I had a wicked, terrible nightmare.
“She’s disgusting.”
“Oh, I feel sorry for the king.”
“Don’t mind me, I’ve got to run!”
“Why was she even born?”
“The sooner she’s gone, the better.”
The horrific thoughts of others flooded into me, thoughts I’d heard many, many times. Relentless, horrifying thoughts. I figured I’d be accustomed to hearing them by now.
I always told myself this was inevitable. I was just happy that I never heard such thoughts from my parents—but that was small comfort. Just because I was used to hearing them didn’t mean the cruel thoughts of others weren’t hurtful. I never wanted this kind of magic.
I wish I didn’t have to hurt anyone.
Deep within the darkness of my nightmare, a younger version of me cried and cried. She was covered in wounds, in blood, in sorrow.
Suddenly, the scene changed. It was a scene I’d never witnessed before: a young Alicia staring blankly ahead as she stood in a pool of blood. Several corpses lay around her within the crimson lake. Ahh, I get it now. This was an image of the time her magic ran rampant. It must have been so difficult for her, so painful. She dropped her face into her bloody hands and sobbed.
The imagery shifted once again, showing another unfamiliar scene. A young man, persecuted by his family for wielding magic. A young girl, bullied for her magical aptitude. All of them crying, all of them cursed. Mages cursed themselves while people without magic condemned them. All the magical children hoped from the bottom of their hearts that they would never have to hurt anyone.
What a dreadful nightmare. This was a cold, heartless world, far from the ideal kingdom I desperately wanted to provide for my people. It made my heart ache terribly.
✦ ✦ ✦
I was embroiled in troubling nightmares until sleep eventually faded to reality. I rose from my bed, poured a glass of water, and took the medicine Godfrey had prescribed. My body felt a bit better after that.
Tommy appeared from seemingly nowhere. “Queen Luxeria?”
“Yes, Tommy?”
“We’ve finished our reconnaissance regarding the whereabouts of the missing children, and I’ve come to give my report.”
“That didn’t take long.”
“All due to your foresight in sending so many agents to Celden,” Tommy said. “We gave you a report regarding their research facility before, remember?”
“Ah, yes, a particularly unpleasant one to hear. A kind of research that strips mages of all rights and respect. Revolting.”
I stopped there, but Tommy was sharp and knew what I was getting at. With a dark expression on his face, he picked up where I left off. “Indeed. And the subjects of their experiments are none other than the kidnapped children of Ausgrid.”
Crash! The glass I’d been holding fell to the floor.
Alerted by the sound, the guards stationed outside my room rushed in. “What’s going on?!”
The moment they saw me, their worries eased. My anger had grown so explosive, I’d summoned the Sacred Swords without realizing.
Seeing them brought me back down to reality a bit. “It’s nothing. Please leave,” I said. “Howard and Arthur, forget what you saw here. You did not hear the glass break. You will forget everything once you leave this room.”
Their eyes turned vacant from my magic before they left the room.
“Sorry. I couldn’t contain my anger.” I took a deep breath and sat back down onto my sofa. “They’re directly conspiring with enemy nations. Houses Slade and Beckford are finished.”
“Those countries aren’t officially Ausgrid’s enemies,” Tommy said.
“That means nothing. The fact remains that Beckford and Slade are selling their own citizens into slavery—to a nation with a sickening ideology toward magic.”
“Lord Slade isn’t selling civilians from his own region. He’s the middleman. Beckford procures the children, Weston sends them off, and Slade receives them and brings them to an agreed-upon location for sale.”
“Regardless, it appears the culmination of my revenge will arrive sooner than anticipated.”
“Right you are. We won’t need brute force or devilish trickery. We’ve simply got to wait it out—they’re up to stuff so nasty that we’ll have just cause to wipe them out.”
“Agreed, Tommy. This will work. I had intended to squeeze them dry over time, but now we can catch them all at once. And when we do, they’re done for.”
Tommy hummed his agreement.
“I’m sure you already figured this out,” I said, “but to be clear, you need to call off all of your agents currently in covert operations and get them working on this case right away.”
“I’m on it, Your Majesty.”
“Also, I wish to see Commander Aaron. Privately.”
“I’ll see to it.”
Rain began to fall outside once again, the patter of droplets echoing through the otherwise silent room for hours on end.