Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
“Rebels?” I ask. “Mordeus followers?”
“Interestingly enough,” Skylar says, “they were talking about their king when we were checking out their camp.”
“Learn anything useful?” Kendrick says, rising to his full height and wiping his hands on his pants.
“More of the same,” Remme says. “They think he’s been resurrected and were talking about him touring the court and blessing his followers. Obviously, they hope he’ll surprise them with a visit.”
Kendrick’s eyes flash to mine for a beat, and I have no doubt he sees the fear in my eyes before I can lock it down. “They’re fighting a losing war and desperate for something to believe in,” he says softly, and I know the words are for me.
I bow my head, not wanting him to know how complicated my feelings are regarding Mordeus’s return.
“Are we close enough to them that we need to move again after dinner?” Kendrick asks.
“They won’t bother us if we don’t bother them,” Remme says, “but we should take turns on watch tonight in case any of them decide to look for trouble.”
“How did it work in Elora, before the Magical Seven?” I ask after dinner. We’re all gathered around the fire, and no one seems in a rush to go to sleep. Judging by the way their gazes keep drifting back toward the road, I think they’re still hoping to see their friend. I’m not complaining. The moment they all fall asleep, I’ll be wide awake with nothing but the darkness for company. My body may be exhausted, but my mind never rests, and I’m not looking forward to another night of fighting it. “Who was the ruling family?”
“I see how it is,” Remme says.
I glance his way. “See what?”
“I talk about a time before the Elora Seven and I’m full of it, but Perfect Kendrick tells you there was a matriarchy, and all your skepticism falls away.”
“Aww, are you jealous?” I ask Remme.
“Maybe a little,” he mutters.
Kendrick’s chest shakes with silent laughter. He’s mindlessly whittling a stick with his pocketknife and occasionally tossing the shavings into the fire.
“Given that you’re full of shit eighty percent of the time, I don’t think we can blame the girl,” Skylar says.
“Natan,” Kendrick says, “would you like to answer Jasalyn?”
Natan nods, taking my question as seriously as he does any. “I’ve visited three realms in my years and studied seven, but none has a royalty structure quite like historic Elora.”
“Wait—what?” I shake my head. “You’ve visited three realms? So you’ve been to a realm other than Faerie and Elora?”
“Three in addition to Elora,” he says.
I gape. Travel between Elora and Faerie is difficult, but common compared to how closely the other realms guard their portal gates. “How? You can’t be older than, what, twenty?”
“How is a story for another time,” Natan says. “Do you want to know about Elora’s royalty or not?”
“Yes, please.”
“Before the Elora Seven stepped in and abolished the political system, Elora was long led by a matriarchy. The queen presided over lands that were divided into territories, each ruled by lords and ladies.”
“That doesn’t sound so different than the typical monarchy,” I say.
“It’s not so much the power structure that makes it stand apart,” Kendrick says beside me, “but the way power is passed after the queen’s served her term.”
Natan nods. “Crowns and thrones weren’t passed through blood in Elora. Your mother could’ve been the queen, but you’d have no claim to the throne, and it would be unheard of for you to be chosen as her successor.”
“So how was it decided?” I ask, rolling my shoulders and trying to stretch out the soreness in my back. “By vote of the lords?”
“The oracle would name a child at her birth as the next queen, and she and her family would be moved into the palace and protected until her time to rule.”
“The oracle? They let magic decide it?”
“I suppose you could say that,” Natan says.
“But what about free will? What if the child made choices or led a life that made her unfit to lead? What if the child didn’t want to lead? Or what if the oracle was corrupted—if someone was able to manipulate the prophecies and rig the future of the crown?”
“If that ever happened, it never made it to the history books,” Natan says.
I grunt. “Well, that doesn’t mean much, since this matriarchy you describe never made it to the history books either.”
“It did, though. The Elora Seven just destroyed them.”
“How do you know this? There’s been a Magical Seven ruling Elora for almost five hundred years. How could you possibly know about what was written in books that were destroyed so long ago?”
Kendrick glances toward Natan before looking at me. “Natan’s family did everything they could to preserve the true history and pass it down. He was very young when his parents were killed for it—the Elora Seven found the books they’d painstakingly preserved and destroyed them, and then executed them in front of the whole town.”