The Consort Read online

  ALSO BY K.A. LINDE

  ASCENSION SERIES

  The Affiliate

  The Bound

  ADULT ROMANCE SERIES

  AVOIDING SERIES

  Avoiding Commitment

  Avoiding Responsibility

  Avoiding Intimacy

  Avoiding Decisions

  Avoiding Temptation

  RECORD SERIES

  Off the Record

  On the Record

  For the Record

  Struck from the Record

  ALL THAT GLITTERS SERIES

  Diamonds

  Gold

  Emeralds

  Platinum

  Silver

  TAKE ME SERIES

  Take Me for Granted

  Take Me with You

  STAND-ALONE

  Following Me

  The Wright Brother

  The Wright Boss

  The Wright Mistake

  Copyright © 2017 by K.A. Linde

  All rights reserved.

  Visit my website at www.kalinde.com

  Join my newsletter for exclusive content and free books!

  www.kalinde.com/subscribe

  Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations, www.okaycreations.com

  Photography: Lauren Perry, Perrywinkle Photography, www.perrywinklephotography.com

  Editor and Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  To all the heroines who found hope in dark times.

  Emporia Map

  Pronunciation Guide

  Prologue

  1: The Cell

  2: The Vial

  3: The Deal

  4: The Boat

  5: The Tub

  6: The Journey

  7: The Mistake

  8: The Letter

  9: The Drought

  10: The Rain

  11: The Consort

  12: The Gardens

  13: The Preparation

  14: The Fitting

  15: The Bomb

  16: The Accusation

  17: The Night

  18: The Bargain

  19: The Pardon

  20: The Line

  21: The Alliance

  22: The Baby

  23: The Guest

  24: The Investiture

  25: The Aftermath

  26: The Awakening

  27: The Plan

  28: The Presenting

  29: The Prince

  30: The Divide

  31: The Debt

  32: The Barrier

  33: The Attack

  34: The Offer

  35: The Arrival

  36: The Village

  37: The Wraiths

  38: The Ruins

  39: The Truth

  40: The Confession

  41: The Spell

  42: The Departure

  43: The Dungeon

  44: The Throne

  45: The Mountains

  46: The Indres

  47: The Talisman

  48: The Coin

  49: The Heir

  50: The Lost City

  51: The Ring

  52: The Guild

  53: The Ambassador

  54: The Trance

  55: The Fugitives

  56: The Commander

  57: The Flight

  58: The Deal

  59: The Pass

  60: The Good

  61: The Fight

  62: The Hope

  63: The Bad

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  AHLVIE GUNN: AL-VEE GUN

  ARALYN STROHM: AIR-UH-LIN STRAHM

  AONIA: A-OWN-YUH

  AUBRON: AH-BRUHN

  AURUM: ARE-UM

  AVOCA: AH-VOK-UH

  BARKELEY IOLAIR: BARK-LEE I-O-LAR

  BASILLE SELBY: BAH-SEAL SEL-BEE

  BENETTA: BEN-EE-TUH

  BRAJ: BRAHJ

  BYERN: BY-URN

  CALDREVA ANAMARYA: CAL-DRAY-VUH ANN-UH-MUH-REE-UH

  CARO BARCA: CAR-O BARS-UH

  CEIS’F: SEE-ES-EF

  CREIGHTON IOLAIR: CRAY-TUN I-O-LAR

  CYRENE STROHM: SAH-REEN STRAHM

  DAUFINA BIRKET (CONSORT): DAW-FEEN-UH BUR-KET

  EDRIC DREMYLON (KING): EDGE-RICK DREM-LIN

  ELEA STROHM: EL-YA STRAHM

  ELEYSIA: EL-A-SEE-UH

  EMPORIA: EM-POR-EE-UH

  EREN: AIR-EN

  HAENAH DE’LORLAH: HAN-UH D-LOR-LUH

  HAILLE MARDAS: HAYL MAR-DUS

  HUYEK RIVER: HOO-YIK RIV-ER

  INDRES: IN-DRESS

  JARDANA: JAR-DON-UH

  JESALYN DREMYLON IOLAIR: JESS-UH-LIN DREM-LIN I-O-LAR

  JESTRE FARRANAY: JEST-RAY FAIR-UH-NAY

  KAEL DREMYLON (PRINCE): KAYL DREM-LIN

  KALIANA DREMYLON (QUEEN): KAL-EE-AH-NUH DREM-LIN

  KEYLANI RIVER: KEY-LAHN-EE RIV-ER

