Blinding Beauty

Blinding Beauty

The Becoming Beauty Trilogy, Book
Two

*

The Classical Kingdoms Collection,
Book #2

Brittany Fichter

Blinding Beauty: A Retelling of the Princess and the Glass
Hill by Brittany Fichter via Smashwords 2016

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www.BrittanyFichterFiction.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the
author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used
for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living
or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or
locales is completely coincidental.

Blinding Beauty / Brittany Fichter. -- 1st
ed.

Edited by Katherine Stephen

Cover Art and Design by Armin
Numanovic

ISBN: 9781311419590

To my big little brother, Danny, for always protecting your
big sister and threatening to break the legs of any man who broke
my heart. I forgive you for stealing my dolls and eating my cookies
before I was able to finish decorating them. I now laugh in your
general direction for calling me a nerd in high school. Engineers
forfeit all rights to call other human beings nerds. Keep on
truckin’ and protect that big brain of yours because one day, it
might just save the world.

CHAPTER ONE

This Queen

Isa’s weapon lay uselessly on the ground just a
few feet away. She threw her hands up to protect her face, but it
was too late. The blue flame from Ever’s sword hit her head-on,
knocking her across the floor, where her head slammed against the
stone tiles with a sharp crack.

Sheathing his sword, Ever was at
her side before the ever worrisome servants could make it to the
center of the training room’s large floor. “I’m sorry,” he groaned,
gently lifting her head and examining the spot that had struck the
ground. “I didn’t mean to make that one so strong.”

His wife gave him a weak smile,
but winced when his fingers found the spot they were looking for,
buried at the base of her thick, auburn braid. Pulling off his
right glove, Ever placed his hand over the bump that had already
begun to rise, releasing just enough power to draw the swelling
down. As the blue light rolled back and forth between the knot and
his palm, Isa’s breathing evened, and she let out a gust of
air.

“
I truly am sorry,” he said again.
Isa gave him a genuine smile this time, and as they often did, her
large eyes caught him off guard, holding him captive in their
midnight depths.

“
It was my fault.” She shook her
head and accepted his help in standing. After dusting her clothes
off, she went to retrieve her sword. “I don’t know why I keep
missing that attack. I see you coming, but I’m too slow to
parry.”

“
Your wrist is too stiff.” He
moved to stand just behind her so he could put his hand over hers
where she gripped the sword’s hilt to show her the proper
form.

Instead of fixing her stance as he
demonstrated, however, she turned and leaned in for a kiss, and
Ever couldn’t help himself as he bent his head to meet her soft
lips. Somewhere behind him, he heard the sound of retreating
footsteps, and he smothered a laugh.

Before his wedding and coronation,
the crowd that gathered to watch Everard’s combat practices had
generally been large. In those days, as their then-prince took on
single, double, even seven or eight opponents sometimes, his
spectators would watch in awe. Fathers would point out specific
moves to their sons, and the women would whisper about how graceful
and strong he was. Everyone agreed they had never seen the
like.

Since his wedding and coronation,
however, though he still practiced with his soldiers, the
spectators had learned quickly that their king was not shy about
flirting with his wife.

Even during weapons
practice.

“
I don’t know what else they think
they’re going to see,” Ever had once overheard Garin, the Fortress
steward, remark with a chuckle. “It’s only been five months since
the wedding. They would do well to let the love birds
be.”

But in truth, Garin and Ever both
knew what the spectators wanted to see from their new queen. And as
time went on, everyone, Ever included, grew more anxious when it
didn’t show. Today had been no exception, and the flirting wasn’t
to blame.

“
That’s enough practice for one
day.”

Ever cringed as Gigi’s sharp words
drenched the warm moment like a bucket of melted snow. He should
have known the exiting footsteps had belonged to one of the kitchen
mistress’s spies. Grudgingly, he stepped back to allow Gigi to
examine Isa more thoroughly.

“
I thought we discussed this,”
Gigi scolded him, lowering her gray brows when she found a rather
large bruise on the back of one of Isa’s arms. “What if she were
with child? How could this possibly benefit any of you?”

At this, Isa let out a huff.
“We
have
been
through this, and I am
not
with child. Ever is right. I’m still not very
good at defending myself.”

“
Well, you’re done for the day,”
the older woman clucked, taking Isa’s sword and handing it to Ever
as though it were a dead serpent. “We have to fit you for new
gowns.”

“
More? What in the heavens
for?”

“
I’ll tell you on the way.
Speaking of which, Ever, Garin needs to see you.”

Knowing better than to argue, Isa
let the matronly woman lead her away, and Ever turned to find his
steward smirking at him.

“
You may be king, but that woman
orders you about more by the day.”

“
She doesn’t do it in front of the
servants.” Ever sheathed his sword. “I can’t see any
harm.”

Garin didn’t argue. Gigi had been
more of a mother to Ever than Queen Louise had. Certain liberties
were hers for the taking. She had earned them.

