“You’d better hope not, because if I do, I’ll be coming for you, and your sister.”
Kate kept her attention on Angelica’s position, but she also started paying attention to the layout of the maze now, trying to learn its twists and turns as she went. Any maze that was designed for half-drunk nobles couldn’t be that hard to navigate. There would be a pattern to it.
She started to make her way through it, slowly at first, then at something close to a run. Because she was running, Kate barely had time to duck as her foot caught a twig, letting loose another that had been bent back, a dart of some kind jammed into a fork in it. Kate wasn’t sure what kind of substance would be on the dart, but she had no doubt that it would be something deadly.
“Kate?” Angelica called out. “Are you still there? Are you still breathing?”
How many more traps might there be like that? Every moment that Angelica managed to stay out of sight was a moment in which she might place another simple trap in Kate’s way. Kate had had enough.
The thing about a maze like this was that it was only a problem when you were at ground level. Picking a sturdy-looking hedge, Kate started to climb.
It wasn’t easy. Hedges were harder to climb than trees, and Kate no longer had the benefit of the supreme strength and agility she’d once had. Instead, she had to scramble up slowly, relying on her light weight and speed to let her reach the top.
When she did, she saw Angelica’s head bobbing below her, just a few rows of hedges away. Kate ran then, balancing on the hedge she stood on it like a tightrope, daring a jump across the brief gap between two and cursing as her leg sank into the softness of the foliage. She managed to catch her balance, barely, and hopped down onto the other side, rounding a corner as Angelica was turning to run.
“There’s a dead end that way,” Kate called out, advancing on her with her sword level. “Might as well turn and face me, die with some honor.”
“You’re going to kill me?” Angelica asked, and then threw a knife clumsily without pausing.
Kate was already swaying out of the way. “I can see you decide to make every move,” she said. “I know what you’re going to do as soon as you do. Go on, reach for another knife. Give me an excuse.”
“If you know all that, then you’ll know that I’m not going to,” Angelica said with a faint smirk. “You wouldn’t kill me in cold blood. You wouldn’t murder me. Your sister would be angry if you did.”
“My sister would thank me for getting rid of you,” Kate said, but the problem was that Angelica had a point. Sophia wouldn’t want her killed like this, with no reason for it. She wouldn’t want that blood on Kate’s hands.
A part of Kate wanted to do it anyway. She was the one who did what needed to be done. She was the one who could bathe in the blood of the world if she had to do it to keep her family safe. She kept advancing on Angelica…
…and stopped.
Ultimately, it wasn’t the fact that Sophia wouldn’t want this that stopped her, because Kate doubted that her sister had wanted any of the deaths with Kate’s name to them. It wasn’t the twisting hint of uncertainty that she could see at the back of Angelica’s mind, unsure if Kate would actually do this or not. It certainly wasn’t the thought of how all the nobles of the kingdom would react to the killing of their all too brief ruler.
No, it was the thought of her still unborn niece, who would one day rule over all of this. When she was grown, Kate wanted to be able to look at her and tell her that when they’d taken the kingdom back, they’d been doing the right thing. She wanted to be able to look at her and not have to lie about all she’d done today.
“Looks as though you get to live,” she said, wrenching Angelica’s arm behind her back. “But I wouldn’t put money on it being for long, after the things you’ve done.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Sophia stood at the doors to the royal palace and remembered the first time she’d come there. She’d been so worried that her disguise might not work, that people would find her out, that she would be sent back to the House of the Unclaimed or worse. Now the doors hung in splintered ruins and, in spite of the battle it had taken to get this far, Sophia had only one concern:
Sebastian.
“We have to find him, Sienne,” she said, as she made her way up the steps that led inside. The forest cat stalked along beside her, looking around in every corner as if searching for potential threats.
“You shouldn’t go into the palace yet,” Jan insisted, running up. “We still have pockets of resistance. Let us make sure that everything is safe.”
Sophia shook her head. “There’s no time for that. I have to find Sebastian.”
She hurried on, Jan and a dozen soldiers following in her wake in an effort to make sure that no one could hurt her. Sophia could hear shouts and occasional thuds that suggested there was still fighting going on in the building, but mostly, the hallways of the palace seemed empty.
Sophia made her way down them, trying to work out where the palace would have any cells, or if there was anyone who could help her find the man she loved. She was so intent on finding Sebastian that she almost walked straight into the middle of a fight, a knot of royal soldiers battling hand to hand with a group of her men, swords clashing and blood flowing in the confined space of the corridor while a cluster of servants and nobles found themselves trapped further down, unable to get past because of the violence in front of them.
A soldier ran at Sophia and Sienne moved to intercept him, claws swiping. Jan grabbed her shoulder to pull her back, while the others started to run past her, ready to join the fight.
“No,” Sophia said. “Stop this. Stop this!” She sent the words out with a pulse of her power even as she shouted them, the sound and the magic rippling out together over the combatants. Almost to her surprise, they stopped, looking at her, the brief lull in the battle shockingly quiet after the sounds before.
