I was woken from a very much

  wanted and needed, deep slumber by a knock on the chamber door. The

  first few raps I had decided to ignore. It was most likely because I

  was sleeping through breakfast and it was just a servant sent to

  check to see if I was needing to be awoken. I felt in such dire need

  of actual rest that I did not care if I went a bit hungry or even if

  I missed the first bit of time allotted for training, as queen I

  could bend, break, or make up my own rules whenever I saw fit.

  Typically I was inclined to

  follow the regiments and advice of the experts, but it was a choice

  on my part and it could be revoked whenever I chose. Ana probably

  could use a break anyway, I knew that she was powerful and skilled

  enough to likely not be physically exhausted, but I was certain she

  had to be emotionally and mentally exhausted after every stunt Feros

  had pulled.

  After several rounds of

  knocks, whomever it was was being quite bold and not getting the hint

  and leaving me be and when Mistra began to stir I gave up to go

  answer. It hadn’t been long since Mistra had crawled into bed next

  to me. She had spent all night studying and needed all the rest she

  could get.

  “Feros,” I said with a low

  growl once I saw his face, “you’re already not one of my favorite

  people and now you’re waking me up in the morning too? Haven’t

  you done enough recently to think it’s best to stay well clear of

  me unless you have something important to talk to me about?”

  The fiend nodded with an

  irritating smile that told me he knew something that I did not. “I

  would never dream of interrupting your beauty sleep if it were not

  important, and I assure you that while you might be irritated about

  being woken up early now, you would be much more upset if I did not

  tell you what I’ve discovered right away.”

  With an irritated huff through

  my nose, I looked him over, he did seem a tad more fidgety than

  normal though it could have been his needing to break in his new

  body. He hadn’t been keeping any one body long enough these days to

  get used to them, even though they always looked the same to me. I

  was mildly curious about where exactly these bodies were coming from,

  but I had a sneaking suspicion I would regret finding out. Everything

  about Feros turned out to be more complex and disturbing than what

  you would expect on first glance.

  “Please, may I come in? Time

  is of the essence.”

  “I would rather not wake

  Mistra, she just fell asleep,” I explained.

  “Ah I am sorry, but I feel

  it would be best if we talk where it’s least likely we’re

  overheard and besides, I’m sure she’ll want to know all this

  first hand as well,” he pressed.

  Giving in, I opened the door

  more and beckoned him inside, then took a quick glance down each end

  of the hallway. No one appeared to be around and by the very low

  level of light coming through the windows it was likely very early in

  the morning and no one was likely to have been awake to skulk around

  a corner.

  “This is perhaps some of the

  most exciting news you will receive in a while,” he said. He began

  to pace in front of the bed, looking to me with a huge smile.

  Closing the door, I turned to

  him and inclined my head to indicate for him to continue.

  “I’m aware that you’ve

  had a bit of trouble with some spies regarding the Church so I’d

  thought I’d be helpful and do some digging to try to find some new

  contacts.”

  “You did what?” asked a

  very groggy Mistra. She sat up straight in bed, her ashen hair a halo

  of fuzz around her face, she hadn’t slept long, but she had slept

  hard. “How did you know that even happened? Mari and I have been

  the only ones involved and I know she would never trust you enough to

  tell you anything about it. The only person I have told is Toria and

  I definitely know she would not trust you with that kind of

  information either.”

  “Are you implying that I’m

  not trustworthy?” he said in fake shock, holding a hand to his

  chest.

  “You know damn well no one

  trusts you, stop trying to avoid answering my question: how did you

  know?”

  Mistra was a bit cross when

  woken before she was ready.

  “I have my ways,” the

  fiend said slyly. “Let’s just say that some of these walls can

  tell tales. That’s a discussion for another day, however, today we

  need to discuss what exactly I have uncovered thanks to my selfless

  act.”

  “You’re hoping that I end

  up forgetting this, but I definitely will not,” Mistra muttered.

  She bundled the blanket around her and stood up, sleepily shuffling

  over to the chair in front of her desk to take a seat where she could

  better scowl at the fiend.

  “Out with whatever it is

  that was so important you had to tell me right now,” I demanded.

  “Well, skipping a bit of

  juicy gossip to get to the best part, you should know that your

  little brother has legally had his rights to kingship… postponed,

  for lack of a better term.”

  “Postponed” This was an

  intriguing bit of information. “How is that possible? I am assuming

  he was officially named heir apparent, as soon as I killed our father

  he should have ascended the throne. He should have been sitting on

  the throne for a couple months by now.”

  “Ah, but a sort of deal had

  been struck before your father’s untimely passing.” The fiend

  grinned from ear to ear like he had just told the joke of a lifetime.