“
How was practice?”

“
I thought she would be more in
control by now. But she just stagnates.” Ever let out a gusty
breath. “She’s so unsure of herself as it is. I just don’t know how
to help her.”

“
I remember the day you first
discovered your strength.” Garin waved his hand at the servants to
open the doors to the king’s study. “You certainly never hesitated
to use it.” The glint in his steward’s eye told Ever that he was
remembering all the tricks Ever had played on the Fortress staff as
a small boy. “You were quite imaginative, if I may say
so.”

“
It came so naturally.” Ever shook
his head as the doors closed behind them. “I never had the problems
she’s having.”

“
There is quite a difference
between discovering the Fortress’s strength as a child and
discovering it as an adult,” Garin said as he lifted a stack of
parchments from Ever’s desk and began rifling through it. “Children
accept life as they see it. But Isa has had to face an enormous
amount of self-doubt and adversity. Her confidence is still shaky,
at best. I know you do not want to hear it, but give her time,
Ever. The Fortress knows what it’s doing.”

Ever placed his hands on his desk
and let his head sag, something he never allowed any of his other
subjects to see, or even his wife, for that matter.

“
In truth, did any of the other
queens struggle this much with their powers?”

Garin’s eyes grew very old, as
they always did when talking about the Fortress’s past. “Let me
remind you that many of the queens never even gained the Fortress’s
strength at all. The Fortress never saw them fit to carry its
power. As for those who did receive and master it, I’ve found it
best not to compare. The Fortress will teach her in its own time.
Her heart must be ready. Now, for other things to talk of.” He
handed the stack of parchments to Ever. “I think you’ll find some
of today’s reports quite interesting.”

Ever grinned a bit when he took
the papers and noticed their broken wax seals. It was nothing new
to Ever for his steward to read his messages first, but Isa’s
younger brother, Launce, had once seen it and gawked.

“
When you’ve overseen the Fortress
business for a few centuries, you, too, may read the king’s
messages,” Ever had told him when he had seen the young man’s
astonishment.

Today, Ever glanced at the first
few reports, mostly numbers on taxes and regional crop production.
But when he saw the letter from the Lingean king, his heart beat
uneasily, and as he read it, he found his gut instinct was right to
be worried.

Everard,

I fear I have no pleasant tidings
to bring you this day. Though you know me as the sort to keep order
in my own realm, I have had reports of a most heinous crime
committed along our northern border. Indeed, it was so outrageous I
would not give it heed until I had seen it with my own
eyes.

Ten of our region’s priests were
journeying to a small town that has recently been taken with a
terrible illness. It is my understanding that their intentions were
to assist the healers. They never reached the town though. The day
after they should have arrived in the village, a shepherd found
their bodies strewn about in a nearby field.

I regret requesting your
assistance, as it is three days’ journey from your home, but I
cannot fathom what kind of monster the murderer must be to cut down
ten men appointed by the Maker Himself. If you are at all willing,
I implore you to help me solve this mystery. My people are more
afraid by the day.

Your friend and ally,

Leon Tungsvara of
Lingea

“
I want a military contingent to
escort two of the Fortress healers to Lingea at once. Have them
examine the bodies and bring their findings back to me.”

“
I thought you would find that
odd.” Garin’s voice was tight.

“
Ten holy men murdered in one day
goes far beyond odd.” No wonder his northern neighbor had reached
out to him. No such atrocity had been reported in decades. Garin
nodded and went to relay the order as Ever read the next parchment,
hoping to find better news. Garin walked back in just as he
finished.

“
This one is truly odd.” He waved
it at Garin. So that was why Gigi had wanted new dresses for Isa.
“Since when do the Cobriens allow outsiders to compete to be the
royal successor?”

“
Since now, I suppose.” Garin
frowned slightly before smoothing his face. “Does that mean you’re
going to find out?”

“
It does. Apparently, we’re going
to Cobren.”

CHAPTER TWO

Fit for a Queen

“
Remove the
sleeves up to the shoulder,” Gigi instructed the seamstress. “Now
replace them with this.” She held up a white roll of sheer
lace.

Isa eyed it suspiciously. “That’s
showing quite a bit of skin for a wedding betrothal, isn’t
it?”

“
I know you don’t think so, but
may I remind you that you are the most powerful queen in the
northern kingdoms. It’s only appropriate for the others to see that
you are not like the other women.” Gigi nodded once to the
seamstress as she pinned the new fabric into place over Isa’s bare
arms.

Isa looked down at her new dress,
and in spite of Gigi’s confidence in the daring design, felt all
the more self-conscious. To be fair, Isa was a far cry from the
crippled woman with a bad ankle and crooked wrist who had hobbled
up the Fortress steps the year before. She now stood tall and proud
as her etiquette instructors had taught her to. Her once lame wrist
and ankle, now healed by the Fortress’s great power, no longer
hindered her. But that didn’t mean she was quite ready to be put on
display.