King (The Chess Chronicles Book 3)
King
Riley Walker
First Edition, 2018
Copyright @2018 by Riley Walker
Editor: Erica Collins
Cover Designer: Francesca Vance, Reaper Designs
Formatter: Zoe Parker
ISBN-978-1-387-86017-3
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Thank you for respecting the work of Riley Walker. Don’t be a jerk.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
To all the girls with messy buns and frizzy hair...
King Music Muse
Brittany Spears, ‘Baby One More Time’
Jack Wagner, ‘All I Need’
Grease Soundtrack, ‘Summer Nights’
Soft Cell, ‘Tainted Love’
Shinedown, ‘I’ll Follow You’
Tim McGraw, ‘I Like It, I Love It’
Queen, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’
Naughty By Nature, ‘O.P.P.’
R.E.M., ‘Everybody Hurts’
Bette Midler, ‘Glory Of Love’
Anna Kendrick, ‘Cups’
20 Fingers, ‘Lick It Before You Stick It’
Pam Tillis, ‘Maybe It Was Memphis’
Shaggy, ‘It Wasn’t Me’
Idina Menzel, ‘Let It Go’
Cyprus Hill, ‘How I Could Just Kill a Man’
Table of Contents
Prophecy
Prologue
1. Confronting a Coward
2. My Greatest Fear
3. Sleeping Princess
4. In Her Eyes
5. The Secret Is Out
6. Duty Calls
7. Dad Knows All
8. All I Need
9. Girl’s Day Out
10. Not A Situation
11. Tainted Wine
12. The Other Woman
13. Surprise
14. Cockatoo
15. Coffin Climber
16. We Are Family
17. Cape Cods
18. Wet And Wild
19. Nuttin’ Done
20. Secrets Of The Queen
21. Can’t Be Handled
22. Is She Premenstrual?
23. He’s Not The One
24. King In Despair
25. Paybacks Are Hell
26. Penguins Do It Better
27. Girl Fight
28. Let It Go
29. Burnt Tongue
30. They’re So Fluffy
31. Bloody Trail
32. No Royals Here
33. Welcome Home
34. Not An Asshat
35. I Am H-O-T
36. Asshat vs. Asshat
37. Armed And Dangerous
38. In Shock
Also by Riley Walker
Acknowledgments
About Us…
Find Us Here
Prophecy
Fated mates shall unite with their Golden Queen,
or peace shall not be seen.
If the bonds are not eternally made,
evil in our realm shall raid.
Two Kingdoms will undoubtedly fall,
if the Golden Queen heeds not her call.
For only love shall change this fate,
between the Golden Queen and her fated mates.
Prologue
The pain is unbearable. My stomach burns so much. I reach my hands down and feel something warm and sticky on them. When I lift my left hand, I see it covered in blood. I move my right hand over and feel the dagger that Armand has rammed into me.
I am beginning to lose consciousness when I hear my name being called.
“Princess!”
Is that Winston's voice I hear? It sounds like he is yelling at me through a tunnel.
“Franchesca! My Beloved, please answer me.”
I look up into Winston's eyes and try to smile at him. My limbs are too heavy to move, and I am starting to feel very weak.
“Please, my Beloved. Just hold on until I can get you some help. Just a little while longer.”
Beloved. Such a beautiful thing to be called.
This is the last thought I have before the darkness completely takes me over.
1
Confronting a Coward
(Rook’s POV)
The beast is begging to be let free. He wants to fight, to taste the blood of those who have come to help Armand. It’s all I can do to hold him back. As soon as I fight off the soldiers surrounding me, more show up and I can’t chance shifting. It takes time and leaves me too vulnerable. Armand’s army had the Light Fey Kingdom completely surrounded when we returned from the Dark Fey King’s coronation. Armand thought he could trick us by only sending a few soldiers there, keeping us occupied long enough to start the real war here in the Light. Everywhere I look, I see Light and Dark Fey fighting alongside each other. They have managed to take down over half the soldiers Armand has sent.
I finish off the two soldiers currently trying to best me, when I see Armand in the distance. It looks like he is running from the back of the house and is headed for the forest line. I take off after him, resisting the urge to set my beast free. When I kill him, it will be by my hands, not my beast’s claws.
I manage to catch up and back him up against a tree. He has blood running down his face and his clothes are in tatters. His breath is coming out in hard huffs and I see a cut across his left leg.
I am so angry I can barely spit out the words. “Armand, you are a traitor and a coward. The Inferiors believed in you and trusted you. I trusted you, and how do you repay me? You killed my Mother!”
