The Queen's Garden

Cypress

The Queen sits in her normal seat at the chair closest to me at the round table. Her advisor, Elody, sits to her right. The other seats are filled with the king or queen of the six other members of the Seven Kingdoms: the brown-haired King of Oakwood, our wooded neighbor to the north; the tan dark-haired Queen of Eremus, our beach-filled neighbor to the south; the ivory-skinned green-eyed Queen of Aloca, the partying capital in all the Kingdoms; the brawny Warrior King of Acies, the militaristic country east of Eremus; the blonde King of Gratius, the technologically advanced kingdom of the southern-most point of the Seven Kingdoms; and finally the cold King of Gelus, the mountain filled country at the northern-most point of the Seven Kingdoms.

The scene is so normal as they discuss plans for the future of the Seven Kingdoms over a warm meal I can feel myself relaxing. King of Gelus's booming laughter fills the room, rattling the large windows I stand beside. Aside from Elody and myself, only the leaders are in the room, with the large oak doors barred from the inside to keep out prying eyes.

My mind begins to wander, despite my years of training to remain vigilant. It turns to the only friends I've ever had: Ivy, the curvy seductress, despite the fact we were only teenagers; Sage, the thief that never met something he couldn't break into; Lily, the brilliant computer expert who could hack her way into anything; and Rose, the youngest of our group yet the deadliest with her knowledge of combat. I wonder, for the millionth time, where they are and what they've been doing after we were retired fifteen years ago.

A tiny red dot flits past my vision. Before I could so much as twitch, the dot stops between King of Acies's eyes. The glass shatters deafeningly beside me and blood sprays the wall behind the king. Time slows down as screams fill the room. That infuriating red dot moves to the King of Gratius. Blood sprays from him as the screams covered the sound of the next shot.

"Get down," I yell as the dot moves to Queen of Eremus.

I launch myself across the table to try to get her out of the way. Pain tears through my side, white-hot for a moment as I land on the other side. Queen of Eremus's eyes are wide as they stare vacantly up at me. Blood blossoms from her chest, streaming out steadily.

I curse and look around. Three of the Seven are dead, Elody is cradled in the Queen's arms, staring at nothing as blood flows freely from her chest. Queen of Aloca is beside her, watching fearfully. Four casualties. The number makes my stomach roll but also infuriates me.

"Your Majesty, are you injured," I ask, crawling over to her.

Pain radiates from my side and I look down at myself.

"Cypress! You're hurt," the Queen gasps as I register the hole in my side.

"Damn," I mutter. "The bullet must've gone through me to get to the Queen of Eremus."

"Is she-" the Queen breaks off with half a sob.

"Dead. King of  Acies and King of Gratius, too," I tell her.

I flip the round wood table up as a barricade between us and the window. I wave at King of Gelus and King of Oakwood to crawl over to where we are safer. King of Gelus grabs King of Oakwood by the collar and drags him across to where we are.

"What is happening?" King of Gelus demands.

"An assassination attempt," I say bluntly. "A success for almost half the people in the room."

"What do we do," Queen of Aloca whimpers.

"I think," Queen begins, taking a steadying breath.

Our eyes fall on her, but hers are on me. I stiffen, knowing full well what she's going to suggest, but not wanting to steal her moment from her.