"Indigo! Wait!"
She didn't slow. Her feet moved of their own accord, fueled by fury and blistered pride. By the time her sisters and Kuno caught up with her, she had managed to wrestle her features into a stoic mask worthy of royalty. But none of them were fooled.
"You're right to be angry," the bear said. "But sulking won't win the queendom."
"Defeat Kalmara? Who has ever defeated the Bird? She means to keep the throne and humiliate me as well."
"She does have the other queens on her side. They are frightened of going to war," Borla explained.
Indigo made a face. "And to think, we've always been some of the fiercest warriors on the steppes."
"Alvareth has changed much in the years I've been gone," Kuno said. "I'd never have thought the queendoms would resist a just cause."
"You're forgetting your one advantage," Borla cut in. "If you do best Kalmara, you'll win the respect of all the queendoms in one stroke. You'll be untouchable. She's counting on you to fail, which is why she insisted she be named permanent queen if you lose. You have to fight, Indigo. And you have to win. An uninitiated rabbit cannot take the throne."
Indigo shook her head. "It's impossible. How can I defeat my own aunt?" The one who taught me the sword in the first place?
Dorju tapped Indigo's arm, and made a sign with her paw.
Unused to politics as she was, Indigo knew Dorju had a point: there was one rabbit who might possibly help her.
YOU ARE READING
The Queen and the Dagger
FantasyIn the land of Mankahar, the human Empire has discovered how to rob animals of speech in order to "pacify" them for farming. Indigo, rabbit princess of Alvareth, is on the cusp of inheriting her queendom and joining the Order, a society dedicated to...
