The Red Queen

by Meg Xuemei X

  “Ash,” she greeted.

  He gave her a smile and joined her. He rarely smiled these days. “Can’t sleep?” he asked with concern.

  She shook her head, then asked, “What kept you up?”

  “I sensed you,” he said, “without tracing your guards' memories.”

  Adam and the other guard looked uncomfortable. They gave Lucienne and Ashburn a wide berth, wishing the distance would weaken Ashburn’s mental intrusion. Ashburn ignored their futile resistance. He didn’t mind them. He didn’t mind anyone, except Lucienne.

  He’d changed and continued to change. TimeDust bestowed him great power, but it also took away part of his humanity. The bond he had with his parents and Violet was now as thin as a piece of paper. He gazed at the only person he still cared about and wanted very much to wrap his arms around her. The Lure swam around them, dwelling on his skin. But Ashburn wouldn’t touch her without her permission. He willed her to give him a hint of invitation.

  A twitch of muscles on her beautiful, stubborn jaw told him otherwise. Ashburn swallowed as pain slammed into him as well.

  The mad Lucienne would never fight their attraction, with or without the Lure. The uninhibited Lucienne indulged it and welcomed it. She wore her feelings for him in the open. She was wildly enchanting and more stunning than the sane, regal Siren. Ashburn suddenly realized that part of him preferred the insane Lucienne, and that thought shamed him.

  “I sensed you as well,” Lucienne said, holding his guilty gaze. She must have mistaken it for the punishing pain he was enduring. For a fleeting second, he swore he saw her ruefulness as she appeared puzzled by why she had to fight the Lure and their connection.

  “Ash, I want—”

  “What do you want?” he asked urgently. He knew what she wanted. He felt the same desperate need too. He wanted her.

  Was this Lucienne going to give in at midnight, when her will weakened, when her need heightened?

  “I—” She looked up at him, stepped closer, and laid her hand on his arm.

  Ashburn regretted wearing a jacket. He should have put on a thin T-shirt so his skin could feel her touch. Silently, he watched desire and reason battle in her whiskey brown eyes. A second later, she withdrew her hand and stepped back. Her reason and loyalty won again. Blazek, the forever nuisance, was still between them. And Ashburn couldn’t get rid of the Czech before his worth expired.

  “I need to go away for a little while,” he finally said.

  An alarmed look widened her eyes. Her need for him became palpable.

  “Lucia, I’ll be back,” he immediately added.

  “It takes longer and longer for you to come back each time.”

  “I can't sense the passing of time inside the Rabbit Hole.”

  “I understand you need a break. You need the silence in your head, but—”

  “I need to find an answer.”

  Lucienne tilted her head. “But you had the answer.”

  “I've seen Jekaterina's memories,” he said. “I’ve been watching her lab work. She has the partial code.” But he didn’t trust her selective memories. He’d never known anyone who could manipulate their own memories like she did.

  And some of her memories made him wince. He’d seen her tremendous labor pain giving birth to Lucienne. The baby survived, but who would have thought it’d grow up to be the most gorgeous girl in the world? The squirming baby was quite ugly.

  Jekaterina’s partial code could fix Seraphen’s broken memories, and Ashburn would have the final answer to the cure.

  “Jekaterina told me the code,” Lucienne said.

  “You know what it’s about?”

  “Ash, I don't trust her.”

  “Can you trust me?”

  Her gaze on him softened, then saddened. “With my life.”

  The love for her churned inside him. He couldn’t help but step toward her and brush away a strand of hair blown by the wind from her face. Her eyes glinted with longing, but it was gone the next second. Again, she repressed it.

  “I must know if it’s the only solution,” he said.

  “If it is?” Lucienne asked.

  “For our sake,” he said, “I hope it isn’t.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I don’t want you to do it.”

  He swallowed hard. She was never as selfish as she claimed to be. Then he forgot that he was waiting for her invitation to touch her and pulled her into a tight embrace. She didn’t protest, but stood very still. A second later, Ashburn tore himself away from her softness and warmth and summoned his ride.

