn’t last long. Marcus let out a howl, knocking all of them off their feet. The elf used our distraction to leap into a nearby pathway. The two goblins tried to run, but they were no match for Marcus. Hounds were the fastest elementals in our court. By the time I reached them, he had both under his paws.

“Since you seem to enjoy picking on small creatures, I thought I’d let my ginormous friend play with
you
for a while.” I smirked, patting Marcus on the head. “I do have to warn you, he gets a bit rough.”

Marcus bent his head, growling.

Beads of sweat trickled down their faces. “Don’t kill us.” One begged. “We were only following orders.”

“Do you know who I am, creature?” I pressed my boot into one of their wrists, forcing the goblin to release his sword. I wasn’t going to take the chance that he might get brave and slice into Marcus.

“Rowan, the deserter.” The other goblin said, swallowing hard.

“If you know who I am, then you know what I do to little goblins that don’t answer my questions truthfully.” They both nodded, appearing too scared to lie. But who would command them to kill members of the woodland court? The fire court currently had no leader. Liana was dead. I needed to know more. I bent, resting my hands on my knees. “I want to know who ordered you to attack the elf.”

In unison, they said, “Our future king, Valac.”

Kalin

After hours of debate, I was ready to scream.

An emergency council meeting had been called every day this week to discuss the unbalanced elements. Every conversation was the same as the day before. Each member of the council expressed their concerns and demanded an immediate resolution. Of course I had no solution to offer. I was only attending the meetings at my father’s request. He asked me to listen to what they had to say and assure them of our concerns, but to tell them nothing of our plans or his condition.

I slumped in my father’s chair, pulling at a loose string on the sleeve of my yellow council robes. Mountain air rushed all around, whipping my hair into my face. The weather had been completely unpredictable. One minute it was sunny, and the next, lightning filled the skies. Air elementals had been spread thin all over the mortal world. Their power stretched to capacity. We did what we could to control our element. Unfortunately, nothing settled the intermitted storms.

“We need to see King Taron,” Jaya insisted, fists clutched at her sides. She had been a member of the council longer than any other.

Tired of listening to the same requests, I stood to make my point. “As I’ve said, he is resting.”

Jaya paced the balcony. From this height, the castle appeared to be surrounded by clouds rather than part of an island. “Our children are being attacked in the mortal world,” she said, as if I was hearing it for the first time. “The fire elementals must be stopped. Our king should lead his army against them before we are wiped out.”

Dad barely had enough energy to lead himself to the bathroom. He was in no condition to wage war on anyone. But the council couldn’t know that. Not now anyway. I had to keep up appearances for his sake. They had to believe their king would return to full power. I needed to believe it too. Dad had been bedridden since we rescued him.

During his capture, he was kept hidden in Las Vegas. Without the protection of Avalon’s veil, he aged rapidly. The man I remember from my dreams appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Now he resembled a mortal in his fifties. To make matters worse, Valac had kept him shackled in iron chains. Poison had slowly seeped into his bloodstream. Our healers removed much of it, but some was likely permanent. Worst of all, his powers had been dormant since his return. I fear they may be gone forever.

I saw the desperation in Jaya’s eyes. She had not heard from her youngest daughter in days. I couldn’t say I fully understood her pain, but I remembered how I felt when Dad was missing. I had to set aside my agitation and be the leader they needed. The leader Dad always thought I could be. I just never imagined that day would come when I was only sixteen.

Facing the council, I made sure I looked in each of their eyes as I spoke. “My father will return to us soon. Every day, I see improvement. But right now, we need to act on his behalf.” I made my way over to Jaya. “The fire court has no leader at the moment, which means these attacks are coming from rogue members. I don’t believe my father would charge into their court and punish many for the actions of a few.”

“But our children—”

I put my hand on top of hers. “We will send more knights into the mortal world. We will do what we can to protect them.”

“How do we know the fire court has no leader? Do you have information you’re not sharing with this council?” The voice I heard had to be Samson. Of all the council members, he had been the most difficult to deal with. I had heard rumors he has been pushing for a no confidence vote to remove me from power. His disgust was clear each time he refused to make eye contact with me.

I turned to face him. “I know the fire court has no leader because their element is out of control. Their situation is even worse than our own. If we truly want to resolve these issues, we should be aligning with them.”

“Align with them as you have with their disgraced prince?” he snickered. “His court is in turmoil, yet he hasn’t bothered to claim the throne. Perhaps he’s enjoying the destruction of his own kind.”

My blood boiled. He knew nothing of Rowan. Of all the fire elementals, he had suffered the greatest loss. Abandoned and mutilated by his own mother, then ostracized by his court. Yet, he returned to try to make things right. Not to mention, he had saved my life more than once. The last thing Rowan would do was watch his court suffer. “Rowan is in the mortal world now, doing what he can to contain all the natural disasters.”

“How convenient,” Samson replied, under his breath. He sat back in his chair with a proud grin. It took everything I had to not punch that smug look off his face.

There was no point in continuing this conversation. I could ramble on for hours and they would still never see Rowan for the hero he is. The best I could hope for was for him to claim the fire throne and find a way to settle his element. Brita, the water queen, told me she had foreseen just that in his future. I had to believe she was right. But the future can always change.

Ariel appeared on the balcony. “Princess Kalin, your father has requested to see you.”

I had never been happier to see her. “Absolutely.” I glanced at the council. The air was thick with irritation. “I believe we can continue our conversation during the next meeting. Hopefully Dad will be able to attend.” Before anyone could comment, I hurried out of there with Ariel right behind me.

