Queens kestrel 4 a fanta.., p.1
Queen's Kestrel 4: A Fantasy Adventure, page 1
Queen’s Kestrel 4
Queen’s Kestrel
Book 4
Danny Rogan
Copyright © 2025 by Royal Guard Publishing LLC
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
The End
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Chapter One
TRENT
Two weeks after he saved the Primal Academy, Princess Victoria Randolf finally received word from Executor Tallow that their prisoner transfer was underway. With the approval of King Galen of the Cridor Republic, Tallow would soon deliver Anton—the traitorous spark mage who had tried to blow up the Primal Academy—to Dalry. They would use the portal connecting the Enchanter’s monastery to the Primal Academy.
Alongside Sapphire, Princess Victoria’s royal bodyguard, and the Enchanter, who was now Princess Victoria’s advisor, Trent stood at Victoria’s side as both her kestrel and her first knight.
On the other side of the transparent barrier, two Primal Guards stood at attention. They wore enchanted gray armor laced with faint bronze lines of color. No one else walked into view. Trent’s experience with the glacial pace of military procedure assured him he might be waiting a bit.
As he looked around at those gathered in the portal room with him, he reflected on just how far he’d come since he helped Princess Victoria escape Whitebridge’s chapel school and then fought his way out of the dungeons of Castle Guileford.
He had helped Victoria escape King Tallun’s assassination attempt. He had convinced others he trusted in Dalry that Princess Victoria was alive. He had discovered an ancient and magically protected monastery in the wilds of the Breckenrock and allied with its master.
Trent had then saved Princess Victoria from “devil mages” who had entered a dark forest hoping to end her life. He had saved the Primal Academy from a tragedy that might very well have kicked off a war between Dalry and the Cridor Republic.
And finally, he had delivered his princess to a place where she could stand and fight... safely.
The crown princess of Dalry looked particularly radiant today, and the fact that she was finally here and safe was a blessing. As Victoria glanced his way, she blushed before looking back at the portal. Her long blonde hair, which fell to the middle of her back, was glossy and radiant thanks to a recent wash with some kind of expensive soap.
Victoria wore one of her finest dresses today, a frilly white and blue dress with gold trim, a high neck, and a hemline that fell to her ankles. But even its modest cut couldn’t hide her lovely curves, especially from behind. And her frequent blushing glances at Trent had led to Bethany teasing him about the princess being enamored with him.
Yet even if Victoria did feel... something... for him, it was only because she was grateful to him for saving her from her father’s assassination attempt. Victoria’s eventual husband would be a powerful head of state, not a simple kestrel. Trent definitely didn’t want to be caught ogling the princess when her royal bodyguard was nearby.
The armored woman standing at Victoria’s side could not be more different than the lovely blonde princess—or more intimidating. Sapphire, Victoria’s bodyguard, wore her suit of gleaming armor and helmet proudly. She also carried a two-handed sword the size of Victoria’s whole body.
Sapphire’s lovely face and blonde ponytail remained hidden inside her helmet, which Trent found odd to this day. Sapphire was a beautiful woman. But while she was gruff and confident in most interactions, something about the idea of doffing her armor left her oddly shy.
The fourth person in the monastery’s portal room was the strangest of all. The Enchanter—or his faceless golden automaton body—stood stiffly on the far side of Sapphire, wearing fine robes. He lacked a human body, but if all went well, that would change today.
Because after a short trial, the Enchanter would be taking Anton’s body as his own.
Two more Primal Guards joined the two standing at attention on the far side of the portal. These two guards bore a stretcher. On that stretcher rested Anton, their prisoner. Given his prone posture, the only part of Anton that Trent could see was his curly red hair.
Anton had betrayed his tribe—the tribe of Revca, Trent’s pact wife—to King Tallun’s Blessed Knights for reasons yet unknown. He had also tried to zap a wagon filled with crates of volcano sand in order to blow up the Primal Academy. His crime was unforgivable, yet the academy had taken him alive and promised to turn him over after interrogation.
So why were these two Primal Guards carrying him on a stretcher as if he was dead?
All four of the Primal Guards waited until another figure joined them. At Trent’s request, Executor Tallow had appointed Mistress Karissa Ambergreen as the Primal Academy’s ambassador to Dalry... or its court-in-exile. And today, she looked absolutely beautiful.
Kari, like Victoria, had lovely blonde hair, though hers bounced at her shoulders instead of coursing down her back. She was also a bit taller than Trent, though not as tall as Sapphire. Kari wore the same outfit she’d worn the day she retrieved him from a Primal Academy cell: a button-down green shirt with a gleaming black leather belt, a dark skirt, and heeled shoes.
Kari turned sideways to sidle through the narrow space between the Primal Guards, the stretcher, and the barricades. As she stopped on the far side of the portal, her blue eyes met Trent’s. Her shamelessly naughty smile was far from professional.
