The Queen of Morkaia

By Chelsea Girard

It is written that the firstborn must take their seat on the throne in the case of death among the king or queen. But what happens if you are twins?
After the sudden death of their mother, twins Cassius and Ivy must battle for the throne in order to see who will rule over Morkaia. But when they must put their differences aside during the war against the kingdom's enemies, they may lose more than just the throne in battle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645754855

Chelsea Girard

Chelsea Girard is an author who resides in Ontario, Canada. With eleven books now under her belt, she has been writing since 2017 and sees no end in sight. Chelsea has written collections of poetry, young adult fiction, thriller novels and cotemporary novels and plans to continue to dabble in other genres as well.

Book preview

Epilogue

About the Author

Chelsea Girard is a 22-year-old journalist residing in Ontario, Canada. With eight other published books under her belt, Chelsea writes in varying genres poetry, self-help, contemporary and fantasy. When she isn’t writing, Girard enjoys photography and reviewing books.

Copyright Information ©

Chelsea Girard (2020)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

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.

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Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Girard, Chelsea

The Queen of Morkaia

ISBN 9781645754831 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781645754848 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781645754855 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020909734

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published (2020)

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 28th Floor

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Prologue

Cassius

Tall walls surrounded me as I lay in bed, staring at the marble ceiling. My sadness engulfed every inch of my mind as my will power could no longer save me from my fate. Worn sheets, used by almost every generation of my family, wrapped around my legs, trying to keep still my restless movements. It was sad to say but my mother dying wasn’t the only thing on my mind at the moment.

She passed away two days ago from unknown causes which was a load of bullshit in my opinion. I turned over to the side of my bed and threw my feet onto the cold stone floor. I pulled the blanket over my thighs and held it tightly against my torso. How does one just die in their sleep without anyone knowing? Not to mention she was perfectly healthy.

The large stained windows in the room let the moonlight cast looming shadows of purple and blue onto the ground. The dark colors matched my thoughts. I was kept from knowing anything about my own mother, nobody was allowed to see her but my father. Not even doctors could say no to him, he was the king after all.

We were told to stay in our rooms until we were announced to come out for the funeral. In order to keep the public out of the family death and so, we all had our time to grieve. I continued to gaze out the window, and I could see the pale outline of the courtyard through the distorted glass. Ironic, as that’s how I felt I was seeing everything right now—through warped glass.

Ivy was beside herself, as anyone could have figured. My sister and our mom were inseparable and she believed that she must have been keeping a secret about the sickness she was battling. These thoughts kept me tossing and turning, I could hear the old oak bed frame creak as I threw myself about. The etched wood followed spiraling patterns, designs of trees and leaves, plants of all kinds. I ran my fingers over the aged wood, trying to distract myself with these things I’ve seen every night since I had been born, but nothing could keep me from thinking about my mother. I mean, it made sense but she didn’t seem sick in the slightest. Lung cancer? No, she wasn’t coughing or getting any treatments done. Chickenpox? No, she didn’t show any signs of redness or itching. A cover-up for something more? Ding, ding, ding. We had a winner.

I knew something was up from the very beginning, and I think I’ve diagnosed the cause of my insomnia. I found it unsettling that Ivy and I weren’t allowed to see our own mother before she was buried. I looked to the door at the front of the room and knew it was locked, but it still looked friendly and inviting with colorful pastels and oil paints. Locked in, I felt trapped. The bed that I once raced to jump onto after laboring over whatever had been going on in the kingdom, now just felt like a prison. It was unfair, more so to my sister even. Ivy was the one who walked in on our cold-blooded mother but when she cried out in fear, she was escorted out of the room faster than she walked in.

I remember it as if it was seconds ago. I was wandering the narrow corridors just after dawn, the light just barely starting to make its way into the castle walls. My eyes were only half-open as I made my way through the backdoor that led to our vast kitchen. Not a moment after I came in, the ivory doorknob smacked on my elbow. Ivy ran into my arms and I held her as she sobbed loudly and cried out the words no one wants to hear, ever. Mom’s dead.

I wish I could take her pain away but there was nothing I could say or do to bring my mother back.

Ivy, you okay? I said as I walked quietly into her room. My head was poking through a crack in her open door as I held onto the door frame, awaiting a pillow to be thrown in my direction. To my surprise, nothing was thrown as she sat on her bed, sobbing quietly into her hands.

Ivy, you can’t stay in your room all day, I said, placing a hand on her shoulder from behind.

You don’t understand, Cassius, Ivy said as she lifted her tired eyes from her hands. Her face was moist from her tears and her hair was in an unwashed bun.

You could never understand what I saw! Her eyes, they were open and her hands were cold as frost. She was lifeless, Cassius, and I had to see her falling apart, Ivy said as her eyes began to swell up again.

You have to stop this. Beating yourself up isn’t going to bring her back, Ivy.

No matter how hard I would try, my sister constantly thought she was to blame only because she was our mother. It was not only annoying but made it harder to move on nonetheless. I decided to leave her alone with her thoughts and try again later. Time is what she needed and no matter how hard anyone tried, Ivy wasn’t ready to budge.

