Free Queen (Brotherhood of the Throne) by Jane Glatt

meet you
Gwylym. Your workshop is very soothing. I can see why you would want to spend
your time in here.” Brenna stood and Kane took her hand.
    “And I also thank you,
Gwylym,” Kane said. “For the wood and the ale. I’ll send someone over in the
morning to sort the wood. You’ll help won’t you?”
    “Aye, I’ll help.” Gwylym
nodded. “Wouldn’t do to use the wrong type of wood for things. I best make sure
it gets done right.”
    Brenna followed Kane as he
once again led the way through the streets of Silverdale to Ewart’s house. As
she headed up the stairs to Ewart’s house she looked across the square to the
Church of the One-God. It was dark and looked uninhabited although she knew
that there were priests living there. Ewart had suggested it as a possible
infirmary. If it became the place where they helped the injured and sick it
would be the exact opposite of the church in Kingsreach, where High Bishop
Valden dealt pain and death to his and Duke Thorold’s enemies.
     
    Brenna dodged the women in
glittering dresses and men in fine silk suits as she searched the room for him.
She had to talk to him now, before it was too late. She worked her way through
the crowd only to find herself facing a blank wall. Whirling, she headed back
into the crowd. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating fast - she
broke into a run. Where was he? He had to be here, he had to. She searched
through the crowd for what seemed like hours before she finally spotted the top
of his head. Brenna pushed past the last few people in her way and reached out
to him. But when he turned towards her, her smile died on her lips.
    “I told you she’d try to
take everything from you, son.” Duke Thorold stood with his hand on Beldyn’s shoulder,
a smug smile on his face.
    Beldyn, wearing the crown
of Soule, looked from his father to Brenna. Then he laughed - a malevolent,
evil laugh that Brenna had never thought to hear from him.
    “She’ll get nothing from
me, father.” Beldyn’s gaze settled on her for a moment and then contemptuously slid
away. “I will not step aside for a deceitful witch. I may have trailed after
her when I was young but I don’t need her now.”
    Thorold clapped Beldyn on
the shoulder and the two of them laughed together.
    As Brenna backed away from
them a wave of despair engulfed her. Her vision changed from the Kingsreach
throne room and the celebration of Beldyn’s coronation to a battlefield.
    The sun was just setting
and shadows dotted the field. In shock, Brenna realized that the shadows were
men lying dead in pools of blood. The carnage stretched out as far as she could
see. She turned to run and stumbled. When she looked down she was horrified to
see Neemah’s dead face staring up at her and clutched to her side - the small,
bloody body of her son Ronan. With a cry of despair Brenna tried to run and
found herself clasped in strong arms and held tight against a warm chest.
    “Brenna, wake up,” Kane
said gently.
    Her heart still racing, she
clutched at him.
    “Can you hear me?”
    She opened her eyes and
shuddered, struggling to sit up straighter in bed.
    “Brenna, are you all
right?”
    She felt Kane’s hand on
her cheek as he brushed away her tears.
    “I had a dream, a vision.”
She raised her eyes and read the concern in Kane’s. “I must talk to Beldyn as
soon as possible. Everything will go wrong if I don’t.”
    “Wrong how?”
    “I saw Beldyn and Thorold aligned against me. Beldyn was evil, just like his father. And the war.” She
closed her eyes seeing again the field of bodies. “The war is more terrible
than anything I’ve seen before. So many dead - hundreds, thousands. I must talk
to Beldyn.” She leaned over to the side table and searched for the lamp and
flint. Her hands were shaking so much that she couldn’t strike the flint to
light the lamp.
    Gently, Kane took the
flint from her and lit the lamp. She leaned back into him, his steady presence
helping calm her