by Jodi Meadows
James grabbed my arm and we tumbled into the snow just as a flaming arrow struck the place I’d been standing.
“Are you all right?” James climbed to his feet and scanned the area for the shooter, but the arrow could have come from anyone. Everyone moved so quickly.
“Fine.” I stood and adjusted my sword at my hip, resolving to keep a better eye on my surroundings. “And thanks.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Shall I find the shooter, my queen?” The wraith boy faced me, a shoulder-high wall of snow growing behind him, shielding the three of us. “I can find whoever tried to assassinate you and—”
I held up a hand. “I don’t want anyone on either side to die.”
“Too late for that.” James glanced over his shoulder where bodies had already fallen. “But he’s right. If you go into the fighting, you will get hurt. Maybe killed. And I promised Tobiah I would keep you alive.”
I turned to the wraith boy. “We need to reach Patrick. I need you to help me get there safely.”
A sinister smile spread across the wraith boy’s face. “Oh yes. The mountain lion man. I remember him.”
“Do not kill him—or anyone else, for that matter.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “If we’re attacked?”
“You know my orders, Chrysalis. Don’t try to get around them. Don’t do anything you think I want. If you do, I will take away your name.”
His expression turned blank. “I understand.”
“He could be anywhere,” James said. “He might not even be here.”
“No. He’s here.” I gazed over the distance, the blades and bodies everywhere. The stench of salt and blood filled the air, with a slight edge of wraith coming from Chrysalis.
“Where?”
“Where he can see everything.” I pointed to the immense bridge, where the railroad tracks crossed the water.
Snowhaven Bridge was pre-wraith, all sea-battered steel that shimmered in the frantic light. The cables shone like silk strands, and the towers stabbed into the water, going farther than I could see. A pair of hulking guard stations stood at each side of the entrance, with an armored passageway stretching through the sky between them.
“That’s where Patrick will be.”
TWENTY-FIVE
JAMES AND THE wraith boy followed my gaze to the bridge that spanned the entire bay. “What if he’s not there?”
“Then we stand in the center and draw his attention.” A dozen flags snapped in the cold wind, and four indigo banners hung from the parapets, emblazoned with House crests. Gas lamps shone down on the battlefield, hot white lights above the flames.
“How will you get there?” James gestured to the fighting masses between us and our destination.
“You will help me reach it safely.”
James heaved out a breath. “All right. Let’s go. But we’re doing this my way. We’re going around the fighting, not through the worst of it.”
“I can fight.”
“It’s not your duty to fight this time. It’s your duty to stay alive.”
Even so, I drew my sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. With the boys flanking me, we slipped around the edge of the battle. It took more time, but when combatants spilled into our path, James or the wraith boy pushed them out of the way. Only twice did I have to remind the wraith boy not to hurt people.
At last, we came to the shore; Tangler Bay surged below a small cliff. My homeland was still too far to see the lights of the city, but the bridge’s towers and cables were lit with gas lamps.
My heart thrummed as James and the wraith boy carved a path to the guard station. The sound of the sea swelled within me. I was so close.
A blue-coated body dropped at my feet. James staggered and breathed a name, but we moved over the soldier and found ourselves at the main door. The guards wore indigo, but they were engaged with Aecorian rebels, and no one noticed us as James heaved open the door and ushered me into an antechamber, its walls covered with yet more indigo flags and signs.
With my dagger hand, I grabbed the metal-reinforced door handle to the main chamber and my shoulder almost came out of place as I heaved the unmoving door.
“What’s wrong?” James asked.
“Locked. I can pick it.” There was always magic, but considering how dizzy just animating notebooks made me, I shouldn’t. Not now, when I needed to face Patrick.
“Let me.” The wraith boy took the handle and gave it a sharp tug, and the entire door came off its hinges with a deafening crack. He staggered back against the size, but held the door’s weight without a problem. “What should I do with it?”
