Downfall of the Curse Read online

  Downfall of the Curse

  The Kyona Chronicles Book Five

  Deborah Grace White

  Luminant Publications

  Contents

  Downfall of the Curse

  Map of Kyona and Beyond

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Epilogue

  Note from the Author

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Downfall of the Curse

  By Deborah Grace White

  Downfall of the Curse

  The Kyona Chronicles Book Five

  Copyright © 2020 by Deborah Grace White

  First edition (v1.0) published in 2020

  by Luminant Publications

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, stored in, or introduced into a database or retrieval system, in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  ISBN: 978-1-925898-35-4

  Luminant Publications

  PO Box 201

  Burnside, South Australia 5066

  http://www.deborahgracewhite.com

  Cover Design by Karri Klawiter

  Map illustration by Rebecca E. Paavo

  For Mum and Dad.

  Your gifts to me can never be quantified,

  and everything good in my life is part of your legacy.

  Thanks for making me who I am.

  Map of Kyona and Beyond

  Chapter One

  “Lucy, you almost forgot this.”

  Lucy turned at the sound of her mother’s voice, tearing her eyes away from the ship bobbing gently on the tranquil water.

  “Almost forgot wha—oh.” She felt a slight rush of panic at the sight of her mother holding out her dagger and sheath, apparently unconcerned about the multitude of witnesses.

  “Mother!” Lucy hissed. “Do you have to wave that about?”

  Her mother gave her an unimpressed look. “I’m not exactly slashing the air with it, am I, Luciana? How did you come to leave it behind?”

  Lucy ignored the question. After only one more moment of hesitation, she snatched the dagger out of her mother’s hand, stashing it in the pack slung over her shoulder. It was clear that the older woman was not going to concede the point, and giving in was the surest way to avoid drawing extra attention to the exchange.

  Her mother frowned at the bag, in which the weapon was now concealed. “There’s a reason it’s on a belt, Lucy. You should be wearing it all the time, just in case.”

  “Because that will make a great first impression on all my Balenan relatives,” said Lucy dryly.

  Her mother’s frown only increased. “Stop worrying so much about the impression you’re going to make.” Her voice was uncharacteristically sharp. “They can accept you or not as they choose. Don’t change who you are to satisfy the insufferable idiots who populate the Balenan court.”

  Lucy couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at the unusual outburst from her gentle mother. Then again, if anyone knew about the personal cost of playing a part to satisfy entitled courtiers, it was the woman standing in front of her. But her mother’s next words quickly gave her a new source of anxiety.

  “Maybe your father is right, and this whole trip is a bad idea. It’s not too late to—”

  “Don’t be silly!” Lucy interrupted. “I want to go! I’m not going to let them bully me, of course I’m not.” She glanced at her bag, which somehow seemed to have tripled in weight since the addition of the slim, lightweight weapon. “It’s just that…” She met her mother’s eyes, not quite able to keep the anguish out of her voice. “Do you really want me to show up in the Balenan court carrying the weapon I used to kill my own uncle, a man who happened to be a senior member of that court?”

  For a long moment her mother held her gaze, her expression serious, and far too perceptive. “No,” she said at last, her voice gentle but unyielding. “I want you to show up in an unfamiliar place, on your guard for both yourself and your brother, carrying the weapon you used to defend the life of your youngest brother.”

  Lucy frowned slightly, her mother’s words turning her mind back to their previous conversation on this topic. She wished she could see this matter the way her mother did, but she couldn’t quite make herself believe it. And she had no more desire to tell her mother the full reason for her reluctance to take her weapon than she had during that earlier discussion.

  “Did I just hear you saying that Lucy will be looking out for me, Mother?” The voice of the oldest of her brothers brought Lucy out of her memories. “Because that’s an insult! Surely we all know I’m going along on this trip to look out for her.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes, a small smile playing around her lips. Matheus spoke with his usual good humor, but she knew him well enough to recognize the hint of truth in his words. His pride really was a little wounded.

  Their mother smiled at her fifteen-year-old son, but there was a hint of sternness in her voice as she addressed both of them. “I hope and expect that you’ll both be looking out for each other.” She glanced back at Lucy. “And with that in mind, I’ll be more at ease knowing that you’re actually wearing the weapon I’ve taken great pains to train you how to use. Believe me when I tell you that Balenol is an unpredictable place.”

  “You’re not even wearing your dagger?” Matheus demanded, looking at Lucy like she was out of her senses.

