by Morgan Rice
Can you get to Hans and pass on messages? Kate asked. We need to work together, but with Ashton’s streets, it’s hard to keep track.
I can do that, Emeline sent back.
“Emeline is going to try to get to Hans,” Kate said. “I can send messages to her.”
“Good thinking,” Lord Cranston said. “A battle where we have an idea of what’s going on might make a pleasant change.”
“There’s still the nobles’ men,” Kate pointed out. Even as she said it, she saw them taking up positions in and around the houses ahead, digging in and getting ready to fight.
“There are,” the mercenary leader agreed. He turned to his troops. “Right, you lot. Forward! We’re not here to rest! A spot of house to house fighting should keep you all nicely in trim!”
Lord Cranston’s men started forward, and Kate went with them. If there had been a brief lull as the first barricade fell, any sense of peace quickly evaporated. Kate rushed for the first of the houses, meeting two men as they came back at her. She kicked out at the first one’s knee, moving sideways and barely dodging a cut in response. She caught the second soldier’s blade on her own, pushing it aside as she thrust, feeling the sword slide through flesh as it struck, its razor sharpness making the passage smooth as it went in. It caught on the way out, though, and for a moment, Kate found herself staring at the first man as he drew a knife, pulling it back to thrust at her.
A pistol shot made him fall, and an Ishjemme soldier stepped into the space, moving forward. Kate nodded her thanks, then pulled her sword clear, continuing forward. Around her, she could hear the sounds of battle everywhere now, with the clash of blades, the pop of muskets, and the deeper boom of cannon overriding it. Kate could feel the reverberation as cannonballs struck Ashton’s old walls, the barricades around them taking blow after blow now.
She didn’t have enough time to watch the attack, though, because a soldier was already running at her with an axe. Kate ducked under the swing, moving in close and stabbing up with her sword, catching the man through the base of his skull. She stepped back to let him fall, parried a stroke from a sword, and cut again at a new target. With so many men around her, there was no time to do more than cut and move, not even watching to see if the men she struck got up again.
“We’re pushing them back,” Lord Cranston said. “They’ll retreat to the barricades. We need to keep the pressure up!”
Kate nodded and sent the same message across to Emeline. The message Emeline sent back all but froze Kate in place.
Sophia has taken the flagship and a small group, Emeline sent. We can see them from here. There’s a new fleet attacking the city. I think she’s trying to draw them off.
Kate couldn’t believe it. Her sister wouldn’t do something like that, would she? Kate looked around for a tall enough building to let her see, and spotted a clock tower. She raced for it, cutting down a man who tried to get in her way as she did so. A musket ball ripped from the cobbles next to her, and she threw herself aside just in time as a second came. There had to be a sniper up there, waiting to pick off anyone who came close.
Kate had no time to waste. She charged the tower, keeping her head low so that shots went over her. She kicked at the door, and it gave way, letting her scramble inside. She ran up the spiral staircase inside the structure, taking it two steps at a time, ignoring the splinters that flew up as whoever was in there got off another shot.
She got closer to the top with every stride. A soldier came down to meet her, swinging a sword. Kate stepped back, deflecting the blow, feinted one way, then cut the other as the man parried. She caught him in the neck, stepped aside, and wrenched her sword clear.
She sensed the thoughts of the second man and threw herself flat as he fired a pistol at the spot where her head had been. She came up and charged, using her sword like a lance now, catching the second soldier through the chest. The two of them turned in a slow dance while he stood transfixed, then Kate kicked out, sending him tumbling down the stairs.
She looked out, staring through the smoke of the battle, trying to see the harbor. When she did, it felt as though her heart was clamped in a vise. Emeline was right. Sophia’s flagship was breaking away from the main body of the fleet, only a few ships with it for support. More than half of the ships there in the harbor seemed to be moving to follow it, while beyond Ashton, a new force was closing in over the waters of the Knifewater Strait.
What are you doing? Kate sent toward her sister.
What I have to, Sophia’s voice came back.
There was no more than that. No explanation, no hope that her sister had some grand plan beyond sacrificing herself. Kate stared at the scene a moment longer, looked at the fight down by the gates, and knew which mattered to her more than the other. There wasn’t even a choice to make.
“If you’re going to do something stupid, then so will I!” Kate declared aloud.
She started to run back down through the tower, hoping she would be in time.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Angelica swept into the palace’s prison tower, pausing for a moment at the entrance because she wanted to look absolutely perfect. She made sure that the crown was settled just so on her head, and waved away the bows of the jailors as she stepped forward.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“The top cell, your majesty,” one of the jailors said.
Angelica nodded, then turned to the royal guards with her. “Wait here.”
They didn’t question it, didn’t try to point out the danger. It seemed that Angelica had chosen obedient men for the task. She made her way up through the tower, passing by solidly locked doors and wondering who was behind each one. She would make it her business to know. Perhaps some of them would be useful in exchange for their freedom.
She hoped that Sebastian would be far more than that.
The door at the top of the tower was iron bound and guarded by a jailor. He leapt to his feet as Angelica approached, unlocking the door and bowing as he opened it. Angelica ignored him as she stepped inside.
