Queen's Shadow || Kingdom at the End of the World - Book II

[21.1] A Queen's Shadow

Knowledge was a strange evil.

Lady Kiku grew up knowing more than most. She saw people's hearts, their thoughts, the worlds that lived within them and colored their experiences in ways no one else should ever understand. Lady Kiku did, and in doing so, she lived a thousand lives that were not her own.

The war helped her draw lines she could not in her youth. The minds she infiltrated were those of enemy soldiers, of otherworldly beings, of monsters. Lady Kiku's skill grew steadily. Her discomfort with her Spark, the power that made her so different, eroded just as quickly.

Then the war ended, and victory turned rotten on the tongue.

"What do you think of the arrangements, Michiko?" Lord Barton asked.

Lady Kiku raised her head. She had been listening to the other Lords talk while her mind wandered, and had not lost the thread of the conversation despite her morose reminiscing. The ability to tread many mental paths at once was a necessary skill for someone often mired in the minds of others. Lady Kiku knew that Lord Barton spoke of the cremation ceremony currently underway in the Hall of Mourning.

She knew too that the man was being purposefully vague in order to test her attention, and did not at all appreciate the gesture.

"My vote remains on maintaining Radev's rank in death," she responded coolly. "He served the Kingdom faithfully, and deserves the honor of a proper burial."

They sat around a large table, in one of the grander rooms meant for gatherings of this sort. Lady Kiku had wondered at the choice of location – they rarely utilized the space when not entertaining guests of rank.

Then a woman pooled into being from a mirror hung above the head of the table, and she wondered no more.

Lord Greoff was slouched in his seat. He looked rather wan, and a little hung over – not a rare sight, especially in the last few years. "The boy's a traitor, and died a traitor's death. What right does he have to rest in the company of fallen heroes? We may as well piss all over Soldiers' Mount, it'd be just as proper," he snorted.

"Richard!" Lady Kiku snapped. She did not appreciate the man's coarse language. Moreover... Her eyes flickered to the woman in black, worried that the careless comment would be perceived as an insult.

Lord Greoff rolled his eyes. She will not know it if I strip naked and burst into a song, the man thought, loud and pointed so Lady Kiku knew to listen.

Please, do no such thing, Lady Kiku responded primly.

Lord Greoff's answering smile was brief. His expression quickly sunk back into sullen silence.

"Sabina?" Lord Barton prompted.

Lady Kiku turned her attention to Sabina MacLean. The table was large, prepared to host up to two dozen guests with room to spare. Lady MacLean had chosen the seat furthest from them all, directly opposite the woman in black. She had her chin propped against her hand, her face turned to the large windows that opened to the gardens.

"Do as you will," Lady MacLean said.

Lady Kiku lowered her head, so she would not meet Lord Barton's eyes. She heard the murmur of her friends' thoughts, rising and ebbing like a river. There was once a time Lady Kiku drowned in these voices. She had been young and inexperienced, her Spark newly-lit. A chance encounter with a kind, powerful stranger helped her learn how to tread the current of foreign thoughts and preserve her own mind against the onslaught. Lady Kiku had not known that her benefactor was the Queen of all of Samodevia at the time. She had pledged her allegiance to the Crown after she had learned the truth, and found a new family within the Amith Capil.