The City of Veils

by S. Usher Evans

  "Who could refuse an invite from our illustrious princess?" Beswick replied. "Though I'm surprised she isn't here to greet me. She was so insistent on my presence."

  "We've sent a scout to search for her," Garwood said. "Please, have some wine."

  "Yes, have some wine, you murdering traitor," I said.

  I took a long breath and blew it out through my mouth. I would get one shot at this, and if I failed, it would be more trouble than just losing my shot at Beswick. There was an annoyingly Felix-like voice in the back of my mind, asking me if this was truly worth risking my crown and my kingdom.

  To which I answered: Absolutely.

  Chapter 44

  I opened the door slowly, walking out into the light. Vernice saw me first, releasing a blood-curdling scream and throwing her hand over her mouth. Knowing I had precious seconds before the guards came running in from outside, I cartwheeled over the table and slammed the door shut, turning the lock just as bodies hit the other side of it.

  "W-who are you!" Vernice cried.

  As much as I wanted to punch her lights out, I grabbed the bag of knockout powder from my belt and flung it at her face. She coughed for a moment, the powder pluming around her head. Then she fell to her knees, and to the ground. Zuriel and Melwin rushed to her side and inhaled the powder, falling on top of her in an ungraceful heap.

  "Enough!" Garwood bellowed, walking forward with a vase in his hand.

  I replied with my crossbow aimed at his face. Garwood dropped the vase and stepped back, joining the others against the wall.

  "Back again, are we?" Beswick asked. He was the only one in the room who didn't look scared out of his mind. "I'm sorry to say I don't have your contracts on my person. I seem to have, ah, misplaced them."

  Garwood gave me a look.

  "I know," I replied, lowering my voice. "What did you do to them?"

  "Oh, Titta?" He shrugged. "Not your concern."

  I took two steps toward him, snarling. "You son of a bitch. I was the one who took your contracts, not them. They had nothing to do with it."

  "But they allowed you access," he said. "I can't have that."

  I opened my mouth, but the door splintered then flew open. Felix walked into the room, back in his soldier's uniform, although without the captain's pin. Joella, Riya, and Zathan filtered in after him, grabbing the cowering and unconscious Councilors and pulling them from the room. Then, it was just Felix, Beswick, and me.

  "Please help me," Beswick cried, wearing a look of fear. "This crazy woman is trying to kill me."

  "Put the crossbow on the ground," Felix said, pointing his sword at me. "And we can resolve this amicably."

  "There's only one way we resolve this," I replied, tilting my crossbow toward the ceiling.

  "Good—"

  I pulled the trigger, sending an arrow flying to the ceiling and the rope holding the crystal chandelier. I easily stepped back as it came crashing down on top of the table, the lit candles sparking the wine-soaked tablecloth into flames.

  Felix jumped over the table, landing two feet away from me. I stepped back, unsheathing my sword and rushing toward him. He was slow with his weapon, but it was still heavy, and my arms shook with the weight. But this wasn't the time to play nicely.

  With a cry, I pulled his sword to the other side then shot out my foot to connect with his midsection. He bent forward, and I clasped my hands together to come down hard on the base of his skull. He fell forward with a thump, and stayed there.

  A lump of emotion swelled in my throat, but I stuffed it down, turning back to Beswick.

  I picked up my crossbow from the floor and grabbed Beswick by the shirt, tossing him toward the open door and pressing the tip of my arrow to his back.

  "Start walking."

  We didn't have much time. Surely, Riya and the rest had seen the open door to the secret passage. But the dining room table was now burning, and soon the fire would spread. If I was lucky, the guards would focus on it instead of me. After all, what did they care about a common criminal?

  We walked through the passage, his hands in the air as he stumbled forward in the darkness. We walked out into the stable, and instead of continuing, I shoved him inside an empty stable I had ready for him. There, I'd stashed a chair and some rope.