We headed down one of the castle’s long hallways. Air inside the walkways was humid. The moment I could no longer hear voices from the council members, I stopped. Tugging at the council robes, I couldn’t wait to get them off. Those things were unbelievably scratchy. “Ariel, your timing couldn’t be better.” I said, letting go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Under my robes were my jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and sneakers.

Ariel leaned against the wall next to me. “Things looked intense when I walked in there.”

Intense could pretty much describe every moment of the day over the last week. I couldn’t leave my room without someone asking about Dad. Even when I was practicing my element, knights would ask for updates. For the most part, I told them nothing. Dad had asked me not to. With the elements unbalanced, the last thing we needed was for the other courts to see us as vulnerable. “They are scared. For my father, our people, and our element.”

“He’s moving around a lot better today.” Ariel smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

She tried to find the positive in every situation. Since Dad’s return, she rarely left his side. Dad had asked that only a few elementals be allowed to see him. People he trusted. None of the council members had been allowed. After he learned the extent of Jarrod’s betrayal, he lost trust in his own council. I couldn’t blame him. Jarrod had been a council member and the leader of his knights. But more than that, Dad considered him a friend. I doubted anyone had ever hurt him the way Jarrod had.

“Does he really want to see me?” I asked.

“No, but I’m sure it would be okay if you want to.” Again, always optimistic.

What I really needed was a break. A long one. I didn’t know how much more I could take. Keeping up appearances while worrying about Dad was eating away at me. “I’ll stop by later. It would be nice to get a breather away from everyone for a while.”

She stared at me as if I had just broken up with her. “Do you want me to go?”

“No. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.” Ariel perked up again. “I’d love for you to stay and talk to me. Tell me what’s going on with you. I’m sick of talking about my problems.”

Ariel leaned her head against the wall. “I took Marcus to see my parents.”

“Oh, juicy gossip.” I leaned to the side, facing her. “Perfect. What happened?”

She lowered her eyes, looking like she was about to cry. “Exactly what I expected. They refused to let me out of my engagement to Aiden. Oh, and they threatened to have me exiled from the court.” Her entire demeanor changed. It was as if someone had deflated her.

I pulled her into a hug. “You will never be exiled from our court. I can promise you that.”

She let out a sniffle. “It’s not just that. They called Marcus a mongrel. They were so mean to him. They made it clear they would never accept him. It was awful.”

I pushed back, gripping her shoulders. “Who cares what they think? If Marcus is the one for you, then you should be with him. You should be with whoever makes you happy.”

“I wish it were that simple.” Ariel said, wiping away tears on the sleeve of her yellow sweater. “I have to think about my younger brothers. If I marry Aiden, I join a family with clout in the court. My brothers are almost guaranteed a knight position. It’s been their dream since they were children.”

Ariel always thought of her family before herself. When I was sure there had been a trap and refused to return to the castle, she walked straight into danger. Her concern for her family was always more important than her own safety. She was one of the most selfless people I’d ever known, which was why the situation with her parents was so unfair. Was she really expected to live the rest of her life unhappy because it was better for everyone else?

“I think it’s amazing how much you care for your brothers, but you also have to think about your own happiness. I believe they wouldn’t want you to be miserable for their sake.” I nudged her side. “Plus,
hello
, your BFF is the future queen. I believe I have some pull in our court as well. And, I would knight them if it gave you the freedom to be with whoever you wanted.”

“I should’ve told you about this a while ago, but things never slowed down—” She turned away as her eyes welled with tears.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing a tissue out of a nearby box and handing it to her. Ariel wiped underneath her eyes. Her emotional reaction turned the volume up on my already frazzled nerves. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

Rubbing the sides of her arms, she said, “My mother heard a rumor. She said it was circulated by someone on the council. They think we’ve been keeping them away from your father because we’re trying to hide the truth of his condition.”

I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter what they think. Dad will recover, and when he does, I will make sure he knows all about this petty rumor.” I sounded a lot more convincing than I felt. On the inside, this was my greatest fear. What if he never regained his power? Would the council support me as their queen? Not from what I could tell from those council meetings.

“Do you really believe he will make a full recovery?” she asked.

“Absolutely.” Yeah, I was a big-ass liar. I needed to get out of here. “Come on, I need your help.” I grabbed her hand and led her farther down the hallway.

“Where are we going?”

“My room. I have to get ready.” All of the anguish I was feeling melted away when I thought about my plans. I tried to hide my excitement. “I’m meeting Rowan at sundown.”

Ariel glanced out the windows as we passed each one. “You better get moving. You’ve probably got less than an hour.”

The minutes could not pass quick enough. In the chaos of the last week, seeing him was all I’ve had to look forward to. When he heard about the damage from the natural disasters, he took off in a hurry for the mortal world. There was no time for discussion, which left too many questions hanging in the air. Are we dating? Does Rowan even want a girlfriend? To say things started off rocky between us would be an epic understatement. We went back and forth so many times it made me dizzy. But somehow, we also got to know one another. He opened up to me about his past, and it felt good to be let in, when I was sure he never let anyone new get close to him. Then everything changed when he kissed me. But what did that kiss mean? I shrugged. “It’s no big deal. It’s not a date or anything. I’m just going to throw on a new pair of jeans and—”

Ariel stopped suddenly, pulling on my arm. I nearly fell on my face. “Kalin, no. You haven’t seen him in over a week. You have to look hot. Give me thirty minutes and I’ll have you ready for the runway.”