“You three are descendants of the former king of House Serpentarius, Thaddeus Beleros.”
“What?” I choke out.
“He was the king of House Serpentarius back then, but you are all descendants of him, which makes you—”
“Royalty.” I surmise, starting to follow what she’s trying to tell me.
“Yes, and our government has a system set in place for when a queen’s firstborn is not one, but two.” Twins. “Or, in this case, three. It’s called the Monarch Trials. They go through a series of tests to prove which one is stronger and the one who wins gets the throne.”
“And?”
“And you’re a nether user, Amara, which means you would win in a landslide. The Trials would have to commence to make it official, but in Bastian’s eyes you are the true heir to the throne, not Aaric or Aaren.”
“Haven, what are you saying?”
“I’m so sorry, Amara. I’m so sorry.” It’s all she can say. “Bastian doesn’t want you to say a word and when Keenan prompts you, just do what he says. Please, Amara. Play your part.” Gravely, she adds, “Or we’re all doomed.”
I don’t get the chance to ask her what any of that means when the double doors open leading out onto a stone balcony. Below we hear screams and cheers from the people as the four of us, as well as no less than two dozen guards lead us out onto the balcony.
It isn’t until we are out there that I can see clearly where we are. It’s the balcony right above the doors that lead into the palace. Below us there are thousands upon thousands of Bastian’s royal subjects gathered to hear their king speak. But it isn’t the thousands of people that make me nervous. It’s Keenan at my right, the king at my left. Haven is on the other side, amber eyes trying very hard not to look at me. I have no such qualms. I look at her because it’s easier than looking at Keenan.
Bastian is a new king, but the crowd knows him well enough already to know which look he gives them is meant to silence them and they do. Silence slowly falls over the open courtyard and I desperately wish Haven was beside me. To hold my hand, to draw strength from the princess of Limacore, a girl I barely know, but understand so much better than some of the people I have grown up with.
When the king speaks his voice somehow carries through some sort of device or material in the walls, amplifying the sound for the crowd. I dig my nails into the palms of my hands just to distract myself from speaking out of turn, to keep myself from screaming the truth about their king at the top of my lungs.
“It is my great honor to come to you as your new king of Vakrov,” Bastian says and the crowd erupts into an array of screams and cheers once again. The king continues only when the cheers die down. “My father, King Caius Beaugrand, was a great man, a beloved father, but above all a ruler unrivaled and my only hope is that I can live up to his good name.” Bastian gives another pause for the crowd’s reaction before continuing. “Today I have not one, but two announcements to make. As you can see, I am not alone. Here with me today I have my dear friend and cousin, Keenan Volterra. Haven Novak, princess of Limacore and my fiancé.” More cheers ensue, although, at this point, they’re cheering just to cheer. “As well as Amara Boudelaire, one of the last daughters of Llíria.”
Llíria. A distant memory comes to mind, breakfast with King Theron, where he told me all about what my role would be in his kingdom. He told me then about the home country of House Serpentarius, Llíria, and how it thrived for the first time in centuries.
There are cheers, actual cheers for the fallen Serpentarian House, rebuilt by nothing more than a fallen prince from long, long ago, and I think that confuses me more than anything else. After House Serpentarius fell Llíria fell with it. The Serpentarians who resided there abandoned their home to go on the run from those who would hunt them. Is Llíria even recognized as a country anymore? What does King Bastian have to gain from all of this?
“In light of the funeral shooting in Limacore just one month ago, we believe now more than ever how imperative it is for Vakrov to stand with its neighbor, the Limacorans, and fight this huge injustice at the hands of the Llírian scum who calls himself king.” Rage carries over the crowd at the thought of Theon Beleros playing king in a country just south of us. “And so the date for me and Princess Haven Novak’s wedding has been set. We shall wed during the Fall Equinox.”
It’s not so bad. I expected his next words to be month’s end or spring’s end, but the Fall Equinox is doable. It is only April now. That gives us five months to figure a way out of this. To create our very own miracle in getting me and Haven out of this death-ridden country and far away from Bastian Beaugrand.