“There has been enough violence,” Sophia said. She looked over to the royal soldiers, looking them in the eye one by one. “Ashton has fallen. Your palace has fallen. Right now, you’re continuing to fight because you think it will be some brave stand, but all that means is that you die. There has been enough killing for one day. Put down your weapons and I promise you that you will not be harmed.”
For a moment, Sophia wondered if it would be enough. Perhaps the men there wouldn’t trust what she had to say, or perhaps they truly believed in the current rulers so much that they were prepared to die for them. Slowly, though, one by one, the men started to put down their weapons, placing them carefully on the ground or letting them clatter down.
Sophia walked through the fight to the spot where the servants and the nobles were standing, looking just as scared as they had a few moments ago. Perhaps they feared what might happen to them in the aftermath of the violence, or perhaps long experience had taught them better than to trust rulers.
“You’re safe now,” Sophia assured them. “My men are going to take you to a room where you can keep out of the fighting until everything settles down in the city. First, though, do any of you know where Prince Sebastian is? I think his brother took him. I need to find him.”
She tried to keep some of the desperation she felt out of her voice. She didn’t want people to know quite how much she needed to find Sebastian, or perhaps she didn’t want to tell it to a world that had already placed so many obstacles in their way.
She searched the minds of the people around her, trying to find answers. What she saw there made her recoil.
“They’re going to execute him?” she demanded, picking a servant whose thoughts showed it most strongly.
“Queen Angelica ordered it,” the man said. “She said that he murdered his mother.”
Sophia didn’t believe that for an instant. There were things that Sebastian simply wasn’t capable of, and killing a member of his family was one of them. She could, however, believe that Angelica would make something up to have an excuse to get rid of som
eone.
“Where did they take him?” she demanded. She had to get to him before it was too late. Fighting or no fighting, the biggest danger right then was that she might not be there in time to protect Sebastian. “Where?”
The servant pointed. “There’s a courtyard…”
Sophia was already running in the direction he’d pointed, an image of it fixed in her mind alongside her determination to get there before the worst happened. It didn’t matter now that there was still fighting in the palace, or that the soldiers with her were having to run to keep up. All that mattered was getting there in time.
She reached the courtyard, saw the headsman’s block, saw it empty.
Was she too late? Looking around the courtyard, Sophia could see signs of violence. A man in an executioner’s mask lay dead, and there was blood on the gallows, but was that from whatever fight had killed him, or had it come from Sebastian’s execution? The thought made Sophia’s heart tighten in her chest. There was no body, though, no proof that Sebastian was actually dead, and Sophia didn’t know whether to hope or to be afraid because of that absence.
“Find him,” she ordered. “Whatever it takes, find Sebastian. I have to know if he’s okay.”
The soldiers ran off, scattering to do what Sophia had asked. What if they couldn’t find him, though? She couldn’t imagine facing all of this without Sebastian there. She’d crossed the sea, invaded a kingdom to be able to save him. All that would be like ashes if it turned out that she had arrived too late.
“Your majesty,” a soldier said, running up, and for one brief moment Sophia dared to hope that it would be news of Sebastian. “Lord Cranston wants permission to move out into the city to deal with any soldiers who try to regroup.”
“Tell him…” Sophia couldn’t think right then; couldn’t begin to concentrate on anything until she had an answer about Sebastian’s fate. “Tell him to do what he thinks is best.”
She thought that there might be a moment of peace then in which to simply wait, but there was already another runner entering the courtyard, and another.
“Your majesty, where should we put all the nobles and servants we find in outlying rooms?”
“Your majesty, several of the men are trying to open the treasury, but it remains locked.”
“We have reports of people wandering out into the streets. We don’t know if it’s a riot, or a group of disguised soldiers, or something else.”
Sophia shook her head. “I can’t deal with all of this. Not now.”
“And yet you have to, because you are the queen.”
Sophia looked up to see Lucas approaching. He had blood on his normally immaculate clothing, but at least he appeared unharmed.
I need to focus on Sebastian, Sophia sent to him.
You have sent out people to find him, Lucas sent back, you can do no more. Now, though, your people need you.
I can’t just—
You can, Lucas insisted. Be their queen, sister.
Sophia paused. She knew her brother was right, but that didn’t make it easy. She couldn’t just push Sebastian from her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried. Lucas was right, though, she needed to do this.
“Kate has captured Angelica,” Lucas said aloud. “She was trying to escape, disguised as a servant. She murdered the servant to try to make us think she was dead.”
“Lock her in a room somewhere for now,” Sophia said. “I’ll work out what to do with her when there’s more time.”
She turned to the three messengers who had come to her. “We don’t have enough people at the moment to watch every small room,” she said to the first. “Escort them to the main hall or Hans’s people in the gardens, so that we can contain them until the palace is fully secured. Make sure they’re well cared for.”
She turned to the second. “We don’t need to worry about the treasury right now. There will be keys to it, but if it’s secure, that probably means no one is going to loot it.”
