“Force … What do you mean?”
“The underwater weapons system,” he said. “It’s been dormant for hundreds of years. The clans have been at peace, so there hasn’t been a need for it. But it’s still there, waiting to be used. We have enough firepower to wipe out Nurlie, Surrvul—every continent except Gaard if we need to.”
I was appalled. I had known there were weapons, but I hadn’t known how powerful they were. Torio had planned to give me a tutorial but had never gotten around to it, because we had been so busy.
Zawne saw my shock. “What did you expect?” he asked. “Did you think the rulers of the world wouldn’t have a fail-safe, a means to maintain power? People may have forgotten because generations have come and gone, but the Crown still has the power to wipe out ninety-five percent of Geniverd with the push of a button. We’ve come this far because of war. From the ashes of destruction, we built this peaceful civilization. I promise you, Kaelyn, there will not be an invasion of the capital.”
“What about Decens-Lenitas?” I asked, frantically making up excuses. “What about the public? They would surely hate us for the next forty years if we unleashed weapons.”
Zawne shook his head. “The public are not the ones in power; we are. In times of trouble, we must maintain our image before the other clan heads to keep their respect. That’s what Decens-Lenitas is all about, Kaelyn, respecting the monarchy, the upper class, the system, obeying the orders of those in power. And do not be mistaken, even though we have councillors and you-know-who pulling the strings, we are the ones who rule the world. Our word is law. The people must obey.”
“I don’t care,” I said. “I couldn’t wipe out millions of human souls. Not ever. When did Decens-Lenitas become a means for retaining power within the upper echelon of society? Does it mean nothing for the rest of our people, for the ninety-nine percent who are at our mercy? It’s not fair, Zawne. We can’t butcher our own subjects just to save face with a handful of spoiled nobility.”
“Would you prefer a long and bloody war?” Zawne asked. “The alternatives are worse, Kaelyn, much worse.”
“I … I won’t let it come to that,” I insisted. “I refuse to resort to weapons! I will stop this before it goes too far.”
“How?” Zawne asked. “We can’t even leave our living quarters! We still don’t know who’s in charge of VBione Corp. We can’t even catch the elusive Gurnot who’s been torching our residences. There are almost no retreats left in Surrvul or Shondur for the wealthy to take vacations.” Zawne snarled and furrowed his eyebrows in frustration. “It doesn’t even matter. I just want to be with you, Kaelyn. We should be solving this mess together.”
“I know,” I said.
It was weird. As the apocalypse bloomed on the horizon, Zawne and I were finally coming into our own as a couple. The fights were behind us, the secrets, the betrayals. If only we could survive the next week. If only …
A message popped up in the corner of my screen. It was from Raad. While Zawne went on boasting about his love for me, I opened the message and read it.
Kaelyn, triangulated origin of signal. Boss of VBione Corp is Emell—Lordin’s mother. En route to make arrest. Seek ex-queen for answers. Remember the story Mama told us when we were young, about the king and his mistress. Don’t tell anyone. Trust no one.
It took longer than I would have liked to get off the call with Zawne after reading Raad’s message. Zawne kept babbling on about our union and our future together, which was sweet, but I had priorities. I had a mystery to solve. A whole new set of clues and misshaped puzzle pieces had fallen into my lap.
I sent a discreet message to the ex-queen, requesting a secret meeting in the evening, somewhere on VondRust grounds. I would have to be sneaky to get out of my quarantine and past the Protectors. I figured if I could do that, then I could sneak into Zawne’s private apartment and spend the night with him, feel his strong, calloused hands, full lips, tight abs … Yeah, that was a good idea.
But first I had to get to Shiol. I had to start asking the important questions. Lordin, Emell, VBione Corp, KS3, Nurlie rebels, Gurnots, Surrvul’s greed—was it all connected?
I lay back and closed my eyes. Before I knew it, I was standing in the spatial void with Riedel and Hanchell glittering before me.
“What gives?” I said. I was in no mood to screw around.
“What gives with what?” Riedel asked, his blob of light fluctuating. I had the sense he was being purposely coy.
