28. Chapter 28
Michaela
I still felt faint from my mad dash through the hallway. That exit had dumped me out farther away than I’d intended and after everything with Kabir, I still hadn’t caught my breath yet. But my words couldn’t wait another second. She had to be exposed.
As did the one who had put her up to it in the first place.
“ Lady Sadira has been poisoning the king.” I made sure to slander her name with my tone as much as I could. “That’s why he’s sick.” I felt like every set of eyes in the room were focused on me. The guards held ready, just in case the order was made clear again, but my words shocked them. I dug my hand into the pocket of my dress and withdrew the vial. “And he needs this antidote to get better.”
Fitz stared at the vial, mouth agape. He whirled to face Sadie. “Is this true? Have you been poisoning my father?”
“Guards!” Reginald rushed down the steps, face red with fury. “The queen issued an order. Take this treacherous woman into custody.” His meaty hand reached for the vial and tore it from my grasp. “Lies! All Lies!”
“No!” I tried to shout the warning, but it was too late. He threw the vial at the floor. Glass crashed and orange liquid spilled out in every direction. I sank in my dress, reaching out to what was left of the antidote that would have saved the king. I stared up at the prince’s advisor, eyes glassy. “How could you?”
Reginald’s face twisted into a malevolent smirk. “And you thought you’d won.”
So arrogant.
So confident in his victory…
“You don’t know it,” I whispered at Reginald, “but you just blew it.”
He pulled close enough that his voice couldn’t be heard beyond my ears. “It takes that girl eight hours to brew the antidote and I made sure his Royal Majesty received a dose of the poison large enough to take down an elephant. Long live the king.” With a wave of his hand, he ordered the guards, “Take her.”
Rough hands seized my arms and dragged me backward as Fitz called out to me. I dug my heels in and fought back, determined to free myself. I wasn’t going down this easy, not when—
“Guards!” A deep voice resonated from the double doors. “Unhand her!”
For a moment, I thought it was Fitz, but no, his time to rule would come, but thankfully not today.
Every head in the ballroom, plus the seven cameras, turned to face the open doors. There, leaning heavily on Kabir, stood the King of Nolcovia. “Arrest Reginald on charges of treason.”
The clamor in the room rose to deafening levels. Guards turned on each other, allegiances to factions clear in a moment’s time. Reginald ran for the doors, his aged body faster than I expected. Kabir passed the king to one of his men and tackled the traitor to the ground. Pandemonium unleashed, not that different from the first attack during the choosing ceremony. Women screamed. Bodies slammed into each other, trying to escape. In all the chaos, the hands holding me tight released and I collapsed to the floor. I curled into a ball, protecting my head, and hiding from the stampede of feet that thundered around me.
Last time Fitz’s security had escorted him from the room and I’d been left to save myself, Sadie and Blair had come to my rescue, but considering the judgment I’d just brought down on her head, I didn’t expect Sadie’s help.
I was on my own.
Fitz
“Coco!” My voice didn’t carry. In all the mayhem, my royal status meant nothing. She’d thwarted some disaster they’d planned and in all the chaos, no one could tell friend from foe. Michaela went down moments after it broke out. The fleeing masses fought against me like a river’s current. I called for her again. “Coco!” Feet stampeded around her, obscuring the pale blue fabric that worked as my target and goal. She wasn’t moving. Why hadn’t she stood yet? I pushed through the surge of people, shouting commands that fell on deaf ears. In the face of terror, no one cared about your rank. They were out for their own survival.
Guards slammed the guilty parties against walls. Shouts rang out around us. My own father’s voice carried above the rest. I located him quickly outside the throng. Though Kabir held him upright, he shouted at Reginald, my betrayer.
I couldn’t focus on them. My whole world lay in a heap of pale blue fabric on the ground at the mercy of thundering feet. With only twenty feet left to fight until I made it to her, my heart picked up speed as hope called for me to hang on a little longer.
A face rushed mine, eyes desperate, motions frantic. His shoulder-length hair whipped side to side as he searched the crowd. Recognition struck as I realized he was the one with eyes only for Sadie and my grip locked around his shoulders. I held fast, despite the way he pulled to be free.
“Who are you?” I demanded. “What are you doing here?”
“Please, Your Highness, release me. I beg you.”
“Then answer me. Who are you?”
His darting gaze finally ceased and connected with mine. “I am but another man, anxious to get to the woman he loves, desperate to keep her safe.”
“Sadie?” My brow creased. Questions filled my mind. “You love her?” I shook my head, recalling the story I’d heard. “She said you died.”
“And so I shall if any harm should befall her.” He broke the connection between us. “Please, let me pass.”
What promise did I have that he wasn’t responsible for this catastrophe? If Sadie was behind my father’s sickness, wasn’t this stranger just as culpable? I opened my mouth to call attention to Kabir, but his next words stopped me short.
