Keystone

by Chloe Adler

  Not anymore. He gave me up for you ungrateful people, I want to scream.

  “Your father would have never allowed such an indiscretion,” someone else shouts from the back of the room.

  “Born of royal blood—”

  “Stop.” Vasily stands up. “You can berate me all you want but you will not besmirch the love of my life. I will not tolerate it.”

  “And what will you do about it?” asks the man again. “Leave us all here in this forsaken place to rot?”

  “You all know me better than that,” says the king.

  “Do we?” the first woman asks. “You haven’t been here with us until now. You’ve cared more for the monster and a human than you have for your own people.”

  “No more!” yells Verity, her voice rising above the din. “You will respect your king while we are in Juna. You will respect our family. You will behave civilly or I will leave you all here.”

  The room goes silent.

  “I may not be the ruler here, but I have almost as much say as my brother. You people are acting like spoiled children.” She grinds out the last word with more vehemence than I knew she possessed. “He was gone for a long time, yes, but he spent all that time fighting his way back to us. And now he is here, trying to fix his mistakes, trying to fix Katrina’s mistakes, and get us all home. So stand down and give him a chance to make this right.”

  I’m surprised at how much respect Verity commands.

  “We’ll convene for now but this isn’t over,” the man in the front says. “Come on, people, let’s take a break and get some food.”

  The crowd surges, grumbling and filing out behind him.

  As soon as everyone leaves, Vasily spots me.

  “Amaya.” He leaps off the throne, crosses to me in a few strides, grabs me in his arms and swings me in a circle. When he finally puts me down I sway in place, unsure of what to do. I want to kiss him but I don’t dare, now that our future is so uncertain. “I have to check on Katrina. You stay here with Verity.”

  “Where is she?” I ask.

  “Imprisoned,” says Verity.

  Good. “Because?”

  “She destroyed the portal that would have enabled everyone to return to Tara.” Of course she did. That’s one mystery solved, at least. Vasily cups my cheek. “How did you get back here?”

  “The fachan, my powers and Paxil. I’m not sure how it all worked, but it did.”

  “Well that’s what matters.” He kisses my forehead. “Maybe you can figure out a way to help us all leave.”

  No pressure there. “Maybe.”

  “I’ll be back. You watch my girl,” he says to Verity and leaves.

  She motions for me to sit down against a padded bench on one wall and then drops down next to me, slouching back, and lets out a long sigh.

  “What happened here?”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  For the next hour, Verity explains what happened while I was gone. She also confirms the rate of time passing here in Juna is nearly that of Tara, which is indeed the reason they chose to come here. “We didn’t think it would be for so long,” she adds.

  I peek at my watch, which works no matter where I am, since it’s an old-fashioned waterproof wind-up. Thanks, Dad. “It’s been an hour since Vasily left. Shouldn’t he be back by now?”

  “He must be trying to talk some sense into her.”

  “Has she always been difficult?” I ask.

  “Katrina? Yes.” Verity stands and helps me up. “She’s always been high strung.”

  “Umm, that’s a nice way of putting it.” I’d describe her as a megalomaniac, a narcissist, a demagogue and a sociopath. I guess it’s hard to see the truth about your family members though.

  “I’ll get two of the guards to take you to them.”

  “Not the two women who were outside when I came in, please.” I can do without their passive-aggressive nonsense.

  “No problem.” Verity lets out a long, low whistle, and two guards in full knight regalia appear from a back room. They stand and salute, their eyes shifting between me and Verity.

  “I need to stay here in case there’s any more dissention, but Wyclef and Tiernan will show you the way and protect you if need be,” says Verity. Their names sound familiar but I can’t place them. They proceed outside.

  “Thank you,” I say to Verity. “I’m sure I won’t need protection. I’ll send them back as soon as I reach Vasily.”

  “As you need.” She waves a hand.

  Outside, the guards stand at attention, waiting. As soon as I appear they turn left and walk around a bend in the mountain. I follow several paces behind.