  In the air on Spike, Ashburn couldn’t tell if the sharp pain was from the Lure or from his own heart. And he couldn’t bear to look back at her standing far beneath him amid the dark maple trees under the moon.

  CHAPTER 28

  A PIE

  Bayrose had never imagined this could happen to her—she’d fallen into the ranks of those girls subjected to the Czech prince’s cruel treatment.

  She was the princess and the secret new leader of the Sealers, and she’d humbled herself before him. “I just want us to be like before.”

  He’d said impatiently, “Before was a mistake.”

  He was right. He and all those he cared for would soon pay for that mistake. When Sphinxes fell, all would know that Bayrose wasn’t just any girl to be dismissed and disposed of easily.

  The moment she’d snapped, she’d no longer wanted to follow through on her previous plan to infiltrate the Siren’s circle and take over Sphinxes at Lucienne’s death. She wanted her enemies to see her glory before they went down. She wanted to see their dumbfounded looks when she proudly revealed her true identity. She hadn’t asked for this war, but both Lucienne and Vladimir had forced her hands. One killed her father, stole her mother, and took her great love; the other killed her hope and her ability to ever love again.

  Together they’d turned her into an invisible shade.

  The Shadow affected her every minute of the day. She couldn’t remember how long ago she’d actually laughed. But the Shadow granted her a strength she hadn’t possessed as the former Bayrose. With its superpower, she was no longer petrified of leading the Sealers into war.

  The Shadow agreed. “You’re taking back the birthright that was cheated out of you and your ancestors.”

  Bayrose knew the story: at the start of the human race, twin boys had fought to be the heir to the first Siren. The younger one had tricked and threatened his older brother into giving up his birthright.

  Lucienne Lam was the last descendent of the treacherous younger twin. Bayrose was the other side of the coin.

  “You’re the true Siren,” the Shadow confirmed. “You’ll right the wrong of the secret history of the world.”

  “I was the only one who ever took in the Shadow,” Bayrose said.

  “You’re brave.”

  “And naïve,” she said. “But as long as Lucienne Lam lives, I’m doomed to be in her shadow. I must end the Sirens’ line.”

  “And become the one and only Siren yourself.”

  It was one thing for Bayrose to want to take out her sister, but when she saw how fervently the Shadow wanted to murder Lucienne, she felt a chill slice up her spine. “Will I be free of you once I kill her?” she asked.

  “You know the cost.”

  Yes, the cost. She’d never get rid of it. She’d become a slave to the Shadow in her.

  “You must act before Jekaterina interferes,” it said.

  Yes, Mother knew that Bayrose had taken in the Shadow. Did she know about her daughter’s plan for vengeance? Would Mom betray her to her sister? The hollow panic that arose in Bayrose soon eased. With Shadow shielding her, no one could read her true intention. Yet, the look her mother had given her was more than unsettling. There had been no sunlight in Mom’s look.

  But Bayrose had other advantages over her powerful mother besides the Shadow. Kian and the generals considered Bayrose innocent. Lucienne accepted her. Their security no longer
put her under their radar as they did Jekaterina. Furthermore, Sphinxes wouldn’t expect the Sealers to rise again so quickly to strike back, and that Sealers’ founder, Bayrose Thorn, was right in the enemy’s heart to direct the blow.

  The Sealers had no need of its own army. They were the shadow government behind many nations, and those nations, including the United States of America, were anxious about Sphinxes’ growing power. The Brotherhood would keep pumping fear into those nations’ veins.

  Their combined nations’ forces would hit Sphinxes at its weakest point—its uncrowned Siren queen was half-mad and fatally poisoned, leaving her nation-to-be most unstable and vulnerable.

  The prince and all those who had underestimated Bayrose would see how great and terrifying she was, and the Siren would be forever diminished in Bayrose’s shadow. History would reverse and right itself.

  That night, Bayrose baked a yogurt and apricot pie from one of her mother’s recipes. When she brought it to Lucienne, her half-sister was in the middle of a bath, singing a bawdy song.

