Chapter 25
IZADELLA
When I open my eyes again, my chest burns, like liquid fire was poured into me.
Everything is blurry but I know where I am. The secret kitchen at the base of the palace, with the door leading into the Merawood Forest. The lingering scent of cakes and baked bread from Viella’s trip to Adreania mixes with the sweetness of the open forest door.
Everett dumps me on a flatbed cart. Pain explodes when my head slams into the wood with a crack.
“Kole stumbled upon us, nearly ruining everything,” he seethes.
A woman is speaking, a low voice I recognize but cannot place. “You are fortunate I discovered that on my way down here. His body is disposed of, but you were a fool to leave such a bloody mess. The army outside is from Adreania, rebels of some kind, and they’re demanding King Zilas.”
“Why the fuck would the king of Kalvorn be in Ellova?” Everett’s annoyance is clear.
“That man with Della was no mortal. He is the fae King of Kalvorn. He swore to leave and not come back if Nyvenah didn’t attack them. He has been in disguise. They’re leaving now. Go, go! Do not get caught!”
Quick heels hit the ground, a door slamming behind her.
Leon has been King Zilas the entire time.
A king who disguises himself as a healer.
Only in Adreania to get the crown.
King of the kingdom about to go to war for it.
He has a queen.
He never wanted me at all; he just wanted what I had.
Never loved me.
Everything was a lie.
Everett yells at someone and I can barely make out a head of soft reddish-golden hair almost identical to mine.
He roughly pulls my head back, fist in my hair.
“Put them on her, now!” Everett hisses and another woman sobs softly.
She comes into view, and I know that tear-streaked face.
She is the servant I collided with in the castle as I ran away from Grayden the last night I was there, just before Leon found me in the garden.
We share the same devastation and fear in our eyes.
“I’m so s-sorry,” I mumble, barely able to speak.
She nods and drags over a set of chains, puts them around my wrists, and connects them to a metal loop on the iron collar around my neck.
“Get this on.” Everett throws a bundle of fabric at the poor woman.
Blackness rolls in and out.
The woman tries to speak but it comes out as a whimper.
“Shut up!” Everett all but growls, “You will get on this horse with your hood up and hair down. Follow that group swiftly once they leave. If you say or do anything, King Grayden will deal with you. Ride straight into the forest. I will be waiting. We are heading back to Adreania. If you do exactly as I say, I might tell His Majesty to let your family live.”
A black Ellovian battle horse is tied to the front of a cart and I almost weep with relief that it is not Onyx.
He’s trying to make it seem like I left with Leon?
My words are slurred from the Vedesdron. “Y-you will die for this treachery. Nueena will f-find me. I promise you that. She will never let you get away with this-s.”
“Oh,” he says, his voice full of malice, “I already have.”
My world goes dark again.
Iwake with a pounding headache that has me wishing I were still asleep. The sound of the ocean beating against the rocks is close by, and a gray, cloudy sky hangs above me.
My thoughts are muddled. Flashes of Leon in the pool, shifting to fae, and Everett’s betrayal. My mouth tastes like ash from the Vedesdron. Panic shoots through me. I struggle against the chains wrapped around me, still tied to the cart.
“Fuck,” I whisper.
A soft laugh I've heard many times since I was a dewling echoes behind me. I turn my head as much as I can to face Everett. He has a knife and is slowly cutting pieces of the navlue fruit while making eye contact with me. “You should still be sleeping.”
“Not with my luck today.”
He doesn’t respond.
I take a giant gulp of air and let out a bloodcurdling scream that sends an ache into my lungs. Everett’s arm comes down with the knife. I turn my head, terrified, squeezing my eyes shut. The knife is embedded in the wood an inch from my ear. The impact vibrates the whole cart.
“Scream all you like. We’re very far from anyone who will care.”
“That might be true, but those who do care will be on their way.”
Everett leans down over me with a sinister smile that chills me to my very bones. I never thought I would see a look like that on his face.
“You will be surprised at how little they could do even if they knew you were here. Which they, in fact, do not. Do you really think I would leave a little trail for them to follow?”
Anger seizes me and I try in vain to break free of my chains again. “You are such an asshole, Everett. I thought we were friends. I can’t believe you would do this. Your mother will die of shame.”
“Die of shame? Della, Camarra is helping me.” He holds up the navlue fruit. “Where do you think I got this from?”
I open my mouth to speak, to demand the truth, but it all makes sense, and my stomach drops at the realization. The salt-tinged air coats my tongue.
“That man with Della was no mortal. He is the fae King of Kalvorn. He swore to leave and not come back if Nyvenah didn’t attack them. He has been in disguise. They’re leaving now. Go, go! Do not get caught!”
Camarra was the woman’s voice I heard in the kitchens.
She is Ellova’s true traitor.
