A Queen Conflicted (Alys Book #3)

Chapter 23

Authors note: Friends, I apologize for the delay. My town has been walloped by winter storms and we have constantly lost power. On top of that, I am in that awkward transition between big parts in this book where it is harder to write. But, I am pushing through and have another update for you. Prepare yourselves; things are going to heat up again pretty quickly! We are just past the halfway mark of this book :) Happy reading! Bria

The announcement of the arrival of not one but two royal children caused a stir in Tarkam City, and the rest of the kingdom, that Endolynn had not anticipated.

Within hours of the deliveries, happy bells, horns, and shouts sounded from the city outside the palace walls, loud enough to come through the open windows and balconies of the guest chambers that the king and queen were living in.
When Endolynn gave Dastrehan a questioning look, his mouth spread into a slow smile.
"Our people are celebrating."
They were sitting in the sitting room while servants cleaned up their bedchamber. Endolynn lay on a sofa, holding Elliot protectively against her chest. Dastrehan sat at the end of the sofa by Endolynn's feet, cradling Chandra.
The notion that those in Tarkam were their people still did not seem real to Endolynn. For so long, she had longed to belong to someone, to something, and now she had two kingdoms, and she was the queen of both?

It was simply absurd.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the sounds coming from the city through the open balcony doors. The sun was quickly setting, and soon they would need to close the balcony in order to not let in the cool night breezes.

"It is strange that I will not be in Balear when Zaiden announces their birth," Endolynn murmured, tracing Elliot's small face with a finger softly.
Dastrehan looked at her, a slight frown forming.
"I am sure that a grand ball will be thrown when you return in a few months."
Endolynn nodded as she kept tracing Elliot's face, but she did not care about a ball. When she returned, she would be alone. Elliot and Chandra would not be with her, too young to travel so far. The ball would be thrown in honor of those not there. Zaiden and Rose would not get to meet her children for a long time. It would be years before the twins would be old enough to travel to Balear, and that was if she and Dastrehan would ever think it safe enough for all four of them to travel out of Tarkam.

Bitterness threatened to invade Endolynn's mind, but she pushed back against it. She would not allow her happiness to be destroyed.

She had made her choice, and it was the one that would allow her the most happiness.

Silence returned, and Endolynn focused on memorizing every part of Elliot's face. Despite their tiny sizes, Aldyth was confident the twins were healthy and would thrive. The flickering of the lamps that the servants had lit before they left cast shadows on Elliot's face, and Endolynn watched them dance.
"What is that smell?" Dastrehan said under his breath, and Endolynn raised her head to look at him questioningly.
She watched him scan the room as she tried to notice if she could smell something.
At first, there was nothing. But then it hit her all of a sudden.
"Something is on fire," she said, looking towards the open balcony doors. It made the most sense that the smoke was entering their rooms from the balcony, but night was falling, and it was too dark to see anything.
Without a word, Dastrehan stood with Chandra still protectively held in his arms and walked out to the balcony.
Loud bells started to ring, but they were not the celebratory ones that had been ringing on and on for hours since the twins' arrival; they were the warning bells that signaled that something was wrong.

"Can you see anything?" Endolynn called to Dastrehan, straightening up a little to peer over the back of the sofa to look towards her husband. She wanted to join him, but her curiosity was not as strong as her intuition to take it easy. Aldyth and Warrick had been very stern when they informed her of her need to rest for a few days, and she did not dare to anger them.
"Something is on fire in the city," Dastrehan called back to her over his shoulder, "I think it is one of the churches."
Endolynn felt her stomach tighten at his words. A fire in early summer could take out whole villages if given the chance. With the strong evening breeze, things could get out of control quickly.
Dastrehan came back into the room, closing the balcony doors firmly behind himself with one hand while he held Chandra in his other arm easily.
"Why not put her down so that you can go alert a guard?" Endolynn asked as Dastrehan settled back into his spot on the sofa at her feet.