“Just put it against the wall.” I stepped clear of the door and into the main chamber filled with desks and bookcases. Hallways branched off, and a series of doors ran along the back wall. “Who was that outside, James?”
The body, I meant, but I didn’t want to say it out loud.
“Someone I knew from school. A friend.” His face was hard as he scanned the room and pointed his sword toward one of the hallways on the far side of the room. “There.”
I flexed my fingers around the hilts of my weapons as we walked.
“Footsteps,” whispered the wraith boy. “Someone’s following.”
We started to run as a handful of red-coated soldiers thundered after us, their blades drawn.
“Stop there!” The feminine voice was as familiar as my own.
I skidded and spun, my cloak flaring. On either side of me, the wraith boy lifted his hands like claws, and James melted into a guarded stance, but I sheathed both of my weapons. A true smile—the first in what felt like forever—slipped out. “Melanie.”
“Wil!” She motioned for her five soldiers to stay their weapons, and a moment later, we stood between our groups, embracing.
A hard knot inside me loosened at last. “I missed you so much,” I whispered.
“Me too.” Her voice hitched. “It feels like forever.”
There was so much to talk about. So much to do. But I wanted to stay like this. Magic, wraith, war: What were those things to true friendship? We could fight—with each other and on opposite sides of a battlefield—but our bond ran stronger than any of that.
“Wil,” said James. “I know the feeling, but there’s no time.”
Melanie and I stepped back from each other, and she reached as though to move a strand of hair from her eyes, but she’d cut it. The black locks that had once fallen to the middle of her back were gone, leaving choppy sections that framed her face. It made her look older. More mature.
“Where is Patrick?”
Her gaze shifted upward. “Here. We learned Prince Colin was returning to Aecor. We’ve been waiting for his convoy to arrive. This side of the bay has been ours for almost a week—and the soldiers stationed here didn’t even realize.”
“Good work.” The praise came automatically, making James give me a sharp look. “I mean, I’m impressed, but I’ve come here to stop the fighting. I won’t allow Patrick to destroy the peace I’ve been working to build.”
“Some peace, if what I heard is true.” Her eyes cut to the wraith boy, then to James. “Captain Rayner. Lovely to see you again.”
“This is taking too long,” he said. “If you’re on Wil’s side, take us to Patrick.”
She’d take me to Patrick, regardless.
Melanie gestured to three of her men. “Fix the door. Make sure no one follows us. And you two”—she turned to the others—“come with me.”
The six of us moved through the room, into the hall and a dark staircase that switched back several times. We passed doors to other levels of the guard station, and to the interior of the passageway that stretched over the bridge entrance. Finally, we came to the top.
“You know what he’s going to tell you to do,” Melanie said as the guards hauled open the door. “You know what he wants.”
“Patrick no longer gets to make demands of me.”
Icy wind blasted t
hrough the doorway, tearing at my cloak. Lights shone in from atop the passageway, blinding as I stepped outside to find Patrick exactly where I’d expected. He’d torn down the Indigo Kingdom flags, and was releasing them one by one into the sea. The House banners hanging over the parapets were likely next, but he saw me first.
“Wilhelmina.” The last indigo flag whipped toward the ocean.
James’s whole body tensed, but he didn’t stray from my side.
Patrick didn’t move; he waited for us to come closer as he took in the group surrounding me: Melanie, two of his own men, a boy who looked like me, and the new king’s cousin. He placed his hands behind his back. “The convoy is overwhelmed. Casualties on both sides will be heavy.”
“Call them off. If you do, James can stop the Indigo Army. We will discuss everything peacefully, once we reach Sandcliff Castle.”
Patrick shook his head. “It’s not going to work like that. Colin will never give up Aecor, not willingly. There’s only one way to get it back, and that is to take it. Our people don’t want to be under Indigo rule. They want their queen. They want you.”
“And you told them I’ve been a hostage in Skyvale.”
“Haven’t you? The Wilhelmina I know would never have sent letters like the ones I intercepted, claiming to be from you.”
