The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen Series Book 3) Read online

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  Unnamed

  ALSO BY EMILY R. KING The Hundredth Queen The Fire Queen

  Unnamed

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2018 by Emily R. King All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Skyscape, New York www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Skyscape are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781542048347 ISBN-10: 1542048346 Cover design by Jason Blackburn

  For Joseph, Julian, Danielle, and Ryan. Your names are in my book, front and center. Happy now? Love, Mom

  CONTENTS AUTHOR’S NOTE 1 KALINDA 2 DEVEN 3 KALINDA 4 DEVEN 5 KALINDA 6 DEVEN 7 KALINDA 8 DEVEN 9 KALINDA 10 DEVEN 11 KALINDA 12 DEVEN 13 KALINDA 14 DEVEN 15 KALINDA 16 DEVEN 17 KALINDA 18 DEVEN 19 KALINDA 20 DEVEN 21 KALINDA 22 DEVEN 23 KALINDA 24 DEVEN 25 KALINDA 26 DEVEN 27 KALINDA 28 DEVEN 29 KALINDA 30 DEVEN 31 KALINDA 32 DEVEN 33 KALINDA 34 KALINDA CHARACTER GLOSSARY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  AUTHOR’S NOTE The religion of the Tarachand Empire, the Parijana faith, is a fictional variation derived from Sumerian deities. However, the Parijana faith and the Tarachand Empire and other empires do not directly represent any specific historical time period, creed, or union. Any other religious or governmental similarities are coincidental and do not depict actual people or events.

  1KALINDA The burial starts at daybreak, before the heat of the jungle evaporates the dew and suffocates the morning breeze. Our solemn group congregates in the stern of the riverboat and watches Deven and Yatin finish tying heavy stones to the body’s ankles and wrists. Indah has already washed the deceased in almond oil, a ritual in her homeland, the Southern Isles. Pons, her beloved guard, helped her wrap the departed with white bedsheets. Natesa slips her arm around my waist. I hold on to her, shifting my weight off my sore leg. Prince Ashwin stands to the side, his head down, but I can still see his red eyes and nose. Deven straightens slowly, as though every part of him aches. I recognize that feeling, that sinking heaviness like quicksand. Everyone aboard moves with the same cumbersome slowness, as though we are all tied down by millstones. The rush of the River Ninsar fills the silence. If only life could be as constant as a river. Although I believe death is not the end and our

  2DEVEN I grab my sword from behind the wheelhouse door and follow the click-clack of Kali’s cane. Since sustaining her injuries, her already tall, lean frame has thinned to frailty. She stoops over like a crane, her healing leg quaking from exertion. Skies, she’s stubborn. Helping her would be easier if she would quit interpreting my aid as her failing. She is not weak; she is in need. Before the Voider blasted her with his cold-fire, Kali shone bright as the sun and enchanted nature-fire into a huge, fiery dragon. It hurts to see her struggling. Indah and two more Lestarian Aquifiers use their powers to guide our skiff across the choppy delta waters. I managed to avoid seasickness on the smooth-flowing river, but my stomach is less enthused about the open water. On either side of the inlet, the coastline stretches into the distance, dotted with palm trees along alabaster beaches. The rest of my party line up at the rail, staring at the waiting ship. The larger watercraft is more suita

  3KALINDA I wake to find I am alone in the cabin. Out the open doors, our party congregates along the bow. Deven braces against the portside rail, wearing a dazed expression. I meet him on deck, achy but rejuvenated. “Are you all right?” I ask. “It’s been an odd day.” When no one else is looking, I stroke his hand. His distracted mood peels away, and he smiles. I want to wrap my arms around him, but propriety must be upheld. Deven points past the bow. “We’re here.” The afternoon sun lights up a far-off wall. The towering pile of stones shoots up from the sea, many times higher than our vessel’s mast. While squinting, I make out a passageway in the barrier. A low, arched bridge, like a strand of a spider’s web, spans the gap. “What is it?” I ask. “A breaker. Indah said it encircles the whole island. It fortifies against intruders and errant waves.” Deven sounds impressed, as am I. This wall in the middle of the sea is remarkable. A dark line on the northern horizon draws my attention. Ad