  "Sure you want to stop?" he asked as I tied his arms and legs together. "The captain won't be out for long, and soon—"

  "He's no longer captain," I replied. "Keep up with the latest political intrigue, Beswick. He's nothing more than a common soldier."

  He shrugged, noticing that his hands were cuffed together. "So now, little girl, you have me. What shall you do with me?"

  "Oh, I have big plans for you," I said with a low chuckle.

  "You do? Well, I daresay you'll have some trouble. If it's not already been made clear to you I own this city. I own that Council and everyone in that castle."

  "You don't own the princess," I said.

  "Oh, I will. Eventually, she'll come to me with a favor. And I, of course, will grant it. I've already gotten her approval, you see, by her inviting me to her table for her coronation dinner. Only the most important to her are allowed at such an event."

  I began to laugh. "So sure of yourself, are you? Did it ever occur to you that she might have planned to invite you to separate you from your guards so I might be able to take you?"

  "You got lucky, little one. The princess wouldn't be caught dead cavorting with a criminal such as yourself."

  I spun and yanked my mask off. "Wanna bet?"

  The pure shock on his face was quite possibly the most delicious thing I'd ever seen. "That's…not possible."

  "Oh, isn't it?" I said, leaning against the box. "I've been here, Beswick, protecting my city against scum like you. And now I find out you've infiltrated the entire Council? I thought Garwood would see reason, but he's just as corrupt. So now I have to clean house. Starting with you." I pulled my crossbow and aimed it at his chest. "See, it's no longer about merely trying to dismantle your empire. For me, it'll be enough to drag your lifeless corpse into the town square for everyone to see it rotting in the summer sun. Maybe I'll stick it next to me tomorrow at my coronation, just to prove a point."

  Beswick's eyes widened as I walked closer to him.

  A loud explosion echoed somewhere in the distance, the force rattling the windowpanes.

  "What did you do?" I said, running to the window. A plume of smoke was winding toward the sky from down by the docks. I stepped back. Perhaps it was an accident; I'd investigate later. But then there was another, and another—black orbs coming from the water. Cannon balls or…something worse.

  "What's going on?" Beswick asked.

  "Somebody's attacking the city," I said, grabbing my mask and putting it back on. "You stay here, I'm going to figure out what the hell is going on. Unless you want to save me a trip and enlighten me."

  He shrugged, a nervous smile on his face. "For once, Your Highness, I had nothing to do with this."

  I raced out of the stables, around the front of the castle, and out into the city. Smoke billowed from buildings down by the shore, and that was as much as I needed to see before I took the front steps two at a time. Explosions sounded every few moments, people screamed, children cried, and the world shook as if it were ending.

  I kept my pace toward the docks; there, at least, I'd be able to see who was shooting at us. It had to be coming from the bay, though I wasn't sure what navy would have such firepower. Ours certainly didn't…unless there was something Godfryd wasn't telling me.

  As I dodged people, animals, and other things in my way, I ran through a thousand scenarios for why this could be occurring—especially on the eve of my coronation. A coup, perhaps? Beswick?

  No. I slowed as I came across the remnants of a building, completely destroyed. But it hadn't just imploded, something had blasted it from the inside, sending debris across an entire city block.

  I recognized the two buildings beside it, and my stom
ach turned over in sickness. It was Tasha's butchery. I stood in front of it for a moment, glancing around for the small family who might not have been in there. But I knew they had been, and they were currently buried under the rubble.

  Turning away, I swallowed the bile threatening to come up. There was no way anyone from Forcadel could've wreaked this kind of havoc. Which meant we were being invaded. I couldn't imagine that the Niemenians would've done this; not with the king's brother and sister in my castle. But perhaps Luard had been a ruse. Or Melwin had been.

  A whistling sound got my attention, and at the last moment, I dove away from a building just as a black ball crashed through the top. I lifted my head, confused, and then the orange plume exploded outward, shattering the glass. I only barely managed to take cover under an abandoned shop cart.

  "What the hell is going on?"