“Oh,” I said, rubbing my chin sarcastically. “I don’t know. Maybe the fact that because of your recommendations regarding VBione Corp, and against my better judgment, the kingdom is now on the brink of war. Not to mention the thousands of people dying as we speak. All of Geniverd has gone to the dogs in the last twelve hours.”
“Oh,” Riedel said, “that. Yes. We have been watching.”
“So?” I asked. I was on the verge of hysterics. “What’s the deal? How could you not foresee this? Aren’t you omniscient? Or did you know beforehand? Are you behind VBione Corp? Are you friends with Emell?” I sucked in a deep breath, looked between their flashing masses. “What gives?”
“Well,” Hanchell said, “we can see the future, but not so well. Our capabilities are restricted to somewhere between twelve and twenty-four hours. We had no idea humanity would break out in disease or conflict. In fact, the whole reason we ruled in favor of VBione Corp was because one of our Min convinced us it was the smart move for Geniverd. She told us that by siding with VBione Corp, more potent and effective medicines would be put into mass production. She showed us convincing evidence, and we passed the order along to you. We take full responsibility for the poor recommendation. That was our bad.”
“Your bad?” I was furious! The Crown of Crowns was not supposed to make mistakes.
“Let us remind you,” Riedel said, “at the end of the day, our recommendations are just that: recommendations. We picked you as queen because of your wise mind and questioning heart. Had you felt strongly enough to disagree with our suggestion, it was your decision to make.”
“Now you tell me,” I said sourly. I felt deflated, as if the Crown of Crowns had just smooshed the air out of me. My decision to make? They were trying to blame the entire mess on me, say everything was my fault because I didn’t listen to my gut! The Crown of Crowns was acting like a couple of cowards!
“We do apologize,” Hanchell said. “And we wish we could fix it. However, we are unable to directly interfere with humanity. We have our Min working to keep the balance, but we oversee everything from the spirit dimension. The future of Geniverd is in your hands, Queen Kaelyn. There’s nothing we can do.”
“You’re saying I’m on my own?” I asked.
“You have all the resources available to a queen,” Hanchell said chipperly.
“But I need your help! Can you at least tell me why Emell has done all this? And who was the Min who gave you the suggestion to side with VBione Corp? Was it Lordin? If you could at least fill in some of the blanks, it would make it easier for me to save the world from my quarantined apartment.”
Hanchell and Riedel both fizzled strangely. I thought they were uncomfortable, which was odd considering they were thousands of years old and had seen this sort of thing before, war and death and disease.
“We cannot divulge information about our Min,” Hanchell said. She at least sounded sad about it. “We do want to help you, Queen Kaelyn, but we cannot give up the secrets of the Min to a human. Our bond is sacred and may not be broken. However, we can tell you that Emell is currently being taken into custody by your brother. She is the head of VBione Corp, and she is very angry at the seat of power and seeks vengeance. As for the Nurlie conflict and the virus, it’s almost too late. Without the distribution of a full cure in the next thirty-six hours, the world will be consumed by disease.”
“Great,” I said, all hope sucked out of me. “The world is doomed, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“No,” Riedel said, “not doomed. The world will not end; it will merely regrow, like a forest burned to the ground that takes a long time to grow back. Humanity will flourish once again.”
“But four billion lives will be lost!” I screamed. “I can’t have that. I must save my people. I must protect the six clans!”
“I have an idea,” Hanchell said, her gaseous light brightening to a fantastic hue of yellow. “What about your friend Roki? He’s a good Min. We may not be able to give you information, but he can. I suggest you seek out Roki. He may be your only hope.”
The Crown of Crowns had proved more useless than I could have possibly imagined. I supposed they didn’t care. I couldn’t blame them. If ninety-five percent of humanity were wiped out, they would just watch and wait while society regrew and restructured itself. We were nothing to them, a kingdom of ants who could rebuild if our nest was destroyed. Time was irrelevant to such beings. Five hundred years went by in the blink of an eye.
