Chapter Sixteen
“ T he traitors are dead.”
One of my raven guards gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth. “Oh, no. My lady, we were too late. I’m so sorry.”
“No.” Expression hard, I advanced on the captured soldiers. His companions raised, lowered, raised, then lowered their swords as I stalked past—not knowing what to do against the woman that was once their sovereign. “They’re not dead. Stop wasting time and take me to them now.”
Bradach tightened on his throat. “Are you certain?” he asked me.
“Yes. Salman holds his executions after daybreak, so that the temple priestesses can attend. It delights him to lord over his victims that their slaughter is divined and sanctioned by Meya. We still have time, but not much, so take me to them now! ”
Emiana living in my head for months was worth something in the end. Faced with her knowledge and her face, the soldier gave in—ordering for the doors to be opened and the queen invited inside.
I chased him through the halls, and then he chased after me. Emiana’s memories were fading from my mind like water through my fingertips, but the place where Salman forced a small child to watch men and women be beheaded... that memory would stay long after she was gone.
Something caught my eye.
Emiana’s hair draped over my shoulders, the gorgeous flaming crown known by all in the kingdom. So striking and uniform, except for the ebony tips dipped in ink.
“Oh, no,” I breathed. “Bradach!”
He raced to my side, and quickly noticed what I did. “I was afraid of this.” He craned his head around farther than an unchanged faeman’s could go. Our followers were too far behind us to hear. “The body-switching curse works in reverse when it’s broken. First, you lose your body then your mind. Now, you’ve regained your mind and next will come your body.
“You have to do this quickly,” he forced through clenched teeth. “You said it yourself. The only voice they’ll hear in that room is that of a queen.”
I urged my feet on without a huff or puff. I wasn’t winded in the slightest, even though I was running faster than Emiana’s limit. My true body was returning, and it wouldn’t wait.
“If I fail, get my mother and sister out of here.” I whipped around a corner, blowing past a servant who screamed and dropped her bucket. “I don’t care if you have to leave me behind. Get them to safety.”
A thousand emotions warred on his chiseled face. “If I do so, it’s an act of war. I’d be proving they’re spies of Lumenfell who violated Lyrica’s sovereignty, and then we violated it again by preventing them from executing two traitors to the kingdom.”
“So be it. If it’s a war Salman wants, it’s one he’ll get soon enough. But promise me you’ll save them, Bradach. They will not die today!”
I burst through the doors.
“—the reading of the charges. Olene Waterrose, you are hereby sentenced to death and—”
“Stop!”
The same officiant who married me and Alisdair dropped his book, whirling around.
My stomach heaved at the sight before me.
The room chosen to be the final stop of Salman’s enemies was a bright, plain, circular space. A ceiling-high window faced the west, soaking in the final rays of the setting sun. Standing beneath the window were the officiant and two temple priestesses. Across the room, Salman, his advisors, and Kirwan Dawnbreaker observed my mother and his daughter chained to the middle of the floor—hatred rimming his red eyes.
Meliora didn’t cry. Head held high, she was resplendent in her new, expensive gown as she held onto my mother’s hand—her lips moving in silent prayer as red, bubbling blisters traveled up her wrist.
Rage welled in my chest, choking me. They bound an innocent girl of only sixteen years of age with iron chains.
My mother knelt beside her, her wrists burning horribly, but I doubted she noticed. Mama doubled over, clutching her stomach and dry-heaving. Even now, the wasting sickness wouldn’t give her peace.
Two soldiers stood above them both, holding the swords that would separate their heads from their shoulders.
Salman shot forward. “What is the meaning of—? Emiana?” He looked at me dumbfounded like he didn’t recognize his child. “What on earth are you doing here!”
I lifted my chin. “I was about to ask the same question. This farce is over. You!” I snapped my fingers at the officiant. “Release them. Now.”
“Do not move,” Kirwan barked at him. “You have no authority here, former princess. You renounced all ties to Lyrica when you married, so it is you who will cease this farce, walk out of this room, and return to where you came from. This execution is lawful and will proceed.”
I didn’t so much as glance in his direction. “You will shut your fucking mouth in my presence.”
