Max glanced at me, sizing up my response before answering. He’d made it clear that he’d seen me with Xander that night at Prey, but I could only guess at whether he knew Xander’s role in the resistance.
“No. Let him in. But only him.”
Claude looked disappointed but did as he was told, leaving to fetch the leader of the revolutionaries.
“How much have you told Xander? How much does he know?” Max asked quickly once we were alone again.
“Nothing. I haven’t told him anything.” I stood up from the sofa, leaving Angelina behind my back as I tried to recall if Xander had ever questioned what I could do. “But he’s the one who explained who we are. Or at least who he believes we are.”
Max’s eyes narrowed as Claude returned, Xander at his side.
I wasn’t certain that I’d ever noticed just how large Xander was until that moment; he very nearly rivaled Claude in height. He was less bulky, perhaps, but still muscular in a leaner, stealthier way. Xander appeared more jungle predator, ready to strike, while Claude bore the presence of a charging bull. Each demanded notice in their own way.
“Guard the door and make sure no one else disturbs us,” Max told Claude, dismissing the scowling guard.
Xander didn’t even speak to Max, barely acknowledged him at all. Instead he came directly to me. He clasped my hand in his, the one that only moments ago, Max had stroked with tender reassurance. “You h J glintwe areave no idea the danger you put yourselves in by leaving, Charlie. We can’t protect you if you won’t let us.”
“She doesn’t need your protection.” Max shoved his way between Xander and me.
Xander laughed derisively. “Why? Are you offering yours? She’d be safer in a nest of vipers. You may as well hand her over to Sabara with the noose around her neck,” he scoffed, surprising me as he berated Max in the Royal tongue.
I took a step back; my world was suddenly reeling. How was it that Xander spoke the language of Royals?
“And you believe she’s safer with you and your band of misfit soldiers? Have you told her who you are? What you used to be?”
Xander cast a quick glance in my direction, as if his words were veiled, their meaning hidden, and I knew in that moment that my secret was still safe. He had no idea that I understood what he was saying. Angelina was the only one in the room who didn’t comprehend. “Damn right she’s safer with us. We have her best interests in mind.”
“Your interests are as selfish as the queen’s. You need a ruler, and you think Charlie fits the bill.”
“She does. She’s the One. And you know it too, or you wouldn’t be here on the queen’s errand.”
Max’s teeth ground together as he took a warning step toward Xander. “You have no idea why I’m here, and neither does the queen.”
Xander hesitated, but only for a moment. “She must know something. Otherwise . . .” His eyes swept over the destruction inside the house. “Otherwise she would have no need for Charlie’s parents.”
I gasped, my hand reaching around my own throat as I staggered backward. I settled down on the sofa, where Angelina sat silently.
“You—you think Queen Sabara has my parents?”
Xander’s eyes grew wide, his anger toward Max momentarily forgotten as he stared at me, finally realizing that I’d understood him. He didn’t ask for an explanation; he just frowned, looking sorry. “I do, Charlie.” This time in Englaise, so there was no room for misinterpretation. “And you may be the only chance they have. But right now, we need to get you out of here.” He shot an angry glare in Max’s direction as he added, “Before she sends someone back for you and your sister as well.”
Suddenly my home had become a trap, and we stayed for only as long as it took me to gather Angelina in my arms and rush through the doorway into the street. Brooklynn was waiting there, along with a small contingent of Xander’s soldiers, and I was again struck by how at ease she appeared among them. We made an odd assemblage, our traveling party—soldiers and commoners, rebels and royalty; although I doubted anyone looking would recognize us for what we truly were.
Once it was decided that the only place we could safely go was back to the underground city, we traveled in silence. It wasn’t a comfortable silence, however; it was strained and filled with unspoken tension.
Claude and Za J gl="0 city, we fir had both made it clear that they had reservations about going with the resistance fighters, while Xander had qualms about allowing the queen’s grandson, and his two guards, into his underground operation. But no one could agree on an alternate option, another place where the queen would be unable, at least for the time being anyway, to locate Angelina and me.
Brooklynn walked at my side, and I wondered if it was simply out of habit or if she was still my oldest friend. I honestly couldn’t tell any longer, and I hated that I was questioning her loyalty.
Max stood on my other side, his bulky guards surrounding him as best they could, keeping Xander and his people at bay.
We didn’t go back the way that Angelina and I had come, through the tiny fissure in the ground. Instead Xander led us through the back entrance of a restaurant that was closed for the night. We made our way through the shadowy kitchen and through a doorway that should have led to a cellar below, but rather than a cellar, it opened up into a passageway that stretched endlessly before us. There were lamps, already lit, along the way. It was cleaner, and smelled better, than the sewer through which my sister and I had traveled earlier.
Still, whether from fear or attraction, I found myself moving closer to Max. My shoulder bumped against him, and I felt the tension within me unravel with his proximity.
I set Angelina on the ground between Brooklynn and me, my arm aching from the weight of carrying her. On her other side, I saw her reach for Brook’s hand, clinging to each of us as she walked. It was reassuring to know that Angelina still trusted her.
