by Cait Marie
She glanced around, and for a moment, guilt wracked through Ada. Saundra thought they were there to rescue her.
“No,” Saundra whispered. “No, you can’t be here. Adalina, please, you have to go.”
Tears formed in the back of Ada’s eyes. “I can’t.”
Saundra must have seen the closed cell door because she let out a sob before wrapping her arms around Ada. “It’s him. Ada, it’s Michel. He locked me up and has been…”
Her trailed off words chilled the blood in Ada’s veins. “He’s been what?”
Saundra shook her head, tears spilling down her dirt-covered cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak and froze. The sheer terror in her eyes made Ada whirl around.
A single beam of moonlight streamed down to the area outside the cells from a window high in the far wall. One slow step at a time, Michel walked out of the shadows. Ada’s pulse quickened. She knew he didn’t want the flower found, but to think he was also behind Saundra’s kidnapping broke her heart. “Michel?”
He ignored her, nodding toward the guard sitting against the wall between two of the cells. The man stood and moved to unlock their door. The rusty metal screeched as he pulled it open. Michel motioned toward them, and Saundra scrambled farther back into the corner as the guard stomped forward.
“What are you doing?” Ada stood to block the duchess, but the large man easily pushed her aside. Her palms scraped against the rough stone as she caught herself on the wall.
Behind her, Saundra whimpered. When Ada turned, the guard hauled the other woman to her feet, gripping her by the hair. He led her out of the cell.
“No.” Ada ran forward, grabbing the bars as the door slammed back into place. “Leave her alone!”
Michel stood in front of Ada, twisting the key in the lock. He met her eyes for one brief second before turning away. The guard dragged a chair out to the center of the room while holding Saundra with one hand. She twisted and fought, but she was no match for the strong, trained man twice her size. Besides, she looked exhausted and weak from being locked up for weeks. The man pushed her into the chair and tied her hands behind her back.
Ada watched in horror as Michel pulled a dagger out. It glinted in the beam of light while he slowly circled the chair. When the guard finished chaining Saundra’s feet, he stepped back to his place at the wall. A soft cry left her lips, and she looked down in defeat, shaking her head.
Ada’s gut twisted as she thought back through Saundra’s words. She’d trailed off, but Ada could fill in the blanks. Torture. Michel had tortured her.
“Adalina, sweetheart,” he said.
Her eyes snapped up to his. “You lost the right to call me that when you began working with my father. When you deliberately hid away the one plant that could save my people—my brother.”
Saundra looked to her, sadness filling her eyes at the implication.
Michel looked unbothered. He turned the blade in his hand, running one finger down to the sharp tip, while walking closer. “No, I lost you before that, didn’t I? The second you met that pirate, it was over.”
“He has nothing to do with this.”
“He has everything to do with this!” he screamed as he slammed his hands into the cell’s bars.
Ada flinched, backing away.
“Tell me where the treaty is, Ada.” Michel moved over to Saundra. He pressed the edge of the blade to the top of her hand, lingering as he faced Ada.
“Your father has a copy of the treaty in his study,” she said, trying to figure out what he meant. “Remember, we saw it growing up?”
While playing hide and seek, they’d stumbled across the treaty from the great war. She’d seen the one in her own library of course, but it never ceased to draw her attention. When looking at Rayerna’s copy, she’d trailed her fingers over her ancestors’ names and looked around, wondering where Loxley was during the signing. She knew he’d traveled back to the castle with the Nihryst, a prisoner, and King Henri’s younger brother. They’d almost made it when cannons hit the city, causing rubble to fly in the streets.
Prince Louis had died in the attack. As a result, in Henri and his mother’s grief, they abandoned the Nihryst on Cyfrin to suffer for all of eternity instead of setting them free.
Ada stepped closer, wrapping her fingers around the cold iron bars. “I have no idea where your father would put it if it’s not there anymore. Ask him.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“He died protecting his secrets.”
Ada let out a breath, her eyes brimming with tears as she shook her head. “No,” she whispered before covering her mouth. The king was a stern man, but he’d always treated her like a daughter. He and the queen had all but taken her and Shane in when their mother died.
The queen.
“Your mother?”
A hint of regret filled Michel’s eyes, but he clenched his jaw and straightened his spine. She had her answer. It sucked the air from the room.
She didn’t have time to mourn though. Not as he turned his focus back to the duchess, twisting the blade enough to prick the skin atop her hand. Saundra gasped.
“Where are the original treaty and birth records, Adalina?”
“Birth records?” Ada’s eyes narrowed in confusion.
“Wrong answer.” He sliced down the length of one of Saundra’s fingers. Blood dripped to the floor as she screamed.
“Stop, Michel, please,” Ada begged.
“I’ve been trying to get answers from Lady Saundra for weeks,” he said, moving the dagger to her other arm. “I thought Shane might’ve confided in his betrothed, but I appeared to be wrong. So, I planned to use her for leverage.”
Ada’s breath shook. Looking closer, she saw that the stains on Saundra’s clothes she’d thought to be dirt were actually dried blood. She met the duchess’s eyes, full of sorrow.
