The Quill and the Quest

  The Quill and the Quest

  The Verdinia Chronicles: Book Two

  JR Tague

  The Quill and the Quest

  The Verdinia Chronicles, Book Two

  JR Tague

  Copyright © 2019 by JR Tague. All rights reserved.

  Cover Art: EDH Graphics

  Editor: Aven Rose

  Visit the author’s website at jrtague.com.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  For Brewster

  OREN

  1

  “That bloody, royal bastard,” I muttered through clenched teeth, low enough so no one around me would hear. Not that it mattered. Even if I’d yelled it, the excited cheers of the villagers would have drowned out my voice.

  Who did he think he was? The man hadn’t even courted her. They hardly knew each other, and yet, here he was, proposing marriage?

  I managed to unclench my fists but couldn’t trust them to remain relaxed at my sides, so instead I crossed my arms over my chest, to at least hide the tension in my fingers. My jaw, however, was another matter. It seemed glued in its place, jutting forward and sharp enough to carve stone. Usually I kept an easy, relaxed demeanor. I found that people liked that about me, and it made it easier anytime I had to barter for goods or wanted to chat up a lady.

  But when the king bent down on one knee and asked Sarah for her hand, every muscle in my body went instantly rigid. I was like a hunk of petrified wood, fused to the ground, unable to move.

  My only consolation lay in the fact that she’d said “no”. At least for now.

  When he asked her, Sarah’s eyes had grown wide and her face had paled. She hadn’t expected it then—her surprise was unmistakable. I thought for a moment she might faint and my heart went out to her. Or it would have done, had it not been already tightly in her possession.

  I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to grab her and run, to whisk her away, back to my house where I could kiss her again, like I had the night of the invasion. It had been a damn good kiss, too. And then I’d gone and ruined it by blurting out that the king was missing.

  My fingers twitched at the memory, wanting to ball themselves into fists again. Why had I cared what happened to this lecherous fiend? I should have bedded her, wedded her, made beautiful babies with her, before the Kitty King could swoop in and try to take her from me.

  But then I remembered the feeling when she’d kissed me back. The way my head had swum and my heart pounded like it hadn’t with any woman before her. If I were truly honest with myself, it wasn’t just the king and the safety of Verdinia that had been on my mind that night. There was also a gnawing at my gut, a shiver down my spine, as her warm, soft lips pressed to mine and her fingers twined through my hair. I’d been afraid.

  What if I needed this woman?

  I dared another glance at her, hoping my fears wouldn’t show. Sarah regained her composure and walked slowly up to the stage, where she joined the king.

  “Your Majesty,” she said with a smirk that made my insides squirm. “I’m flattered beyond measure by your proposal. I can imagine no greater honor than serving the great people of Verdinia as your queen.” The crowd roared with approval as my heart shattered into a million tiny pieces. “However,” she continued, putting a hand up to halt the applause, “I cannot in good conscience accept such a proposal when I know so little about how I got here, or how to prevent returning to my world unintentionally.”

  My pulse sped as I looked from her to the king, who wore a mask of regal indifference. The crowd looked perplexed, and Sarah must have noticed, because she continued her explanation.

  “As some of you already know, I am not from Verdinia. The first time I entered your world was through an open gate. But when I was pushed back out of it, back to my own world, I saw no gate at all. That has caused me to live in fear that there may be circumstances under which I might be expelled from your world again, with no warning or choice in the matter. That sucks enough—er, I mean, that’s unfortunate enough if it happens just to me. But to suddenly lose a queen would surely be bad for the kingdom. Therefore, I cannot affirm my answer until we are all assured that will not happen.”

  The crowd still looked puzzled by her words, but many of them nodded their heads, as though understanding the gist of her argument. The king looked solemn, having lost his candor. But there was a gleam of something in his eyes. Something like determination.

  “My lady makes a good point,” he announced, quieting the crowd immediately. “I was swept up in my own regard for her. But in making such a decision to wait, she has proven herself to be a queen, and a partner, well worth waiting for. Therefore, I vow to find out everything there is to know about the gate, so my lady can be assured of her new homeland and so our kingdom can be assured of its continued stability and protection.”

  The crowd erupted in applause. King Ash had managed to win them over so completely, when, until only weeks before, he’d been hardly more than a sullen boy who almost never left the castle. His kingdom had always felt sympathetic toward him. I remembered how, when I was about sixteen and almost a man grown, I’d made a comment about how gloomy he looked all the time and my ma had cuffed me upside my head and lectured me on how lucky I was to have parents.

  I’d felt guilty after that. And I promised myself I’d be more understanding toward him.

  But that ended today.

  What I felt from the crowd now was more than sympathy. More than respect for the strong king his father had been. This was genuine adoration. King Ash had shared his deepest secret—one I’d had to live with on my own for the past two years—and they’d given him a standing ovation. I could have respected that. I could have even joined in the relief of him finally choosing a wife, as his advisors had begged him to do for several years now, so that we could look forward to him producing an heir and ensuring consistent rule.