  The sun beats down, hot and acrid. I finger Betty’s rock in my pocket, grateful that she shoved it in my hand just before I left Tara. The stinging prickles I get worrying it between my fingers are welcome this time. Betty used this to look in on Tara for decades. I’m no witch, but maybe some of the same principles apply and I can use it to hone in on Tara . . . with a kingdom along for the ride. I’m probably fooling myself, but I’ll take any help I can get right now, even if it’s a placebo. Hmm, placebo . . . that’s an idea worth pursuing—

  We all hear Katrina before we reach the cave where she’s being held. The guards stop outside and wait by the door.

  Katrina screams, “You and Verity were always the favorites. You have no idea what it’s like to go through life despised by your own family.”

  I heft Sanne, pointing her straight ahead, and suck in a huge lungful of air. Reminding myself that the guards are here to protect me, I whisper, “Can one of you enter first and the other one flank me?”

  “Yes ma’am,” Wyclef says and enters first. I follow a second later.

  “Amaya, no!” Vasily screams at my entrance. The light is too dim to see anything. I turn back and sure enough, the second guard stands behind me, his sword drawn.

  And it’s pointed at me.

  My sword hand shoots out instinctively, metal hitting metal. Something clangs to the dirt-packed floor. The guard behind me grabs my waist, lifting me up, and I flail in midair, swinging Sanne back and under. The sword tears through metal and flesh. He grunts, letting me go. I fall to the floor; my sword does not follow. I roll and jump up, looking for her. She sticks out of the guard’s leg, who is trying unsuccessfully to dislodge her. But Sanne budges for no one except its mistress. I leap toward him and yank out the sword, covered in his blood. He wails and crashes to the ground.

  “Get up,” Katrina yells. “Useless sack of abada shit.”

  The guard pulls off his helmet, then clutches his injured leg. It’s the man who was feeding her berries the last time I was here. The one they called Wyclef.

  My eyes have adjusted to the dim light. Vasily is chained to the wall, just as I was, and presumably in Katrina’s place. Katrina’s hand is over his mouth, and her eyes are focused behind me, alight with frenzied hatred.

  Katrina shrieks, yanking her bloody hand from his mouth as he screams, “Duck!”

  A sword slices through the air where my head was. I aim Sanne at Tiernan and lunge but the guard spins around, catching his foot on a boulder and falls forward, arms pinwheeling. After a second, he regains his balance, leaping up and pushing me. I fly through the air and land on top of Wyclef, Sanne clanking to the ground next to us as my head bounces off the rock floor.

  Ow.

  I blink, and it’s as if the world has fast-forwarded. Vasily is pleading with Katrina, his voice hoarse. What on earth would reduce him to begging? Oh, that’d be me. Apparently I’ve been unconscious and he is asking Katrina oh so nicely not to let her guards kill me.

  I don’t dare move. Apparently they all still think I’m out. I roll my eyes toward Katrina, practically yanking them out of my socket, but it’s all I can manage without attracting attention. Tiernan is helping Katrina bind Vasily’s head with something. Guess Katrina really didn’t like getting her hand bitten. But Wyclef . . . Wyclef is still next to me, clutching his leg and mumblin
g.

  “I’m a useless sack of abada shit? Goddamn royal backside needs a booting . . .”

  No love lost there. Not a surprise, given Katrina’s style of rule. In fact, she seemed to treat these two particularly poorly, what with her rampant junk squeezing. Can I use that?

  I whisper in his ear. “I saw you, with Katrina. I saw how she treated you. She obviously doesn’t care about you or Tiernan. Do you want to remain her puppet for the rest of your possibly short life?” He makes no move to push me off so I continue. “Or do you want to show her she can’t push you around? Without Katrina, you and Tiernan can live together happily for the rest of your days.”

  Wyclef’s face contorts, changing from that of a boy who’s lost his favorite teddy to a man out for revenge. He catches the eye of the other guard, mouthing, Stop. Tiernan stands down at his lover’s request.

