The City of Veils

by S. Usher Evans

  I snorted. "Of course he was."

  "You didn't know he was dirty either," he snapped.

  "Somebody was," I shot back. "And now we're all going to die out here because neither of us could see the forest for the trees."

  "I wouldn't be so sure," Katarine replied calmly. "If she wanted you dead, she would've done it in front of the crowd. To send a message. We're out in the middle of nowhere now. Probably close to the Forcadel border."

  The carriage rolled to a stop, and my body tensed. Despite everything, I was glad to have Felix and Katarine with me.

  "I'm sorry," I whispered. "To both of you."

  "I'm sorry, too," Felix replied as the door opened. Rough hands pulled me out of the carriage, walking me forward and keeping me upright, even as I stumbled over roots. I kept Katarine's voice in my mind, and the hope that if Ilara was going to kill me, she would've done it by now.

  The mask was removed, and I squinted in the brightness. Katarine had been right—this forest was very familiar, and very close to the Forcadel-Kulka border. As much as I could, I canvassed the scene. Ilara was dismounting from a gorgeous cream-colored horse (probably a Severian variety), but the rest of her soldiers remained on their mounts or on foot. Katarine and Felix remained off to the side, flanked by guards.

  "What are we doing out here?" I asked Ilara, who was taking care to pull off white leather riding gloves. "You could've just killed me in the throne room."

  She laughed as she handed her gloves to a nearby warrior. "My darling Brynna, don't be silly. We're friends. Why would I kill you?"

  "Because you took over my kingdom."

  "A kingdom you said you didn't want," she said. "All this time, Coyle told me how you argued with your captain, begging him to let you leave. Let you get out of this horrible burden that was unfairly placed upon you." She shrugged. "So, I'm giving you an out."

  "An…out?"

  She smiled, and damn if I didn't believe she thought she was my friend. "You're not a queen, Brynn. You're a free spirit. Responsible for only yourself. And all you have to do is just…keep walking."

  I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You want me to go?"

  "I'll have your captain and lady certify your death," she said, pointing to them. "You'll be absolutely free to live as you want. Travel to Kulka, or even countries beyond. Become a nomad. Continue protecting innocent citizens from violent crime. Whatever you want, as long as you stay away from Forcadel." She smiled. "That's mine now."

  The little voice inside me, the one that had kept me tethered to Forcadel, even after my father tried to sell me off, was crystal clear.

  "No."

  "Excuse me?"

  "No way in the Mother's name am I leaving you alone in my city," I said, raising my chin higher. "It's not yours, it's mine. I know every inch of it, from the slums to the castle. I've bled for Forcadel. And I'm not going to walk away just because some desert-dwelling scum got the better of me this time."

  "Are you absolutely sure that's the course of action you want to take?" she asked, walking toward me.

  I glanced at Felix, who was beaming, and Katarine, with tears in her eyes, and then looked back at Ilara, my decision final.

  "Yes."

  "Very well."

  Slicing pain shot from my stomach to my brain, and a guttural sound escaped from my lips. I looked down at the knife hilt sticking out of my stomach. My legs quivered and then gave out from under me as blood filled my stomach, bubbling up to my lips in tangy, metallic spit.

  "Brynna!"

  "Calm yourself, Captain," Ilara said, her voice somewhere in the distance as pain took over my consciousness. "I'll give both of you one chance to change your minds. If I have your loyalty, I will give my word that no harm will come to your guard. I assume they'll follow suit once they know their queen is dead and their captain has sworn fealty to me?"

  "There's no—"

  "Ah," Ilara said, raising her hand. "I doubt you'd want everyone under your charge to be strung up in the town square. Dead children make such a horrible sight." She leaned in closer, muttering something else I couldn't hear.

  Felix said nothing, but his face had gone white.

  "And as for you, Lady Katarine, I will need an education on the particular ins and outs of Forcadel. I hear you're the person to do it. If you comply, I will make you my attendant, bestowing upon you all the rights and privileges therein…including my blessing to marry whomever you choose." Her eyes glinted. "And if you refuse, I'll make sure to add that pretty little maid of yours to the long list of the dead."

  She swallowed, saying something I didn't quite catch. My hearing was starting to fade. Slowly, I lifted my head to capture Felix's gaze, burning the memory of his pale, frightened face in my mind.

  I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him to fight the bitch, but couldn't push air out. The disembodied arms holding me let me go, and I fell to my knees then my side. I lay there, something wet dripping out of my mouth as my pulse thudded in my ears.

  Katarine dipped her head once, and then Felix followed.

  I closed my eyes and fell into darkness.

  Chapter 46

  The next few days passed in a blurry, feverish haze. I barely knew whether I was alive or dead, for I was sure that I had passed between worlds. I dreamed of my father and my brother, staring down at me from thrones high above me. I dreamed of Katarine crying rivers so deep that I drowned in them and Felix standing as still as the mountains in the distance.

  There were moments of lucidity, where I could hear Felix's voice softly talking in my ear, but I couldn't force my tongue to work to answer him. Then I fell back into the blackness, plagued by dreams that made no sense, and yet I couldn't tear myself from them.

  I awoke slowly, lethargically, as if I wasn't quite sure if I was waking at all. But the pain in my stomach had been missing from all my other dreams, so I assumed this vision was real. I licked my dry lips, wishing for all the world for a cup of water to fill my parched mouth. If this was living, I would've preferred to be back in my dream world.

  I lifted my hand to check my wound, but found it tethered via a metal shackle to the bed.

  "What the…?" I tugged harder, my brain finally catching up with the rest of me. I was shackled to a bed? Wounded, gravely. Thirsty, too. So my odds of escape were slim.