My heads spin that a court Guardian would do this, help her awful son work with such a horrible king for a grasp at power.
The servant woman who placed the chains on me hides behind the cart, sobbing.
I wish I could comfort her.
A horrible creaking noise of rusting metal is an assault on my ears before a door is slammed open.
Everett’s smile widens.
The vile king of Adreania moves into my view, with a few of his guards around him.
His approach is slow. He’s clearly in no rush, and the clothing he wears is much finer now, with golden embellishments and silk.
An iron circlet sits atop his thinning blond hair, a poor attempt to recreate the crown he lost to me.
Grayden leans down and asks, “Comfortable?” His putrid breath on my cheek.
“Extremely,” I remark dryly.
His answering smirk is cruel, and he straightens. “Were you followed?”
Everett shakes his head. “Not that I could tell. It was chaos when I left. No one noticed me.”
“Good. How did you get her out?”
“A little army from Adreania showed up. Would you like to know who was leading it?”
Grayden looks bored but waits for his response.
“Your wife!” Everett says this in a delighted tone, clearly meant to annoy Grayden.
“That’s impossible,” Grayden says, his eyes narrowing.
“Oh no, Erenia was there with many of your traitorous citizens behind her, her own little rebellion. They made quite an entrance. Demanding King Zilas of Kalvorn. They seemed to think he was there being held prisoner instead of just following this one around like a pathetic dog to get the crown.” Everett inclines his head at me.
“Your queen seems to have been working against you with him. Probably fucking him, too.”
His words are a knife in my chest, a bitter reminder that I truly do not know Leon. He said he never had feelings for Erenia but I can’t believe any of his lies.
“So, Zilas was after the crown as well. I was right to ready my army against him.”
“You do know him as another.” Everett revels in his reveal. “Zilas has been in your employment for years; he was your father’s healer, Leon. I’m not sure how he was mortal here and fae there, but I recognized him the second I saw him in Ellova from my time at the bazaar.”
Grayden balls up his fists. “We need to prepare for him to come after the crown again.”
Everett and Grayden keep discussing Zilas and Kalvorn and war, but the rushing in my ears fades their hateful voices away in a small gift of mercy.
The hollowness that was inside me is replaced with a pain that tears apart my heart so viciously I can no longer breathe, my face burning with some jumble of anger and embarrassment.
I was so foolish to think love had finally found me, that Leon had actually wanted me for who I was and not the power I possessed.
Of course he demanded to follow me to Ellova.
He only sought the crown and said anything he could to stay near it.
He’d made me feel treasured and adored, beautiful and loved.
Lies.
Lies.
Lies.
I squeeze my eyes shut. These monsters do not get to see me cry over Leon or Zilas or whoever he claims to be.
“Who the fuck is Izadella?” Grayden asks, annoyed.
“Your royal jewelry maker.” Everrett kicks the cart I’m on, jostling me. Asshole.
Grayden looks down. “So, Arra was a fake name.” He glares at me but then his eyes trail up to the crown. “Why is it gold?”
Everett seems irritated at Grayden’s ignorance over an item that has been in his family for thousands of years.
“Because she has magic. The crown is alive again. I told you if the one who wears it holds magic, the crown will react differently. She’s been growing shit all over Ellova.
It’s tied to her emotions. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to keep her happy if you want anything to grow here. ’’
“I have no intention of her experiencing any happiness again after what she stole from me.” Hatred burns in Grayden’s eyes.
Everett rolls his. “If you want it to seem like you’re in control of the magic and providing for anyone in Adreania, you have to at least not torture her. You’ll have thorns growing everywhere. Hardly the bounty you promised your starving citizens. Emaciated soldiers make for a poor army.”
“Get her in the flood dungeon,” Grayden demands and turns to the woman. “Get back to your station. Dinner is starting soon.”
She chokes on her sob and bolts from us, her reddish-gold hair flying behind her.
One of the guards pulls the cart following in her direction, wooden splinters pricking me as it wobbles over the hard-packed sand.
The dark castle towers over me, a reminder it will be my tomb.
Built into its rocky base is a small prison cell that faces the Elbasan Sea.
The cart is dragged inside with a final bounce and rolls over the smooth ground.
The cell door that faces the rising tide is slammed shut. The wall is made of iron bars close together that offer no sanctuary from the bitter chill that rushes in from the dark sea and gray skies.
Everett picks me up and drops me on the floor behind the cart, muttering under his breath, “Have a good night.”
“I’ve tried so many times to kill my father but never attempted this way.
I’ll be eager to see the results. We have some time before high tide.
Let’s celebrate the crown’s return," Grayden says to Everett as they leave.
“We will send her body back to Kalvorn, as a gift for Zilas.” The rest of his men follow, walking up a steep staircase that leads up to the castle.
I lie down among the tangles of seaweed littered on the moss-covered stone floor and cry myself to sleep.