It isn’t until the king continues that I remember his earlier words. Today I have not one, but two announcements to make. What will come next?
“But our union with Limacore is not the only thing to celebrate this day.” Bastian shifts his body towards me, placing a hand at the small of my back. It takes all the strength in me not to flinch away from his touch. “I bring you hope today, hope for our kingdoms to be as they once were, for our Houses to once again come together and rule over our own kind. I give you Princess Amara Boudelaire, the last nether user and the true heir to the Llírian throne.”
I am not the only one surprised by Bastian outing me as the last nether user to the world, or at the very least to Vakrov, but I am also not the only one surprised by the cheers and applause that follows. Haven and I share a look of confusion, but don’t get to linger on it when the king continues.
“And alongside my union to Limacore, an even greater one. I am pleased, no honored to announce the betrothal of my dear cousin. Prince Keenan Volterra and Princess Amara Boudelaire, uniting Vakrov with Llíria, pushing out the fallen prince and putting the true monarch in his place.”
The world shifts before me, my mouth goes dry, and I grab onto Keenan’s hand for nothing more than support so I don’t topple over. Bastian takes advantage of it. He takes me and Keenan’s hands, intertwined, and raises them up in the air. “Our kingdoms have been stolen from us, given to unworthy rulers who breed outside of their elements, handing their thrones off to children they call heirs, not caring what House or element they fall under. They take what is rightfully ours and I am here to tell you that it is time we take it back.” The applause and the screams echo through the courtyard. Bastian releases our hands and I pull mine from Keenan’s as quickly as I can, feeling the sudden urge to vomit.
Keenan grabs it back and moves his lips to my ear. “I suggest you wipe that sickly look off your face if you don’t want to spend the night in that cold little cell you love so much.”
I try. I try as hard as I can to look pleased by this union, but all I can think about is how I got here. Only a month ago my biggest fear was Theon Beleros getting his hands on me and now, I’d welcome his touch, his ruthlessness, his tyranny. I’d rather spend the rest of my life as Theon Beleros’ power source than the rest of it as Keenan Volterra’s wife. And then all I can think about is how, once upon a time, that is all I had wanted. Before Tristan, as children, in love, but never saying so. Now I get the urge to vomit every time I get caught in that electric stare.
“I know this must all be very confusing,” The king continues and silence falls over the courtyard once more. “To hear speeches of dividing the Houses once more and then unifying my cousin with a Serpentarian, but believe me when I say it is necessary to reclaim our individual thrones and see our world as it once was. Four hundred years ago our people banded together to overthrow the humans and we won. So I ask you now, find it within yourself to do it again. Put away your differences and decide to fight back! Decide that our kingdoms deserve their rightful heirs on the throne. Decide that our kingdoms, our homes, our children are worth fighting for!”
The rest of Bastian’s speech is a blur and the moment the four of us along with our guards step off the balcony, back into the palace, I grab Haven’s hand and dart for the nearest bathroom. It’s there that I unload everything my s
tomach can manage to unload. Haven stands at my side, holding back my hair, running a soothing hand in a circular motion on my back.
“Let it all out, sweetie.” she coaxes me. “I know exactly how you’re feeling. This is was me a month ago. It’ll pass, trust me.”
I lean back against the wall behind me and Haven moves to my side, holding my sweaty hand in hers. It takes me a moment to catch my breath, swiping my hair out of my face. “I can’t marry him, Haven. He’s a monster.” I turn my head to face her. “Every time I look at him, I want to die because he—he broke my heart.” I say, clutching my heart, feeling it race inside me. “I can’t marry him. I can’t. I ca—” And then, suddenly, I remember it. The note Daxon had slipped to me. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Haven asks as I fish the note out of my dress.
“My guard handed this to me this morning.” I unfold the corners and spread it out hastily over my lap and then lift it up so that Haven and I can both read it together.