“There was a problem with that though.” He stared at Ada, waiting for her to ask, but she couldn’t speak.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, he sliced the blade across Saundra’s bicep. It cut through the sleeve of her dress, blood soaking into the material. She let out another moan.
Glancing back up to Ada, Michel said, “Your brother has a big heart, but he’s only ever truly loved you and Phillip. He’d never risk his entire kingdom for a girl he only cared for because of a piece of paper.”
She wanted to argue. She wanted to tell Saundra that Shane loved her, but when Ada met her gaze, she saw the resignation. Saundra knew the truth.
“He did care for you,” Ada whispered. It didn’t change the fact that he wouldn’t risk Detmarya for her though. “Wait, what do you mean? What do you want from him?”
“I told you what I want.” Annoyance laced Michel’s tone. “You really don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”
With the blade hovering over Saundra still, Ada was afraid to answer. As if noticing her hesitation, Michel grinned and lowered the dagger while walking toward Ada.
“Looks like your precious Loxley isn’t the only one keeping secrets from you.”
Her mouth dropped open, and he let out a dark chuckle before turning back to Saundra. He cut along the top of one shoulder as he spoke.
“The treaty we have all seen and learned about is a lie,” he said. “King Henri kept the real treaty and the secrets of the royal lineage of Rayerna in exchange for my family’s cooperation.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Loxley wasn’t born in the Shirewood Forest like people believe.” His dark eyes bore into hers. “No, he was born in this very castle.”
It did not look as if she’d make it. Desperate, the king sought out the flower kept hidden by his family for centuries.
The golden Heulwen flower with healing powers from the sun.
Though one petal could be reduced to help an entire village, he used it solely for her. He loved her more than anything in the world, and he couldn’t bear the thought of living without her. When it h
ealed her completely, he rejoiced. But the king didn’t know she was pregnant with his son as she consumed the Heulwen.
Days after the boy’s birth, Lord Jehan overtook the castle and killed King Leon. With the help of a handful of the king’s men, his mistress ran into Shirewood Forest. They hid her and her infant son, eventually forming a small village with other citizens who ran from Jehan’s forces.
Only the soldiers knew the boy was the true heir to the throne. For the king had no other children or family. The woman’s closest friend—one of the guards—claimed to be the father to keep them both safe. They married and later had a daughter of their own.
As the boy grew, they noticed his ability to heal at rapid speeds. It was as if he could not be injured. And she knew, at that point, that the power of the Heulwen surged through his veins.
After her husband died, they scrounged to make it—often stealing from the new king’s village to get by. But there was a scare one day when the boy was injured in the market and someone noticed how quickly he stopped bleeding from the small scrape.
Though the healing power lessened with age, she decided it wasn’t enough to hide in the forest outside the castle walls anymore. To protect him, she packed up and moved with her two children across the sea. They made their way to Detmarya, where she began working for a noblewoman and her family.
When the noblewoman found out that she had two young children and no one to care for them as she worked, the family insisted she bring them along. For they had a daughter the same age as the boy.
The daughter’s name was Mariella, and one day, she would become queen.
Shane stared at the words, breathless. And not because of the Kald. He couldn’t turn the page. He couldn’t even blink. His mouth went dry, and he slowly began shaking his head.
Mariella.
His ancestor. The queen who’d grown up with…
“Loxley.”
“You’re lying.” Ada’s words were barely more than a whisper.
“Why would I lie about this, Adalina?” Michel crossed his arms as he leaned against a nearby pillar.
Saundra sat between them, still chained to a chair. Blood dripped to the stone floor, creating a small pool beneath her feet. The single guard sat in his spot unperturbed.
Michel’s words sent Ada’s head spinning. She saw the truth in them; she couldn’t deny it all added up. Why Loxley was abandoned on a lost island. Why his mother ran from Rayerna to hide her children. How Henri, and subsequently Detmarya, got all the power after the war that seemed evenly matched for years.
Loxley was the true heir of Rayerna.
Ada tilted her head against the cool iron bars of her cell and let her eyes flutter shut. The flower. Michel couldn’t give her the Heulwen.
Loxley was the key to curing the Kald. Just as she was the key to breaking the curse. Their destinies were twisted together more than she ever imagined. The two flowers intertwined. They needed each other to save their people.
“Fine, so you want Loxley out of the picture? You want to rule unchallenged? He won’t want the crown, even if he knows.” She opened her eyes to glare at the fake prince before her—the fake king, she supposed, since he killed his father. When the guards captured her saying they were taking her to the king, they meant Michel not Samson.
“You know I can’t kill him.” Michel’s sneer sent a shiver down her spine. “That was the point of keeping him immortal. If the rulers of Rayerna broke the treaty in any way, the King of Detmarya could find Loxley and expose him as the heir.”
“You want to destroy the proof.”
Michel’s grin widened. “Precisely. The original treaty and Loxley’s birth records are the only items with the details. There is no one left alive who might remember outside your family and mine. Stars, even Loxley doesn’t know he’s—”
“The lost prince,” she whispered.
“What?”
She raised her chin, fighting her own smile. “He is the lost prince. Like the story.”
