The Lost Tribe Complete Collection by Lola Kidd

had never proposed marriage to him directly. It had always come from her advisors and messengers. He knew she was getting restless but this line of questioning was out of the clear blue sky. She hadn’t even been due for a visit to Blackfire for months.
    “You know exactly what I mean, Troy. Neither of us is getting any younger. You’ve been of age for a very long time now and your castle has been without a rightful ruler.”
    “I am the ruler of Blackfire.”
    “But not by law you aren’t. Blackfire has no king. Without marriage, your castle will continue to flounder.”
    Troy gritted his teeth. His castle was doing just fine. In fact, they were doing better than Eternal Sun. “I’ll worry about my own castle, but thank you for your concern, Hera.”
    “Who else will you marry if not me?” An edge of anger had crept into her voice. “Without me, you’re going to have marry one of your own people. There will be no one for you at Eternal Sun besides me.”
    She said it like it was an insult. Troy and his family had no problem marrying one of the villagers. It just happened that he had yet to find one who was right to be his bride. He could wait. Maybe in another fifty or sixty years, one would be born who was right for him.
    “You know my advisors tell me that I should march on Blackfire,” Hera said causally. “I tell keep telling them no. You’re my ally. You would never do anything to harm me or my castle, and I won’t betray you. You are my ally, aren’t you, Troy?”
    “Of course. Blackfire and Eternal Sun have been allies for generations. I have no plans to change that.”
    “Why not strengthen our ties, then?” Hera sat up on the couch. “I can only wait so long, Troy. You know I care about you, but I have to do what’s right for me and my people. I hope you make the right decision soon.”
    Hera rose and left tossing a forlorn look over her shoulder. It was a magnificent performance, but Troy knew what she had really been saying without uttering the word.
    War. If he didn’t agree to marry her, and soon, she would march against his castle.

Three
    Lena hurried through the forest. She pushed a branch out of her way and stepped over a root sticking out of the dirt.
    “This is a terrible idea,” Ellia said as she swatted at a bug near her face.
    “It very well may be, but I need to do this. You’re free to go back to the castle anytime.”
    “You know I wouldn’t be able to leave your side. I just wish we had better clothes to wear for hiking.”
    They had changed out of their dining clothes and into the dresses they had on earlier in the day. This was their second trek to the wall Sophia had built on Clan Blackfire’s land. Lena was starting to get her powers back and she figured it would be a good time to see if she could get behind Sophia’s wall. She also wanted to know where Margaret had actually come from. The girl seemed nice enough, but Lena didn’t believe that she was truly from hundreds of years in the future.
    “We’re going to be late for the meeting on the beach and then Allen will kill us.”
    Lena stopped. She could feel the pull of magic. “We’re close already and it’s taken us far less time than it did the first time to get here. We’ll be able to get back even faster, since the moon will be higher in the sky.”
    Ellia looked up at the full purple moon. “It’s very bright for nighttime. I can barely feel the magic here, but when we came the first time I felt close to nothing.”
    “I feel it strongly.” Lena raised her hand and the tree closest to her quivered before bending slightly. “I’m getting stronger. This world isn’t like our Earth, but it’s much easier for me to do magic the closer we get to the wall. I don’t think Sophia just chose a spot at random to build her wall.”
    “Of course she didn’t. Your evil sister found the most magical spot on this entire world to make her home. Typical Sophia.”
    Lena laughed. “At least we can count on