With a glass of water in my right hand and a piece of gently buttered toast in the other, I made my way down to the living quarters where I had pictured my parents sipping their morning coffee and hearing my mother’s laugh carry into the hallway. Only this time, it was only my father drinking his coffee, staring at my mother’s empty seat to his left and her already made tea in her favorite maroon coffee mug.

Good morning father, I said in a mumbling tone as I tried to stop myself from staring at my mother’s empty chair. My father said nothing as he took another sip from his coffee mug, still breathing heavily and tapping his foot on the floor beneath his navy-blue slippers.

You do realize what this means, Cassius, he said as his eyes didn’t move from the previous starting point. He remained emotionless, lifeless, and smelt of despair.

No, what does this mean? I asked in an acknowledging manner. I walked toward my father and gravitated toward my mother’s chair, placing a hand on the chair’s shoulder, as if my mother was still sitting there.

The throne, it must be seated again for our family, he said, meeting my eyes with his. He sighed as he reached for the crown that sat in front of him on a bleached wooden coffee table. He admired the stones and the pointy tips that acted as a tent for each jewel that sat upon the crown.

But you’re still the king, I said, raising an eyebrow to my father’s harmless motion of dignity.

It doesn’t work like that, Cassius. It is written in the Creed that in the account of the death of the king or queen, the firstborn child must take the throne in order to rule the kingdom. My father’s eyes met mine as he placed the crown back on the table and stood tall in front of his chair, looking down at the empty seat.

Your mother would have wanted this, he said, placing a hand on the arm of the chair.

Wanted what exactly? This makes no sense, you’re still the king, we still have a ruler for Morkaia and that would be you, I said, as the anxiety built inside my chest.

Under the Creed, I am no longer king because your mother is— He stopped himself as his head fell down in sadness. Because the Creed says the firstborn must take the throne, it makes things complicated. My father walked toward the large window that looked over the Kingdom of Morkaia. With his hands folded behind his back, he muttered the words I wish I would never have to hear my father say.

You and Ivy will battle for the throne.

Chapter 1

Ivy

I knew it wasn’t my fault that she was dead but I couldn’t help but think about how I didn’t see this coming. She was my best friend and she didn’t even tell me she was sick nor hurting. My mother and I were extremely close and I felt as if I lost the most important person in my life.

I sat in bed for what seemed to be days after her death. I constantly cried, thinking of her smile and how much we loved to walk in the garden before the sun had risen. I had to let go of the thought of her beautiful mind that always knew how to bring out the sun on a rainy day. She had that effect on people, bringing the best out of the worst. I couldn’t seem to find any positives in her death, nor did I think that I would.

Cassius had continuously checked up on me but I couldn’t bring myself to let him in. He didn’t have the same relationship I had with our mother so he wouldn’t understand how I felt. He couldn’t. He had left plates of food outside my door, even when I wasn’t hungry. He would come to say good morning and good night every day, even if he wasn’t sure if I were awake or not.

God, I need to get out of this room, I muttered loudly, as I swung my feet over to the side of my bed and grabbed my robe to tie around my waist. The guards were placed outside every room now and we weren’t allowed to travel the palace without an army following closely behind now. I hated that. The days I wanted to be alone, I was held under lockdown and watched like an afternoon steak fresh off the grill. I hated being the princess sometimes. I wanted to go in the fields beyond the castle gates and just lay in the rows of dandelions. Without a care in the world, I would scream at the top of my lungs and take off the formal dresses and pair my cowboy boots with a girly summer dress. But I wasn’t allowed to look normal, Because princesses aren’t normal.

I walked down the castle halls for what seemed to be ages until I came across Cassius, his tear-stained cheeks startled me as he was always the one to say that things never got him down.

Has it finally hit you? I asked him as I grabbed his shoulder before he could walk past me as he intentionally meant to.

I’m not in the mood, Ivy. He swiped his shoulder the opposite way of my hand, releasing my grip on his shoulder.

Cas, wait—

What, Ivy? I’ve got a lot to think about, can’t you just leave me alone? he snapped.

Think about what? We’re supposed to be family and families stick together, I said with a half-smile on my face, trying to lighten up his mood.

Family, he said with a slight laugh. This kingdom doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. And with that, he started down the hall again. With his hands dangling by his sides and shoes sliding across the concrete floor, Cassius had truly hit rock bottom. I wish he knew that he could talk to me. My brother never expressed his feelings and ever since our mother died, he had bottled up more than his cork could hold.

Ivy, just the lady I wanted to see, my father yelled down to me from the end of the hall. He waved me into his office, the room that Cassius just came out of crying. I walked slowly with my head hanging over my shoulders. I couldn’t help but have the image of my mother’s face within my mind as I made my way into my father’s office. Her long brown hair that was draped over her right eye, almost tangled over her ear. Her mouth, which was slightly open, almost as if she was about to say