Book one in "The Reign of The Flame" series
"If she became queen, she would be the end of us all."
A disinherited princess and a kingdom on the verge of ruin.
The birth of twins were once a joyous occasion in Vequera but in the year 602 C.E, it was...
VALIA STARED AT MALVOLIA AS SHE SPOKE TO MARY AND KOA QUIETLY.
She was informing them of their journey to Helell, but she excluded the part where Valia planned to kill the high lord. Valia didn't want them to know until he was dead. She knew they would try to stop her and Malvolia understood her concerns. "How are we going to get there? We have no ship." Koa asked concerned. He turned to Valia before looking back at his mother.
They were in Mary's dining room. It had been a month since Mary told her about the fight she had with her mother and about what Zeohr had given her. The ability to freeze time. She could only hold for a certain amount of time. She had only done it a few times since finding out and she asked her uncle about it. Kaius told her it was an ability that hadn't been since in over four hundred years. The last recorded Rathmore to have the gift was Alamae Rathmore. Alamae was said to be blessed by Zeohr. Unlike the flame, the gift would only be seen every few hundred years. "King Aslan has gifted us a ship." His mother explained with a slight pause.
Valia tapped her fingers on the table with shaky hands. She didn't want to admit that she was terrified of going to Helell or to even think of killing the high lord. But she did not have the luxury of being afraid. Malvolia told her of Nikolai's plans on killing their mother and her death was even closer than she thought. Coming up with a coherent plan took longer than Valia thought, and she banged her head on the back of her chair. If she was to kill the high lord and become the high lady of Helell then she would need to be better. She needed to be strong. The nobles will test her to see if she was worthy, but she could handle that. The other thing that bothered her was the crown of thorns the high lord often wore. The poisonous thorns that made up the entire crown would seep into a person's body and instantly kill them if the crown deemed them unworthy to sit on the throne. Was she worthy? She asked herself that a lot.
"When are we leaving?" Mary asked in a quiet voice.
Mary's emotions ran through Valia, and her eyes softened. She was scared as well. "Tomorrow." The word sunk in and Valia sighed as she ran her hands over her face. She could feel their eyes on her. She could feel his eyes on her.
"We will travel to Farwater then take a boat through Lotus Cove and we should be in Azoz by the end of the month. It will take longer for us to actually get to Helell, so we will stay with the king for a few days then we will go to Helell from there. We should be in Helell before the winter months begin." Malvolia explained.
Koa nodded. "What of everyone else?"
"Your father will stay here with the girls and Drystan will come with us," Malvolia replied.
Valia knew Mary was not upset with Drystan for destroying Zeohr's temple. It wasn't his fault. He was just overwhelmed but she still seemed to be in a daze from it all. Like she wasn't completely there. She had lost a piece of herself. Valia tried to talk to her about it but talking wasn't going to rebuild the temple. "While in Helell, we must bid by their rules and customs." The priestess stated with a stern face, making sure she looked at all of them.
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