The space within was less squalid than she would have preferred. There were no chains here and no bars. Sebastian had a bed and a table, candles, and even paper. He sat at that desk as if trying to compose a letter of some kind. He looked up as Angelica approached. He was bruised and unshaven, but Angelica had to admit that she liked that.
“Typically, men bow in the presence of their queen,” Angelica said.
Sebastian stood, but didn’t bow. That brought a flicker of anger in Angelica, but also the urge to step over there and kiss him. She ignored both.
“I see you married my brother,” Sebastian said. There were dark rings under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept.
“He was the one who didn’t run off,” Angelica said. She tried to keep her tone light, but it was hard to keep a note of bitterness out of it. “He was the one who made me queen.”
“And which of you murdered my mother?” Sebastian demanded, his hands gripping the edge of the table as if he might break part of it off.
“My guards tell me that you did, Sebastian,” Angelica said. “They caught you sneaking into the palace at the time of her death. They will swear to your guilt.”
She watched Sebastian fitting pieces together little by little. He was cleverer than his brother, at least, although that really wasn’t saying much.
“You let me out so that I could be caught,” Sebastian said. “You murdered my mother!”
Angelica shook her head. “Rupert did that, although obviously I’m glad that she’s gone. Do you know that she tried to have me killed?”
“Rupert?” Sebastian said, as though not quite believing it. “I’ll—”
Angelica held up a hand to stop him. “Sadly, it’s too late to do anything. Rupert has suffered justice for his actions. He took poison last night, after we were married. I haven’t been a queen a full day, and already I am a dowager.”
Sebastian blinked at her then, obviously still not q
uite understanding.
“You… why, Angelica?”
She shrugged. It was such a dull question. Such an obvious one. “What would you have me say, Sebastian? That I did it because I wanted to be queen? I did, and I am. That your brother or your mother would have killed me had I allowed them to live? We both know that’s true. Besides, Rupert is not the brother I would rather have.”
Sebastian stepped back from her then. “You can’t be serious. After what you’ve just told me—”
“What I have said makes no difference,” Angelica said, coldly. “The situation you are in does.”
“I could tell people what you did,” Sebastian said. “They would arrest you in an instant.”
Angelica shook her head. “No one would believe you. They prefer me. My rule. My version of the truth. They don’t want your family controlling them any longer. So if I say that you killed your mother, and Rupert took his own life for the things he did… they will accept that.”
“The nobles know I can be trusted,” Sebastian said. “When I stand up before a jury of them, they’ll listen.”
Angelica smiled at that. “Which might matter if we weren’t at war. In a time of peace, I’m sure you would be brought before the full Assembly of Nobles to be tried for your mother’s murder. In war, no one will object if things are done more quickly.”
“So you’re going to kill me too?” Sebastian demanded.
Angelica paused, giving him some time to consider all the ways that might happen. “That,” she said at last, “depends on you.”
Sebastian sat down again. “What do you want, Angelica?”
She shrugged. “I want what I always wanted. I want to be queen. I want you for a husband. I already have one of those two, but the other? Agree to marry me, Sebastian. I will say that your ‘crimes’ were down to Rupert and we will portray it as a great moment of reconciliation. Things as they were always meant to be. I will rule, of course; you will be my consort rather than my partner, but I had always planned to be the one running things once we were married in any case.”
Sebastian started to shake his head. Angelica stepped forward and slapped him.
“Don’t you dare say no to me,” she said. “You ran out on me, twice. You chose someone else over me. You threw away chance after chance to be happy. Well, we still can be, on my terms.”
“Do you think I could marry anyone who tries to force me into it?” Sebastian demanded.
“I think every noblewoman who has ever lived has been where you are,” Angelica snapped back. “We’re given no choice, told who to marry by fathers and husbands. Do you think I couldn’t make you happy? That you wouldn’t have a good life? It’s that or no life, Sebastian. You marry me, or you die.”
“Then I die,” Sebastian said.
Angelica stepped back from him, not quite able to believe her ears. No one rejected her. Rupert had jumped at the chance to be her husband. Other men would have done anything to be with her, had done anything for just a smile. Yet here was Sebastian, rejecting her again.
“You’ll regret that,” Angelica said, storming toward the door. She paused when she got there. “Finish writing your letters, Sebastian. You’ll die today. You’ll die!”
She strode from the cell, thinking of all the ways that Sebastian might die, thinking of all the things that might be done to a traitor. Right then, none of them seemed like enough to make up for what he’d done.
***
Sebastian sat in his cell, contemplating his death. He’d been thinking about it for most of the night, because he’d had no doubt that whoever had put him there planned for him to die, but now that he’d met with Angelica, he knew that there was no way back.
“So much death, just so that she can be queen,” he said, and a wave of emotion washed over him with that thought. He’d known his mother was gone, but the pain of her death rose up in him again. The pain of losing his brother joined it, in spite of everything Rupert had done, in spite of him being the reason their mother was dead.
No, not the reason. He was the weapon, but Angelica had been the hand wielding that weapon. It was easy to see now just how much she’d manipulated things, how much she’d controlled everything.