  I don’t let the moment of opportunity escape. I spin toward the wall where Vasily’s chained. Katrina is busy nursing the hand he bit and I take the moment to slice Sanne through one of the thick metal chains that binds him. A long section of the chain dangles from his newly freed left hand.

  “Wyclef, Tiernan,” Katrina spits, “what are you morons doing? Kill them both now!”

  Wyclef staggers to his feet, limping toward Katrina, the leg I cut dragging uselessly behind him. From the corner of my eye, Vasily lifts the free length of chain with his left arm and swings it at Katrina. The heavy metal cracks against her legs. The force of the blow crumples her to the floor, wailing.

  “Every single one of you will die for attempting to defy me!” she roars.

  An unimpressed Tiernan just glances at his boyfriend and then back at me.

  But that moment of distraction is all Katrina needs to crawl forward and grab his fallen sword. Instead of lashing out at either of the guards, she rises to her knees and aims it at Vasily’s chest. “I’ll start with my brother.”

  She rises unsteadily and lunges at the king, who folds his body over his still-shackled right arm. The sound of her blade scraping against the stone wall lights my nerves on fire. Adrenaline surges, my feet catapult me forward, and without a second thought, I thrust Sanne forward, aiming for Katrina’s arm. But just prior to impact, Vasily throws out his chain again, which thwacks against her arm, and the sword misses its intended mark. Instead, her body angles into Sanne, and flailing forward, she impales herself on the end of my sword.

  I gasp and let go, the hilt protruding from her ribcage.

  “You bitch,” she gurgles. “Guards . . . kill her.”

  The two men ignore her, Tiernan tending to his lover’s wound.

  “I-I—” I look between her and Vasily. “It was an accident, I didn’t mean . . .”

  “Fuck you,” she hisses. “Vasily . . .” she turns to her brother, “avenge me.”

  Her brother shakes his head, a tear running down his cheek. I run to him, leaving Katrina on the ground. “Get Sanne and cut the other chain,” he says.

  I don’t want to get near her. I don’t want to pull the sword out, it’s the only thing keeping her alive, but I don’t know what else to do.

  “Don’t come . . . near me,” she burbles when I approach. As quickly as I can, I grab the hilt, yank my sword free, spin around, and slash through the chain binding Vasily’s right hand.

  His face is contorted as he drops to his sister’s side. “Katrina . . .”

  Her hands cover a gushing wound. “Fuck you too.” She spits blood in his face. “If you ever cared about me, kill that little bitch, and fast . . . so I can watch.”

  He shakes his head, eyes filling with tears. “She’s my mate.”

  “And I’m your sister.”

  “You tried to kill her yourself, you tried to kill me. What happened to you, Katrina?”

  “You and Verity, always whispering and plotting behind my back.” Her breath is strained, red spittle staining her lips.”

  Vasily holds her. “Never. We love you,” he whispers.

  “Fuck you, brother.” She holds his gaze until her eyes slip shut. He holds her until her body goes limp.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Vasily crawls to me, wrapping his arms around me and petting my hair. “There was nothing else you could have done. It was self-defense. She wouldn’t have stopped until you were dead. Until all of us were dead.”

  “Your Highness,” Wyclef bows to Vasily, “we are in your debt and the debt of your mate.”

  Tiernan puts his arms around his lover’s waist. “Years ago we tried to talk sense into your sister . . .”

  “But she was a cruel queen,” Wyclef finishes.

  Vasily holds up a hand. “It’s understood. You were both trying to survive.”

  “Yes,” they say in unison.

  “You may take your leave.”

  After the couple leaves, he turns to me. “Do you think you can stand?”

  I nod and look up at him with wide eyes, my handsome king. We cling to one another, wrapped in a momentary cocoon of protection. The man I still have to let go of, forever. Best not think of that now.

  We walk back to the throne room together, his arm never leaving my shoulder. Pausing outside, he says, “Let’s take a moment before we go inside.”

  I nod mutely against his chest.

  I’ve never killed anyone before and my mind reels with the last few minutes of her life, searching for another way. I was aiming for her arm. Did she turn her body and fall on my sword? Can I have a do-over? How can Vasily love the woman who slaughtered his eldest sister? What will Verity say? Will they have me killed?