“That just proves how little you know me.”
“The letters weren’t even in your handwriting.”
I clenched my jaw. “Call off your soldiers, Patrick.” Wind tugged at my clothes again, and flecks of snow from drifts stung my face.
“I will not. This is an important battle for our people. They’ll see we can beat the enemy.” Patrick glanced at the door opposite the one we’d come from, but the way was dark. “I won’t stop you from doing whatever you came to do, though. You are still my princess, after all.”
I turned to the wraith boy. “Chrysalis, I need to be heard.”
A smile sliced across his face, and he leaned over the edge of the passageway. “People of Aecor. People of the Indigo Kingdom.” The wraith boy’s voice boomed across the area, thunder in my ears. “Stop what you are doing.”
The sharp, ozone scent of wraith flooded the battlefield, but still the fighting continued.
The wraith boy looked at me, as though for permission.
“Don’t hurt anyone,” I warned. I touched Connor’s mirror in my pocket.
James was already standing close to me. Melanie moved near Patrick, their red-coated guards in close attendance as they all watched, waiting to see what the wraith boy would do.
Chrysalis stretched out his hands and turned up his palms. A low rumble filled the area, making soldiers stagger to stay in combat, but when the snow began to draw away from the bulk of the battle, shooting between legs and away from the wagons, people halted and looked around. A few took the opportunity to run, and some finished the fights they’d been involved in, but most just stood and stared.
Someone pointed up. Toward me.
The snow pulled itself into a wall along the entrance to the bridge, covering the guard stations. It gathered higher and higher until the top of the mound touched the passageway. Shards of compacted snow jutted up, reflecting the light of gas lamps. Angles shifted and focused until the white light surrounded me.
Everyone saw me.
“Soldiers of Aecor,” called the wraith boy, unnaturally loud in the sudden stillness below. “Your queen—”
“Princess,” I hissed.
“Your princess is here. She wishes to address you.”
I stepped onto the ledge. Behind me, Patrick and Melanie hadn’t moved, and their guards were with them. I hated turning my back to Patrick, but I trusted Melanie. James hoisted himself up beside me, and together we gazed down the steep slope of glittering snow, where thousands of men waited at the base.
The angled planes of snow amplified my voice. “My name is Wilhelmina Korte. I’ve come to tell the people of Aecor the truth about my stay in Skyvale. King Tobiah Pierce has not held me as a hostage, nor has he forbidden me to reclaim Aecor. For the last several weeks, since I first revealed my identity, we have been in peaceful negotiations. Patrick Lien returned to Aecor without my blessing. He incited this resistance without my consent.”
A blast of icy wind pushed at me, stealing my breath and whipping my cloak, but the wraith boy reached up and held me in place. James warmed my side: a steady, strong presence.
“I have with me Captain James Rayner, cousin to King Tobiah. He is here as proof of our alliance, and our dedication to work together to resolve the conflicts between Aecor and the Indigo Kingdom.”
“Very good,” James muttered.
Below, people shifted. A low hum of voices came, but it was impossible to understand anything that was said.
“This fighting will cease immediately. When I reach Sandcliff Castle—”
At the far end of the passageway, a door slammed open. Ospreys Ronald and Oscar Gray strode out, and between them they dragged a limp and bloodied Prince Colin.
“Oh, by all the saints.” James groaned.
Patrick beckoned the Gray brothers closer. There was no emotion on his face, just the same unwavering determination to do what he thought was necessary.
“I have what I came for.” He didn’t need to raise his voice, or even look at me. “This ambush was not to invade the Indigo Kingdom,” he said, drawing a sword. The point touched the side of Prince Colin’s neck, but the unconscious prince didn’t move. “I simply want to take back Aecor. Terrell, the man who took it, is dead by my hand.”
James stiffened beside me. I touched his forearm. “Don’t move.”
