Queen and Conqueror (The Queen's Red Guard, #1)

by Isabelle Olmo

“You would have me declare war against King Alton, take the Suidian Army and Istokian Armada to Easima, and make myself queen and conqueror.”

Ha! She said it!

“Men will never be ready for women like us, and it is not our job to ready them.”

She urged him to put forth terms of surrender, but he’d not listened. What could she know?

If men are determined to destroy themselves in blood and glory, so be it. But I shall do what I can to prevent it and I need to know that Suid and Istok are with me. We need to try.

She didn’t want to conquer, but if this king left her no choice, then she would.

her. A small leak could, in time, empty the ocean.

“From here on out you shall be known as the Queen’s Red Guard, carriers of the ruby blades,”

She wouldn't act like a child when she pleaded to be a woman.

He probably lay with four random women and no one questioned his crown or validity, yet women in power stood on a precipice.

She’d been only seven. Even at that young age, she was attracted to her older cousin.

Dammit!

“I don’t like water. I don’t like things being changed, and I don’t like you ordering my servants around. I like wine, ale, solitary dinners, and an obedient wife.”

Gods of the sea, would they fight or fuck?

The last thing she needed was him killed in a ridiculous male-affirming contest for glory.

The kingdom was too unstable and volatile; she needed him alive. For no other reason.

“There’s days I must hold myself in a tight fist to not fall to my knees and beg you to care for me in the manner that I have desperately and uncontrollably grown to care for you. Everything I do is to get a reaction from you, to watch you smile or anger, I want to see the spectrum of your emotions, even the bad ones. I want to bask in them.”

“Break. Break if you must. Break here, let it out, and I’ll break with you.” She cried and kissed his temple. “You think on your horrors here in my arms, my love, and I’ll carry them with you.”