  I left the destroyed building and continued running toward the docks. Finally, sweat dripping down my neck, I arrived at the docks, where I found a bay full of ships. That, of course, was nothing new, but these ships all bore…

  A Severian flag.

  "Are you serious?" I cried then ducked for cover as another volley of cannonballs exploded from the ships, flying into the city, leaving plumes of dust in their wake and more screaming.

  I spun back around, searching the bay for any with a Forcadel flag, but…dread slipped down my back. Godfryd had been telling me for weeks that our naval posture left us open to attack. Maybe this was what she'd been warning me about.

  The lead ship fired another missile, and then three more fired after it. Then five more behind it. There was an entire navy in my bay, firing on my city, and I had no idea how to stop them. I was one girl with one sword; they were an armada.

  No. I was a queen. And I may not have had an army, but I had my captain and my general back at the castle. We would be able to negotiate the cessation of hostilities, at least. Perhaps figure out why the hell the Severians thought they should open fire on our citizens.

  So with one last look at the bay, I turned and raced back toward my castle.

  The front of the castle was void of any guards, but I told myself it was because Felix had ordered them to help the citizenry, not because they'd abandoned their posts. I took the steps two-by-two, pulling my mask off. There might be questions, but I didn't care. Our country was under attack and we had a lot more issues than whether I was a vigilante princess.

  Finally, the throne room was dead ahead of me, and I just prayed that was where my Council was, and that they wouldn't be too angry with me about Beswick. But again, we were under attack. There were more important things to worry about. And Felix…well I hadn't hit him that hard.

  I threw open the doors and ran into the throne room, glad to see a crowd assembled.

  "I'm here, I…"

  My feet skidded on the tile floor as the rest of me froze in shock. My entire court was on their knees, swords pressed to their necks. Felix, Kat—even the Council. Felix's guards were there, Joella and Riya wearing twin looks of fury. Standing over them were new guards in royal clothing, the ones I'd seen since Felix had resigned.

  "Well, so glad of you to join us again, Brynn."

  And sitting on my throne, looking for all the world as if she owned it, was Ilara.

  Chapter 45

  I stared at her for a few moments, still trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing.

  "Please, call off the bombs," Ilara said, picking up the goblet and sipping from it. "I have my prize, and as long as she cooperates, there's no need to continue killing my new subjects."

  "Y-your new subjects?" I spat out.

  "Yes, one must start a reign off on a good foot," Ilara said. One of her men brushed past me, and a few moments later, I heard the telltale sound of another explosion.

  "Calm yourself," she said as I spun around. "It's merely a flare. A signal to my ships to cease their attacks. That the city is mine."

  "The city isn't yours," I said, one hand on my sword.

  "Brynna, love, let's not be hasty," she said, shaking her head as two guards at her side moved toward me. "I know you're quite a capable fighter, but you can't take down an entire army. That's why you came running back here, hm? Looking for guidance from your little captain?"

  I glanced at Felix for a moment then straightened my shoulders. "My navy will come back."

  "And they'll encounter a hostile defense," she said with a smile. "The position in the bay is quite good to fend off any external forces, as you well know. You just have to get inside the bay itself, take over the two towers at the mouth."

  The fact that I'd been officially out-maneuvered was starting to dawn on me, but I didn't give in to it. There had to be something I hadn't thought of. I just needed to stall.

  "What is that weapon you're using?" I said. "The one blowing up my city?"

  "My city, darling. They're exquisite, aren't they? We get the explosive ore from the sands of Severia. I think they make cannons just a little more potent." She shivered, as if the idea were delicious to her.

  "I don't understand. What the hell are you doing?"

  "I'm…taking over your country," she said, with a small laugh. "I know you've been a bit distracted lately, Brynn, what with screwing your captain and playing at being a ridiculous vigilante. But while you wasted your time focusing on a small fish like Beswick, you missed the bigger picture."

  "Kind of hard to see the big picture when it came to my door begging for help," I said evenly.

