Galactic Gale

Chapter Eleven

Focus

Nona picked at the files resting on the side table and tried to ignore her mother as the queen named the items she wanted brought from her private study. There was too much happening in Uterca for Nona to be trapped in Telion's bedroom, but until the crown had officially been taken from Telion's head, she was still queen and Nona was in no place to ignore direct orders.

"I'll make sure someone see to your needs," Traen said. He planted a hand on Nona's shoulder, and she took a deep breath before meeting his eyes. She knew what he would say next. It was always the same when Telion summoned her inner circle. "Soon you will be well enough to see to these things yourself."

And, as if scripted, Telion made a harsh sound that Nona knew to be the closest the woman could come to laughing. "If only my son had decided to find such a smooth-talking partner. With someone like you by his side, he would have made a formidable king." Telion coughed when she tried to scowl. "Instead, he ran off with those rogues."

Yes, Nona thought, and it was a good thing he did. Had Kael decided to stay in Uterca, things would have been complicated. She loved her brother dearly, but the rest of their city did not see his decision to ignore the queen's wishes concerning Nona's rescue in the same light as she did. To her, Kael had been a hero. To the population, he had been dishonourable.

The commoners had not taken a liking to his return, nor had many within the palace. Nona was aware most who supported her taking the crowd did so only because they despised the idea of Kael on the throne after all he had done.

Not that she minded. Nona was not foolish, and she would not turn away any support for her impending reign. It bothered her that Kael was regarded by the locals as an outcast who did not deserve to be of royal blood, but it would have been a pointless quest to try and change their minds.

"You heard of what happened in the first test?"

The voice of Caloon, Telion's favoured scholar, shook Nona from her thoughts. She blinked to steady her senses and realised many of the faces in the room had turned to her for answers. Beside Telion's bed, Leh was glaring at her while patting the queen's pale hand.

"I did not speak with Kael before the Trial," Nona tried. "I didn't ask him to cheat."

"No one said you did." Caloon appeared to be struggling to keep himself on the special metallic stool that one of the servants had brought into the bedroom for him. At the grand age of three thousand and seventy-seven, Nona was surprised he had not chosen to avoid their late-night meeting as the Fellen judge had.

"No one had to say anything. I know what you're all thinking. But Kael isn't that perfect little boy you all swooned over and told again and again that he would make the perfect king. It has been made clear he doesn't wish to be king. We should stop the Trials and stop forcing him to do something he isn't comfortable with."

At the side of the bed, Leh stiffened. "He only pretended not to know the correct answer to the judges' questions because he had no desires to upset you. It had nothing to do with his ambitions. Everyone in this room knows Kael. They know how hard he worked to ready himself for kingship."

"Perhaps everyone in this room should have thought about that before each of you let him down." And left me to the Sorii, Nona added silently. She fought to keep her hands posed on her lap. It was too easy to allow her frustration with these people take over, and her anger was becoming harder and harder to control. Had it not been for Traen's presence, she feared she may have said something bad enough to have herself arrested for treason.