The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

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.

Stopping in front of Aoife, I met her puffy eyes with a warm smile, “How are you, Babes?”

“Better, My Queen.”

Lifting a hand, I used my pointer and middle finger to lift her chin high, “My General will be staying behind to make sure that your Estate returns to how it’s supposed to be. But don’t forget that your people need to see you take control again.”

“I will. Thank you, My Queen.” She responded, pushing her shoulders straight and meeting my eyes.

Grinning, I gave her shoulder a squeeze before moving past her to stand next to Cillian. Swinging my bag up, I slammed it against his chest and took a few more steps forward. Noticing my approach, the soldiers turned their attention to me and clumped together in an oddly shaped crowd.

“If you haven’t been picked by General Erick to stay behind with him then your next destination is Coill Beithe. The Murphy Estate. We’ll meet in the center of the city.”

This time the soldiers disappeared in pairs, probably finding it easier to travel with a partner then alone. Excessive traveling like we were doing could be disorienting to some which made having someone else with you an advantage. Ten soldiers of my new group of eighteen had left when a body pressed up against my back and a strong arm wrapped around my waist to grip my left hip.

Molded together from thigh to shoulder, I barely noticed the ground dropping out underneath me. Okay, this is ridiculous. I’m obviously touched-starved. That’s the only explanation for my reactions to his touch. The warmth from his body heated me up from the outside in as my awareness of him skyrocketed. Breathing normally, I waited in silence for him to say something while staring into the void.

“I wasn’t aware you knew the Old World tradition for separation.”

Relief flooded me as he saved us from an awkwardly tense travel, “Not a lot of people remember it but I do. Just in case.”

“Just in case?” He asked, my back vibrating with his deep timber.

I shrugged, “You know, for reasons like yesterday and in case my mate turns out to be a major dick. My taste in partners is a little…”

“Tragic?”

“Tragic?” I demanded, offended. “All my partners were beautifully….”

“Dull? Demented? Shitty?”

“Would you let me think.” I snapped. “Beautifully...short term.”

His chest bumped against my back as he huffed, “Have you ever even been in a relationship?”

“Yes,” I replied as I thought back fondly to my most recent ex. “She was a wildcard. A dark cloud to my thunder storm. We were together for almost fifty years.”

Cillian went rigid behind me but I dismissed the cause as our feet suddenly hitting the ground, “What happened?”

“We weren’t a good fit. It was fun while it lasted but it turned ugly towards the end. We both agreed to end it before we started to hate each other.”

“Did you love her?”

I hummed in thought, “I thought I did. But looking back, I realized that I was in love with the idea of her.” After a moment of silence, I asked, “What about you? Any relationships?”

“A few but I always felt like they were missing something.”

I laughed as his hand tightened on my hip, “You need to drop your high expectations, Lilly. Or you’ll never find a mate.”

“And you will?” He grunted.

I shook my head in amusement, “Definitely before you.”

“Sure, Cell Bate. We’ll both be old and wrinkly by the time we mate.”

When his words registered, I elbowed him in the gut, “You have a serious wording problem.”

“My wording is fine.”

A stupid smile fought to stretch itself across my face like I was some preteen Fae but I smacked it down in time. The golden glow of the sun burned my eyes as we finally reached our destination. Unlike the port city of Cathair, Coill Beithe was a mixture of browns and greens with crisp earthy air. The city was located in the middle of a forest much like my own camp and the Fae here excelled at camouflage.

Fae milled around us, staring as they went but for the most part looked unsurprised. It was obvious that the Murphy’s had put some weight behind the war rumors and alerted their citizens to stay vigilant. In the near distance, I could see the high log walls surrounding the Murphy’s Estate with their flag- Instead of seeing the expected split flag of black and purple, the bottom half was solid pink.

“Son of a bitch. They joined houses.” I blurted out. Shocking my soldiers, who were in the middle of forming crowd blocking lines on either side of me.

The edge of Cillian’s cloak brushed against the bare skin of my shoulder as he moved to stand beside me. Nudging his shoulder against mine, he nodded to the Estate.

Rolling my eyes at the not so stubble hint, I started the walk up to the Estate with the rest following on all sides. He didn’t get it. I wasn’t being dramatic about them joining houses...okay, I was. A little. But that’s only because the Murphys are going to want something else along with a council seat. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to give them a council seat. Lady Murphy was a power hungry bitch that wouldn’t be content with just the O’Sullivans to boss around. Which gave me a different idea.