  KRISANA (ALBION CASTLE): KRIS-ON-UH

  LEIF: LEEF

  MAELIA DALLMER: MAY-LEE-UH DAL-MER

  MALYSA: MUH-LISS-UH

  MATILDE: MUH-TILD

  MERRICK: MER-ICK

  NIT DECUS (BYERN CASTLE): NIT DAKE-US

  REEVE STROHM: REEV STRAHM

  RHEA GRAMM: RAY GRAM

  SERAFINA (DOMINA): SER-UH-FEEN-UH

  SHIRA: SHEER-UH

  VERA: VEER-UH

  VIKTOR DREMYLON: VICK-TER DREM-LIN

  “Lysa, don’t!” Benetta cried, reaching for the giant circular diamond in her sister’s hand.

  “I’m just looking at it,” Malysa said.

  Benetta rolled her bright blue eyes to the ceiling. Malysa was never entirely innocent about anything she was doing.

  “Father said that we were not supposed to touch that. Can’t we go back to the parlor and wait for Camilan to get here?”

  Malysa scrunched up her nose. “I don’t want to marry that pig.”

  “I know you don’t.”

  “Then, stop trying to make me into the perfect daughter.” Malysa threw her long braid over one shoulder and glared with fiery determination. “If you’re so set on Camilan, then you marry him.”

  “Well, I can’t. You’re older,” Benetta reminded her.

  “That’s right. I am.”

  Benetta sighed. There was no point in pushing Malysa when she was acting like this. Father had refused them access to the academy. Malysa was still sulking. What use was their magic if it was only to be used for menial tasks, like tidying the house and baking fresh bread?

  “Seventeen years of magic school was not, nor will it ever be, enough for me. If I’d gone to the academy at seventeen, like I was supposed to, then I’d know how to make this work,” Malysa said. She lobbed the priceless diamond at Benetta, who gasped and caught it in her hands.

  “We all have a place in this world.”

  “My place is ruling everything,” she snarled. Her magic flared, black and wicked, before receding quickly. “I am so tired, Benny.”

  Benetta took a deep breath and then held the diamond back out to her. “Come on. Maybe, if we practice together while we can, we’ll find our own place.”

  “You really think so?”

  “Anything is possible.”

  Malysa looked as if she was going to argue bef
ore she gently placed her hands over Benetta’s. They stared into each other’s eyes, light meeting dark, and then entwined their magic together around the diamond. Benetta giggled as they held it, cocooned in the shimmery gold magic. But Malysa stayed perfectly still and silent. Her eyes were unfocused, as if she were very far away.

  “Lysa?” Benetta asked.

  “Do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  Benetta tried to release her magic, but Lysa held on.

  “The humming.”

  Then, a shock wave blasted through them, obliterating their father’s study. Benetta screamed and tried to duck, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move at all. She and her sister were connected by the diamond, spinning in a circle and picking up speed. She screamed, but the wind carried it away.

  They were lost. They had done something truly horrible. Their Father had said not to touch his things for a reason. The diamond wasn’t just some beautiful new bauble for Lysa’s wedding.

  Then they landed roughly. Benetta’s knees buckled beneath her. She clasped her hand around the diamond as her knees hit the hard stone. Malysa had toppled over a foot away from her. Her mouth was open, her dark eyes wide.