Only once we were securely ensconced within the tunnel, away from the staircase that led back to the restaurant above, did anyone speak.
It was Xander who first broke the silence. He fell back so he could speak directly to Max. “If you didn’t tell her, how did the queen know about Charlie?” His voice echoed along the dim corridor.
There was a brief pause, and I got the distinct sensation that this wasn’t a question Max wanted to answer. But I, for one, was anxious to hear his response. I glanced up so I could see his face.
His brow creased when he finally spoke. “They had no idea who she was until they went to her home and discovered her parents.” Accusation was heavy in the stare he directed at Xander. “It was you they were looking for, questioning everyone with suspected ties to your revolutionaries. They use force to gain any information they can.”
“But what did I do to draw their suspicion? Why would they believe I knew where Xander was?” I still didn’t understand.
“You didn’t do anything, Charlie.” Max’s hand reached over and slipped around mine, squeezing tightly. I didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of the gesture; his next sentence explained it all. “One of the people they tortured was your friend Aron.”
For a moment, I didn’t realize that I’d stopped walking. It wasn’t until Angelina tugged at my hand, reminding me that she was still there . . . that they were all still there, watching me.
I looked up, swallowing the anguish that threatened to clog my throat, my eyes stopping at each one of them. At Max and at X J glI gtheander. At Claude and Zafir, the guards who had sworn their lives to protect their prince. At Xander’s well-armed revolutionaries, including Brooklynn, who had sworn their lives to their cause. And at Angelina, who stared back at me with her trusting blue eyes.
Aron. I couldn’t fathom it. They had tortured Aron to find me. And not because of who I was, but because of who I might know?
It was only a bonus, I supposed, that they’d discovered the missing royal family in th
e process.
I felt sick to my stomach. Max held me up a
s I swayed, and my fingers clutched his, if only to remain on my feet.
“Did they—” But I couldn’t finished my sentence.
Then Brooklynn, who had been silent up until this moment, finished for me, and in her tormented words I heard her, the person she’d been before I’d lost her to a rebellion. “So it was me they were looking for, not Charlie.” Her voice sounded hollow, and then she whispered her question—our question—on a shaky breath. “Did they kill him?”
“No,” Max answered. “When I left, he was still alive.”
I felt her shuddering sigh all the way from the other side of Angelina, as if it were my own.
There was something about knowing that I wasn’t alone in this, that Brooklynn was still with me, suffering because Aron had suffered, that made me feel stronger, more determined.
I stood upright now, releasing Max’s hand just to prove that I could. I held my back straight. “Then we need to save him. And my parents. Somehow, we need to make this right.”
XVIII
Brook tugged my hand, drawing me away from the others, doing her best to afford us some privacy as we navigated the chiseled corridors, moving farther underground.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered, keeping her voice low and glancing around to make certain no one could hear us. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt. Especially not Aron.” Her dark eyes were sad, filled with regret.
“I know,” I assured her, seeing her differently now. She was no longer the carefree girl I’d known in my childhood, nor was she the hardened revolutionary I’d imagined she’d become. Instead she was passionate, devoted, dedicated. And, still, my friend. “But you do realize that people are going to get hurt if there’s a war, don’t you?”
“We don’t want that, Charlie. We don’t want to fight, but we can’t just go on like this. We deserve to choose what we want to be, who we want to be.”
I didn’t disagree with her reasons, but I didn’t know how to respond, so I didn’t try. “What about me? How long have you suspected—?” I faltered; the right words were difficult to find. “How long did you know who I was?”
“We only just figured it out. Your father did an excellent job of keeping his identity hidden. In fact, your parents weren’t the only ones being watche K behildhod . . . there are other families who’ve been suspected. But then the night the Academy girl—”
“Sydney,” I corrected her.
Brook shrugged, as if knowing her name was somehow distasteful. “The night Sydney came into the restaurant and you spilled water on her, I overheard your parents arguing in the kitchen. Your father was worried that someone might discover the truth if you weren’t careful. He was afraid the queen would learn you existed. I was pretty sure then. After that it was just a matter of getting you close enough to Xander so he could decide if you fit the description.”
“The club?” I asked, understanding dawning.
Brook nodded, the trace of a glint in her eye. “But we left too early that first night. Xander wasn’t there yet.” No wonder she’d been so mad at me when I dragged her out of the club that night, insisting it was time to leave. “You made it easy, though, when you asked if we could go back.” She nudged me playfully with her shoulder, as if we were talking about boys, or school, or anything other than what we were really discussing. “But even then I had no idea what your gift was, what power it was that you were hiding.” She smiled at me then, a wickedly familiar grin. “I wish you would have told me, Charlie. Think of all the cool things we could have done with that little trick!”
“You’re crazy!” I nudged her back, smothering a laugh. This didn’t feel like the right time for laughter, not while my parents were still out there.
“And the night at the park? Did you know what was going to happen?”
Brook’s head dropped shamefully. “I knew something was up. I was told that I needed to keep an eye on you. I figured the best way to do that was for us to go out.” She glanced sideways at me. “I didn’t mean to lose you in the park. When the sirens went off, I looked everywhere. Eventually, I figured you must have taken off with . . . him.”