Trent smiled back. When Kari had learned from Bethany that Trent was a Windborne chief who took multiple wives, she’d looked interested rather than dubious. The problem was, Trent had no idea if Kari could actually turn down bonding a life mage if her academy insisted.
Given how much easier and safer life mages made the process of giving birth, Trent suspected Bethany was even more eager to add Kari to their tribe than he was.
Kari turned to the Primal Guards carrying the stretcher and beckoned. Her lips moved, but Trent couldn’t see what she said. No sound carried through the portal.
She turned and stepped through. As she emerged from the shimmering and almost liquid-like surface of the portal, she brushed a bit of blonde hair from her eyes. She then stepped aside to allow the Primal Guards to follow.
Princess Victoria greeted her. “Welcome, Ambassador Ambergreen, to Dalry’s court. I hope, as our ambassador to the Primal Academy, you and I will form a long and fruitful relationship.”
Kari’s smile, at Princess Victoria, looked forced. “Thank you for havin’ me, Highness.”
“I’d expected our prisoner to be on his feet. Did you lock him in some sort of magical slumber for transfer?”
“Oh, I wish we had. Tal and I were both hopin’ turning Anton over would be a simple affair, but, well... we had a hiccup.”
The Enchanter’s golden body stiffened. “What sort of hiccup?”
“If it’d be all right, Highness, I’ll give you details after we close up the portal.”
As the Primal Guard carrying the head of the stretcher hesitantly stepped through the portal, the second guard increased his pace. After both men traveled safely through the portal, they glanced at Kari for orders.
Kari pointed at the floor beside the portal’s edge. “Y’all just set that stretcher down out of the way. Then go back and grab my belongings. After you stack those up by the wall over there, you can go back to your duties.”
Both Primal Guards inclined their heads before walking back through the portal. Their second trip through was less hesitant than their first. Trent continued to marvel at magic that allowed people to step across a two-week journey on the sea: the Enchanter’s magic.
As Kari tucked her arms behind her back, Trent watched in increasing amusement as the Primal Guards made trip after trip through the portal. Those chests looked heavy.
The guards carried through two... no, three... no, four big travel chests large enough to fit a human body inside. These must contain Kari’s clothes, personal effects, and keepsakes. Mistress Karissa Ambergreen, it seemed, didn’t travel light.
Next, the Primal Guards delivered a gorgeous full-length mirror that looked rather delicate. Trent knew Bethany and even Ruby would be eager to steal time in front of it whenever they could. Princess Victoria had purchased several new dresses for them both.
Finally, the guards carried through a full-sized desk, a wooden table, three different wooden chairs, and even what looked to be a massive wooden wardrobe. As th e guards huffed and puffed, Trent grew increasingly amused. Was Kari bringing all her furniture?
She was opening an embassy. Embassies required furniture. It wasn’t unreasonable.
After the Primal Guards delivered two more loads of tightly-wrapped poles and wooden slats that would make a large bedframe, he was less surprised when the guards carted a full, soft mattress through as well. Bethany and Ruby would be very jealous.
While Trent had been able to sneak into town on Princess Victoria’s behalf and buy a few fine dresses and other clothing they could wear while presenting themselves “at court,” he and his wives were still making due with a single worn-out bed. The mattress was old and hard.
He suspected Bethany’s eagerness to get Kari into bed with him would increase even further once she saw how nice Kari’s bedroom was going to be.
After both exhausted men left through the portal, Kari walked over and stopped by one of the glowing tiles set around its circular length. She turned to face them.
“With your blessin’, Highness, can I close the portal?”
Victoria nodded solemnly. “You may.”
Through all the bustle of chest, bed, and mattress deliveries, Trent had watched Anton for any sign of consciousness. The man hadn’t moved, though it was obvious, upon close inspection, that Anton still breathed. So, he wasn’t dead. Just... comatose?
As Kari stretched to brush her hand across the glowing white runes on the stones around the portal, Trent noticed how great Kari’s ass looked in her stretchy skirt... and how that skirt rode further up her thighs. This was all Bethany’s fault.
Given how much Bethany had recently been filling his ears with her fantasies of all the fun she, Kari, and he could have in bed together, thoughts of burying his face between Kari’s pillowy breasts were understandable. She had certainly seemed interested in that sort of activity two weeks ago.
Yet as the portal turned first to a standing pool of purple liquid and then to a blank expanse of stone, Kari’s grim face cooled his ardor. She looked more than a bit out of sorts.
“So, Highness. As I said, we’ve had a hiccup.”
“And that is?”
“A few days ago, when we were just startin’ to get somewhere with our interrogation of Anton, he just... well, stopped being awake.”
Chapter Two
The Enchanter stepped forward. “What do you mean, stopped being awake?”
