The Mage Queen Book 1: The Princess

She couldn't sleep.

Her hands still trembled as she lay on the bed, staring at the wooden beams above her. She still couldn't wrap her head around what she was doing. I am actually returning to Sofiene, she realized. While her heart threatened to jump out of her chest, her stomach suddenly twisted and knotted itself.

"I am finally going home," Anastacia murmured. Her fingers weakly wrapped themselves around her pendant. "But why am I not happy?"

She sat up and stared at the wall instead. Anastacia hoped for some answers but instead, saw nothing but a blank space. She closed her eyes to listen but only heard the humming of the Stormcleaver's steam engine. Frustration bubbled up inside her. Why did she feel so nervous?

She clapped her hands together. But the trembling refused to stop. Anastacia sighed and climbed out of bed, storming out of the room.

As the door closed behind her, Anastacia sighed and saw the ruined hallway. She traced against the splinters and bullet holes that decorated the wall, brushing off the soot from the scorch marks. The princess took one look at her fingers, rubbing the soot in between them. She could only imagine how fierce the fight was. But the confrontation between Marick and General Melissa asked her a question that had been poking at her ever since she left.

Was this a good idea?

Anastacia of several months ago would have screeched and called her insane. Even Erkalla laughed off the idea as incredulous. But she couldn't stop thinking about what Vincent had told her that night. Now that she stood in the Stormcleaver's halls, his words echoed louder than ever.

I'll cherish the moment the Princess of Sofiene was generous to compliment my dancing.

Although she knew there was no malice in his words, the statement still hurt. Could she still call herself the Princess of Sofiene when she left her people to die? Would the people of Sofiene still accept her for her abandonment? Many questions swirled in her head, causing her to moan and yank her hair.

"Ugh, I need air," Anastacia muttered.

She stormed out onto the deck, greeted by the starry night sky. The hairs on her nape stood on their ends when the cold winds licked her skin. She embraced herself tightly, only to realize that she left her coat in her room. Anastacia groaned.

"How could you be so stupid," she hissed. "You are high off the ground! Of course, it will be cold!"

Suddenly, she felt something soft drop on her shoulders only to slip off. Anastacia whirled around and saw a sheepish Rowen picking up a fallen blanket and offering it to her.

"A blanket for your thoughts?" He smiled.

Anastacia's heart warmed at Rowen as she murmured a soft thank you, draping the blanket on her shoulders. She stepped a bit to the side to let Rowen stand next to her. He leaned against the rails at the tip of the deck, letting the wind play with his hair. Now that she had a better look at him, Anastacia saw the true color of his eyes behind his light brown lens.

"A lot of people would have hunted you down," Anastacia remarked off-handedly. "It is rare to see a dryad, let alone a Fae out in the open."

Rowen shrugged. "Cap says as long as I look human, they won't hurt me."

"Just curious, can I see what color your eyes really are?"

Nodding, he took out both his contact lenses. Anastacia gasped at the gleaming rose gold-colored irises and obovate leaf-shaped pupils. He was the real deal! Although his command over plants made her suspicious, she thought it was because he had an amulet created by the dryads. But to see one in the flesh was something she knew wouldn't have happened if she hadn't run away from home.

"Your eyes are so pretty."

Rowen grinned. "Thank you! But" — he placed his contact lens back on — "Cap says I need to keep the lens on every time I go into public places. A safety precaution, he says."

"He is right. He would be very terrified to lose you."

"Yeah but, don't you have anyone worried about you?"

Anastacia nearly said Erkalla but snapped her mouth shut immediately. Considering what had happened within three days, she wondered if Erkalla would still be worried. She would probably be more furious, she sighed. Her heart sank when the thought of burning Erkalla flashed through her mind. She stared at her hand, wondering — how on Corporis did she manage to do that? But there was another question that plagued her.

"Why did you help me?" she finally asked.

"What do you mean why? Do I have to have a reason?"

"Your Captain wanted the Stormcleaver back. You don't have anything to get except that. So, why?"

The small dryad paused for a moment before he shrugged. "I don't know."

"There must be something!"

"Do I have to have one?"

"Well, people only get into things when they know they can get something out of it."

Anastacia watched the little boy ponder as he drummed his fingers against his chin. It felt like an eternity for her as her patience wore thin in wondering what his answer was.

"An adventure," finally said he.

That threw her off-guard. "An adventure?"

"Mm-hm. Just like in the fairytales and books Cap would read to me at night."

A warmth swelled up inside her at the thought. She could imagine Marick reading a bedtime story to Rowen, falling asleep under the stars. Tears formed in her eyes when she realized nobody — not even a governess — did that for her. She sighed and choked back a sob, smiling at the sky above her.