  But he’d chosen Sarah. He’d chosen rivalry.

  I glared at King Ash as he announced that anyone with any information on the black gates, or people traveling through from another world, should come to the castle between the hours of one and three in the afternoon and he would hear each person’s story personally in his throne room. It was a bold move, inviting any commoner with a story into his throne room like that. I would have felt a grudging sort of respect for the man, were I not so utterly incensed by his actions.

  When the announcements were over, and the crowd started dispersing to different areas of the gardens to admire the blooms or sample the fancy foods on silver trays, I noticed Sarah cast King Ash a cold look before picking up her skirts and leaving the stage. Was she angry with him? My heart soared with the possibility. I found it hard to imagine any young woman being angry with the king for his offer of marriage. Then again, Sarah wasn’t any young woman. She was unlike anyone I’d known—smart and brave, and even a little shy all at the same time. She also had a kind heart. I remembered how she’d brought out seed to feed the chickens the first day we’d met. And she’d tended to the injured panther, our king, even when she had no guarantee of her safety.

/>   Warring emotions battled in my chest at the memory. I admired her for what she’d done. But I’d been angry she hadn’t listened to me, and hurt that she’d taken off so quickly after returning. Maybe I should have taken her with me to fight. But no, that would have just put her in a different sort of danger.

  I sighed, having grown tired of the back and forth in my head. I’d felt that way since the invasion, always second-guessing myself, never sure of the next step forward. I tried to put it out of my mind by walking through the gardens, tidying up already pristine bushes and checking for dead flowers. I moved farther away from the rest of the merrymakers and into a more private section of the garden. Normally I enjoyed the festival, but this year I was not in the mood.

  I was so lost in my thoughts and busy scanning the bushes that I didn’t see the girl until she’d bumped into my shoulder.

  “Excuse me.” I knew her voice even before I looked up from the rosebushes.

  “In a hurry?” I asked, flashing Sarah a grin I didn’t feel.

  “Oren.” Her eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t realize it was you. Thank god. What a mess this turned out to be.”

  Her shoulders slumped, and she covered her face in her hands, looking dangerously close to crying. Not thinking about my position, or what the king would do to me if he caught me touching his maybe-future-fiancée, I reached out and pulled her into my arms. As soon as she was pressed up against me, I could feel her relax and melt into my chest. I cupped the back of her head, dipping my head to kiss the top of hers, inhaling the flowery scent of her hair. Slowly, I felt myself relax as well. It felt good to hold her again after having my world rocked so thoroughly only moments before. Her soft breaths against my neck reminded me that I hadn’t lost her yet.

  “Oh Oren, what am I going to do?” she sighed. Then she jerked her head up suddenly and stared at me with pleading eyes. “I swear, I had no idea he was going to ask me that. I never thought…we’ve been nothing but friends.”

  “You don’t have to explain anything to me, my lady. We’ve made no promises.”

  She looked stricken. “I know, it’s just…I mean, it’s not like I expected you to…not so quickly anyway. But….”

  She looked at the ground and bit her lip. I cursed myself for having embarrassed her, but I didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s just…I want you to know,” she mumbled. “I would never kiss you one day and then promise to marry someone else the next.”

  “Did you mean what you said up there on the stage?” I asked, nervous to hear her answer.

  She looked up at me. “Yes and no. I mean, I believe it’s a valid issue. I’m a liability as long as it’s possible to just push me back into my original world. So I shouldn’t be given any sort of important position. But that wasn’t the only reason I said no.”

  “It wasn’t?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  “Well yeah,” she said. “I’m only twenty. There’s no way I’m ready for a commitment like marriage yet. And then there’s also the fact that I’m already sort of into another man.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my lips, the turmoil in my gut beginning to settle. “This other man, tell me about him.”

  She smiled back, a pretty blush creeping across her cheeks. “Well, he’s kind and sweet and he makes excellent breakfasts.”

  “Sounds good so far, tell me more,” I said, inching my hands up her waist as she moved in closer, toying with the collar of my shirt.

  “He’s handsome too, and very brave, if a bit overprotective sometimes—”

  “Maybe that’s because you’re worth protecting,” I said, lowering my voice and dipping my forehead to touch hers. She smelled like lavender and lemons, the perfect blend of home and garden. I could feel my heart swell at the thought of coming home to her every day.

  “And he has dazzling blue eyes that glitter in the moonlight when…oh!”

  Her tone changed in an instant and she took a step backward, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “What is it?” I asked, cold spikes of anxiety shooting through my body.

  “You said we’d talk about it later,” she said. “About the night of the invasion and how you knew about Ash even though you weren’t in the town square. Well, it’s later.”