  The rest of my memory came back to me and I sank back into the bed. I was supposed to be dead. I wished I couldn't remember the scream of horror that had erupted from Katarine's lips, the fury and shock written on Felix's face. I wasn't sure how long it had been, but they surely thought I was dead at this point. And perhaps I still would be.

  There was the possibility that a kind passerby had seen me bleeding out and had seen fit to save me. There was, of course, the much larger chance that someone knew who I was and was holding me for ransom. Boy, would they be surprised when they found out just how much I was worth. Dethroned queen—not even queen. Dethroned princess.

  I heard voices outside and steadied myself for whatever would walk through the door. The flap opened and I actually sighed in relief.

  "Nicolasa?" I croaked. "You saved me?"

  "I was called," she replied, walking over to me. She carried a pail of water, which she dipped a silver ladle into and poured liquid coolness into my mouth. "I'm glad you're still with us."

  "Where am I?" I whispered.

  "In a safe place," she replied, ladling more into my mouth. "Just drink. You've had a rough go of it, but I think you'll survive."

  "Thank you," I said, leaning back now that my mouth wasn't as parched. "For saving my life."

  "Like I said," She pulled out a small vial which she poured into my mouth. It tasted like metal and blood. "I was just called."

  "Oh, Larissa, you are quite welcome."

  My addled brain finally made the connection, and I sank back into my pillow.

  "That will be all," Celia said to the healer. She said nothing as she jumped to her feet and ran from the room. When sh
e was gone, Celia turned back to me, cocking her head to the side and scanning my body with her light green eyes.

  "My, my," she said, taking a seat at my bedside. "You've looked better."

  "I didn't ask you to save me," I said, wincing as the wound in my side protested movement. "And I refuse to remain in your debt, so you might as well kill me."

  She chuckled, leaning back in her chair. "You have such a poor perception of me."

  "Why the handcuffs then?"

  "For your own protection, my dear," she said, running a single, long nail down my cheek. "I know how you like to run. I'd be happy to remove them, once you can be trusted."

  "Trusted to what? I already knew where your camp was."

  "Trusted not to run back to your kingdom half-dead," she said, removing her finger. "You've lost a lot of blood. Nicolasa has performed a miracle here."

  "A miracle I'm sure you'll bill me for."

  Celia sat back, resting her hands behind her head. "I'm glad to see you haven't changed. Still the wide-eyed little girl I found in Forcadel, trying to escape a marriage she didn't want any part of."

  "Cut the crap, Celia. Why did you save me?"

  "Because you're my queen," she said softly. "This bitch on the throne now needs to die. She's been there a week and already everything's in the shitter."

  "A…week?" I'd been out for seven whole days. "And she's already taken over?"

  "More and more of her henchmen arrive from across the great sea. Most of them had infiltrated the city through that summer festival."

  "I knew there were too many Severian merchants," I said.

  "Mm. Your captain, it seems, has sworn fealty to her as has your Council. Her little sea attack seems to have cowed your army. Or, perhaps it's because they struck when your army wasn't around to protect the city."

  My face flushed, a feat considering I felt I had no blood left. "I miscalculated."

  "I told you to think about who might benefit from your distraction," she said, sounding like a disappointed tutor to a misbehaving pupil.

  I closed my eyes, rather than respond.

  "You won't make that mistake again, will you?" It was more a statement than question.

  The silence stretched between us, so I cracked open an eye.

  "Will you?" Celia repeated.

  "Don't see how I can, considering I don't have a kingdom anymore," I replied.

  "Oh, that's not the Larissa I know," she said. "When you got knocked down, you picked yourself back up and went back in for another round."

  I lifted my wrist weakly, letting the shackle speak for itself. "Seem to be stuck to the bed."

  Celia leaned forward with a key in hand and unlocked the band. I rubbed my wrist and tried to sit up, but the wound in my stomach had different ideas.

  "What's the point?" I said softly. "Maybe I should just let her have it."

  "You'd let a foreign queen sit on your family's throne?" Celia asked.

  I shrugged as much as my wound would let me. "Foreign or no, she'd be a better queen to the people of Forcadel than I would be."

  "Are you so sure? Her soldiers fill the streets, kicking rich and poor from their houses as they take over. Half your King's Guard have been imprisoned, and your captain has been sucking up to the new queen to keep the other half safe." She shook her head. "Your people need you."

  "How would I even begin?" I asked helplessly.

  "That, my love, is why you are queen and I am not," Celia said, rising and walking to the door. "But rest assured you have the breadth of my forces at your disposal when you do figure it out."

  I laughed. "Of course. Because I'll owe you another favor and also be queen."

  "Well, I'm not stupid." She lingered in the doorway and tapped her finger against the frame. "But perhaps it irks me to see someone foreign on the Forcadel throne. I'd rather it be the evil I know than the one I don't."

  "Celia, I don't…I have nothing," I whispered.

  "You're alive, aren't you?" she said. "You're still stubborn, aren't you? Once your wound heals, you've still got your fighting skills, don't you?" She shrugged. "If you're capable of being The Veil for three years, I wouldn't bet against you now."

  I didn't have anything to say to that, so I remained quiet.

  "Oh, and one more thing," Celia said, a smile curling onto her face. "Now that you're awake, Jax will be tending to you. I know he'll be exceptionally glad to see you."

  Of course he was. "Arm all healed then?" I asked dryly.

  She just chuckled and closed the flap behind her. But Jax was the least of my worries.

  Celia was right. I had my brain, my body would be healthy soon, and I had my loyalty to my kingdom. Though I didn't know how I'd even begin, I knew one thing:

  I was going to get my kingdom back.