A New Era: Kalparainia Chronicles Book One

Chapter Seven

The rest of my evening was pretty dull without Sora making people nearly jump out of their skin when they finally noticed her. Celeste had instantly placed herself at Ingrid's side, as though to try to become friends with her. I knew it was petty of me, but once I saw what she was doing... I became instantly jealous. Celeste knew what it was like to have friends...she had friends in Heartstone and in Silverwood. I had one friend that I had made and it felt as though Celeste was trying to take her away. I was ashamed of how I felt, but I couldn't help it. I just wanted one thing that Celeste didn't have a say in...

"Wow, this is absolute chaos here, my Queen," Sora's voice whispered in my mind, as though she was trying to be quiet. "Who's all fighting in this war? There seems to be no real order on one side, while the other seems extremely organized. It's like one side is taking orders from several different people."

That's because they are, I bit my lip as I saw Celeste link arms with Ingrid and lead her away from me. Have you found Xander yet?

"I don't want to get too close. It smells like he has dogs with him," Sora sighed in my head. "I should tell you that dogs and foxes-of any kind-do not get along."

I don't know of Xander having any dogs. He didn't have one when he left the castle, I held a book up to pretend that I was reading so no one thought I was losing my mind.

"Hold on...I'm going to try to get closer," Sora whispered very softly. "Well, that explains a lot..."

"What?" I asked aloud and earned a questioning look from Jamison and Arthur. "Sorry, this book is making me think..."

"Some of the men are the ones who smell like dogs. I know why, so I'll have to be extra careful. What Kingdoms are fighting in this war? Is Silverwood one of them?" Sora questioned.

Yes, Silverwood is one of Kyrain's allies, I looked down the hall where Celeste and Ingrid had vanished off to.

"This was just a rumor, but it's said that they're werewolves, my Queen," Sora's voice grew urgent. "I believe it to be true, because the King of Silverwood just turned from a big dog to a human before walking into King Xander's tent in his birthday-suit..."

I could feel myself turn bright red at the images that Sora must have projected into my mind. Could I say that it was proof that Markus Caynar was a werewolf? Probably not, but there was no denying that who I saw was my brother-by-law walking naked into my husband's tent. Please tell me that you imagined that.

"I may be a bit messed up in the head, my Queen, but I don't know how to manipulate my memory like that," Sora's voice sounded a bit embarrassed. "I'll figure out more before I report back to you again."

I glanced up and realized that Jillian was staring at me as though she was trying to figure out what I was doing. I let out a long sigh as I sat the book down and stood. The gardens of Kyrain weren't as grand as Rosewall or the gardens of Heartstone, but it was a place that was peaceful and quiet. I wasn't surprised when I found myself mindlessly walking around the gardens, trying to figure out if what Sora had shown me was real. Trying to figure out why Celeste wanted Ingrid as a friend, when she had friends of her own that could have joined her here.

"My Queen, Princess Veronica Caynar has arrived from Silverwood," Williem bowed and moved over to allow Markus's sister to step forward.

"It's nice to see you again, Queen Alyse," Veronica looked around the gardens. "I thought that Celeste was here as well."

"She is," I forced a smile to hide my discomfort.

"Of course, she's probably helping you out so much that she forgot that I was coming," Veronica looked a bit annoyed. "I mean no disrespect, Queen Alyse. It's been a long trip, and I had thought that Celeste would at least be kind enough to greet me."

"Celeste has been spending time with her mother," I straightened myself up.

"Isn't her mother your mother as well?" Veronica frowned.

"It's a long story," I shook my head. "Perhaps Celeste will fill you in later on."

"I highly doubt that," Veronica waved one of her own guards over. "Celeste made it no secret that she doesn't care for me. If it wasn't for the war spilling into Silverwood...I wouldn't have come to Kyrain with her here."

I may have been jealous about Celeste trying to take my friend, but she was still my sister. The fact that Princess Veronica was bitter towards her kind of upset me. With Celeste as my sister, she'd never once shown that she didn't care about me, so how could I believe Veronica when she stated that my sister was acting so cold towards her? It didn't seem very fair to me for Veronica to just judge her like that...it wasn't as though they'd really gotten the chance to get to know each other.

"I have a gift for you, for allowing me to stay here while my brother's kingdom is ripped apart by war," Veronica opened the box and pulled out a beautiful jeweled dagger. I was in awe as she used a cloth to pull it out of the box, "It's made of dragon scale and pure silver with jade, emerald, and amethyst stones embedded into the handle."

"I don't think that I can accept this," I couldn't stop the awe that filled my voice as I looked at the beautiful blade.

"I had it made just for you," Veronica smiled happily. "I insist that you take it. At least to defend yourself in these times of war."

"As you know, Princess Veronica, the Queen of Kyrain has her own personal Royal Guard," Williem pointed out sternly.