  Lucy rolled her shoulders uncomfortably, glancing around to make sure none of the members of the Kyonan court who had traveled to Alezae to farewell the delegation were in earshot. The last thing she needed was for people to overhear her family talking about her weapons training like it was completely normal for a seventeen-year-old girl to be armed at all times.

  “Let’s not get into this now, Mother,” she said quickly, ignoring her brother’s words. “I’ll put it on later.” Her mother still looked unsatisfied, so Lucy raised an eyebrow at her. “Or did you want me to hike up my skirts and strap it on right now, in front of all these people?”

  Matheus rolled his eyes, but their mother’s expression twitched in amusement. “If you really do want to get on that ship, I suggest you stop talk
ing about hiking up your skirts in public. If your father hears you saying anything like that, he’ll have the trip canceled and you back home before you can say ‘independence.’”

  Lucy chuckled. At least there she and her mother were in complete agreement. “I hope Father can see the irony of how much he’s been fussing and worrying, after giving Uncle Cal so much grief about not wanting Jocelyn to go on her big adventure to Valoria.”

  “I can’t,” her father’s voice interjected unexpectedly. Lucy spun around to see him approaching, accompanied by Cody, a leader in their forest community of Raldon, and one of her parents’ oldest friends. She smiled in greeting at Cody, but grimaced slightly at her father as he threw an arm around her shoulders, continuing to defend himself. “Because the situation is—”

  “Totally different,” finished Matheus and Lucy in unison, exchanging a long-suffering look. Their mother looked like she was trying not to laugh, and their father had clearly noticed it.

  “Something you’d like to say, Scarlett?” he asked with dignity.

  “Not at all,” she said meekly, her eyes brimming with humor. “It’s just that I can’t help but notice that Cal and Elnora—” she tilted her head to the Kyonan king and queen standing nearby with their own children, “—are also farewelling a son and a daughter, and neither of them look particularly worried.”

  Lucy’s father frowned in the direction of his oldest friend. “Well, what’s Cal got to be worried about now? Jocelyn’s got her husband going along with her this time. And Eamon is a different story altogether.”

  Lucy tried to keep her face impassive at the mention of the Kyonan crown prince, her gaze determinedly averted as her father continued to speak.

  “Sending your son off isn’t nearly as terrifying. Take Matheus here,” their father added, giving his son a grin. “I don’t mind him going in the least. The worst he can do is get into a sword fight here and there, and where’s the harm in that?” Matheus chuckled appreciatively as the older man turned back to his daughter. “But Lucy on the other hand—”

  “Relax Father,” Lucy interrupted. “I won’t be getting into any sword fights.”

  “That I wouldn’t mind,” said her father darkly. “It’s all the young fools in the Balenan court I’m worried about. The way they all fawned over your mother was nothing short of embarrassing.”

  “They’re probably all a little old to be fawning by now,” said Lucy’s mother, amused.

  “Maybe,” said her father skeptically. “But somehow I doubt their sons will be any better.”

  “And you never fawned over Mother?” Lucy challenged, feeling that the conversation had focused on her for quite long enough.

  “Of course not!” her father protested, clearly outraged at the suggestion. “Never!”

  “I don’t know if I’d say never, Jonan,” said Cody reflectively, putting a brotherly arm around the shoulders of Lucy’s mother, much in the manner her father still had his arm around Lucy. “I remember a few sappy looks. And you seemed mighty interested in whether she was going to marry Prince Giles.”

  “Nonsense,” said Lucy’s father, sounding put out. “Scarlett never had the smallest interest in marrying Giles.”

  “Sure, but you didn’t know that,” said Cody reasonably. “All I’m saying is you weren’t totally immune to whatever mania caused them all to make fools of themselves over Scar.” He looked down at the stunningly beautiful Balenan woman, a speculative light in his eye. “In fact, I seem to remember the night you found out she was secretly the rebel leader, you were falling all over yourself with awkward comments about how the dress she wore at her father’s ball made her look half—”

  “Yes, yes, that’s quite enough reminiscing,” Lucy’s father interjected hastily, over the top of the protests of his two oldest children. Lucy made a mental note to drag the rest of that story out of Cody on the voyage. Good thing he was coming to Balenol with them.

  “We were talking about Lucy, not Scarlett,” her father continued airily. His expression became troubled as he looked at his only daughter. “Be careful who you trust, Lucy, won’t you?”

  “Of course I will,” said Lucy, a hard edge to her voice. “I’ve learned the importance of being careful where I give my trust.”

