Stolen Kingdom
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This is the final chapter. This is not originally where I planned on going with this fic. I intended for it to be much longer and to have a very different outcome, but I have been stalled for so long that when I had inspiration for a ending I had to run with it. I suppose if I got inspiration, I could write a sequel but for now I am happy with where I am leaving this.
Rating- PG-13
Summary- The day of the Alliance of the Five Kingdoms arrives.
Words- 1770
Chapter Five
Kenna stood by her window, staring out at her kingdom, asking hersel what would she do to protect it?
It was a question that had been plaguing her for months, since her mother’s death. The answer was more complicated than she’d once imagined.
“My love?”
Kenna didn’t turn as Diavolos slipped his arms around her waist, she just leaned against him, taking comfort from his strength.
“It’s awfully early for you to be up,” he pointed out.
“I couldn’t asleep,” she admitted, “it’s a momentous day, one way or another.”
“Yes,” Diavolos agreed carefully and she could hear the reservation in his voice.
“I had to try,” Kenna said, answering the question he hadn’t voiced. “I know your father has his doubts, but… I owe it to my mother to try.”
“I know,” Diavolos told her, gathering her even closer, “and for your sake, I hope it works out and that the alliance is a success.”
“Me too,” Kenna said quietly. She had wagered everything on this, on the belief that she could bring the kingdoms together the way her mother would have wanted. Luther had offered his support, but with a caveat that if it looked like the alliance would fail or that the other kingdoms would betray them, he would act.
Yet, the other kingdoms had agreed to this meeting, that in itself was a show of good faith and surely they would understand that this alliance was needed? That it was the only way of defeating the Iron Empire once and for all?
And the Iron Empire needed to be defeated. Kenna’s heart ached at the thought of her mother, taken from her so cruelly and so cowardly. Her mother had deserved better.
If it came down to fulfilling her mother’s dream or avenging her death… There was only one choice, as painful as that thought was. Kenna wanted to bring her mother’s dream to fruition, but she needed to make the world safe for her own daughter and that could never happen as long as the Iron Empire was a threat looming over them.
“We’ll do what we have to,” she said out loud, turning to face her husband.
Diavolos nodded, taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. “We will,” he promised, “whatever happens today, we will move forward against the Iron Empire and end that threat once and for all.”
“Yes,” Kenna agreed, taking another deep breath, “we will.”
**
“Your father has arrived, your majesty,” one of the servants informed Diavolos.
Diavolos nodded curtly, “thank you.” He didn’t spare the servant another glance before hurrying towards the doors of the castle, arriving in time to see his father and brothers enter.
“Leave us,” Luther ordered his younger sons once pleasantries were exchanged.
Marco looked disgruntled at the order but followed Baltair and Seoras into the main hall while Diavolos and his father continued to Diavolos’s study.
“How is your lovely wife?” Luther asked once they were alone. “Does she what has to happen today? That there has to be a united front, one way or another.”
The words seemed innocent enough, but Diavolos understood the hidden meaning. He knew what his father’s ideal outcome was.
“She does,” Diavolos answered evenly, “I believe she is still hoping that a peaceful resolution can be reached, but she understands what needs to be done. She knows how badly we need to defeat the Iron Empire and will do whatever she has to, to see that done.”
Luther smiled. Diavolos wondered quickly if his father’s smile had always been so chilling, but quickly dismissed the thought. “Good. Then we’re in agreement.”
“Yes,” Diavolos said, a tad reluctantly. Yet… It was important to have a plan in place, he knew that. Just like the priority had to be defeating the Iron Empire. The end always justified the means, that was the Nevrakis way, after all.
Luther put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Don’t worry this will be over soon and thanks to you much easier than it would have been. Without your marriage, we would have had to bring Stormholt under our heel as well.”
Diavolos shuddered at that thought, at the sudden image of Kenna, battered and bloody, a victim to his father’s ruthlessness. He pushed it aside, it would never happen. Whatever happened today, Kenna would be safe. So would Adriana. And that was all that mattered. That and defeating the Iron Empire.
His family would never be safe as long as the Iron Empire existed and as long as he remembered that, well, it made it easier for him to swallow whatever was about to happen because, at the end of the day, he’d do anything to keep his family safe.
**
Dom surveyed the chaos of the incoming dignitaries. The castle was also crawling with soldiers, though he noticed with some surprise that were as many in Abanthian uniforms as Stormholt.
He caught sight of Kenna and hurried to her side.
“I didn’t expect to see so many Abanthian soldiers,” He said in a low voice.
