“I won’t allow it, Lochlan.” Queen Faolan perched on her throne in the empty throne room. It was barely light out, but Lochlan had called them all here to discuss the threat on Iskalt.
Brea wasn’t sure why she was there. Yawning, she perused the morning buffet, sad to see the absence of Eldur Brew. No matter the time of day, the throne room spread offered the best food to be had in all of Eldur. “Ooh jelly popovers.” She helped herself to several of her favorite pastries, wondering if she just went back to bed if anyone would miss her.
“It is none of our business.” Shocked, Brea’s attention turned to the queen. How could she say such a thing to Loch, knowing how he felt about his people and his absence all these years? It occurred to her that her mother might not know him as well as she thought if she expected him to sit back and watch his uncle turn Iskalt into another Gelsi prison.
“It is my business, your Majesty. I cannot allow my people to suffer any more than I could stand by idly while the people of Eldur suffered. I will leave for Iskalt today, with or without your help. I have nothing but the deepest of respect for you. You have been the mother I’ve needed all these years—and you always will be—but I can no longer turn a blind eye on my kingdom.”
“And what about Alona?” Faolan asked. “Our forces are working hard to bring the Gelsi barrier down. We have to focus on bringing her home, Lochlan. I would have you and Finn stay close to act the moment we receive word the barrier is breaking.”
“That’s not fair,” Brea interjected, a popover halfway to her mouth. “You can’t … take the Iskalt blood from his veins any more than you can give him fire magic. So how can you sit there and tell Lochlan to ignore the suffering of those he feels responsible for?”
“You overstep, Brea.” Faolan frowned. “This does not concern you. I don’t even know why you were summoned at this early hour. Go back to bed, darling.”
“No.” Brea met Lochlan’s pleading gaze. This was why he’d asked Rowena to send her to the throne room. Only Brea with her human nonsense would have the gall to speak to the queen in such a way. “I mean no disrespect, your Majesty, but if you were a guest in Iskalt and learned your people were being slaughtered here in Eldur, would you ignore it?”
“Of course not, I am queen.”
“And Lochlan is their rightful king. He isn’t a child anymore, as much as you might like to think of him as the son you never had. Please, don’t ask him to choose between you and Alona who are his family, and his people who are his duty. It’s cruel.” Brea took a step back, thinking she’d pushed her mother too far. “I mean, respectfully, your Majesty.” She bobbed a curtsy for added measure.
“She is right,” Lochlan said. “I will leave for Iskalt today, but I would prefer if I had your blessing, if not your help.”
“I would sooner see you safe at home, here in the palace.” Faolan sighed. “But I know the weight of the responsibility you shoulder, Lochlan. I cannot become directly involved in the unrest within Iskalt. I will not require my troops to join you, but you may ask for volunteers. That is the best I can do for you, my son. Please do what you must and return home to us safely.” Faolan stood to dismiss them.
“I volunteer as tribute!” Brea stepped toward her mother’s throne.
“What?” Faolan looked at her like she might never understand her daughter.
“No.” Lochlan looked at her like he might throttle her on the spot.
“You need me.” Brea lifted her chin in defiance. “I have fire magic. You’ll need me during the day when your magic is dormant.”
“I have Finn for that.” Lochlan crossed his arms over his chest. A fleeting emotion showed in his dark blue eyes, but it was gone before Brea could decipher it.
“So, you’re going to march into Iskalt—a land where everyone uses magic at night, with a bunch of useless troops—and Finn—who can only use magic during the day?
“Hey.” Finn scowled at her. “I think that was an insult.”
“If you have to think about it, it was.” Brea left her half-eaten popovers on the table. “You need me, Lochlan. I don’t have a time limit on my magic.”
“You know, she’s probably right.” Finn shrugged. “She’s not trained, but she’s better than nothing.”
“Hey! I can do stuff.” At the very least she could scare people with her erratic magic.
Finn raised a brow as if to say he could give as good as he got.
“No. End of discussion.” Lochlan turned toward the queen and gave a curt bow. “Thank you, your Majesty. I will keep you updated with our findings in Iskalt. Finn, we leave before noon.”
“I’ll be ready.” Finn gave Brea a half-hearted shrug, snagging one of her popovers on his way out.
“Try to get some sleep, Brea, darling,” her mother said. “It’s still much too early to have bothered you with this unfortunate business.”
“It’s okay. I prefer it when people keep me in the loop with what’s happening around us.” Brea loaded up her plate with pastries and headed back to her room. She had some packing to do.
“If you are going to steal one of her Majesty’s horses, at least steal a good one.”
Brea whirled around, cursing herself for making too much noise. “Master Arturo, I uh—didn’t want to er—take a horse you might miss.”
“I take it you’ve a mind to follow Master Lochlan and his troops?” Arturo moved to unfasten the saddle she’d just settled onto her mount. An aging mare with a feisty temper if not much speed. “You’ll need to move faster than old Red here can manage. You’ll take Sassa. She’ll get you where you need to go in a hurry.”
“Thank you, Master Arturo.” She helped move her saddle bags to the young white mare, eager to put as much distance between her and the palace as possible. Brea couldn’t put a name to the feeling. She just knew she had do something to help, something that wouldn’t make her feel so useless all the time.
“Take the north road, and you should catch them before nightfall. They’ll make camp at the plains just south of Loch Sol.”
“Don’t tell—“
“I never saw you.” Arturo smiled, slapping Sassa’s rump and setting Brea off along the trail up to the orchard where she’d find the north road. “Don’t get lost, my Lady.”
“Thank you!” Brea called over her shoulder. It felt good to let Sassa set the pace as they raced through the orchard. Lochlan and Finn left more than an hour ago, and she had a lot of ground to cover if she was going to catch up to them.
Lochlan spent the morning asking for volunteers and managed to gather a troop of three hundred Eldurian soldiers to accompany him into Iskalt. If he’d taken an extra day or two to plan, he probably could have left with twice that. It made Brea nervous to think of what might lay in wait for him in Iskalt. For all they knew, this whole thing with the dead villagers might be a trap, and he was walking right into it.
“Come on, girl. Let’s see what you can do.” Brea urged her mount into a full gallop once she reached the north road. A column of dust rose into the sky along the horizon. That cloud was her destination.
An hour into her trip, Brea was convinced the sun was going to kill her. The dry dessert air parched her throat, but she had precious little water with her. Just enough to get her to Loch Sol.
At the top of the rocky rise, Brea hoped she’d find some sign of shade where she could rest and give Sassa a drink of water.
“What are you doing, woman? Are you trying to make me crazy?”
Brea closed her eyes at the sound of his voice. “How did you know I was following you?”
“You kicked up more dust than three hundred soldiers. I figured it was you, or Faolan found some more volunteers for me.” Lochlan stood from his seat among a scattering of boulders at the bottom of the hill she’d just crested.
“And which one of those is your preference?” She guided her horse over to his.
“A few hundred soldiers, or one inept girl with erratic magic? Hard choice.”
“I won’t go back.” Brea took a sip from her canteen. “You might as well face it, I’m coming with.
“Just try to stay out of trouble.”
“Who me? Contrary to what you might think, I am not a trouble magnet.”
Lochlan guided his horse away from hers.
“What are you doing?”
“Moving away from the lightning that is sure to strike you at any second.”