"Ah yes," Veronica didn't look amused. "It's not like there's a chance that she may need it."

"It's beautiful, thank you," I shook my head at Williem before he could argue farther.

"I hope that my brothers and your husband make it back safely," Veronica bowed her head down.

Laughter on the other side of the garden caused both Veronica and me to look. Celeste and Ingrid were laughing together as they walked into the garden. Celeste's laughter lasted only a moment until she realized that Veronica was standing beside me. I didn't believe it when Veronica had said that my sister didn't care for her, but based on the look that Celeste was giving her husband's sister... it looked as though Veronica had been honest about that.

"Veronica, I thought you were going to stay in Silverwood," Celeste's smile was extremely fake, and I could tell she made it easy to tell.

"Yet Williem was outside waiting for me when I arrived," Veronica stated coldly. "Besides, half of Silverwood Forest is on fire right now."

"It is?" Celeste frowned.

"You didn't read any of my letters?" Veronica narrowed her eyes at my sister.

"I didn't get any letter from you," Celeste stated quickly.

How can she lie like that? I frowned. I knew that Celeste had gotten letters from Veronica almost daily since the third day that we'd been in Kyrain. Williem had given them to Celeste after telling me about their arrival. I was absolutely shocked and appalled by how my sister was acting...she was acting like...well, Queen Charlotte, and I didn't mean that in a good way at all.

"I see," Veronica looked at me. "Williem said that he already set a room up for me. I'll go get settled in and join you for dinner, Queen Alyse. Again, I thank you for your hospitality."

There was tension in the air as Veronica left the gardens with Williem. Jillian stood quietly behind me-though just by peaking at her, I could tell that she wanted to say something desperately, but she was holding back on it. Celeste, on the other hand, seemed to shrug off everything that had just happened and smiled at Ingrid.

"I have the most beautiful gown that I'm going to wear during the opening day of Court, would you like to see it?" Celeste asked.

"I would love to," Ingrid nodded happily. She looked over at me and smiled brightly, "Queen Alyse, I hope to take tea with you tomorrow. I'd love to help you with this season of Court as much as possible."

Celeste's smile fell a bit while Ingrid was turned away from her. I looked at my sister and she didn't even have a smile for me. It was like she was mentally accusing me of trying to steal her friend away from her... I actually felt bad for it.

I found myself shaking my head, "It's fine. Enjoy your first season as much as you can. I've got a lot of planning to do, so..."

"Oh," Ingrid's face fell a little. "I hope you change your mind and join me for tea. I would love the company."

As Celeste practically pulled Ingrid away from me, I heard my sister's voice carry, "I'll have tea with you tomorrow. I'd feel awful if you were left alone."

I clenched my jaw and gritted my teeth as I watched the two go back into the castle. Tears stung my eyes and I held back the anger that was starting to build up inside me.

"What was that?" Jamison frowned from behind me. "I don't mean to speak plainly, my Queen, but Queen Celeste clearly just manipulated you into giving up my sister as a friend."

"So I wasn't the only one that saw that?" Jillian was fuming with anger, only she wasn't trying to hide it. She turned to me, "My Queen, this is your home. Not Celeste's. I understand that she's your sister, but you need to draw a line. Just like you did with Queen Charlotte and the man that was beating Sora."

"You're saying I have a right to be angry?" I fought back the tears as much as I could.

"If your sister wasn't the Queen of another kingdom, I would have knocked her to the ground for the blatant disrespect she showed you," Maurice's eyes twitched from under his helmet. "I feel safe to say that the eight of us agree with Jillian on this one. You need to draw a line where you'll stop both your sister and others from trying to manipulate you."

"What about Princess Veronica?" I asked my guards.

"She was being blunt, not manipulative. I think anyone would have been upset to be treated the way Queen Celeste was treating her," Arthur stated. "If you don't want us to say any more, we'll shut up, Your Grace."

"No," I shook my head. "I appreciate all of you for being honest with me." I took a deep breath and looked over at Jamison, "Could you apologize to your sister for me. I wanted to be friends with her, but..."

"I'll let her know the truth from how I saw it," Jamison nodded. "I'll wait until she's alone."

I didn't know if I liked that. I knew that they saw Celeste manipulating me, as much I had felt as though I had been manipulated, but I was hoping that I was wrong. The Celeste that I knew wouldn't even think about manipulating someone just to get a friend... of course the Celeste that I knew wouldn't have treated anyone as coldly as I saw her treat Veronica. I had no idea what caused that tension between them, or what made Celeste think that she had to keep Ingrid to herself... but neither of those were how I knew my sister.

"If you'll excuse me...I'm going to go lay down for a while," I whirled around and walked as fast as I could to my bed chambers.

I held my head in my hands and took deep breaths as I tried to calm myself down. I barely got into the bed chambers before I broke down and allowed the tears to flow freely.