  4DEVEN Yatin is stationed on the opposite side of Kali’s door. We stare forward, arms tucked close, and stand guard. The hushed corridors allow my thoughts to wander back to Indah and Kali’s earlier conversation. They assumed they talked quietly, but I overheard enough. The datu trusts Kali—a wise decision. But Kali is not the prince’s intended, and the datu should not pressure her to commit to him or compel her to choose between us. That is the very reason I have not imposed my will on her. I will not offer her my future just to outpace another man or from fear of losing her. When I ask Kali to spend her life with me, my proposal will originate from love, and love only. Thinking of proposals reminds me . . . I look askance at Yatin. “What happened to your lotus ring? Did you lose it?” “No.” I wait, but he does not go on. “Did you change your mind about giving it to Natesa?” “No.” His one-syllable replies rub me the wrong way. Yatin and Natesa can be together. They have nothing standin

  5KALINDA Shadows swathe my bedchamber. Natesa and Yatin are shut in her antechamber, their supper scraps left on the terrace, deserted beside a lit lamp. I envy their freedom to shut out the world and lose themselves in one another. Deven has not yet returned. I did not want to leave him behind, but Indah and the admiral suggested they show me more of the palace, and I could not stand Princess Gemi a moment longer. She sat so close to Deven during supper she was nearly in his lap. A warm gust grazes my ear, but a blizzard rages inside me. I gravitate to the lamp and lean over nature’s flame. My soul’s reflection takes form—a fire dragon. I study the small, serpentine figure for changes since the Voider poured his cold-fire inside me, but it gazes up as usual and awaits my command. You’re a lovely sight. I reach for the fire dragon, seeking its warmth. I am not afraid of a burn or any other reprisal. Both of us are born of fire, though only one of us is the master. My hand touches the f

  6DEVEN I lean against the wall outside the prince’s door, my fists quaking. Kali took Ashwin’s side. They should be rerouting the navy to Vanhi, yet all they can think about is the warlord. Shortsighted fools. The demon rajah’s head start could mean the end of the war. I push away from the wall and march down the corridor. Turn back and tell her you love her. Don’t part in anger. I nearly bow to my apprehension but stay on course. Last night, I slept on a bench in the garden instead of returning to Kali’s chamber. I resolved to leave her be, and I will, because the only other option is to compel her to choose between the prince and me right now. And that would make me an even bigger fool than they are, for I am not merely competing against a prince. I am up against her throne. She is long past needing me as her guard. Whatever happens on that mountaintop, Kali can defend herself. I am more concerned about them wasting time. But time is all I can give her. Time to consider her future. T

  7KALINDA I limp down the corridor for the open archway that leads to the garden. A breeze flows inside, the tail end of stronger drafts summoned by a Galer. I quicken my step, but my bad leg gives out, forcing me to brace against the doorway. Gritting my teeth, I hustle outside under the palm trees. Whooshing air momentarily steals my breath. The wing flyer is airborne. Deven, Natesa, and Yatin ride with Rohan. I limp for the garden clearing, calling for Deven. T
he loud winds thrash the palm fronds and drown out my shouts. The wing flyer streaks over the cove and quickly shrinks into the sky. I plunk down on a stone bench, rubbing my sore knee. After Deven left Ashwin’s chamber, everything moved so fast. Ashwin dispatched a carrier dove with a letter to Hastin, and then we went to the datu. Bulan agreed with our endeavor to ally with the rebels and ordered Indah and Pons to fly us to meet Hastin. Everyone launched into a flurry of preparations for our departure. I returned to my empty

  8DEVEN The ripe scent of drying manure wafts from the field. Beneath my boots, the grass is trampled with wagon and horse tracks. After nearly two days of flying, stopping intermittently along the way, I am thankful my feet are on the ground. I crouch and finger the grass; it is still damp from the rainstorm that passed through this afternoon. Although the traces left by the demon rajah’s slow-moving army are three days old, the troops’ absence does not put me at ease. Yatin and Natesa search for signs of Brac and Opal nearer to the tree line. Dense foliage dissuades wanderers from venturing into the Morass. The jungle dominates Janardan’s territory between the sea and the empire. Brac and Opal would not duck into that tangle of trees unless they wished never to come out. Rohan scours the grasslands behind me, sending whistling gusts through low bushes to expose any place our siblings could have hidden. Where in the gods’ names did they go? Brac left no discernible footprints or scorch

