A Queen Conflicted (Alys Book #3)

Chapter 3

"This is terrible news, and bad timing."

Endolynn was outside in the gardens, reading a letter that had just arrived from Arkala. It had been brought out to her by Zaiden, who was pacing in the thin snow close by.
She reread the letter, wishing the words to change the second time around. King Chalon had written to inform them that his only daughter, Princess Zari, had gone missing off the coast of Marniac. The ship she had been on was intact; only she was missing. They assumed she had fallen overboard and drowned, lost to the sea.
Endolynn sighed deeply and shoved the letter roughly into a pocket on her cloak. She had just sent a message to King Chalon and Prince Jatova the day before proposing a new marriage alliance, and then this letter had arrived the very next day.
"They are going to think we are incredibly insensitive."

Zaiden sighed himself, echoing his sister's concern.

Endolynn looked down at the snow, willing it to shout an idea back to her. Of course, nothing came.
"I will send a message by pigeon right away," she said as she turned back towards the palace, "We can at least send our condolences and the more formal letter with the alliance proposal will arrive at a later date."

"Yes, yes," Zaiden agreed, falling into step beside his siter as they walked back, "What horrible news."

Endolynn agreed. To lose a child was awful. But to not even have a body to bury? Endolynn shivered despite the protection her warm cloak provided. She had never liked the sea. Her own navy was highly neglected and had not been attended to due to her fear of the sea. Another thing she needed to add to the very long list of things that needed her attention.

***

Weeks went by, and with every new day came new challenges for Endolynn.

Most of the people who had been sent invitations had replied with their answers, but the two that Endolynn were the most concerned about did not come. Both Prince Jatova's and King Dastrehan's responses would have big impacts on her and the kingdom of Balear.
Things were still frosty between Endolynn and the twins, but they had made efforts to have meals with Endolynn and Zaiden on occasion.
There were rumors that a large group of raiders that had broken away from the neighboring kingdoms of Catesh and Tarkamites was surfacing in Marniac. There was no way to know how accurate the rumors were, but they still concerned Endolynn. It may not be her kingdom that was being directly affected right now, but two of the kingdoms involved were allies of Balear. That made it Endolynn's problem too.
To make matters even more complicated, Royce had made some kind of deal with King Barda, Catesh's king. From what Endolynn had gathered, Royce had handed over a significant portion of Balear's harvest from the valley prairies, but no one in the palace seemed to know why. Endolynn had sent letters to King Barda three times, but had heard nothing back.

It made Endolynn extremely uneasy for many reasons. One of which was that when King Dastrehan had sent a small army to retrieve Prince Leoford from his castle, Leoford escaped. Those loyal to him that Dastrehan's men had brought back said he had fled to King Barda's palace.

The idea of Leoford scheming with King Barda disturbed her greatly, especially when she did not know how Royce fit into the picture.
Endolynn rubbed her eyes as she took a break from reading the lengthy report she had been given. Ivo had travelled to the Country Palace, the summer palace that was located in the prairies of Balear, to pick up the report on how the villages were doing for food.
As Endolynn had expected, the report was grim.
"See if we can spare some of our grains and preserves from our own stores here in the palace," Endolynn set the report on her desk and looked up to Ivo, "Same goes for the summer palace."
Ivo nodded that he understood, "I will leave in the morning," he bowed quickly and left.
Endolynn leaned back in her chair and sighed. They just had to get the villages through the early spring. Things would be better after the next harvests. And none of it would be going to Catesh this time.
She wished she could push off Zaiden's wedding and her coronation until later in the year, but she knew that would not go over well with her advisers nor her people.
A guard burst into the study, flushed and out of breath.