  “What just happened?” Benetta asked. She righted her dress, brushed loose dirt from her knees, and pulled her dark brown hair to one side.

  “I…I don’t know,” Malysa admitted.

  They were at the foothills of great towering mountains with a swirling river cutting down the mountain pass. It looked like an elbow as it moved in an L-shape off and away from the mountains. The earth was green and lush as far as the eye could see. Smoke blew in further down the river. Benetta could just make out the roofs of houses. A small village of some sort.

  “Where are we, Lysa?”

  Malysa shook her head. “I’ve no idea. We should go find out.”

  “I’ve never seen this river or mountains like this. We’ve seen all the maps in Father’s study. This doesn’t feel like home.”

  “I know. It’s not.”

  Malysa was already tramping down the side of the mountain, toward the village. Benetta had no other choice but to follow her. But her fear only mounted as they entered the strange, small village. The houses were made out of hard wood and thatched with straw. Children were playing a game with a ball in the dirt and stared up at them with eyes as large as saucers as they passed.

  A group of men approached them from what appeared to be the center of a poorly constructed square. Many of them were carrying wooden weapons; only a few had steel.

  What kind of place had we been transported to?

  “Greetings,” Malysa said.

  “Don’t come any closer!” the man in the front shouted.

  “We mean you no harm.”

  “You drop out of the sky like a tornado, come at us with your shining light, and expect us to believe you mean no harm?”

  “Shining light?” Benetta asked curiously.

  “Your bodies are glowing!” another man yelled.

  Benetta and Malysa glanced at each other and then laughed. These people must not have magic. How odd. That natural glow came from magical use. They could diminish it if need be, but they never had to do it before.

  Just then, two women barreled through the men and splayed their hands out. They both bowed low.

  “Our apologies,” one woman said. “These fools do not recognize when they are in the presence of gods.” The woman snarled at the men. “Kneel to the goddesses.”

  The men looked dumbstruck and then began to kneel to them.

  “Oh no,” Benetta started to say.

  But Malysa cut her off. “All is forgiven,” she said to the townspeople. She tilted her head up and released the full weight of her magical powers into her brightness. “You may stand.”

  “Welcome to the great city of Byern,” the second woman intoned.

  Benetta’s eyes widened. This is considered a city?

  “We are honored to have your presence among us,” the first woman said.

  “We are pleased to be here,” Malysa said with a wide smile.

  “Come. We have accommodations for you and are truly privileged to house ones so great,” another woman said.

  Benetta shot Malysa a nasty look but followed her into the nearby inn where they were immediately shown to the nicest room. They had to wait a full twenty minutes before the women would leave them be. And only after Malysa agreed that they would come down for dinner.

  As soon as the door closed, Benetta whirled on her sister. “What are you doing? We’re not gods, Lysa!”

  “Obviously, Benny,” Malysa said with a laugh. “But how else were we going to explain to these simpletons what had happened? Let them think what they want to think. We’ll eat some dinner, and then we’ll use the diamond and get home before Father even notices. You do still have the diamond, right?”

  “Of course I have the diamond, but this is absurd. We don’t even know where we are. What kind of place is Byern, and how can they call this a city?”

  “No idea, but it hardly matters. We’ll be gone before we have to find out anything else.”

  “We don’t even know how to use the diamond.”

  “Details,” Malysa said dismissively. “We’re the most powerful magic users of our time. We’ll figure it out.”

  Benetta scowled. “Well, did you bring anything else with you?”

  Malysa patted down her dress and then pulled out a handful of gold coins. They were about half the size of her palm with the profile of their mother, the queen, on them. The motto of their people gleamed around the edges. “Just some money I filched from Father. I was going to buy that blade at the market.”

  “You are incorrigible. Those won’t help us at all.”

  Malysa stuffed them back into her pocket. “Stop worrying. It’ll be fine.”

  “Can we just go now?” Benetta begged.

  “Benny, come on. How amazing would it be to be gods? In this land, we could be anything. We could rule the world, just like we always wanted to.”