She didn’t say Max’s name, reminding me that she was still bitter, and I wondered if it was ever jealousy after all, or if she’d known all along who he was. I thought of that night at Prey, when she’d flirted shamelessly with Claude and Zafir, and I wondered if it had all been just an act. A calculated way to gain their trust, to try to gather information. I suddenly wondered at Brooklynn’s choice in men, always leaning toward those in the military.
I didn’t bother asking her.
“We’re so close,” she explained. “To everything we’ve always wanted, to everything we’ve worked for.” Her eyes shimmered as she looked at me. “And you can give it to us, Charlie. You can change everything.”
I shook my head, my eyes filling with tears that I couldn’t explain . . . even to myself.
Brooklynn was wrong. I could accept that my father came from a royal bloodline, or at least I could no longer deny it. I’d seen the proof with my own eyes. I could even accept that that was the reason I could comprehend the other languages, that interpretation was my ability as a royal daughter.
But I wasn’t born to rule . . . I could never be a queen.
“Yes, Charlie,” Brook offered before I could voice my denial. She seized my hands, clasping them tightly in hers as she pressed them to her lips. “You must.”
I closed my eyes, hating that I would let her down, and not wanting to have this discussion right now. Not when I finally felt like I had her back.
Once we were back in the underground city, Xander took charge of the situation. “Brook, you take Angelina back to her chamber, so we can talk to Charlie alone.”
“But shouldn’t I be here—”
A fierce look flashed across Xander’s face, warning Brook not to argue; she’d been given an order.
“Leave her with Sydney,” I offered. “And then you can come back.”
Xander and Eden exchanged a meaningful glance. It occurred to me that Eden wore her moods the way others wore their garments; they hovered about her, invading the space wherever she went. At the moment, I could feel a heavy veil of reticence.
“Brooklynn, go,” Xander insisted, and he waited until she and Angelina were out of earshot before turning back to me. “Sydney’s not here, Charlie.”
“What do you mean, she’s not here? Where is she?”
“She was feeling better, so we sent an escort to take her home,” Xander explained.
“Aren’t you worried that she’ll tell someone about you? That she’ll turn you in?”
Xander just smiled, a patronizing smirk. “She won’t. She cares about you, Charlie. She’s grateful for what you did to help her. Besides, even if she did try to bring someone down here, she’d only get lost.”
I remembered the convoluted pathways we’d traveled, one passageway connecting to the next, twisting and turning. And then I thought about what Brooklynn had said, about how long they’d been down here—over a decade—completely unnoticed.
Yet it seemed a huge risk to take.
“We couldn’t keep her here forever, Charlie. She needed to go home to her family.” Xander’s voice was more reasonable now, less boastful.
And then I heard Max’s quiet voice behind me, his breath tickling the back of my neck. “I think maybe you liked having her follow you around like a puppy,” he teased, and I grinned at the absurd suggestion, elbowing him as inconspicuously as I could.
Unfortunately, there was nothing inconspicuous about the gesture. Everyone saw that single, simple action.
And all hell broke loose.
Within the span of a heartbeat, the two enormous Royal guards lunged toward me with deadly intent etched in their expressions. Before I could think or react—or even blink—Xander’s men had raised their weapons, and were aiming them directly at Claude and Zafir.
Xander came crashing into my side, wrapping himself around me to soften th
e blow as we hit the ground. Every ounce of breath burst from my lun J be Amy lun Jgs when we landed. And at the same time, from between Xander’s arms, I could see Max launch himself between me and his determined sentries.
“No!” he shouted, raising both of his hands, his voice hard, angry. “Stop! All of you!”
I gasped against Xander’s grip, struggling for breath, my head reeling. Xander’s arms loosened, but not by much.
“I mean it,” Max snarled, and I caught a glimpse of him turning in a circle to glare at the soldiers around him. Yet only Claude and Zafir obeyed their prince’s command, each halting where they stood.
No one else complied, and weapons remained readied.
“Are you all right?” Xander whispered against the top of my head.
Somehow I was able to nod, and when I did, I heard his voice rumbling from deep within his chest. “Stand down, soldiers.” I couldn’t see all of them, but I could hear the simultaneous withdrawal of both bodies and weapons. When Xander finally released me, lifting me to my feet, the look on his face was fierce.
Max reached for me, dragging me away from Xander and drawing me against his side, his arm wrapped protectively around my waist. There wasn’t a single person in that room I would’ve traded places with, including Eden, who had shouldered her rifle as well.
When Xander spoke to his soldiers, his voice was deceptively composed. But there was a fury coiled below the surface as he turned on his own. He was a snake, ready to strike as he moved with dangerous precision around the small space. “You raise your weapons without my order? Do you have any idea the damage you could have done? The danger you put our guest in?” I knew he was talking about me; everyone in the room knew it.
I looked first to Claude, and then to Zafir to judge their reactions to Xander’s rant. I don’t know why it mattered, but I needed to know if they’d been told yet, if they knew who I was.