  Vladimir was in the sitting room, shaking his head at the song and waiting for his insane girlfriend to come out. He barely gave Bayrose a glance when she brushed past him and stepped into Lucienne’s bedroom.

  When she was sure to be out of anyone’s direct sight, Bayrose picked up Lucienne’s phone on the vanity table. She hit the password that the mad Lucienne had revealed to her. Within two minutes, Bayrose sent Mirrikh Schwartz the maps of Sphinxes’ military bases, classified labs, and the location of the Siren’s white mansion.

  Then she texted Mirrikh the access code to Devourer.

  Bayrose put the phone back and wiped the sweat from her palms on her pants.

  The last thing the Sphinxes’ team would check was their Siren’s private phone line. And before they had the chance to look, Bayrose’s army would be here.

  She was cutting the pie when her sister threw open the bathroom door and danced out in a scarlet mini skirt.

  “A pie!” Lucienne cheered.

  Probably your last one, Sister, thought Bayrose. Enjoy it while you can.

  CHAPTER 29

  THE TALK

  Lucienne gazed into the telescope at the vast heavens, at God’s fingerprints in the universe.

  In contrast, her existence and insanity were less than insignificant. She’d come to accept that. Yet the ancients believed that every person’s destiny was strung to the celestial clock that reflected through the star patterns and planets in motion.

  Maybe even dust had a place in the universe as it was also a part of God’s creation and the material God used often? And who were we to measure the value of all things by their size?

  She heard heavy boots scrambling up the stairs toward the rooftop and turned away from the sky. Kian appeared at the doorway, where he dismissed her guards.

  “Hey, kid.” His voice sounded bright for the first time since the Polynesian war.

  Kian McQuillen was never a stargazer or a dreamer, but he tied his dream to hers. Standing tall in front of her, he was clean-shaven with renewed energy. The weary, ragged Kian, once on the verge of broken, had disappeared overnight.

  “Did you come from Jekaterina?” Lucienne could guess.

  Kian seated himself on a chair before the white wooden table and gestured for Lucienne to sit across from him.

  “Is it going to be a long talk?” she asked.

  He quirked an eyebrow. “You have some place to go?”

  “I have a life, you know.” She slid onto a soft chair. She wasn’t ready for the talk, but since he’d demanded it—

  Kian’s expression was serious, bright. “Your mother figured out the cure.”

  The cure, of course. Lucienne had known about it since she’d paid a visit to the Eye of Time. Ashburn was the cure— only after he linked to the Eye of Time and became its slave could he heal her. She wasn’t surprised that Jekaterina had reached Kian first. Her mother knew best who to use to execute her perfect plan, knowing that Kian and his men would do anything to keep Lucienne alive.

  “I sent a team to Nirvana to retrieve Ashburn,” Kian said.

  “If he doesn’t want to be summoned, he won’t come back.”

  “It’s not up to him.”

  She’d expected this, but still her back stiffened. Her people would hunt down Ashburn and force him to save her. They’d put him under the mercy of the Eye of Time. Ash had lightning, but he was only one man. And damn it to hell would she allow Ash and her people to turn against one another while she lived. “I don’t want you or anyone to go after him,” she said, her voice harsher than she intended. “Ashburn is off-limits.”

  “When it comes to you, nothing is off-limits.”

  “You’ll go against my will?”

  “If I have to,” Kian said. “We’re out of options. Ashburn should do what we ask of him. It’s his duty as well.”

  “It’s not his duty! And you don’t know what you ask of him.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters to him and to me! It isn’t my right to take something so precious from him, nor is it your right.”

  “I don’t particular care whose right it is. He can’t be more important than the whole of Sphinxes. He’s one boy.”

  “How ironic you said that. You forgot I’m one girl.”

  “You’re our queen! The Siren I used to know wouldn’t have blinked to do what she must do to reach greatness. You’ve become soft. You’ve let your feelings drive you instead of reining them in. Lucienne Lam, it’s time to be who you are again!”