She looked surprised, but also a little uncomfortable, though it quickly vanished. “We needed the castle secure.’ She reminded him, fiddling with her dress.
Dom noted that she was wearing Abanthus colors today, black and silver. He didn’t comment on that though, it was none of his business. Besides, he and Kenna no longer at that easy comradery. Normally, he wouldn’t even question her about the soldiers, not anymore. “Are the other kingdoms bringing soldiers?”
“Only their personal guard,” Kenna answered, that flash of discomfort crossing her face again. She glanced past him, “I really should be ready to greet people.” She hurried away before Dom could say anything.
He watched her go, wondering how things had changed between him and Kenna so quickly. They’d been best friends all their lives, whatever else Dom might have felt, but while the affection was still there the closeness had evaporated since her return to Stormholt.
Dom didn’t know if it was her marriage or her mother’s death and becoming Queen, but Kenna was different. Even today, she hadn’t seemed like herself, there was obviously something weighing on her mind, but whatever it was, she apparently didn’t feel comfortable confiding in him.
He cast another look at the Abanthian soldiers, unable to shake the feeling that something was about to happen. Something more than the alliance. He just hoped whatever it was, Kenna knew what she was doing.
**
“Are you ready my love?” Diavolos asked, finding his wife in the crowd.
She nodded, but he could see the strain in her eyes. “I am. We should get started.”
“Father wants to talk to you first,” Diavolos told her, carefully studying her face. He saw the intake of breath, the way the knowledge filled her eyes before she cleared her expression.
“Of course.”
He took her hand, needing the contact, and led her to where Luther was waiting. He could see his father’s triumph, barely concealed.
“There have been whispers between the Thorns and the Casslemars,” Luther said in a low voice, “the alliance will not last, there was discussion of an ambush once the talks break up.”
Diavolos wondered cynically if this was the truth, but he kept those thoughts to himself. Nothing would be accomplished by vocalizing them.
Kenna was silent and Diavolos wondered if she would falter, and how he could protect her from his father’s wrath if that happened, but in the end, she nodded. “Do what you have to,” she said in a low voice, her hand tightening around his.
Luther smiled in satisfaction. “Good. My men are already in place, once you are giving the speech, we will act and then, the Five Kingdoms will finally be one and we’ll be able to defeat the Iron Empire once and for all.”
“Good,” Kenna answered, the coldness in her voice surprising Diavolos and chilling him because it was so out of character for her. He suddenly took in her dress, the emotionless expression, the one of her voice and realized what was so disconcerting: she looked and sounded like a Nevrakis.
**
Kenna stood in the aftermath of the massacre, watching as the soldiers gathered up the bodies. A part of her still couldn’t believe what she had just authorized.
She had invited the dignitaries here for peace and had instead allowed them to be slaughtered.
“It had to be done.”
Kenna turned at the sound of the voice to see her husband’s father standing there, his expression contemplative. “They would have risen up given the chance,” he reminded her, carefully watching her.
“I know,” Kenna answered, thinking of what he had told her, what her own soldiers had confirmed about the discovery of troops from Embrimel in the woods. Peace had never really been an option. But that didn’t mean it felt good.
She looked again at the bodies littering the halls, her stomach churning as she did. So much death and destruction.
“How do you get used to it?” She asked, blurting the question out before she could stop herself.
“It’s part of war,” Luther said simply, “but you don’t have to get used to it.” He smiled, though Kenna noticed it didn’t quite meet his eyes. “You will be safe here, Kenna. You’ll oversee the Kingdom while we fight the war. This is as close as it’ll get to touching you.”
She knew she should be comforted by his words, but she wasn’t. She had been a party to this, to the violence and bloodshed and she couldn’t just pretend otherwise and stay safe and ignorant at home. She would not be fighting that war, but she’d gotten her hands dirty because of it.
A thought crossed her mind. “If my mother had lived… If Diavolos and I hadn’t married…” She ventured, “if the alliance had gone down the way it was supposed to, would the ending have been any different?”
Luther was silent for a moment and then shook his head. “No.”
Somehow she’d known that would be the answer.
Kenna swallowed the bile rising in her throat as she considered what might have been and what had transpired. She could be one of those bodies in the hall and her entire kingdom with her. Would Stormholt’s walls have held? Something told her that he would have found a way, that he was not a man easily denied.
Kenna’s eyes found Diavolos across the room, thinking suddenly how glad she was that fate had brought him into her life because whatever had occurred, she was still standing and she intended to keep it that way.
- End