  “Apparently he did not anticipate his own impending death and made

  a deal that essentially gave the Great Church control of the kingdom

  if he were to die with some conditions. It really was a messy deal

  that I assume your father would get what we wanted from the bargain

  and then he would contest to get annulled, unless he really hated

  your little brother.”

  “I’m sure that’s not

  it,” I said dryly, “being a boy was all that was required to have

  him loved and adored. I find it very hard to believe that he just

  signed away that usurper’s power so carelessly. He was always

  preoccupied with the idea of his male heir and continuing the male

  bloodline.”

  Anger boiled up from the very

  depths of my stomach and I felt the urge to kill the already dead

  man. While I had been a bit preoccupied with the threat of the Church

  and lost aunts looming, my deep, seething anger had never lifted or

  lessened. I still wanted my revenge and my kingdom would be mine or I

  would die clawing it back into my possession.

  “Perhaps something else was

  at play that even I do not know quite yet, but I am very certain that

  he signed the agreement. I believe he got the young princess he so

  desperately wanted to retrieve from you in the agreement. In fact

  that seems to have been the major benefit he was getting out of the

  agreement, I suppose it is possible that he was thinking with one

  head rather than another.”

  I rolled my eyes and let out

  an audible sound of disgust. I knew the creature did not exactly

  exude tact, but the insinuation was particularly disgusting and he

  knew how I felt about that situation having existed in the first

  place. My father had been absolutely vile in his attempt to

  manipulate his way into taking a nearly child bride. Marrying young

  was sometimes done by royals and even nobles, that part I couldn’t

  deny, the precedent had been set long ago, but there was something

  that turned my stomach at the idea of my father marrying someone

  barely out of young childhood whom was on top of it young enough to

  have easily been his great grandchild.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I don’t say this often,”

  Mistra said with a scoff, “but that attempt at a joke was beneath

  even you.”

  “Well it tickled me,” he

  said, smile never dropping. “My point is, the Church immediately

  sent out someone to take the reins so to speak and establish control

  over the kingdom before your brother could complete coronation. You

  see, no one knew outside of your father about the agreement, further

  proof in my opinion that he had ever intention of going back on the

  deal and if coronation were to happen, then it would have been much

  harder for them to swoop in and take back control.”

  “So the Church is at the

  helm and not my brother? That’s what you wanted to tell me with

  such urgency? You must like seeing me in a bad mood, that makes

  everything worse for me. Taking on my rightful kingdom’s army is a

  lot less daunting than the Church and their resources.”

  “I haven’t told you

  everything yet, there’s much more drama that’s unfolded. You see,

  the Church has caught wind of our little fae problem and they’re

  not comfortable at all with the idea of fae essentially being in

  their backyard. The Church has spent quite a lot of effort convincing

  their followers that everything to do with magic, old gods, myths,

  and exotic creatures is all just made up nonsense meant to distract

  the pious from their duty to worship their gods as the only in

  existence. Every time in the history of your human realm that fae or

  something similar pop up en masse, word tends to get around and new

  religions and folklore get created. They want to do as much damage

  control as quickly as possible to avoid much of that happening. It’s

  a dream scenario for me really, I am absolutely delighted at the idea

  of them trying to figure out how to deal with them. None of them, not

  even the highest of their hierarchy, will be able to hold a candle to

  their power. One whiff of someone meddling in fae affairs and they’re

  going to get a very rude awakening and it’s been so very long since

  the Church has had any direct contact with fae that I’m sure the

  dangers have been long forgotten. It’s going to be beautiful

  chaos.”

  “They’re going to be way

  too busy to worry about us then,” Mistra said, her voice had a hint

  of excitement in it. “That gives us a lot more time.”

  “Why would they care about

  us at all then?” The understanding of why this was such important

  news dawned on me. “This is absolutely wonderful news, why are you

  treating it like we need to sneak around and be private with it? We

  should tell everyone and have a feast to celebrate that one of our

  greatest worries is abated for now.”

  “Well, let me remind you the

  part about how your brother had been puppet-ed once more.” Feros

  was building to something big, his rate of pacing was increasing and

  small giggles of delight were escaping him from time to time. “He

  has still not been crowned, the people are now aware that he cannot

  be until the Church gives the okay, and the handlers who were sent to

  manage him have been called away to deal with the fae threat.

  Therefore, your little brother is currently sitting in a castle that

  he technically does not control, exposed and vulnerable. It may be

  pertinent for you to remember that your place in the line of

  succession was not revoked.”

  “If he dies, I am next in

  line,” I whispered in shock. It all sounded too good to be true,

  the events were lining up to be too fortuitous.

  “What about the agreement?”

  Mistra asked. “Wouldn’t that mean that Toria would just be the

  one who had to be cleared by the Church to rule? I can’t see any

  scenario where they would allow that.”

