The Rogue Lady

Chapter Thirty Eight

     Hey guys! Another question, is the story going to slow? Am I giving too many details and too much back story? I like to have a bit of it, but I don't want to bore you with it. Of course, this book is already finished so that won't change, but I am still working on the second book. Your answer can influence me =)

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     “The first reason is one I can see clearly now; it’s kind of hard not to,” Lucian started, his eyes flitting from me to the others and back again. He looked nervous for some reason. “My dad has become completely power hungry to the point of it being an unhealthy obsession. He locks himself up in his quarters most of the time, doing some sort of research for the Queen. He hardly eats or sleeps; I honestly think it will kill him sooner or later.”

     “What does your mother have to say about it?”

     He rolled his eyes. “You know how she is; in her eyes, he can never do anything wrong. She doesn’t say anything to him, she doesn’t tell him to take a break and eat something. And whenever I try to snap him out of it, she always tells me to leave him alone and go make myself useful. I mean, she tells me to make myself useful when all she ever does is watch my dad slowly lose his mind. I know it was wrong what I did in the beginning, supporting my dad and all, but I have been trying really hard to get him to change his ways. When we got word that you and…” I shot him a glare and he changed his sentence with a sigh. “When we got word that you had been locked in the dungeons, I knew that things would eventually go back to the way they were before. I know we were never friends, but that doesn’t take away the fact that I know you; when the Queen locked you up, I knew it was only a matter of time before you got out and would do your own thing. Now that you are here, I’m even more convinced that soon everything will go back to the way things were, and I don’t want to see my dad end up in a dungeon cell when that happens.”

     “But it obviously didn’t work.” Eric guessed, speaking for the first time directly to Lucian. The Lord’s son looked at the magician before dropping his head both in shame and sadness. “What do you mean when you say things will go back to the way they were before?”

     Lucian’s light blue eyes went to me, silently asking me what to say. I decided to answer in his stead so that I would be sure he wouldn’t slip up. “What Lucian means,” I started, getting Eric’s full attention as his gray eyes switched to me, “is that the way this Kingdom was ruled before will be the way it will be ruled again. And I know that William hasn’t even begun to think about what will happen after the Queen is no more, but do you really think he will want to rule? Not just everyone can do it. Ruling a Kingdom, ruling a city and leading people into battle are three different things. William doesn’t have that kind of knowledge. Neither does the Queen, in fact.”

     “Hence why we have this huge problem right now,” Lucian finished, “She has no idea what she is doing. I doubt she has even begun to realize that she is slowly ruining the Kingdom.”

     “I doubt she even realizes how lucky she is that we haven’t been invaded by our lovely neighbors yet,” I added. “I’m surprised, it’s as if Valilith is in hibernation,” I mused thoughtfully. It was no secret that our eastern neighbors wanted to get back the land they had lost to us four hundred and eighty years ago; so it was indeed strange they hadn’t jumped at the occasion yet.

     “And you know how?” Bram asked sarcastically, judging Lucian with his eyes.

     The young noble didn’t seem to care though and instead sneered, “Of course I know how to rule a city; I have been raised to rule Blackwalls one day. Nobles raise their children so that one day they can take over and rule, the same as peasants raising their children so that they can work the land.”