He gives me a sly grin, “Rook, you fool. You’ve let your dick get in the way of what is important. Don't you see? We could have ruled both Kingdoms together. Instead, you chose to betray me for what? That tart that is betrothed to someone else?”
“Rule both Kingdoms? Why would you think I want to rule the Fey Kingdoms? You have gone mad.”
I’m done talking to him. As far as I’m concerned, he signed his death warrant the moment he touched my Mother.
I take a step toward Armand and before I can lift my sword, I hear Edrik yelling, “Princess! Chess!” I look off to where I heard the yelling coming from and feel a sharp pain across my right bicep. I look back at a grinning Armand.
“You might want to go check on your Princess,” Armand laughs the words at me. I lower my sword, giving him a hard glare and take off back toward the castle. I will deal with Armand later, but right now, my gut is telling me to get back to my Cara, immediately.
What I find in the clearing behind the castle stops me in my tracks. Winston is sitting on the ground with the Princess's head in his lap. Edrik is sitting at her side, both of his hands on hers, surrounding the dagger that is sticking out of her stomach.
I run as fast as I can, sliding on my knees when I reach her. Blood is everywhere and her face has lost all of its color.
“Franchesca!” I look up to see Queen Amelia at the open kitchen doors, bending over. “Bastian! Bastian, go get a healer!”
A few moments later, King Bastian comes running over, the healer not far behind him. The healer looks my Cara over, then addresses the King. “We need to move the Princess inside. I need my supplies and there are too many distractions out here.”
I gently lift her and rise to my feet. I must sway a little because the Ki
ng stands beside me and puts his hand on my shoulder to help steady me. Winston and Edrik fall behind us. We all follow the healer back into the castle, and up the staircase. King Bastian leads us to my Cara’s room and once inside, I slowly lower her onto the bed, running the back of my hand down her smooth cheek before stepping back and allowing the healer to begin working on her.
2
My Greatest Fear
(Edrik’s POV)
I am circling the castle, looking for Chess and fighting off Armand’s soldiers at every turn. As I am rounding the back of the castle, I hear Winston, King of the Dark Fey, yelling “Princess! Princess!”
I take off running and watch as Winston collapses on the ground by Chess and I yell, Princess! Chess!”
I can see him lift her head into his lap and when I reach them, I hear him yelling at Light Fey soldiers, “Go get help now! Find Edrik and get him here. The Princess has been hurt!”
I stop, dropping to the ground, confused by what I see. “Winston, what happened?”
There is a dagger protruding from Chess’s stomach. I place my shaking hands over both of hers, applying pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding. My gaze meets Winston’s and he just shakes his head.
“Armand did this. He will pay.”
I hear a growl as Rook slides in next to Chess on his knees. His clothes are cut up and he has blood running down his arm.
“Franchesca!” I look over my shoulder to see Queen Amelia at the open kitchen doors, bending over. “Bastian! Bastian, go get a healer!”
The King arrives with Jessup, the healer. “We need to move the Princess inside. I need my supplies and there are too many distractions out here.”
Rook lifts Chess and rises to his feet. King Bastian walks beside him with a hand on his shoulder. Winston and I follow closely behind them into the castle and up to Chess’s bedroom. After Rook lays her down on the bed, I squeeze her hand before stepping back and allowing the healer to begin working on her.
3
Sleeping Princess
(Winston’s POV)
I walk beside Edrik into the Princess’s bedroom. After Rook places her on the bed, he and Edrik both step away. I run my hand down her calf then step back, allowing the healer to begin working on her.
The healer, Jessup, opens his bag, pulls out his scissors and begins to cut her dress down the middle. Looking at her now, it’s hard to believe that just a few hours ago, she was standing beside me when I was crowned the new King of the Dark Fey Kingdom. Now, her coronation dress is saturated in blood, her skin is pale, and she has not moved since I watched her fall outside.
We watch as Jessup opens a vial, then lifts her head and pours the contents down her throat. “This is a sleep potion. It will keep her in a deep sleep while I work on her, and allow her time afterwards to heal.”
Once he is confident that the Princess is under, he asks Edrik to gather several towels from her bathroom. Edrik returns and Jessup instructs him to place them over the wound as soon as he removes the dagger. I watch as Jessup quickly pulls the dagger out of my Beloved and Edrik begins to hold the towels over her stomach until Jessup moves his hands out of the way. He begins to rub a salve over the stab wound and the bleeding begins to slowly stop. After wiping away the excess blood, Jessup begins stitching up her stomach, taking extra care as we all watch with bated breaths. Once he is finished, he covers the stitches up with a bandage and covers her with a sheet Edrik grabbed for her.