I woke from my nap supremely exhausted, eyes red and bleary. I sat up and checked the news on my visin. Twenty thousand more deaths around the globe. It was already more death than anyone in my generation had seen. It was too much, too devastating. I had to stop it. But that meant …
Roki.
What had the Crown of Crowns meant when they told me he was a good Min? What did that mean to them? So long as Roki did his job in Geniverd for them, he could be considered good. But I knew better. Roki was an evil womanizer. Yet lives were at stake. The world was at stake. It looked like I was going to have to swallow my pride and call out to him. I just had to promise myself it would be strictly business. Then, after we saved the world, I wouldn’t speak with him anymore. I also had to promise myself that when I saw him again in the flesh, I would refrain from getting emotional. No matter how badly I wanted to, I could not touch him. Not even a friendly hug!
I got off the couch and stretched, almost too exhausted to think. It was a quarter past seven, the time sifting away from me like grains of sand. Only thirty-four hours left to free the world from disease.
I checked my messages while pacing in a circle, trying to get my energy back. Raad had left a message saying he was escorting Emell to the security compound outside NordHaven but that she insisted she was guilty of no wrongdoing. As if to spite her arrest, VBione Corp had finally issued antivirals that could slow down the effects of KS3, though they claimed the full cure was still in development.
There was a message from Torio saying the delegation to Nurlie had been involved in a fist fight, and another message five minutes later saying that war between the island and the mainland was now imminent.
Nnati had left messages asking to call him back; so had Tissa. But they didn’t have information relating to the salvation of Geniverd. They just wanted to make sure I was okay.
“Sorry, guys,” I said to myself. “We’ll have to catch up later. I’ve got to save the world.”
Then I saw my final message. It was from the ex-queen. She had agreed to meet me in a secluded corner of VondRust’s southern gardens at eight o’clock, in forty-five minutes. I scrambled to find a disguise and get ready, snuck from my room, and slipped through the halls of my mansion, out into the heat of the night, then farther into the garden.
Under different circumstances, the garden meeting with Zawne’s mama, the ex-queen, would have been pleasant. Under the moonlight, the flowers appeared moist, the strong scent of jasmine and hyacinth filling my nostrils, the beautiful twilight of the atmospheric bubble around VondRust painting the night in deep blacks and blues, like a fairy-tale garden. But as it was, the meeting was grim.
The Queen Emerita emerged from the shadows, wearing a black robe, her face covered by a thick scarf. I myself wore a gardener’s outfit with my hair hidden beneath a cap.
“Good evening, daughter-in-law. What can I do for you in the midst of this unfolding tragedy? You clearly didn’t bring me here to talk about the flowers.”
“Sadly not,” I said. It sucked, because I would have preferred to welcome the ex-queen back home under better circumstances, with a grand feast and much wine and laughter. “I asked you here because the kingdom is under siege, and I have a feeling you’re familiar with the attacker.”
“Is that so?” She came close to me, and I felt right away how warm a woman she was, kind and gentle. “Tell me, child,” she whispered. “Tell me of this attacker. I trust you took a nap today.”
It was funny. We both knew of the Crown of Crowns yet were sworn to secrecy, even with each other. I had to choose my words carefully. “I did have a nap, but it was not useful. I woke up more confused than ever.”
“That may happen from time to time,” she said with a sad smile.
I paused, wondering how to bring up Emell. I thought of Raad’s message, him reminding me of the story Mama used to tell. I was sure Emell was the mistress in the story and that the king was the King Emeritus, Mama the Gaard-Ma in the scenario. I just came out with it.
“I heard a story once,” I said. “In the story was a mistress of pale skin and light eyes. She had the king’s ear, and the king of the time was very greedy for the land of Gaard. Gaard-Ma beseeched the mistress for her aid but was shunned. As a result, Gaard-Ma started a rumor that eventually drove the mistress to be condemned and banished to the farthest corner of Gaard. I’ve recently discovered who these players were, their true identities.”