“And now she’s going to kill me,” Sebastian said.
That didn’t feel the way he thought it should. He mostly just felt numb at the prospect, as if some part of him had long since accepted the reality of it. Maybe it was just that he’d already spent so much time locked in the cells beneath Rupert’s house that he’d already assumed his execution would happen at some point.
Maybe it was because he’d chosen this. Sebastian had no doubt that Angelica had been serious when she’d asked him to marry her, and he suspected that she would have done her best to make them both happy, rather than merely poisoning him as she had his brother. She would probably have been a good wife, a good mother to their children, and she might even be a good queen.
But Sebastian hadn’t been able to do it. That would have been a betrayal he couldn’t stomach, even to save his life.
“It will be soon,” he told himself. Angelica wouldn’t want to wait to watch him die, and in any case, Sebastian guessed it would all be more… convenient that way. If all of his family were dead, there would be no way anyone could question her rule.
It meant that if he had goodbyes to say, he should write them now. For what felt like the hundredth time, he sat at the cell’s desk, the sunlight meaning that he didn’t need the candlelight, just the ink and the scraped parchment waiting for his quill.
He tried to marshal his thoughts, but that was the wrong way to do it. This wasn’t the time for thinking of the perfect words. All he could do now was try to write what he felt:
My beloved Sophia,
By the time you read this, if you read this, I will be dead. They will say that I committed crimes that belong to my brother, and to his bride. They will execute me for them. The only guilt I have is for not being there beside you. I tried to get to you. With all my heart, I fought to be beside you.
I don’t have the words for how much I love you, and our child. I have spent my life focusing on being who I thought I was supposed to be, but the truth is that the only person I want to be is your husband, and our child’s father. I hope that when you come to tell them about me, you will be able to find at least some good things to say about me.
Never doubt that I love you. Sebastian.
Sebastian put his pen down. He couldn’t think of any more words than that, only try to think about all the ways that things might have been better. He sat in the tower room, thinking about Sophia, and waiting for the moment when his executioners would come for him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sophia stood at the prow of her flagship, watching the enemy ships chase it down. She stood there deliberately, standing as tall and proud as any commander could, so that the chasing ships would see her there.
Sienne tugged at her arm, her mouth pulling at her.
“No, Sienne,” Sophia said. “I have to stay here. They have to see me so that they’ll chase.”
Sophia doubted that the forest cat understood any of her words, but she seemed to understand Sophia’s determination to stay where she was. She crouched beside Sophia, glowering out at the advancing ships instead.
It was impossible for them not to see her. The flagship had every royal pennant and flag it possessed hanging from it, declaring Sophia’s presence even as the vessel kept her moving away from their foes. The half dozen ships with her hung back, making the flagship into the point of an arrow formation, making it even more obvious that Sophia was there for the taking.
Their foes seemed to understand. At least, Sophia saw the advancing fleet swing, turning from the city toward her.
“It’s working,” Sophia said.
Sienne growled, her ears flat. Sophia didn’t need the forest cat’s warning to know just how dangerous this was. So few ships couldn’t hope to stand against a whole enemy fleet for long. The be
st they could hope to do was run and keep running.
“Cut along the coast!” Sophia called out. “We need to draw them away from the city!”
“Yes, your majesty,” the captain called back, and he started to yell the orders that would put it into effect. The sailors there moved to obey, not questioning the danger of it even though they had to know just how poor their chances of surviving this were. The soldiers aboard started to load cannon and strap on armor, ready for the sea battle ahead.
Their wedge of ships raced parallel to the coast, drawing the enemy ships in closer, the ones from the city following in their wake while the larger fleet moved to cut them off. Sophia could guess the moment when they would catch up to them, but she delayed the moment when she would have to say anything as long as she dared.
“Turn!” she yelled, and the ship’s captain seemed to understand what she had in mind. Their ship jerked to starboard, the timbers groaning with the effort of making the maneuver. Behind her, the other ships swung around in her wake, heading for a gap between the two advancing groups of enemies.
To Sophia’s surprise, she saw the fleet ahead already moving to check the maneuver. One of their number, faster than the others, was swinging into the flagship’s path. Sophia heard the boom of its cannons, and had to steel herself to stand as the shots flew by. Her own ship’s weapons barked their response, and for a moment the world was filled with cannon smoke.
Sophia reached out, feeling for the minds of the other ship’s men. She could feel them ahead of her, and Sophia did her best to throw confusing thoughts their way, trying to slow them in their pursuit. The flagship’s captain brought the vessel around again, more cannon firing, and this time Sophia heard the splintering of wood as an enemy cannonball struck home.
“We need to keep going!” she yelled, high above the sounds of the battle.
They swung in close to an enemy ship, the soldiers on both vessels lining up to fire at one another with muskets and bows, the rattling rain of small missiles seeming to connect the two for a moment. Sophia forced herself not to dive for cover, because she knew right then that her presence was the main thing giving her men strength. She reached out with her power, grabbing the thoughts of a soldier aiming a musket at one of her men. He stood there, unable to remember what he was doing, until the moment when an arrow took him.