Rowen blinked. "Oh no" — he waved his hands in fright — "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend—"

"No, no." Anastacia wiped a tear from her eye. "I... I just remembered that no one ever did that for me."

"No one? Don't humans have parents?"

"They do but... not all parents are the same. My father was a king. He was always busy. My mother," she paused for a moment. "I... honestly do not know."

"Hm, would you like me to tell you a story?"

She giggled. "You would?"

"Well, Cap says it's practice to learn how to speak better. Would you like me to?"

Her heart warmed. "That would be lovely."

"Okay!" Rowen beamed then his expression fell. "Um, what kind of stories do you like listening to?"

"Any will do. Like, tell me about your adventures."

He fell silent for a moment.

Anastacia blinked, noticing his tightened lip. "Do you not go on adventures?"

Rowen sighed before leaning against the rail. "We do. But, it's usually Cap'n who does all the fun stuff. I'm just here as moral support."

"But you did so well in Xychosia!"

"Oh, really? Thank you!"

Anastacia giggled when she noticed the tips of his pointed ears turn pink from her praise. She then realized that his ears were a dead giveaway to what he was. Yet, nobody seemed to notice that he wasn't what they believed he was. The citizens of Hindenburg Port just ignored him and only took notice when Marick got kicked around.

"So, I'm sure you have stories like that!" She smiled warmly. "Tell me about them."

Rowen nodded with a sheepish grin. "Well, there was one when cap fought the Kraken..."

As Rowen began telling the tale, Anastacia's thoughts began to wander. His beaming expression as the story built up to Marick fighting against the Kraken on his own warmed her heart. His devotion is something else, she thought. It reminded on how Mattias and Silas would brag about her being "a powerful magoi", sometimes, even threatening people who disagreed with them that she would "blow them up". She bitterly laughed. What did her brothers do to deserve their awful fate?

"Ana?" Someone called. "Ana!"

Anastacia snapped out of her daze, noticing something sticky had trailed down her cheek. She noticed Rowen's finger delicately balancing what looked like a teardrop on his pointer.

"Forget my story. I think you have one you'd like to tell," remarked Rowen with a heartwarming smile.

Anastacia fought her urge to hiccup, wiping her other tears. "My apologies—"

"—You shouldn't apologize for crying. Everyone does it. It's normal."

"B-but, your story wasn't even heartbreaking."

Rowen nodded. "You're right. But did you remember somebody? Cap says the only time people cry is if they get hurt or they remember something really, really sad."

Anastacia nodded. "You remind me of my brothers."

"You have brothers?"

"Had." Anastacia sighed and sat down, leaning against the wall.

Rowen, blinking, slid down and sat next to her. What could he do? He never dealt with times like these before! Everytime he cried, Marick just sat next to him until he stopped. He glanced at Anastacia, noticing her eyes turning red and puffy. Panic filled him. What was he supposed to do?

Slowly, he stretched his arms out and awkwardly pulled her close. His little body pressed against the princess' bigger and shuddering one as he tried to make sense of what was happening. It was as if a boulder dropped into his gut and all his limbs hung loosely like a doll's. But he knotted his fingers together to prevent himself from letting go as Anastacia shivered and sobbed.

"Mattias, Silas," Anastacia sobbed. "Th-they didn't deserve it..."

"Didn't deserve what?"

"They didn't deserve to die!"

Rowen was caught off-guard. "Your brothers are dead?"

She nodded.

"... I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay. I should've been more careful."

Anastacia wiped her tears. "No, no. It is not your fault. I just have a soft heart."

"Isn't the term heart of gold?"

"But that's so weird since gold's hard and cold since it's metal."

"Not really. Gold is actually quite soft."

Anastacia blinked. "Really?"

Rowen nodded. "Yeah, maybe when we're done with Sofiene, we can take you with us!"

Anastacia gave him a tear-stained smile. "Really?"

Seeing her smile made him feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Is this what it feels like to be nice to people, he wondered. He then extended his pinky to her with an innocent grin.

"A pinky promise, then?"

Anastacia nodded and linked her pinky with his. "It is a promise then."

Rowen grinned. He always read about other human kids making pinky promises and how sacred they seemed to be. He looked at his pinky, wondering how powerful a promise like that could be. But linking pinkies with the princess made a joy swell inside him. As if he had made a new friend.

Suddenly, a horn blared and broke his train of thought. Rowen looked up and saw Marick stepping out of the bridge.

"Look alive, lass and lad! Sofiene's coming up," Marick declared.

Anastacia gasped. They were there already? She jumped up and saw the silhouette of Sofiene's citadel behind the mist. She clenched her chest. Her heart threatened to burst at the sight. How long had it been? What things were still there? And most of all...

What happened to Sofiene three years ago?