The ex-queen smiled at me. “You’re a clever girl. It’s easy to see why my son fell for you. To answer your question, yes, I was reigning queen during this debacle. And yes, your mama was Gaard-Ma. And Lordin’s mother was the banished mistress. Imagine my surprise when Lordin began to gain fame throughout the kingdom. I couldn’t believe it when she ascended all the way to Zawne’s bedchamber. He never did know the truth of her mother, and the king and I kept our mouths shut.”
She regarded me curiously. “But considering the severity of the current plague and turmoil, why bring this to me now?”
“Because Emell is the owner of VBione Corp,” I said. “Raad has arrested her on suspicion of genocide. I am merely trying to determine how involved she is in everything. I’m trying to find a motive. I also need to know if Lordin is involved. As I’m sure you know …” I had to remind myself to choose my words carefully. “She’s dead, but not forgotten.”
“Oh, I see.” The ex-queen nodded, her face pinched in a contemplative expression. “That is troubling.”
“It would help if you could explain what happened,” I said. “My brother suspects this disaster was premeditated. If I can find motive, perhaps I can stop it.”
“It was twenty-five years ago,” she said, “but I will do my best to recall everything clearly.”
She took a deep breath and told me the story.
“Emell was always a vindictive woman. She cared only for power, and the young king was drawn to her because of this. They wanted to rule the kingdom with an iron fist. The whole reason the king sought extra land from the Gaard farmers was to build a lavish estate for Emell, his whimsical mistress. Why do you think Emell refused to help Mama with her request to stop the land acquisition? Anyway, after the rumor began to circulate, the king was distraught. He held meetings with his councillors to try to fix it, but there was no way around Emell’s banishment. It was the only way to save face with the other clan leaders, lest they try to oust him as king. He bid Emell farewell with a heavy heart, sending her to the frigid north of the continent, where she stayed.
“Yet Emell vowed to get her revenge against the Crown. Before she left, she cursed us. Emell was mad with hatred for the king, hatred for me, hatred for Gaard-Ma. She said, ‘Your kingdom will collapse one day. Gaard-Ma will choke on her slanderous tongue. The king and queen will suffer horrible loss. And as for the kingdom …’ Emell cackled sickly, the Protectors dragging her from the palace. ‘The kingdom will burn, and the people will vomit and die in the streets. I vow this with my life!’”
The ex-queen sighed. “I neve
r took the curse seriously. Even with this virus sweeping the world, I never imagined Emell could be responsible. But you say it’s true, daughter queen?”
“Sadly, yes.” I had never heard that part of the story. I had never considered Lordin’s mother to be a corrupt and jealous woman, cast aside and hungry for vengeance against the entire world. I was wondering about something now … something I had wanted to know for a long time.
I asked, “Do you think it was Emell who poisoned Mama?”
Her face turned glum, and she put her arm around me. “I am sorry for your mama’s death,” she said. “Gaard-Ma was a good woman, a good friend.” She bit her lip, deep emotion moistening her eyes. “As for Emell … it is possible she was involved. Perhaps she poisoned her. Perhaps Emell has been plotting the destruction of Gaard and the rest of the world for the past twenty-five years.”
I gasped, staggered backward through the grass. “Which could mean …”
“Yes,” the Queen Emerita said. “It could mean Lordin has been helping her since day one. With Lordin’s death …”
She couldn’t say it, but I knew what the ex-queen was thinking. She wanted to imply that with Lordin’s transformation into a Min, Lordin would have ultimate power throughout Geniverd. She’d be able to pull strings, push the pieces where she wanted, maybe even get Zawne and me elevated to the throne. That was when I remembered Hagan and her mannerisms, her confidence. In a split second, I knew it had been Lordin inside Hagan’s body, controlling her, securing the deal for VBione Corp. Yet how could Emell interact with Hagan-Lordin without knowing the Great Secret? Could it be Lordin was helping her mother from beyond the grave, using the cover of a businesswoman from Gaard?
It suddenly felt like I was in the center of a great conspiracy, a family rivalry that had trickled down through the years and left me to suffer in its fallout. It wasn’t fair. It didn’t make sense. Lordin had been such a good person in her life, so noble. Could that have been the plan all along? Could Emell have twisted Lordin and made her impure?
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