  “Shhh.” He runs a hand over my head and down my locks. “I can hear your mind whirling. Do not blame yourself, Katrina brought this on herself. I don’t know when or how she became such a malevolent person, but if you hadn’t killed her, someone else would have. Or worse, we’d have been left here in Juna, alone, to die.

  “What’s Verity going to say? Will she want revenge? What about the royalists?”

  “Darling,” Vasily turns me to face him, framing my face with his hands. “No one’s going to hurt you for this. I’m on your side. We’ll deal with it together. I know this is a lot to ask of you right now, but let me take care of Verity and the others. When we get back home, I’ll make sure you get whatever you need to process this. Okay?”

  “When we get back home? You mean to Tara, don’t you?”

  Instead of answering my question he says, “I love you, Amaya, but do you know how much?” He bends down and kisses me, holding on to my lips as if he can kiss the pain away. And maybe he can. “Do you want to wait outside here for a few minutes while I explain what happened to Verity?”

  I do, I really do, but I shake my head. What I want is to know what he meant when he said back home but I’ll have to face the music first. “I want to be with you when you tell Verity what happened. She’ll see how sorry I am.”

  “As you wish. Just know that I will not let anything happen to you.” He grabs my hand, squeezing it tightly.

  I look down at our intertwined fingers and then back up at his stoic face. “I know.”

  We enter together and Verity stands to greet us. “Vasily, you’re back!” She throws her arms around her brother. “Wyclef and Tiernan told me what happened.” Verity looks at me and I shrink as much as I can. “You were so brave.” She pulls me in for a hug. “Thank you for saving my brother. For saving our kingdom.”

  “I . . . I . . .”

  “Amaya was indeed brave.” Vasily draws her attention away from me. “But the last thing she wanted to do was hurt anyone. Katrina attacked. She had no choice.”

  “I know.” Verity’s eyes mist over and she looks away. “I wish there had been another way. I wish Katrina had been different.” She looks at her brother, her lower lip quivering. “I wish she’d been more like us. I don’t know what happened to her.” Verity walks back to the bench we sat on before and sits down heavily.

  “She was always different, you know that,” Vasily say
s.

  “Different, yes, but here, in Juna, when she took power, she changed completely.”

  Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, isn’t that the saying? I keep my mouth shut, holding my breath.

  Vasily leans against his sister’s side. “There’s nothing more we could have done. You’ve been with her for ages here and she did nothing but mistreat you.”

  “Yes, yes I know.” She looks up at him and then back at me. “Does this mean we can go back home to Tara now?”

  A long sigh escapes my lungs before I can bite it back. “I will try to bring everyone back, but . . .” I look nervously at Vasily. He smiles encouragingly and nods. “But if I can’t, I’ll have to ask Azotar for more help.”

  I flinch, expecting some argument, but Verity simply nods. “It’s the reason most of our people left and are afraid to return, yes. But neither Vasily nor I ever agreed with our father’s banishment of it.” She smiles at Vasily and he smiles back. “I know the fachan is still there, in the monolith, and I know it’s still wreaking havoc, but at least our people will have clothing, food and an environment that’s not scorching and cruel.”

  “Can you convince the royalists that it’s in their best interest to return, even with the menace of Azotar present?” I ask Vasily.

  But it’s Verity who answers. “Despite what you saw, now that Katrina is dead, I believe it can be done. But Azotar will leave, yes?”

  “It will leave, but not until we return to complete the unbinding spell.”

  Chapter Thirty

  An hour later all the royalists have gathered outside. The throne room isn’t large enough to hold them all.

  “We need to talk about this.” A woman steps forward, baring her teeth, the same one arguing with Vasily when I first arrived.

  “There’s nothing more to talk about,” says Vasily.

  “Your human is brainwashing you,” she snarls. “Why should we trust her? Why would we risk our lives? The lives of our children?”

  Verity steps forward, looking not at the troublemaking woman, but at all the people behind her. “Do you trust me?”