“You are not alone.” We read in unison.
Haven’s eyes find mine and for the very first time since we had arrived in this desolate, little country, I know we feel a sense of hope we thought had been lost forever.
—CHAPTER FIVE—
AARIC
SEARCH
King Theron is none too pleased with me and Prince Roman’s impromptu interrogation.
He told Amara once when he’d revealed to her that he knew about Kol’s removed soul that the guards in the palace do not work for Roman yet, instead are loyal to him. It seems even if they do want Thackeray’s head on a spike they’re still major tattletales.
Roman and I stand just outside the entrance to the dungeons awaiting our king’s wrath. We agreed it best Niykee’s name be kept out of this due to obvious reasons so we sent her on her way.
The perfect, crowned prince has grown a lot over the past month. The old Roman would have gone running to his father the moment he saw Niykee’s impossible powers. He never would have even sanctioned an interrogation without the king’s approval. I suppose losing two members of our Zodiac and both our sisters has changed us. That naïve village boy and dutiful prince are gone, replaced with two desperate rebels willing to do whatever it takes to get our girls back, even if that means disobeying our king.
When Theron rounds the corner he is shaking with fury. My mother, Lavina, is right behind him, trying vigorously to calm him down and failing miserably. “What were you two thinking?” His angry voice echoes through the halls, but Roman and I don’t even flinch, though a couple of the guards do.
“We were thinking that we’d do what you failed to do.” I say boldly.
“Aaric!” My mother shrieks at me.
But the king is much more reserved. Lavina tries to shield me from the cold, frozen heart of the king he has been over the last seventeen years since his Zodiac left him, but he is not that man anymore. His Zodiac is back, his love for Amara obvious, and he knows I know I have nothing to fear from him.
“Aaric,” Theron says patiently. “I understand that you miss your sister, but—”
And that is where I lose it. “No you don’t!” I shout so loud guards move forward on instinct alone, preparing to protect their king from the wayward Serpentarian if need be. “You don’t understand because you have never experienced what it feels like to have one half of your heart torn out of your chest. Amara is my heart and without her I—I’m nothing! Without her I’m broken.” The words cut deeper than any knife because they are true and it is something I have felt, but not said aloud. It cripples me. “Amara is not just my sister. She’s my twin, my better half, my best friend. I need her back and I can’t do anything about that so what I can do is make damn sure when she does come back that her best friend is here, waiting for her.”
Silence falls over the damp corridor as I catch my breath. Roman’s green eyes shift to me briefly and then he steps forward. “We got something, Father. Thackeray told us something.”
“What did he tell you, Roman?” my mother asks, her voice as soothing as anything else. It almost makes me forget that I hate her.
“He said that Theon is looking for something, something that changes the game completely.”
“What is it?” Theron asks.
“The Nexus.”
I expect resistance at the mention of the Nexus judging by the way Roman reacted to the news, but when my mother and Roman’s father both exchange a look it tells me that neither one of them believe that the Nexus is simply a myth.
“What?” I prompt when neither of them speak.
“Nothing.” Theron shakes his head, his mind far away from here. “It would just be a very dangerous thing in his hands.” He’s lying and if Roman notices he doesn’t say it.
“You believe the myth about some all-powerful elemental dark object?” Roman asks skeptically.
“The Nexus is a myth as the unicorn is a myth.”
To this, Roman has nothing to say. He doesn’t understand and he doesn’t like that he doesn’t. He is a prince, meant to be king one day and there are secrets his father is keeping. I bet he’s wondering the same thing as me. What secrets does he hold that might liberate our sisters, Kara? What is our good king hiding?
“What does the Nexus have to do with my sister?” I ask.
Theron meets my eyes and lies through his teeth. “I don’t know.”
I don’t waste my time on prodding the king with questions because I’ve known him long enough to know he will not give them until he is ready to. Instead, I go in search of Jayla. Her presence around the palace has been scarce at best since the death of her sister, along with Felix, who had loved Tristan as a brother. I expect to, at the very least, find them both in the dining hall for lunch, but neither of them are present.