  "Oh, I thought you might've figured me out a few times," she said with a smile. "But you're just so easily distractible. A little nudge and you're off on some other wild goose chase. So simple." She put her hand to her mouth and coughed weakly. "And so easily fooled by a poor queen in ill health."

  "Look fine to me now," I muttered. "So it was you who killed my father and brother?"

  "Of course, dear, of course. I'd expected to arrive to find a city in chaos, but instead I found a princess on the throne. One who, according to my sources, has been saving the city from under a mask. I thought I might come as a woman needing help, as that seemed to be the best way to get under your skin." She beamed. "It appears to have worked."

  My face was on fire, but I forced myself to look angry.

  "And now, dear, it's time for you to make your exit," she said, and two bodies practically appeared out of nowhere behind me, grabbing my arms before I could wrestle out of them.

  "We can talk about this," I said, realizing what was happening. "Beswick won't be picking off your glass shipments anymore."

  "Do you think I care about silly old glass, Brynna? They said you were too focused on that criminal, and now I see it for myself." She lowered her head to my level. "I don't care about Beswick, shipments, or any of that. I wanted your kingdom, so I took it. You made it very easy, too."

  I mouthed wordlessly, my heart thumping in my chest.

  "And it was so easy to infiltrate your guard with your captain distracted by his nightly excursions." She tilted her head to Coyle. "And with the help of my good friend Lieutenant Coyle."

  "Traitor," I muttered. If only I'd spent a few moments focusing on him instead of Joella. He wasn't on his knees with the rest, and neither was Lord Zuriel.

  "I made sure to reward them handsomely. See, as your good friend Beswick says, everyone has their price, hm?"

  "And what price did she give you to betray your country?" I asked.

  "That's my business," Coyle said, lifting his chin higher.

  "Oh, don't worry. You didn't get fooled alone. Beswick was easy to manipulate. We begged him for a compromise, and he said he'd bring us into the city to sell our wares and try to pay him back. Such a fool. Didn't even notice all the soldiers I smuggled in with the artisans. Didn't even ask why I had so many young, strapping individuals." She shook her head. "I believe he, like the rest of your city, thought us to be poor, stupid sand-dwelling vermin. Your underestimation was to my benefit, so I thank you very much for it."


  "Please don't do this," I whispered then looked to my Council. To Felix. "At least…don't kill them. Just…take my life instead."

  "My dear, not a single hair will be harmed as long as they swear fealty to me," she said. "And as for you…I have great plans for you."

  The room went dark as a bag fell over my head, followed by a painful blow to the head.

  I woke up in motion. Lights flashed in front of my eyes, and my head swam. Birds chirped somewhere in the distance. I certainly wasn't dead, but I wasn't sure how long that would remain the case.

  "Are you awake?" Felix whispered beside me.

  "Barely," I mumbled, my tongue not working quite yet. "What's happening?"

  "We're being taken somewhere. I don't know where. Forest border, perhaps."

  "Where's Kat?"

  "I'm here." A foot nudged mine. "Brynna, what happened?"

  I wished I could say I didn't know, but I did. I'd been played. I'd put my trust in a kind face and an easy out, and ignored what was right in front of me. I'd been so consumed by Beswick, I'd completely ignored the arrow coming toward my head.

  People were dead because of me. No matter how much I tried to avoid that reality, it was the truth. Had I not sent away our navy, Tasha would still be alive. Countless others would be as well. My kingdom wouldn't be in the hands of some…

  I closed my eyes to the darkness. I couldn't even disparage her in my mind. She'd outsmarted me in every way.

  "It's all right, she hasn't killed you yet," Felix said.

  "Why are you two here?" I asked.

  "We refused to swear loyalty," Felix said.

  "Did she…" I swallowed. "Did she kill anyone else?"

  "No. Everyone except…Coyle is in the dungeons." There was no masking the disgust in his voice. "What she plans to do with them I have no idea."

  "So he's the one who poisoned my family, huh?" I shook my head. "Did you even investigate him?"

  "His hands were clean," he said. "But…he was the first one at Horace's house."