“Is my arrest worth her death, Your Highness?”
My breath caught in my chest. I locked my eyes on the bit of blue that still beckoned me. No longer bright but dull with the dirt of too many feet. My heart exploded with anguish over her pain. I shoved the stranger as hard as I could, not caring what became of him. With the fury of a wild animal, I parted the sea of rushing bodies until I arrived at her side.
Afraid to touch her, my hands hovered above her skin, trembling with the agony of seeing her broken on the ground. “Coco?” Strangled and choked, my voice didn’t sound like my own. Her arms covered her head, tucked under because she had to protect herself, but the tension in her muscles had vanished, no longer a constant thought, but the afterglow of past decisions.
She hadn’t moved. Was she unconscious? I dug my fingers under her shoulders, pulling and lifting until she was tight against my chest, wrapped in my arms. “Coco,” I whispered against her hair. “Coco, I’m here. Come back to me.”
I braced myself against her weight, her body forcefully sagging against mine. Limp and weak, her muscles offered no resistance. The world raged on. Screams turned ragged. But nothing mattered to me beyond the woman I rocked in my arms.
Taking her by the chin, I tilted her face toward mine. “Michaela? Please. I’m here. True to my word, I came for you. I’ve got you.” Desperately, I clung to her, brushing my lips against hers, seeking solace and a fleeting sense of connection amid pure chaos. “I’ll never let you go.” With an anxious heart, I pressed my lips against hers once more, yearning for the fairytale ending that seemed forever out of our reach. My mind flashed back to the last time I held her like this, body limp, freshly dragged from the sinkhole. “I love you,” I whispered against her lips. “I love you, Michaela.”
The guards finally gained control of the room. Order was restored. For everyone but me. I didn’t care about their world anymore, only her. My forehead rested against hers, eyes closed, heart broken. If I’d done something to hurt her or cause her pain, I couldn’t live with myself. She was my entire world. She was everything. She was—
Fingers curled around the sash that hung haphazardly across my chest. I pulled back, shocked as I connected with her brilliant blue eyes again. “Fitz?”
“Oh, my love!” I pulled her closer still, tears rolling unbidden down my cheeks. “You’re alive.”
“A little sore too.” She groaned and it registered.
Immediately I released my grip on her and held her at arm’s length. “Are you hurt?”
She shrugged. “I fell from a ledge on the side of the palace, ripped my hand open on a gargoyle goat’s tooth,” she grimaced, “and then got trampled so… yeah, safe to say I’ve got a bruise or two.”
“Hold on,” I urged. With my feet under me, I rose and started shouting commands. “I need a medic here now. Get me a doctor immediately.”
“I’ll be fine, Fitz.” Michaela shook her head slowly as if she could disarm whatever confusion had taken hold. “Just help me up.” She stretched her hands to me and eagerly I took hold.
Her body didn’t respond immediately, and I wrapped my arms around her waist to keep her vertical once she was on her feet. Surveying the room, I noted many of the parliament cuffed against the wall, as well as Sadie and her mystery beau. Someone’s gaze burned into me. I searched the room and located Bishop in the throng. His eyes silently inquired what he couldn’t say aloud. I nodded, a small smile forming on my lips, signaling to him she’d come out of the situation relatively unscathed. Relief filled his frame like his next breath. Michaela swayed where she stood, stealing my full attention once more.
“How’d you do it?” Asking her a thousand questions in her state wasn’t my best choice, but I couldn’t resist. “How did you know?”
She feigned a smile. “I’d like to say I knew about Sadie early on, but I only knew once she knocked me out. And as for Reginald, I didn’t know until he destroyed the vial.”
“And my father?” I cast a quick glance toward him. Mother had wrapped him in her embrace, holding his weight to keep him steady, but he was stronger already than I had witnessed in months. “How did you get to him in time?”
Every word looked like work for her to speak, but by the same token, she fought through to tell me. “I was headed here to break up the wedding, but I remembered that night we snuck off to the kitchen to make pancakes. We passed by your parents’ chamber entrance.” She took hold of my suit to steady herself. “I had two vials of the antidote, and I thought that even if he fought me off, I was probably stronger and I could force him to take it.” She smirked like she wished that was what had happened. “But when I pushed open the door, Kabir was there. I wasn’t sure if he was the enemy or not, but he rushed to help me. I gave him a vial and told him to give it to the king. Then I rushed here. I knew someone was controlling Sadie, but I didn’t know who. I figured whoever it was would want to destroy the antidote.”
“Controlling Sadie?” I felt miles behind her. How much had I missed? “What do you mean?”
“She never would have done any of this, except they took Tauriq and—”
“Guards! Take her!” Mother’s voice towered over every other sound in the room. “She’s a threat to the crown!”
I turned, searching her out, expecting her wrath to be focused on Sadie, but to my surprise, her long finger of accusation was pointed at Michaela.