The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

Chapter Thirty: The Dinner Party

It was late afternoon the next day when I finally felt that Aoife was stable enough for us to leave. She had spent the entire night crying in relief between telling me about the horrible things that Sean had done to her. My stomach rolled during her tales, not only because it was her mate doing these things to her but because I had never thought about it. It never occurred to me that I unknowingly left some of my citizens in dangerous situations. I had been Aoife's silent protector this entire time without knowing, who's to say I wasn't others as well? How many Fae had I left behind to face similar situations?

Clearing my throat at the knock on the bedroom door, I finished folding the tunic in my hands and called out, "Come in."

"You wanted to see me, My Queen?" Erick asked, half inside the room with his hand hanging on the doorknob.

"Yes," I replied, stuffing the tunic in my pack. "You and two other soldiers will be staying with Aoife."

"All due respect, My Queen. But I'm a General, I'm sure there's someone else who can babysit Lady Aoife."

Stopping, I turned to look at him, "You think securing Lady Aoifes control over her Estate is babysitting? A woman who was just freed of her abusive mate, you want to leave her unprotected and in an unstable environment?"

"No, of course not." He tried to reason. "But you don't really need a General for this."

"I wasn't asking your thoughts, General. Aoife is the rightful heir to this Estate, yet the soldiers sworn to protect her family and this city allowed her mate to take over. I don't trust them to wipe their own ass, let alone stay loyal to me and Aoife. You'll be staying behind to stabilize the city under my name and weed out all the unworthy soldiers."

His tan face lost its affronted expression once he realized the importance of his mission, "My Queen, forgive me. I didn't mean-"

"If you think I can't win this war or have what it takes to make the calculated decisions necessary, then leave. Otherwise don't assume that I don't know what I'm doing." I remarked coldly.

His head bowed deeply, "Apologies, My Queen."

Lip curling, I gave him my back as I restarted packing, "Go pick who will be staying with you."

There was a pause before the door to my room shut with a metal click. Sighing, I looked at the rest of my clothes on the bed and grabbed a handful. Using one hand, I held the bag open and with the other I shoved the unfolded clothes inside. Pushing them down until I could close the top, I gazed at the bundle with a proud smile. Leaning forward, I ignored my braid sliding over my shoulder and grabbed my swords.

Standing straight, I held them by the handles and twisted them this way and that way. The blue metal glimmered and shined as they morphed into thick armbands from my wrists to elbows. Holding my arms out, I looked them over with a growing smirk before a thought entered my mind. With a harsh mental order, two inch tall spikes shot out from around my forearm bands with wickedly sharp points. Ooooooo, I thought, gazing at the pretty weapons. This is definitely a new piece to my body armor.

Retracting the spikes, I picked up my bag while the silver chains snapped around my hips. Giving the light brown and white room one last look, I walked out into the hall and retraced my steps from the night before. As I went, I noticed the paintings of Sean had been taken down leaving behind a square ring of dust and age on the wall. Boots thumping along the wooden floor, I turned to the right and started down the main hall to the Estate entrance.

Ten feet away standing beside the door stood Lady Aoife in another old fashioned ball gown. This one was a nice powder blue color with white puffy sleeves and a tighter bodice. Beyond her in the quartyard, my soldiers wandered about talking to each other or double checking their packs. Except for Cillian, who was heading towards me with what I knew to be a blank expression underneath his mask.