  “I told you, I heard about it from Philip, and the other men I worked with on the reconstruction.” It wasn’t a lie exactly—Philip had mentioned it. Just like not telling her about my ability hadn’t been a lie either. I just hadn’t wanted to frighten her, wasn’t ready to share that part of myself so—

  “Oren, it had your eyes,” she continued, interrupting my thoughts. “The unicorn that helped me carry the panther out into the fields and then transformed him back into Ash. And when it looked at me…I’d know that look anywhere. It’s what I see staring back at me now.”

  “Oh right. That,” I said, feeling my cheeks turn red and burn on my face.

  Sarah raised her arms and dropped them again at her sides. “Yeah, that. Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?”

  “Well, I mean….” I stammered, searching for the words to explain. “I wanted to tell you, of course. It’s just that I’d been keeping it a secret for so long. I hadn’t told anyone yet, and we’d only just met, and I didn’t want to scare you off.”

  Her expression softened, and I breathed a sigh of relief. “You hadn’t told anyone?”

  I shook my head. “Still haven’t, except for you. Right now.”

  “But what about your parents?” she asked. “How long has it been? Did you start at the same time Ash did?”

  “No, my lady. I started shifting into the unicorn about two years ago, right around my twentieth birthday. I’d recently finished building my house, so it wasn’t a difficult secret to keep, living on my own as I was. Only, at first, I would shift every night. Couldn’t control it. I had to stop sleeping in the loft, because I’d get stuck up there.” When she looked confused, I grinned and leaned closer. “Hard to climb down narrow stairs like that with hooves.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened and then she covered her mouth, stifling a giggle, perhaps having pictured me trying to navigate the steep, narrow stairs of the loft on four legs.

  “It’s not funny,” I said, lowering my head and staring wistfully at the ground as I tried not to smile. “I could have turned a fetlock, gone lame. Someone might have had to come along and put me out of my misery.”

  “Don’t say that,” she gasped, then scrunched her eyebrows together. “And what’s a fetlock?”

  “It’s a bit like an ankle, but it’s also like a knuckle. Horses—and unicorns—have four legs instead of two arms and two legs, after all. So it’s a bit different. They’re not exactly comparable.”

  Sarah nodded, seeming to understand. I was filled with an unexpected lightness. It felt good to talk about it, to joke about it even. This was the strangest thing about me, the one thing I’d worried couldn’t be understood or accepted by another person. And here she was, nodding her head and asking questions, as though it were the most normal thing in the world.

  I supposed I had to give the king credit for that much. Having him come clean about his own ability normalized it somewhat. Though the fact that he was a king and Maeri—the dragon—was a queen, did beg some questions.

  As if sensing where my thoughts had turned, Sarah looked up at me with beautiful, earthy eyes. “Oren, if Queen Maeri and Ash are both able to transform—”

  “Shift,” I interrupted, not even realizing I was going to until the word was out of my mouth. It was how I’d been thinking of my own transformations for the past two years. For that’s what it felt like, a shift in my being.

  Sarah paused a moment. “Right. If they’re both able to shift, and they’re royalty….”

  “Who is royalty?” King Ash asked, sauntering into our otherwise unoccupied section of the garden.

  “Your Highness,” I said, lowering my head slightly and hating the fact I had to show deference to the man
who had so recently become my rival.

  “Oh no,” Sarah said, rounding on the king with a look of fiery anger in her eyes. “You don’t get to ask me any more questions right now. What in the world was that display back there? I’ve been so worried about you. I thought you were lying in bed somewhere, dying. But instead, you were hatching up some hairbrained scheme to…what? Humiliate me in front of your whole kingdom? How could you ask me something like that? We aren’t even…I mean, we haven’t…what were you thinking?”

  I couldn’t believe she’d just shouted at the king. I would have tried to stop her, if I hadn’t been too taken aback by it—and a little turned on.

  “What? That wasn’t romantic?” the king asked, seeming strangely nonchalant. As though he hadn’t just been yelled at by, well, not a commoner exactly, but no one was supposed to yell at the king.

  “It was not,” Sarah confirmed. “It was embarrassing, and you’re lucky I came up with a good answer on the spot.”

  The king’s purple eyes glimmered, as though she hadn’t just confirmed her rejection of him. “And that, my lady, is why you would make an excellent queen. You are adept at thinking on your feet and handling things in a diplomatic—”

  “The point is,” she interrupted. “I shouldn’t have had to.”

  Watching them argue had been amusing at first. But the longer it went on, the more it filled me with unease. They looked fired up, alive. There was a strange sort of intimacy to their bickering.

  “Let’s agree to disagree,” the king said, still smiling his smarmy smile.

  “Let’s not. I’m right and you’re…you’re ridiculous.” Sarah threw up her hands again and started to walk away. But at the last minute she turned to look back at me. “We’ll talk later, okay? I still want to know more about…well, you know.”