“Not like the story,” Michel said. “He is the same one from the story. People whispered of the prince hidden away, but they didn’t know his name. They had no idea he’d become their feared immortal enemy.”
Ada took a deep breath. Even if Loxley returned for the throne, the people would not have welcomed him after the war. He and his crew had all but destroyed their armies—their villages. The Nihryst were behind a lot of the destruction of Rayerna. They turned the war in favor of King Henri.
But now she knew that was a lie. It wasn’t their fighting in the war; King Henri and Michel’s ancestors discovered the truth about Loxley and struck up a deal. Henri concealed the only evidence of the true lineage and kept the imposters on the throne.
“It is time Rayerna had its freedom,” Michel said. “We’ve lived under your family’s rule long enough. I hadn’t planned on such extreme measures. After we married, your father was going to have an accident. Then, when your brother was crowned as king, I’d have confronted him about the matter.”
“You were going to kill my father?” Ada asked quietly. She glanced at Saundra, whose head lolled to the side. Her chest rose with breath, but Ada worried about the blood loss. “What makes you think Shane would have done as you asked?”
Michel moved forward to tilt Saundra’s face up. When her eyes opened, he let her go and continued. “Your father is mad. He craved too much power, which is how he got into the mess he’s in now. I knew he’d never listen, but Shane is a good man. I thought he’d see reason. After all, my family has ruled Rayerna peacefully for over a century. We weren’t just allies. He and I were friends—we would have been family. And Loxley was no more than a myth.”
Ada didn’t have any words.
“But then, your father planned to attack my kingdom. I went there to celebrate your brother’s betrothal.” He lifted the dagger once more to Saundra’s cheek. She winced, her eyes becoming alert and locking onto Ada’s. Michel continued, “I went there to propose but found out you’d been chased off by your father. I was terrified for you…”
For a brief moment, Ada saw a glimpse of the prince she once loved. The boy who comforted her after her mother’s death. The man who held her through the nightmares on stormy nights.
“I told your brother I’d stick with his plan and pretend I knew nothing, but I couldn’t. I confronted your father. He made a deal with me—though, I’m sure now he never would have kept his word. He told me of the rebels and said if I worked with him to catch them, he’d call back his navy. He said he wouldn’t go through with the attack. I needed to protect my kingdom, and I thought working with him would gain me some trust. I handed the rebels over, but it did no good.”
“You’re truly the reason they got caught. Why Shane…”
“Yes, it is a shame your brother was infected. I hadn’t intended that.”
Ada leaned against the stone wall at her side. Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat, and she ran a shaky hand through her tangled red curls. A thought hit her. “No one knows now.”
“What was that?” Michel asked.
She looked back up to him. “You killed your parents. My father is locked up and, as you said, mad. Even if he told someone the truth, no one would believe him. Neither Shane nor Loxley know. The only people who do know are in this room, so you don’t need the papers. You can rule unchallenged.”
“There is still a chance your brother knows, or he might discover the papers.”
Ada shook her head, desperately grasping at the threads of a plan forming. “Fine, then go back to the original plan. Talk to him. You said it yourself; your family has ruled in peace for a century. My brother is understanding and trusts you.”
“Yes, but now he knows Loxley is real and alive because you went and found him.”
“So?” She moved back to the bars and grabbed them. “Loxley won’t want the throne. I know him. Trust me, he isn’t a threat.”
“Yes, you know him.” Something dark flashed across Michel�
��s features. “You know him so well you called off our wedding.”
“We were never engaged.” She wondered how many times she’d repeated that the past few months.
“No, we weren’t.” He gripped Saundra by the hair to pull her head up. “Because the first time another man smiled at you outside the high walls of your castle, you crawled into his bed.”
Ada clenched her jaw. When he yanked Saundra’s head back more and she gasped, Ada yelled, “Stop! She has nothing to do with any of this. Just let her go, and I will help you find the documents.”
He moved the blade to Saundra’s neck. The girl let out a sob, begging for him to let her go.
“Michel,” Ada said, trying to calm him. “Please. Don’t do this.”
“Oh, Ada.” Venom dripped from his cruel voice. “You said it yourself; no one outside this room knows the truth except for your mad father.”
Tears streamed down both women’s faces. Saundra let out a gasp as the tip of the blade broke through skin. A small bead of blood rolled down her neck.
“You’re the only one I need down here.” His eyes met Ada’s as he continued to hold Saundra’s throat exposed to his blade. “If I let her go, she’ll run to Shane.”
“Michel, you don’t have to do this. Please.” She stretched her arm out through the bars, wishing she had the strength to get to him.
“Yes,” he whispered. “I do.”
Before Ada could say another word, the silver blade sliced across Saundra’s throat. Ada screamed as blood poured out of her friend, and she collapsed to her knees. In one swift move, Michel threw the dagger at the guard in the corner. Ada didn’t watch, but she knew he’d hit his mark. She’d trained with him during their summers together and knew he was just as capable of taking someone down that way as she was.
A thump sounded as the guard fell to the ground. Ada heard Michel’s footsteps approach the figure. After a moment, he moved toward where she sat hunched in the corner of the cell leaning against the bars. She couldn’t look away from the woman who was almost her sister.
