Page 197 of Shadow Queen
Chapter fifty-eight
Nothing. Norah paced her chamber. There had been nothing—no word about Soren. Three times Serene had talked her out of leaving the room again, but she couldn’t shake the crushing fear inside her.
She couldn’t lose him.
Mikael needed him. She needed him. And he deserved to die in glory on a battlefield or ascend the earth as an immortal warrior of the gods, not broken by a port fever in a kingdom that wouldn’t even speak his name. She’d never seen a vision of his end. Is that how it was for people with wretched deaths? Was their end not powerful enough to show their greatness to the seers?
He deserved so much more than this.
A knock on the door made her jump, and she raced over to it.
“Queen Norah,” Caspian called.
“Tell me! Is Soren all right?”
“He’s alive.”
Norah leaned against the door and let out a shaking breath. She covered her face in her hands as tears came.
“The lord justice stays with him,” he said. “He’s keeping him upright and breathing.”
Norah’s heart stopped. “Alexander?” Alexander was with him,inside?
“Yes.”
She heard the gravity in his voice; she felt the weight of his worry, because it was her own. Alexander would surely have the sickness within a day or two. With only half those afflicted surviving, what were the chances of both of them making it through safely?
Norah cursed herself. She knew she should have closed the ports, and she hadn’t. She was queen, and she was responsible for the suffering of her people.
Two more days went by, with Caspian delivering the news that Soren was recovering. The danger of death had passed. Alexander had been confined to a far chamber in the castle to quarantine while he waited for the sickness to come. Norah was desperate to see him, but of course, she couldn’t.
It wrecked the heart—waiting to see if death would come for a loved one, or if it would mercifully pass over. Did she deserve mercy? Did the gods still curse her?
After several more days, the sickness appeared to have left the castle. Slowly, Caspian executed plans for a return to normality. Sections of the castle were opened, with only those that had quarantined allowed to associate with one another. To Catherine’s horror, they still ate soup.
At last free from her chamber, Norah strolled between the great hall and her study. The library was still closed. On her return walk, Caspian was waiting for her. He held a letter in his hand. Two letters, actually. She saw Mikael’s seal, and she tore it open. Her eyes welled with relief as she read his words.
All was well in Kharav. Mikael had closed the ports immediately after Phillip’s warning, and they had no reports of sickness. He’d sent food to the Uru and ordered them confined to the canyons—no contact with the outside world. They, too, had fared well. Of course, he asked about Mercia, and Soren. She was relieved she had good news to share, at least concerning Soren.
Her attention shifted to the second letter. It was a letter from Phillip. She would normally assemble the council before reading his letters, but she broke the seal and opened it.
DearNorah,
I hope this letter finds you safe and in good health, and pray you received my last letter in time to close your ports. May you have fared the fever better than Aleon. It’s with great regret I share that I’ve lost nearly one quarter of my men, with Tarsus hit hardest—I fear beyond recovery.
I’m grateful I didn’t heed the words of your council and withdraw my forces from Kharav, for not a single man was lost there. If I’d not been so selfish, I would have sent more, and so saved more. Another lesson in humility from the gods.
Norah stopped. The council had written Phillip and told him to pull back the forces she had sent to Kharav? Anger pulsed through her.
But within the darkness, there comes a light. I’ve received reports that the armies of Japheth and Rael have suffered losses of almost half. And while I can’t jump to war so soon after such devastation, I know that victory over Japheth is now within my grasp.
Write to me urgently, so I know you are well and safe.
Most anxiously, I wait,
Phillip
Phillip would be able to march against a weakened Japheth soon, and for that, she was grateful. But her face still burned with a rising anger. “I want to see the council in the judisaept,” she said. “Now.”