Kari frowned at the Enchanter, then glanced at Victoria again. “Am I answerin’ to the golden statue man as the Primal Academy’s ambassador? Or you, Highness?”
As Sapphire glowered at the Enchanter, who had obviously spoken out of turn, the golden automaton stepped back in line. He glanced at Princess Victoria, who offered a disapproving frown—one which Trent approved of very much.
The Enchanter inclined his golden dome. “Apologies, Highness.”
“See that it doesn’t happen again. I value your counsel, Enchanter, but when I desire it, I will ask.” Victoria turned to Kari and softened her stern expression. “Now, what do you mean when you say Anton ‘stopped being awake’ during your interrogation of him? Did you have him under some sort of duress? Were you using magic to interrogate him?”
“Nothin’ like that, Highness. You ask me, his injury, or whatever it is, seems more mental... or, if I’m being honest, an illness of the soul.”
“The soul, Ambassador Ambergreen?”
Kari crossed her arms beneath her breasts and frowned. “Only way I can describe how empty he is now. One moment, he was talkin’ about how he’d never betray his people or his cause. The next, he was as blank-faced as... well, that walkin’ statue at your side.”
As Victoria frowned in regal but clear disapproval, Trent had to admit that she looked... well... queenly. He certainly wouldn’t want Victoria looking at him like that. He felt a bit bad that Kari was taking the heat for something that might not be her fault, though that was right there in the job description of any ambassador.
Victoria eyed Kari calmly. “Executor Tallow promised me, after you finished interrogating Anton in regards to his crimes in the republic, you would return him, alive and unharmed, so we could try him for his crimes against Dalry. This is not what we agreed on.”
“I know, Highness. Wasn’t anything we expected to happen, and I do apologize for... well, we’ll just call it an accident. Still, it’s mighty strange, and I can’t imagine anything we did caused it. More like...”
“What?”
“Like he got uncomfortable enough with our interrogation he somehow offed himself. In his mind. Using magic.”
Victoria fixed a searching gaze on Trent. “Is that possible?”
Trent blinked in surprise. “That’s a question better addressed to Revca.”
“Could you retrieve her?”
Trent inclined his head. “At once, Highness.”
As he hurried toward the stairs, he ignored the amusement on Kari’s lovely face. She might find it humorous to see the brave and confident man she’d followed into battle taking orders from an eighteen-year-old.
Yet Princess Victoria wasn’t just any eighteen-year-old.
She was the rightful ruler of Dalry, and in Trent’s mind, his nation-state’s only chance to live under a ruler who was just and kind. He didn’t serve Victoria out of fear or obligation. He served her because he genuinely believed, once on the throne, Queen Victoria would make life better for everyone he loved... including his family, his wives, and his friends.
That meant he obeyed the orders of his princess-in-exile without question.
Fortunately, as Trent hurried to where two of his wives eagerly waited for news, he knew he wouldn’t have to go far. No further than the top of the stairs.
There, he spotted Ruby and Revca talking quietly. As they often did, they stood close together.
Ruby, his blade wife, looked lovely as ever in her leather outfit. Her armor clung to her curvy and athletic body in a way that captured Trent’s gaze. Her curly red hair cascaded over her shoulders, some of it flowing down her chest and some down her back.
Revca looked eerily similar to Ruby, and that similarity had grown more apparent to them both the longer they spent together. Revca was slightly shorter than Ruby, and her breasts were just a bit larger, but her soft features and shapely nose were similar enough to Ruby’s that they could be sisters. It was one more oddity in a sea of so many.
Thanks to Princess Victoria’s fine gifts, Revca now wore a sheer and silky purple dress that was more than suitable for court. It was tailored to her curvy frame, tight around her lovely breasts and cut just low enough to show a tasteful hint of cleavage. Revca’s red hair was shorter than Ruby’s, but curled in a similar fashion.
At the sight of Trent hurrying up the stairs, both of his wives turned to him and brightened. Ruby’s change in expression was an explosion of bubbly happiness compared to Revca’s more moderate smile. Still, he was glad to see the faint blush on Revca’s cheeks.
Even though all he and Revca had done so far was kiss, Trent now knew she wanted more with him... if they could find a way to safely indulge themselves without risking her life. Revca still labored under an oath to Belgor, her and Trent’s devil patron. An oath she couldn’t break.
Right after Trent captured Revca in the kalor crystal cave in the Breckenrock, after she tried to kill him, Revca had sworn to Belgor that Trent would never “claim her.” She would die first. Such an oath, to Belgor, was binding.
It didn’t matter that Revca had now agreed to marry him and believed him to be a good man. An oath to a devil was an oath from the moment it was sworn, regardless of what might change in a person’s life after. That meant, if he were ever to take Revca’s virginity, she would die the moment he penetrated her for the first time.