  “Like you always wanted to.”

  “Here, there are no forced marriages. There are no responsibilities and restrictions. We can choose how we live our lives. We can choose to be gods in this land. We can enlighten these people to the ways of magic. Just think of all the good we could do,” Malysa said with an eager light in her dark eyes.

  “But what about our families? What about our lives?”

  Malysa sighed. “Can’t you see what it could be?”

  “All I see is everything we’ve lost.”

  “Fine,” Malysa said with a shake of her head. “Let’s get back then.”

  Benetta retrieved the diamond from her pocket and held it out to Malysa. Like before, they intertwined their powers and reached for the diamond. Benetta stared until her eyes were dry and aching, but nothing happened.

  “Why won’t it work?” she groaned.

  “I don’t know. We’re doing the exact same thing as before.”

  Benetta tried to be transfixed by the diamond, as she had last time, willing it to transport her back to her world, to her friends and family, to the life she loved.

  But it did nothing.

  “What will we do?” Benetta whispered.

  “We’ll keep trying,” Malysa said, reaching out and grasping her sister’s hand. “But, in the meantime, we will play our parts.”

  “You want us to be gods?”

  “Isn’t it obvious, Benny?”

  Benetta raised an eyebrow.

  “We are Doma, the first in this land, and Doma have always been gods. Now, it is our turn to rule.”

  Darkness.

  Hazy. Blurry. Grainy.

  “…do what I say!”

  Cyrene had heard that voice before. Somewhere. Distantly.

  But, when she tried to grab on to it, to hold the precious knowledge, it flittered away, just out of grasp, like a butterfly.

  “She needs more. Do you hear me?”

&nbs
p; More.

  No, she didn’t need more. She’d had enough.

  She tried to peel her eyes open, but nothing happened. She felt nothing. No pain. No control. No powers. A total absence of anything whatsoever. There were just shadows and the nothingness of her body. If she still had a body at all.

  A door creaked open. Iron against hard-packed dirt. The sound clawed at her, but she couldn’t place it. Her mind had once been a bottomless place. Now, it only held black depths, wisps of smoke, an abysmal vortex of nothing.

  “Turn her over,” the unfamiliar voice rasped.

  “Creator, she looks ill.”

  “Well, it’s hard to feed her when you keep her like this.”

  “We have to. You don’t know what she could do.”

  “What are you going to do? How will you force her to stand trial like this?”

  “Stand down,” the voice growled.

  It cut and broke, like taking a hammer to glass.

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Cyrene’s mind jolted on that word. Captain. Yes, she knew a captain. She had known one once. An image pieced itself together. The first image she could conjure. A face. A beautiful face. Tan, strong jaw, light hair falling into dark eyes, perfect lips, that smile.

  Dean.

  Her heart broke at the memory. Of the perfect man she loved. Of his ring on her finger. Of his hands on her skin. Of all the promises wasted.

  Prince Dean Ellison of Eleysia. The orphaned prince. Alone now but with eleven sisters. His parents…dead.

  Dead at the hands of an assassin. Her mind tried to shield herself from it. Not an assassin. Her friend. Maelia Dallmer. Her first friend at court, back at home in Byern. A place she would never see again. Because Maelia had killed them. Slaughtered the king and queen of Eleysia in their sleep.

  Cyrene croaked, feelings rushing to her all at once. Pain. Lacerating pain. Not physical. All emotional. All heartache and guilt and remorse and grief.

  “She’s waking up. Hurry up!”

  “She can’t be waking up. That last dose could have knocked out a grown man for a week!”

  “She’s not any regular person.”

  “Dean,” Cyrene rasped, getting the word past her closed throat.

  Heavy hands pushed her shoulders down hard into the ground. She couldn’t move. Her mind was working, and she’d managed one word, but beyond that, she felt frozen, paralyzed. A headache was starting at the base of her skull and right behind her eyes, as if her head were about to crack open.