Light of Stars [2]

Chapter Thirty-One

♕ Without Rest ♕

"Have you tried interrogating him?" Favian asked. "They had to have been informed of queen Black's arrival, otherwise they wouldn't have had the time to prepare"

"They were not targeting her" Stella said. "Why would they even care if she was alive or not? Its not as if she has a real kingdom at her command. A real army to steal." Aubrette rolled her eyes.

"I would appreciate it, if all of you stopped talking about me as if I wasn't sitting right here" Beside her, Cora smiled.  "He tried to kill me" Aubrette said, staring into their eyes and needing to count to ten to avoid screaming, at their lack of care. "Didn't he?" The council remained silent. "He tried to kill me, so it is only fair that I'm in the know about who he is, what he wants, and why my death is important to him."

Stella huffed looking to the side. "I'm going to say this one more time." She said, standing up. Aubrette kept her breathing even, her hands turned into fists. "You are a guest here. One we are glad to look after for as long as you wish to stay, to honor the relationship between our late parents, one Queen Amelie held dearly. But you will not interfere in court proceedings, nor in our decisions, or anything confidential regarding my reign. Understood?"

Aubrette shook her head, looking at Favian whose eyes were down. Cora and Faye staring at each other. Adrean wearing a smug smile on his face.

"And I'm going to say this as many times as it gets for you to understand its seriousness" Aubrette said. "My mother, her marked, they will rip the world from the blessed and leave it blank. She will not stop until she achieves it, until she has everyone under her control. What happens when my mother decides she's bored in Regno and attacks Mistburgh? The city is half drowning already and believe me when I tell you she'll let it be swallowed by sea in less time than it takes you to blink. "

"Thats not possible" Adrean said. "You must be exaggerating"

"Exaggerating? She steals others blessing! She empties their blood, drains them, leaves their skin like glass, cuts their throat, drinks their blood. Thats her blessing. Thats the gift the gods gave her. She has the magic of thousands of people running through her veins. Not only that but she can make others do the same, teach it to them. She has an army of marked dead and alive, and don't doubt for a second she isn't increasing that number by the minute instead of wasting time with stupid arguments." Aubrette said, allowing herself for the first time since they left Goldcrest to truly think about what waited for them back home.

"I have a hard time believing your mother cares to travel to Luxem  just for the sake of caos. So why would I care about what happens in Regno? None ever cared to help us when our queen was in danger, or before that when the king passed. Did any of you even bothered to send your respects?"

Aubrette took a deep breath. "No one informed us of Amelie's health. And we were not aware about Jackel's death until months after" she said honestly. Zander and Sybilla made their way inside, hurrying to step beside her. Zander glanced at Favian, a secret conversation passing through them, as they too took a sit.

"Good. You bless us with your presence" Stella said.

"Are you really denying us your help because they didn't mourn Jackel's death?" Zander said. Stella stared at him, and the whole room suddenly felt far too small for all of them to fit.

"He was my father" Stella said, her hand traveling to her necklace. Aubrette shifted her eyes away as someone else entered the room. Her heart dropping as she saw the same pair of navy blue eyes and dark hair she'd seen the night before. He wore the same clothes, no weapons tied onto him this time. He turned to her, catching her eyes on him and smiled before jumping up the couple of steps that led to the council chairs, sitting on the same one she'd sat on the day before. Aubrette sat straighter.