“The sleeping potion will only last for three days. I will leave two more vials here. That should give her plenty of time to start healing before we attempt to wake her.”
“What do you mean attempt to wake her? Is there a reason she would not wake from this?” I squeeze my fists tighter as I ask the healer this question. He acts as if there is a chance she will not come out of this.
“King Winston, it was a deep, fatal wound. Only time will tell if her body can heal from all the blood loss. I am sorry. Please come get me if her condition changes. I will come back and check on her later tonight, I need to go examine Queen Amelia now.”
Jessup gathers his supplies, leaving the two vials on her bedside table and hurries out of the room. King Bastian, Rook, Edrik and I gather closer, each of us touching her in some way. Each of us willing her to pull through this.
King Bastian says, “I need to go check on Amelia. The battle with Armand drained most of her powers, and she will want to know how Franchesca is doing.”
The King exits the Princess’s bedroom just as the two humans come running in. I have no clue what she sees in these two.
Shelby runs up to the bed and looks over at Rook. “We were in the safe room. Some of the guards just informed us that the battle is over, but the Princess has been injured. Is Frannie ok?”
Rook starts to speak, but I interrupt him. “What is your name again?”
She looks at me startled, “Shelby. My name is Shelby and I’m Frannie’s best friend.”
“She is in a healing sleep, Shelby. All we can do now is wait to see if she recovers. Do you mind cleaning the Princess up and dressing her in some proper clothes that are not covered in blood?”
“Oh, of course. Can y’all leave the room and give us some privacy?”
Edrik, Rook, and I start to leave the room, but the human boy is still standing there.
“Boy, what do you think you are doing? You must leave the Princess’s room as well.”
“First of all, the name is Colton, not boy. I’m her best friend and I just want to make sure she’s ok.”
He walks over to the bed and pushes her hair away from her face. It is an intimate gesture for someone only claiming to be her friend.
I wait until he leaves the room and close the door, giving the Princess some privacy. I only take a few steps before leaning against the wall and lowering myself to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Rook asks me.
“I do not plan on leaving her side until Armand is either captured or killed.”
Edrik walks over and stands above me. “You have a Kingdom to run. Do you not think we can protect the Princess by ourselves?”
“I refuse to let someone else protect my future Queen. When she recovers, we will be married and I will unite the Light and Dark Fey Kingdoms.”
I am unprepared for the rage I see on both the Knight and Rook’s faces. Rook starts toward me and I stand ready for a fight. I am not sure why these two men think they have some kind of claim on the Princess, but she is my Beloved. At that moment, King Bastian returns and I am sure he feels the tension in the air.
The King looks at each of us, “Knight, I need you and Rook outside. Hawkeye is delegating the clean up and he needs help moving the injured and burying the dead. We lost a lot of soldiers, but not as many as Armand. Winston, Queen Isabelle will need you back in the Dark Fey Kingdom. You are their King now, and your people need you. We will keep you informed of the Princess’s condition.”
I hear someone clearing their throat. Colton looks at the King and says, “King Bastian, Shelby and I would like to stay with Franchesca and help keep an eye on her.”
I am about to object when King Bastian says, “That is a good idea, Colton. There is much to be done around the castle and I am sure you and Shelby are more than capable of watching her sleep.”
After that statement, King Bastian turns on his heels and heads down the staircase. Colton grins at me before entering the Princess’s bedroom.
I look both Rook and Edrik in the eyes and tell them, “The King is right. I need to return home and check on my people, but I will be back.” I take one final look at her closed door before turning around, and leaving.
4
In Her Eyes
(Winston’s POV)
I am back at the Dark Fey Kingdom and am surprised at how little damage was done compared to the Light Fey Kingdom. It is obvious that the battle here was only a distraction. I have instructed the soldiers to position more guards around the castle until Armand can
be stopped. We cannot allow what happened in the Light Kingdom to happen here.
It has been two days since I left the Princess asleep in her room. Hawkeye has been diligent to fly here and keep me informed that there has been no change in Franchesca’s condition. I need to find Mother and discuss my plans to return to the Light Fey Kingdom with her. I need to be near my Beloved as quickly as possible.
I knock on her door and enter her bedroom chambers. She has barely left her room since the attack at my coronation.
“Mother, I must return to the Light Fey Kingdom. Franchesca has not awoken yet, and I need to be there when she does.”
“Winston, you are the King now and your place is here, in the Dark Fey Kingdom,” she says haughtily with her shoulders back, as she begins to pace.
“I will return as soon as the Princess wakes up. I will marry her and fulfill my duties as the King of the Light and Dark Fey. I will not disappoint you or my people.”