The Queen with No Name (Return of the Ancestors, #1)

by J.J. Makenzie

I would finally be free from the ownership of men—first by my father and now by the man in front of me,

The day my mother said was foretold, when the three kingdoms in Greatland would be united once again by one who could roar like ten lions but was as meek as a lamb.

Women were the downfall of man from the beginning,

I didn’t want to be desired by a man. All most men wanted, as far as I could tell, were women and power. And as they ruled women, they had all the power. I wanted to be respected … and longed to be loved.

My father was only too happy to rid himself of me. The last thing he had said to me that morning was, “I hope I never see you again.” The feeling was mutual.

It didn’t go unnoticed that he didn’t call me his wife. I was like the horse I rode, an animal to be sold and bred—a political pawn, just like my mother.

I hated that he could give me orders I must obey. Such was a female’s life. For as long as I could remember, I’d always had to do what a man demanded of me.

He was not my savior.

I wasn’t sure I could be more humiliated than I had been, in not only the last two days, but all the days of my life. It seemed to be the lot of women.

I was all I had.

“I am the prey. Always.”

You want me to pay.” Why must I always pay?

“Please go,” I pleaded. I needed to be alone, to let the tears fall, to try and remember my life was worth more than my blood and my womb.

Perhaps it would be easier to accept my lot in life if I didn’t hope for better days. If I finally realized my father was right—I was nothing, only a vessel for babies.

“Child,” he’d whispered, “a butterfly must struggle to emerge from its captivity. The struggle makes it strong. Without beating her wings against the cocoon, she will never have the strength to survive. Not only to survive, but to beautifully soar as she is destined. You, child, must continue to beat your wings. You will soar one day. That, I promise.”

“There is never enough power to satisfy one who is never content with what he has, whether it is little or great,”

“The only thing my father taught me was men with power are the worst sort of men.”

“You must always keep your humanity,” she would plead. “If you lose your humanity, you lose everything.”

I didn’t believe I was ever meant to be at ease.

“There will always be good reasons to go to war, but open your eyes to see the better reasons to make peace.”

“I will be as gentle as I can.” I wondered if that was what a priest told a lamb before he sacrificed it.

“To hate is easy,” she would say. “Always make the hard choice to love,” she would beg me.

“I am used to the cruelty of men.”

My soul seemed of no worth to anyone, not even the Ancestors. Perhaps I was nothing.

“Please let me be,” I begged. “You do not care for me. You, like my father, have made me a no one. I know my place now. It is nowhere.”

You wished for a silent wife. I will be eternally silent.”

She slayed that. Love the dramatics and love this is the last thing she says before passing out. Queen shit.

“All men do is lie.”

there was no one more dangerous than a man on the verge of losing power, great or small.

“What do you do when you disagree with your husband?” I would welcome any advice. “That is easy. I wait until he sees I was right all along.”