  She didn’t miss the look her parents exchanged, but she turned her gaze away, not wanting to hear their opinions. She’d heard it all before. Her eyes fell instead, inevitably, on the royal family. She hadn’t realized how close they had approached, and her face burned slightly as she involuntarily met Eamon’s eye.

  She looked away quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid the anguish on his face. He had obviously heard her words.

  “Just don’t come back engaged like Jocelyn did,” her father continued darkly, apparently oblivious to the proximity of the other family. “I’m sure about half the court will try to propose to you.”

  Lucy’s eyes again darted to Eamon, against her will. If anything, he looked even more anguished than before.

  “It wasn’t so bad for Jocelyn to come back engaged, was it?” The cheerful voice of Kincaid, Princess Jocelyn’s husband, broke in on the conversation, finally alerting Lucy’s parents to the approach of the Kyonan royals.

  “Of course it wasn’t,” said Lucy’s mother with a warm smile. “And it’s really a bit much for Jonan to complain about anyone coming back engaged, since thanks to him, I came back from my big adventure already married.”

  “She does have a point, Jo,” said King Calinnae impishly, joining the conversation.

  Lucy’s father once again looked outraged. “That situation was—”

  “Totally different,” chorused Lucy and Matheus, grinning impudently.

  “Well, it was,” protested their father. “Your mother’s father was a heartless tyrant—not to mention I’d conveniently gotten rid of him—so there was no family to get upset about it.”

  “I don’t seem to remember Giles seeing it that way,” said his wife dryly. “Not to mention Scanlon.”

  But this unfortunate mention of her brother cast an instant pall over the group. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, Lucy was as vividly aware of Eamon as she always had been, and it was impossible to miss his sudden discomfort as he looked at his feet.

  “Are you ready Lucy, Matheus?” Jocelyn asked quickly, covering the awkward moment. “I think it’s nearly time.”

  “More than ready!” said Matheus enthusiastically. His eyes wandered over to his two younger brothers, harassing the ship’s crew with questions. “We just have to make sure Miles and Benjy haven’t stowed away, and we’ll be good to go.”

  “I suppose it is nearly time,” said King Calinnae, looking worried after all. “Are you sure it’s safe, Scarlett?”

  Lucy’s mother pulled her gaze away from her two youngest sons to smile reassuringly at the king. “At least in Balenol. I don’t know anything about the current state of Thorania, so I can’t speak to that.”

  “I wasn’t talking about Thorania,” said the king. “I’ve had extensive communication with King Abner, and I’m satisfied as to the delegation’s safety while they’re in Thirl.” He gave the Balenan woman an apologetic look. “No offense, but it’s Balenol I’m still concerned about.”

  “I know, and I’m not offended,” said Lucy’s mother. “I even brought all of Giles’s letters with me in case you wanted to look back over them again. The arrangements are all in place for trade negotiations, and he guarantees the safety of the delegation while they’re in Nohl.”

  “Hm.” Uncle Cal didn’t sound convinced. “I seem to remember hearing the same thing before I sent you and Jo to Balenol last time, and as I recall, Jonan was about two minutes from losing his head, and then the two of you almost got yourselves killed stopping a military coup. Are we sure we can really trust Giles’s guarantee?”

  “He has a point, Scar,” Lucy’s father muttered. His wife silenced him with a look, her eyes telling him clearly that it was not the time or place to ge
t into his fraught relationship with her royal cousin.

  “It really is different now,” Lucy’s mother said earnestly, her eyes passing from the king to his wife. “Giles is about to be crowned king. Last time he didn’t have the power to enforce our protection. Now he does.”

  “We’ve been over this, Cal,” interjected Queen Elnora patiently. “You know King Giles has made it clear he wants to restore relations between our kingdoms. We met him ourselves, when he came here. And the other princes have been three times. You know as well as I do that none of them are anything like Lord Wrendal. And don’t forget just how many guards we’re sending with Eamon, not to mention the Valorian guards going with Jocelyn and Kincaid.” She smiled at Lucy and Matheus. “And the Kyonan guards are under instructions to consider you in their charge as well, you know. At least while you’re with the delegation.”

  The king still didn’t look entirely satisfied, but his wife laid a hand on his arm. “It will be all right, Cal,” said the queen softly. “Jo and Scarlett would hardly be sending Lucy and Matheus if they weren’t confident the situation was very different from how it was twenty years ago.”