The feeling of being watched intensified as we entered the thin trail leading up to the Estate. Pebbles and twigs lined the dirt path making it difficult to take even steps to the thick log gate. About two thirds of the way, I felt the air shift seconds before guards in the same color tunics as the flag dropped from the trees. My guards stiffened but refrained from pulling their weapons long enough for an Estate guard to approach.

“Queen Macha, the families have been expecting you.”

Oh, I bet they have. “Lead the way.”

The gray haired male bowed his head and turned to motion at his fellow soldiers. At his movement, the guards turned and followed him up the path while giving us a comfortable amount of space. Another motion from the lead guard had the large log gate creaking open enough for us to pass through to the courtyard. What looked to be a good sized garden lined the left half while a stable took up most of the space to our right.

The log Estate wasn’t overly impressive but it was bigger from what I remembered before I was imprisoned. Looking up at the burning sensation drilling into the side of my head, I found about ten guards lining the top of Estates walls with their eyes pinned to me. My shoulders tensed as I fought the scowl pulling at my lips, I didn’t appreciate the prison deja vu. I was getting an intense almost irrational urge to start a riot just to fuck with the guards.

A calloused hand slid over the sensitive skin of my wrist and pulled my attention away from the guards. I was mid head lift to look at Cillian, since I was sure he was the only one who’d risk touching me without permission, when a man entered the courtyard. The metal doors of the Estate entrance swung back underneath his touch as he passed over the threshold.

Dressed in brown leather trousers and the same tri-colored tunic as the others, the pale man strode up to us in a haughty manner. With his nose held up high and his back ramrod straight, he paused in front of the soldiers blocking him from getting closer to me. When it became clear they weren’t going to move out of his way, he looked at me through the gap between their arms.

The five foot something light yellow haired male then spoke in an arrogant tone, “The Murphy’s and the O’Sullivan’s are getting ready to sit down for dinner. You and your chosen second have been graciously invited to join them and to spend the night. The rest of your soldiers will be fed and housed in the barracks.”

With his voice grating on my nerves, I opened my mouth to respond when the uppity little fuck cut me off.

“This way, now. They’ve laid out the proper attire in fear that you’d appear to us like...this.” He said, looking me over with a grimace.

Apparently finished with me, he twisted on his heel and began to walk back into the Estate. It was only when the male was a few steps away from the entrance that he realized no one was following him. His light yellow eyes shot back to meet mine over his shoulder when he turned to look at us.

Brow raised, I refused to move from where I stood and told him as much with my eyes.

He seemed to fight with himself for a moment before slowly coming back to stand in front of my soldiers. “Is there a problem?” He asked, tilting his head to look past the soldiers to me.

“Tell me, Nameless. Are you suffering from memory loss?”

“Pardon?”

I forced a warm smile to curve my lips, “Because that could be the only reason as to why you just ordered me around like I was the stablehand’s daughter.”

He blinked and looked around at the stone-like faces staring back at him before slapping a hand to his head, “Of course. Please, forgive my forgetfulness. Queen Macha, if you’d follow me to your rooms?”

“Acolyte, with me. The rest of you, Nameless, will be back to show you to the barracks.” I replied, taking in his lowered eyelids and outstretched hand gesturing towards the Estate entrance.

Boots crunching over the rocky dirt of the courtyard, we followed the small male inside the cool interior of the Estate. The walls were made up of the horizontal curves of dark tree trunks with different kinds of amour tacked to the wood. Gold breast plates and bronze colored spears along with other items decorated the winding halls we were led down.

Until finally, Nameless stopped between two doors. Palm up, he held his hand in front of the door on the left, “Queen Macha, this is your room. Your attire for tonight is in the dresser.” Switching hands, he motioned to the door on the right, “Acolyte, this is your room. We assumed that your second would be a female so there’s no attire for your male and the rooms are adjoining. Is that alright, Queen Macha?”

“That’s fine.”

He nodded, “I’ll be back in thirty minutes to take you both to dinner.” With that said he headed down the hall and disappeared around the corner.

——

A little peek into Macha’s past! And who else loves the Macha and Cillian private travel time? Cause I know I do.

As always, like or comment your thoughts on the chapter!

Smooches, Verbage💋