  9KALINDA Freezing weather has come early to the Alpana Mountains. We fly in a steep climb over the powdery hills, the higher peaks obscured by soupy clouds. Snowflakes pinwheel around us. The white flecks land on Ashwin’s dark eyebrows and pale cheeks. We huddle together on the passenger plank, our teeth chattering out of sync with our shivering. Pons guides us up, up, up, into thinner air. Indah burrows under a wool blanket, her eyes shut; she’s awake but barely tolerating our ascent. Our two-day flight has felt endless. I have never known a wintry depth this dreary. I cannot distinguish where the poisonous cold inside me ends and the bracing weather starts. Each pull of air drives icy spikes into my chest. A growing numbness dulls my focus and drags my eyelids closed. “She must stay awake,” Indah calls to Ashwin over the wind. “Warm her!” Ashwin wraps his arm around me, and I curl into his side. His body heat combats my chills and helps me withstand the pressing cold. He lays his che

  10DEVEN My lungs and legs burn. Night left long ago, but the day has been in less of a hurry to end. All day long we have jogged over fields and marshes, side-footed down deep gullies, and marched up slippery hills, yet the imperial army is still in front of us. In the past hour, their tracks have led us into an autumn forest. The sunset streams through the trees that are thick with auburn leaves and the scent of inbound rain. The leaves’ redness, illuminated by the light, reminds me of Kali’s fire dragon in Iresh: fierce and bold, awe-inspiring. Just like the woman who summoned it. My comrades’ pace slows to a grinding walk. I am tired, but not as tired as they. My urgency to find Brac fuels my strength, but I cannot run forever. The farther we trek, the more certain I am that my brother was captured and the less I can deny that this is my fault. A moon ago, I let Brac and Mother stay behind in Tarachand. Before leaving Janardan, I sent Opal and Rohan—two young Galers, hardly old enou

  11KALINDA I sway in the creaky rocking chair, the view before me dipping and rising. Out the casement, a sea of frosted evergreens dominates the lower mountain ridges. Above them, sharp slopes and craggy apexes thrust into the clouds. The mountains are so familiar they are like gazing at a friend’s face. The early cold almost dampens the scent of shedding pine needles. Beside me, the north tower beacon radiates warmth, shielding me from the night, and its light furthers my view across the forest. Bits of white lay along the shadowy landscape and lakeshore. Cupped in the mountain trenches, the lake is capped by a hard sheen of glittering ice. Even in the summer, the crystalline waters are too cold for swimming. Some say monsters lurk in the frigid depths, but I am more inclined to fear the Alpana Mountains’ mighty summit, Wolf’s Peak, the land-goddess’s foremost monument to her domain. Jaya believed Wolf’s Peak was Ekur, the hallowed location where the mortals’ realm intersects with the

  12DEVEN Torches bob around Rohan and me, like large fireflies illuminating the dark. We blend in with the other soldiers fanning out through the forest. Difficult as it is not to run ahead, we stay in the thick of the hunt. But as the troops disperse into smaller groups, we break out in front of the other search parties. Soon our torch is the only one for a hundred strides in every direction. We finally arrive at the place we last saw our comrades. The leafy covert is vacant. “Where did they go?” Rohan asks, turning about. “I don’t know.” They were not taken. No one from camp has searched farther out than this. The torchlights must have spooked them. I would suggest that Rohan send them a message on the wind, a whistle or birdcall, but torchlights close in on us. Too many men could become suspicious of our signal or any response our friends would send. I sweep the torch over the ground and uncover a footprint of Yatin’s boot. As a boy, he often hid from his five older sisters so they c

  13KALINDA Someone kicks my chair, bringing me upright. Indah stands before me, cradling a steaming teacup. “You sleep in the strangest places,” she says. “What time is it?” “Midmorning.” She shuffles in front of my chair and leans against the open casement. Sunlight falls in behind her. The snow clouds have passed, and the air is warmer. Icicles drip from the window. The tower beacon pushes warmth at my back, adding heat to the warming temperatures. I relit the flame last night after Tarek left. My memory of his visit is fuzzy in the light of day, pulling apart my confidence in what I saw. Is it possible for souls to travel from the Void by shadows? Is there truth to Inanna’s Descent? “Ashwin sent me to find you,” Indah says. “What are you doing up here? Have you been here all night?” “I came to watch for Hastin.” I slip my hands under the wool blanket. My inner chill is relentless. “You don’t have to do that. Pons is listening for his arrival.” “I know. I just . . .” Seeing Tarek remi