  “I am who I am. I am not black-hearted. The Lucienne Lam you knew would never put you above her either, Kian McQuillen.”

  “You lost your perspective, Siren. You’re always above us. You were born with a great destiny. We’ll bleed our last drop of blood for you.”

  “Then tell me what my destiny is! Is it all scripted on the scrolls? The tradition on the stone once said there should never be a female Siren, yet here I am. You of all people fought against tradition to get me here. Now all of a sudden you believe in things written on some scrolls?”

  “I’ll tell you what your destiny is. Your destiny is not to die! Tell me, what are we going to do without you?”

  “You’ll keep going. I’ve wanted to talk to you about the day that I’m no longer here. You—”

  “Stop!” Kian punched the wood between them. The legs snapped and the table toppled down.

  Thaddeus, Duncan, and another guard rushed onto the rooftop, their weapons drawn. They darted their nervous glances at the table, Kian, and Lucienne, back and forth.

  Kian waved them off, still in his fury.

  Duncan and the guard retreated, but Thaddeus stayed. “I want to make sure my cousin will be fine.”

  Kian turned to him with a murderous look. Everyone couldn’t wait to run away fast enough when McQuillen was pissed. Thaddeus flinched, but stood his ground. “I’m serving my cousin Siren.”

  “Go, Thaddeus. The last person on earth who will ever hurt me is Kian.”

  Thaddeus reluctantly left the rooftop. Lucienne knew he was waiting just on the other side of the door.

  Kian had panicked when she’d revealed that she wanted him to go on without her. He’d constantly feared for her life since she was a baby, but he’d never panicked like this. Deep inside, he knew, though he refused to accept, that they were both facing their undefeatable enemy—death. She’d never seen fear wreck him so mercilessly. Lucienne inhaled. That fear would drive him to do anything to preserve her, which meant she could no longer protect Ash from Kian. Her chief would sacrifice anyone, including himself, to save her. He’d proved that over and over.

  She placed a hand on Kian’s, which still shook from raw fury and fear. He calmed a little at her warm, firm touch.

  “What you said is unacceptable,” he said, looking straight at her. His fury may have ebbed, but not the determination of destroying the whole world to keep her alive.

  “I haven�
�t given up, Kian,” she said.

  “You haven’t asked what the cure is,” he said.

  The only way to dissuade him was to counter Jekaterina. “I have a hunch,” she said. “Jekaterina excels at spinning lies and sugarcoating them as truth. You can’t trust her.”

  “I do not trust her, but if her solution can save you, I’ll go with it.”

  “The code and the cure are the ruse. She wants to push Ash and I together for her own agenda.”

  “I don’t see how she can benefit from that.”

  “There is a menacing, ‘grand’ design manipulated by a force greater than you and me. This force has been pushing Ash and me to join together—physically. I believe Jekaterina is working with the force. She decoded part of the prophecy on the third scroll. She knew about the poison, but waited until I took it before coming to Sphinxes to enact her next plan. She’s using the promise of a cure to manipulate you to help her turn the tide in her direction. The woman, the greatest manipulator the world has ever seen, is hell bent on setting things in motion at the expense of Ash and me. Jekaterina has thousands of faces and names. Do not trust her. Do not let her play you like a pawn in her unfathomable scheme.”

  Kian cautiously peeked into Lucienne’s eyes, evidently trying to detect if the red rings were forming. Lucienne sighed inwardly, helplessly, knowing how she’d sounded. Even if Kian was sure she had utter clarity at the moment, he’d still think she was paranoid.

  How could she discredit her cunning mother while her unstable mental condition had condemned her? Lucienne stopped saying more, realizing from that moment on, that whatever she said would backfire.

  Her mother could easily turn her people against her, all in the name of saving her. As long as the poison was in her, no one, not even Ash or Vladimir, would count on her judgment. Not even when she held the coldest, utter intelligence.

  “I just want to have a talk with Ashburn. That’s all,” Kian said.