“Though my plans for the new king were thwarted, the message was delivered: Aecorians will fight for their home.” When Prince Colin began to stir, Patrick edged the blade away. He wouldn’t cut by accident; when he did, it would be with deliberate precision. “Now I have the Overlord of Aecor. He’s raised incredible taxes on the people, forced them to the front lines of the wraithland, and has even had the audacity to live in Sandcliff Castle—the home where the Kortes once resided. With his death, Aecor will be one step closer to reclaiming its independence.”
“No.” I drew my sword and dagger. “Drop your weapon, Patrick.”
He met my eyes, only a flash of triumph in his expression before he said, “You know how to enforce that command.”
Prince Colin blinked a few times and awakened. Blood dripped down his face as he scanned his surroundings, muttering curses under his breath. When he looked from Patrick to me, his eyes were filled with hate.
Patrick would kill Prince Colin. Just like he’d killed Terrell, and almost killed James and Tobiah. Just like the wraith boy had killed Meredith.
He’d kill Prince Colin for me. For my kingdom.
Tobiah’s words haunted me: “What kind of queen will you be? The kind who allows others to murder in her name, or the kind who stands up and makes decisions her conscience can agree with?”
“Fine.” The word was a breath. My heart sped faster, and the cold sapped at my strength, but I forced my voice to project. “I hereby declare myself Queen of Aecor.”
PART THREE
THE VERMILION THRONE
TWENTY-SIX
THE EFFECT OF my words was immediate.
A great cry rose up behind me. The air shook with thousands of voices, some in protest, but many more in triumph.
Prince Colin glared at me with murder in his eyes, but Patrick simply nodded and took a slow, measured step away from the prince—but not before edging his blade a breath closer to Prince Colin’s throat, leaving a long, thin cut. A reminder. A promise.
Then Patrick’s blade hit the floor and he held out his arms in surrender.
“Arrest him,” I told the red-coated guards.
They hesitated, looking between Patrick, Melanie, and me.
“Do it,” Melanie said. “Wilhelmina is your queen. You answer to her, not to Patrick.”
They obeyed without furt
her question.
Within two hours, one of the wagons became a moving prison, guards of both colors watching over Patrick. The soldiers stationed at Snowhaven Bridge were reinstated, and the wraith boy began to clear snow under my direction; I didn’t trust him not to move it all into the bay and cause a flood.
“Prince Colin will not forgive this,” James said as we walked back to my wagon where a dozen Aecorian guards waited.
“I did it to save his life.”
“He won’t see it that way.”
“Unfortunately.” Had I made things better or worse? It was impossible to know.
The night had deepened and grown colder. The snow Chrysalis had moved away from the caravan formed glistening walls to the north and south, stinking like the wraithland.
After that exertion, Chrysalis was paler, his movements sluggish, but I stopped myself before asking if he was all right. He was going straight back to his wardrobe. At least I didn’t have to worry about him running away; he stuck to my side as surely as a puppy, desperate for attention.
“I should warn you.” James kept his voice low. “Several Aecorians have named themselves part of your royal guard. You can accept or dismiss them as you wish, but you should make a decision soon. Some will want favors in the future. You should be mindful of who you owe.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want any of them. I already have you.”
“Then you risk offending potential allies.”
Not what I wanted to hear.
“At any rate, there will be new sleeping arrangements. You’re no longer incognito and I’m not willing to risk your reputation—”
“It’s my reputation to ruin if I want, James.”
“And I’m not willing to risk mine, either.” He gave a smug grin and motioned to the wagon just ahead. “Lady Melanie will join you. I will station myself outside your wagon, along with any Aecorian soldiers of your choosing.”
“Oscar and Ronald.”
“The ones who brought Prince Colin to Lien?”
“They’re Ospreys. They may have sided with him during the Inundation, but they won’t allow any harm to come to me. The Gray brothers might have been born high noblemen, but they’re clever and good with their weapons.” I paused. “Besides, I don’t know any other Aecorians.”
