A Queen Conflicted (Alys Book #3)

Chapter 48

The air among the soldiers on the journey back to High Cloud Palace was unlike anything Endolynn had experienced before. Despite the success of finding and killing Leoford and his closest accomplices, there was no victory.
Zaiden was still dead. There was no changing that.
They were marching back to a palace that was haunted by the young prince's presence.

Mercifully, though there had been several serious injuries, none of the Balearian soldiers had been killed. Few Catesthians had been killed in the skirmish, a fact that Endolynn hoped would gain them some mercy and bargaining points with King Barda.

Dastrehan was less tense and solum than Endolynn had expected him to be. It was as if a great weight had lifted from his soul now that Leoford was dead and unable to harm their family again. They could finally breathe.

The king had barely said a thing to Endolynn since she had sliced off Leoford's head. He had just put his hand on her shoulder and kissed her forehead, portraying his gratitude and comfort the only way he could at the time.

It had taken them time to make it back into the castle afterward. They both sported injuries that slowed them down, and the tunnel's darkness made efficient walking impossible.

When they emerged from the secret room back into the cellar, they quickly found their soldiers waiting for them and made haste to clear out of the castle. It would be best to be as clear from the castle as soon as possible so that they might have time to regroup and plan before King Barda caught wind of what had happened.

In the days that it took to return to High Cloud Palace, not much was said. Everyone seemed to be going through the motions in a half-minded but efficient daze. The king and queen barely talked. It did not seem like the right time. Soon, they would need to talk everything through, to make decisions for the future of their kingdoms that Endolynn did not even want to think about. The thought that everything they had been through over the last few years might be in vain was a dagger to Endolynn's heart. The possibilities of what was to come were bleak and heart-stopping. Nothing would ever, ever be the same.

***

Endolynn had barely dismounted from her horse after directing it off of the sky tunnel lift when her advisors swarmed her in the palace courtyard.

Endolynn tried to wave them off, but they were relentless in demanding if she were hurt and if they had met success.
"Leoford is dead," Rohesia assured them, pulling her horse up between the queen and the advisors to block them, "The queen needs to see a healer and take a bath. A meeting will be called when she is ready."

As grateful as Endolynn was for Rohesia's intervention, she was too spent to thank her. She stumbled off her horse, reaching for Dastrehan's hand as he appeared at her side.

They went through the motions of being seen by Warrick and then got cleaned up before forcing themselves to attend the meeting with the Balearian advisors.

Endolynn was in a daze throughout the entire meeting. Her mind needed rest, and so did her soul. But her advisors were adamant that decisions had to be made. And even though she hated them for pushing her in those moments, she knew they were right.
At some point, someone suggested a meeting with the Tarkam advisors, but Endolynn had missed who that was. A meeting with both of their advisors seemed like a headache and a certain disaster to her, but she knew it was necessary to determine what path to take now that Zaiden was no longer alive to ascend the throne of Balear.
She must have agreed to the idea because before she knew it, she and Dastrehan were headed to her bedchamber to retire.

"I will send for Rohan to bring the children here with him," he told her as he held open the door to her chamber for her, "It would do you good to see them, and they will be safer here than at Tarkam without us."
There was no need for him to elaborate on what was a threat to their safety; her advisors had done a thorough job in informing her of the danger she had put her kingdom, and Dastrehan's, by attacking Leoford on Cateshian soil.