  “They made an error in the

  wording of the official document. It would be a trivial matter to

  prove that the agreement would not hold water if the current heir

  dies before taking the throne. Toria would have every legal right to

  ascend and it would look very poorly for the Church to pursue forcing

  the document to hold, they thrive on the idea that the kingdoms see

  them as fair and balanced, only acting for the concept of goodness.”

  “Too good to be true. I

  can’t believe this is all this simple.” There had to be some sort

  of catch, there always was with Feros. He was good at knowing what

  exactly to dangle in front of you to get the outcome he wanted, like

  dangling a carrot before a mule to get it going in the right

  direction with the cart.

  “It won’t be so

  straightforward, that’s true,” he admitted, “but I don’t

  believe it will be that hard either. I think it’s worth a shot for

  you to go and try, we can leave in secret and probably be there well

  before the Church has even begun to figure out how to approach the

  fae problem.”

  “In secret… again, why are

  we working in secrecy? Rafe will be thrilled to know the Church is

  distracted, it has been all he’s worried for months and months now.

  He would probably send me back in a golden carriage to secure the

  kingdom, my gains are also his benefit.”

  Feros stopped mid pace and

  cast Mistra a serious glance, then let out a deep, rumbling laugh.

  “Mistra, have you not fully impressed upon your queen how

  untrustworthy your father is? I would think by now you would have sat

  her down and really explained how he operates by now.”

  Mistra gave the creature a

  withering look and stood up, still clutching the blanket to her. “Do

  not try that with me.” Her voice dripped with malice. “I know how

  you like to drive wedges between people to help distract from things

  you don’t want people to find out or think on too long.”

  “I meant no harm.” He put

  his hands up in front of him and bowed his head slightly in

  deference. “Let me rephrase to just say we need to consider what

  Rafe may stand to gain from double crossing Toria at this juncture.

  Rafe has actually done a much better job adhering to the terms of the

  Yser agreement much better than I would ever had guessed, he does

  seem to have some respect for the Yser house.”

  “Of course he does, my

  father was the one who established it. He is obviously going to want

  to see it attain glory when he’s the one who set the path to their

  glory into motion.”

  “I agree,” Feros said with

  a nod, then looked to me, “but he also knows that Toria is a woman

  with ambition, more ambition that Evonia ever had. Evonia was content

  to live in the lap of luxury as things were, she saw no need for

  expansion or flexing of her power to saber rattle with the big

  kingdoms. You, you are different, an outlier that I don’t think

  Rafe anticipated, he probably thought that one of her direct

  offspring would ascend the throne, someone she would more directly

  influence and make to be a replica of her.”

  “He has never been anything

  but respectful of me,” I challenged.

  “Has he?” Feros questioned

  with a twinkle in his eye. “He has never yelled, stomped his feet,

  and made thinly veiled threats?”

  It was like a switch flipped

  in my mind, he had acted that way, but he always had and I had just

  accepted it as just how it was. I would never, ever let anyone else,

  monarch or not speak to me like that, so why did I let Rafe have a

  pass? He held the cards, that’s why, he had leverage over me that I

  had never fully processed before and now that I had, I despised it.

  “You’re starting trouble,”

  Mistra growled, “we’re not in a position right now to fix the

  issue, you know that our long term plans involve solving this

  particular problem.”

  “I’m not trying to start

  trouble, Toria knows that acting out against your father right now

  would be suicide. I merely am suggesting that we keep him out of this

  particular matter and perhaps forge our own path so that Rafe isn’t

  tempted to step in and claim the kingdom for himself.”

  “You’re sure he doesn’t

  know?” I asked, mind whirling as I tried to process this new

  perspective. Everything was happening all at once and still being

  sleep starved was not helping. I wanted to be double and triple sure

  that I was making the right choice, but it felt like I also needed to

  make that choice quickly. I didn't know how long this window of

  opportunity would stay open and I would be absolutely devastated if I

  hesitated and missed using it.

  “Not a clue, if we leave it

  will take him a good long while to work out what’s going on, if he

  does at all before we complete our mission. We can have you on the

  throne and ready to command in case Rafe does take rather poorly to

  you doing this without him. Which he probably will, I won't lie, but

  I think it's an outcome you will be glad you ran for yourself and not

  risk being double crossed.”

  I looked to Mistra, who looked

  back to me with a worried expression, but gave me a nod to indicate

  that she was behind me with whatever I decided. It was very, very

  telling that she was not speaking up anymore about the things Feros

  was saying and insinuating about her father. She obviously was very

  much of the idea that he was not the most effective sovereign, but

  she still defaulted to defending him out of familial love.

  “Okay,” I said slowly and

  carefully, weighing my words to make sure this was exactly the path I

  wanted to go, “let’s go usurp the usurper.”