“Aaric?”
I turn around to find my little brother’s dark brown eyes boring into mine. “Bay,” I say softly, seeing the manic look in his eyes. They are as bloodshot as my father’s. It looks like he hasn’t slept in weeks. Perhaps he hasn’t. I’ve been so consumed with my own grief that I have forgotten his. There are a small few who Amara considers to be her best friends, her family, but a great many more who consider her theirs. Bay is one of them and, like the rest of us, he is lost without her.
“I heard that you got something out of that Serpentarian they’ve got locked up in the dungeons. What did you find out, Aaric? Will it help us get Amara back?”
Telling him the truth worries me. It might send him spiraling and from the looks of him he is already halfway there, but I don’t have it in me to lie to him. “No, Bay. I mean, we found out something that might help us derail Theon’s plans, but…no. Thackeray was working for Theon and we both know he isn’t the one who has Amara.”
“Why did he take her, Aaric? I don’t understand.” His voice quivers with anger he can’t contain.
“Hey, buddy,” My other brother Aaren appears behind Bay, massaging his shoulders in a soothing manner to temper whatever instability he is currently suffering from. “Why don’t we grab somethin’ to eat, huh? You’re lookin’ a little pale.”
Sometimes I’m still amazed by how much Aaren looks like me. I didn’t really notice it too much before we found out he was me and Amara’s long lost twin brother, but once we did I noticed the similarities. His eyes are more gray than blue and his hair is a darker shade of blond than mine, but all in all, we look like brothers. It wasn’t until this past month though that I realized the truth. Aaren loves Amara as much as any brother could and he wants her back. But he is not bogged down by guilt or separation anxiety like I am. Up until a few months ago, he hadn’t seen either of us in fourteen years.
Bay cuts me a worried look, but he doesn’t fight Aaren as he drags him over to a table where the children of some nobles are sitting. My little brother in pain only stirs more anger inside of me, just one more thing I cannot control, I cannot fix.
With renewed rage, Jayla forgotten, I whip out of the dining hall and go in search
of Lavina. If anyone can help me persuade the king to send people to Vakrov for Amara it’s her. I do not care if a mission like this is an act of war. There is no doubt in my mind that I would go to war for that girl. I’d do anything for her.
Lavina Belvedere, formally known as Lavina Boudelaire, is a complicated story. Over the last few months we discovered that when my father fled with me and Amara fourteen years ago she’d stayed behind with our brother, Aaren. During those fourteen years my father had married Bay and Niykee’s mother, Meela, thinking my mother gone forever. Now my father has not only lost his only daughter, but must contend with two wives. I do not pity him.
Still, as much as I hate her for abandoning us, she is useful. As a Pisces she has the unique ability Pisceans have for enchantment, but most of all, she has the king’s ear.
My mother has her bedchambers in the east wing, but the place she likes to spend her time is a parlor room a little ways down from the sleeping quarters so that’s where I look first. I hear voices coming from inside as I approach and I am surprised to find Jayla there with her when I enter.
The two women sit on the floor, hands outstretched toward each other, muttering something I can’t hear, but as soon as my mother’s gray eyes flick to mine she withdraws her hands. “Aaric,” Lavina says softly, remembering the smart-mouthed boy from only an hour ago, raging at the king over my sister once again.
Jayla turns and her brown eyes regard me with interest. She did not expect me to find her here. “Aaric, what are you doing here?”
“Funny. I could ask you the same thing. Is this why I’ve barely seen you? You’ve been here, with her?” I didn’t intend to sound so harsh on that last word, but I hear it. The resentment I try so very hard to hide for my mother bleeds through every time I am in her presence. I think because there is a huge part of me that believes that if she had never abandoned us Amara would be here right now, with me, where she belongs.
“She’s been helping me with my magic.” Jayla says, moving to her feet.
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