The Kings Court - Chapters 1-13

Chapter two

Gaedor, Adiamantem Court - Reagan

I sat back on my throne, scanning the faces of each and every man and woman of my Court, some of them my allies, some of them my foes, none of them my friends. Five noble houses for the five main Magical Races of Gaedor, two of those houses I knew outright opposed to me being on the throne, two of those houses I was confident, supported me, but the final Nobel house was the balancer, the one that kept me from being slaughtered and overthrown yet the one which challenged me at any given opportunity.

Bringing my thoughts back to the reason I'd called for all members of my Court to assemble in the Castle throne room, I glared down at the man who'd been thrown to his knees at the bottom of my dais and narrowed my eyes.

"Name." I ordered, tapping my nails on the moonstone armrests of my throne as I battled to keep my anger in check.

He looked up at me, his slanted eyes flashed with fear before he managed to put on a steely mask of defiance, at that I smiled broadly, thanking the Gods for his bold disobedience, stood from my throne and stalked towards him.

"I'll ask you once and once only, Schaal." I purred dangerously and was pleased to see the scales on his face leach of some of their pitch black colour. "Where is my sister?"

The Schaal's jaw worked while he decided whether to speak or stay silent.

"I do not know where she is, my Queen." Good choice but not the words I wanted to hear.

"Lies!" I roared and felt my power rise inside me, the torches flared in response to my magic, some of the men and women of the court flinched in response, others stayed stoically immobile.

The Schaal shook his head once.
"I did not go against you; only a fool would do so." Though his voice remained calm his eyes gave him away with the flash of knowledge that he couldn't conceal, base creature that he was.

I smirked and shook my head.

"If you did not go against me, nameless Schaal," I said sarcastically. "then why did I find this..." I held up the lapel pin that had the Schaal sigil forged into the top. "In my sister's bedchamber?" I twitched my eyebrows up and waited for his fumbling response.

"T-that isn't mine, my Queen!" He stammered and winced when I grinned again. I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Is that so?" The fool nodded his head frantically. "Then where is yours?" I lowered my voice an octave and watched the man pat his chest with his webbed hands and glance down at the empty spot on his overtunic where the pin should have been. "I have already seen for myself that the other members of your household still have theirs whereas yours is missing." I crooned dangerously, thirsty for answers and hungry to inflict pain.
His scaled face paled again and before he could come up with some useless excuse I silenced him.

"Where is my sister, speak now or be sorry."

His chest heaved up and down and his eyes flicked around the room desperately then he jumped up and started to run, a very pointless gesture, he and everybody else in the room knew so. I exhaled and stared at the man's head and willed my magic forward, the Schaal shrieked and collapsed to the floor holding his head in his hands.

"Bring him forward." I purred to my guards who obeyed happily and deposited him back at the foot of the dais. "What are you most afraid of, Schaal?" I whispered almost seductively and grinned at the fear in his eyes, he knew what was coming.

"No!" He started to plead...another ridiculously pointless act.

I pushed my magic into his mind and instantly the rush of images came to me. A dessert, hot and dry. Fire and flame. A dried up lake. Dry, cracked mud. As a creature of water, his worst fears didn't really surprise me. I pulled these fears to the forefront of his mind and let my magic pour over him in a strong illusion.