With the third, she considered a moment longer, but only a moment. “If people are out on the streets, it’s because they don’t understand what is happening. Keep telling them what is going on, and see if you can catch up to the man I sent to Lord Cranston. Tell him to leave any soldiers who want to retreat. They’ll stop fighting as soon as they realize that this is done.”
The messengers ran off, and Lucas smiled. “You see,” he said, “you can do this. Although I suspect that there are a dozen more servants waiting with new problems.”
“Then I’ll deal with them,” Sophia assured him.
She went out to meet them, moving out into the palace with Lucas on one side and Sienne on the other. Almost as soon as she did so, she paused, staring.
Sebastian was there.
He was walking toward her, dressed simply, and looking as though he’d been through more than Sophia could imagine. He had blood on him, and a haunted look in his eyes that told of things that had happened that Sophia probably wouldn’t want to hear. Even so, as he saw her, his face brightened with hope.
“Sophia?”
He ran to her, and Sophia went to meet him, throwing her arms around him as he swept her up in a kiss that seemed to have the full weight of all the time they’d spent apart behind it.
“I thought they’d killed you,” Sophia whispered, close enough that it seemed as though it was just the two of them there.
“They were going to,” Sebastian said. “Your attack distracted them, and then a servant saved me…”
There seemed to be more to it than that, but Sebastian didn’t say it, and Sophia didn’t press him on it. Whatever the dark look was in his eyes, she wanted to simply make it vanish.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you too,” Sebastian replied. “Whatever else has happened, thinking about you has gotten me through it. I tried so hard to get to you.”
Sophia stepped back, looking at him. It was hard to believe that Sebastian was really there with her; was really hers again. She’d fought for him. She’d invaded a kingdom for him, and now here he was.
“I’m never going to let you go again,” Sebastian promised. “I’m going to be there by your side, whatever happens.”
Sophia took his hand in hers. She’d needed to hear that more than she knew. More than that, she would need him by her side in the days to come, because conquering this kingdom was one thing, but she suspected that ruling it would be far more tricky.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Kate made her way through the palace, dragging Angelica with her. The noblewoman didn’t resist, perhaps because she’d guessed all the things that Kate might do if Angelica gave her any kind of excuse. The palace was almost as quiet, and probably for many of the same reasons: the presence of the army imposed a kind of order on it, even as it made it impossible for the normal business of the day to continue.
“This way,” Kate said, sensing her sister’s presence ahead.
“The great hall,” Angelica said beside her. “What a perfect spot for a usurper. I wonder, will she be a tyrant too?”
“Be quiet,” Kate snapped, pulling Angelica into a room that looked large enough that they could have used it for a drill square if they’d wanted to. There were probably enough soldiers in there for that, but there were also plenty of others: nobles, servants, people who looked like merchants or messengers.
Sophia sat at the heart of it all on a throne, with Sebastian beside her. Lucas was a little way away, and so were their cousins, who all seemed to have come through the battle in one piece, save for a wound on Ulf’s temple that he had a cloth pressed to, and a bandage wrapped around Hans’s leg.
“Sophia,” Kate called out, and the crowds parted for her, making room as Kate came through them. “I caught her.”
Sophia smiled at that. “I knew you would.”
“So what now?” Angelica demanded beside Kate. “Are you going to butcher me in front of everyone to prove your cruelty? Are you going to have that cat of yours eat me?”
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Sophia shrugged. Kate hadn’t expected that. She’d expected her sister to already be there, ready to drive a knife into her enemy. But maybe Kate was just thinking of what she would do.
“Believe it or not, Angelica,” Sophia said, “you’re not my biggest concern right now. Frig, Ulf, can you make sure that the former queen doesn’t go anywhere? I’ll get around to her when I’ve dealt with more important things.”
Kate could feel Angelica fuming at that, but it wasn’t exactly as if she could fight as the twins pulled her to one side. She suspected that was part of the point, a small revenge on Sophia’s part.
“What’s more important than seeing her dead?” Kate asked.
“Practically everything,” Sophia said. “There are a thousand and one things to deal with now that the battle’s done. You, for one thing.”
“Me?” Kate said with a frown.
“We put together an invasion force,” Sophia said, “but now I need someone who can organize a real army and run it for me. There’s no one I trust to do that more than you, Kate. I want to make you the Commander of the Royal Army.”
“Me?” Kate said, pausing in shock, certain it had to be some kind of joke. “But I’m—”
“You’re the best soldier I know,” Sophia said, “and we both know you’d be wonderful at it.”
Kate shook her head. “There are other people who deserve it more. Hans is a commander. Lord Cranston…”
“They both agree with me that you should be the one to do this,” Sophia said with a smile. “I haven’t forgotten all the things you’ve done to get us here, Kate. Just say yes.”
“Yes,” Kate said, not knowing what else to say. “But… before I have to jump into all of the things that need doing here, before I actually have to be the commander, can I go take care of a couple of things? I… I’ll need some men.”
“What kind of things?” Sophia asked.
Kate let her see, sending the thoughts of everything she needed to do across to her sister.
“There are things I haven’t forgotten either.”