  14DEVEN A bang in the distance wakes me. I go from lying propped against the tree trunk to standing in half a breath. Daylight rests upon the woodland, severing my drowsiness. I groan. “We overslept.” Natesa opens her eyes from her place curled up against Yatin. I nudge him in the boot, and he jolts, thumping his head against their log. Rohan rouses, shedding sleep like the blanket of leaves that kept him dry last night. Sunup stole into the forest, and the day marched us well into morning, far past our planned departure at dawn. Yatin scrubs the sleep from his eyes, and Natesa shoves strands of her fallen hair up underneath her turban. Tightness stretches all my sore, stiff muscles. I peer through the misty woods. The fallen leaves are saturated to a deep crimson from the passing rain. No tent peaks mark the army’s camp. We were completely gone from this world not to have heard the army pack up and leave. I should have anticipated our exhaustion after our taxing days of travel. “They’

  15KALINDA The Claiming chamber is locked from the corridor, so I enter an adjoined room around the corner and close the door behind me. The cold, gray inspection chamber that is used for the first stage of the Claiming ritual is empty. Circling the hollow area lit by wall lamps, I feel gooseflesh spread up my arms. Here in this very spot, the other recipients and I stood nude before Healer Baka for evaluation of our physical health, a practice to determine whether we were fit to be shown to the benefactor. An inner door leads to the next chamber. Near it, on a table, is a pot of henna. The sisters used the henna to draw the mark of Enki down our spines. The single wave represented that we were in submission to the most fearsome benefactor who had ever visited our temple. I am tempted to throw the pot and shatter the memory of Tarek’s arrival, but I pick it up and cradle it close. I once carried the mark of the kindred, dyed in henna on the backs of my hands. The number one was a symbol

  16DEVEN Late into the afternoon, the plodding wagons spread out. The weariness of the day strings us apart and heavies our steps. Long trails of men wind from the woods and descend into
the lowlands, where the air thickens with the dank scent of wet land. The sky opens to unstoppable stretches of blue over verdant grasslands. Men toil in the rice fields and the higher wheat fields, both crops recently planted for the coming winter. Though I scrutinize every wagon and group of soldiers we pass, I have not seen or heard anything about Brac or Opal. The farther we walk, the more my premonition festers that they are in danger. Ahead, our troops trudge through a village. Our catapult is one of the last to pass through the roadways lined with ramshackle huts. Yatin was raised not far from this area. His widowed mother and two eldest sisters worked long days in the fields while he and his other siblings kept house. Women and children watch us roll through from their worn doorways. About a hun

  17KALINDA I meet Indah and Pons in the temple courtyard. Night is falling, and with it, the clear sky leaves an opening for the cold winds pushing in from the north. Much of the snow has melted away, and ice forms on the puddles that remain. Ashwin arrived ahead of me. From his hard-set jaw, he is still simmering over our encounter in the Claiming chamber. Pons hands Ashwin his machete and says, “The rebels are waiting near the lake. They wish to meet you and the kindred alone. I cannot tell how many there are. At least one of them is a Galer. I received her request to meet you but nothing since.” The rebel Galer must be redirecting the sounds of their movements to conceal their numbers, an uncomfortable beginning to our diplomatic engagement. I draw my dagger. “I’ll throw up a flame if we need you.” Indah nods. Her powers will not be of much use to us in this cold, but she is still an adept healer. Why am I thinking of needing a healer? Because someone gets hurt every time we interact

  18DEVEN The soldiers who earned the coin and bottle of apong sing rowdily across the way. My unit rests on the ground against the catapult wheels. I am dirty, sweaty, and so tired the campfire embers look like lanterns floating off into the sky. I could do with a long pull from that apong bottle, but I settle for the dirty cup of water and charred flatbread a meal server brought around. Yatin sits alone and stares into the rocky plain while flexing his hand into a fist over and over. He and Natesa have not spoken since we left the village. Rohan eats quietly, his gaze jumping around so often my own nerves crackle. No one has come looking for the missing soldier, but that could still change. A mild western wind swirls through camp, flowing from the barren region ahead. At our pressing pace, we will reach the Bhavya Desert the day after tomorrow, a full day ahead of schedule. Natesa itches her neck. “How do you wear these?” “We take our turbans off at night,” I say. “How fortunate for yo