Kirwan choked. “Excuse—! How dare—!”
Salman’s expression hardened. “You’ve gotten big for your crown, girl. Why doesn’t it surprise me an ignorant beast has no control over his women? We are not so lax in my palace, as you well know. You will leave my castle now, or—”
“I have every right to be here,” I pushed on, ignoring both fools. “The charge is that they are spies for Wind and Wild. I am the queen of Wind and Wild and know every spy under employ of my kingdom. These two are not among them,” I said, tone even. “So I repeat, release them, and after you’ve done so, thank me for saving you from carrying out an unlawful execution against your own citizens.”
Meli flicked from me to Salman, wide-eyed. Her lips still moved in prayer, but this time I knew what she was saying. Please, let them believe her.
Another of Salman’s advisors stepped forward. I couldn’t access Emiana’s memory of his name. “Forgive me, my lady, but your word is not evidence, while the payment confiscated from their home is. We have proof they were paid for services to the faeriken. While you have no reason to be honest about who does or doesn’t spy for your kingdom.” His brow arched. “If anything, you’re rushing to their rescue proves they’re valuable to you, and a traitor to us.”
My eyes narrowed on him, then flicked down. Before my gaze, my nails shrunk—returning to the short, blunt, gardener’s length they were before. Hurry!
“That’s a lot of words to call me a liar,” I replied, folding my hands behind my back. “Here I was believing I’d be entering a civil conversation with my allies, not the insult-slinging match of enemies. And this is after my husband was kind enough not to declare the treaty broken after the events of our wedding day.”
“Events caused by you!” Salman bellowed.
“Regardless, he remains committed to keeping the treaty, while you all appear committed to falsely accusing us of espionage and violating your sovereignty. Both acts that declare the treaty null and void.
“If it is your assertion that you have irrefutable proof that these women are my spies, then you have proven your case against Wind and Wild too,” I stated. “We have violated the treaty, the ceasefire is at an end, and the war continues.” I turned my back on them, marching for the door. “I will send word to prepare our forces to march on Lyrica. Good day.”
“What!”
“Hold on a moment!”
“Stop,” said one clear voice, halting my hand on the knob. “The voice of Meya will speak in this place and be heard.”
I spun and dropped to my knees, thudding to the floor as quickly as Bradach, Salman, Kirwan, the advisors, the officiant, and the executioners.
Everyone bowed before the voice of Meya, and the representatives chosen to deliver it. Everyone—even a king.
Through my lashes, I watched as the temple priestesses stepped forward. They weren’t chosen for their beauty, but they were all the same. A fact that couldn’t be concealed by their heavy, white face paint, voluminous white robes, or their shaved heads—as bald as the moon.
“Meya weeps for the ravages of war, and the death and destruction it has caused to her creations.” She swept over our bowed heads. “If there must be war, the passion and ferocity for which it is waged will be equal to the passion and ferocity in preventing it.”
Stepping back, her sister and fellow priestess continued without pause. “Queen Emiana of Wind and Wild, and Lord Kirwan Dawnbreaker will present their evidence against these women, and then it will be Meya who decides their sentence. Her word is law. Her judgement is absolute. So mote it be.”
“So mote it be,” we echoed. “In Meya’s name.”
Bradach nodded to me out of the corner of my eye. This was my one and only chance, and—
My toes jammed against the front of my slippers, outgrowing a princess’s dainty feet.
—I was running out of time.
Kirwan rose up. “I will happily repeat my evidence at the behest of Meya. The facts are these—only months ago, Aya Olene and her children lived in poverty in the Galley. Her eldest daughter, Callidora, owed a significant debt to House Dawnbreaker that she agreed to repay by signing up for the noble service of becoming a war wife.
“I myself escorted her to Crystal Palace, so that she may begin her duties by servicing the faeriken in attendance of the royal wedding,” he said. “The coward immediately fled and abandoned her responsibilities and her family.
“Or did she?” Kirwan brushed his thumb over the crystal on his lapel. A familiar silver chalice appeared in his right hand. “This is one of the items confiscated from Aya Olene’s home. As you can see, the crest of Wind and Wild and its beast king is on the bottom.”
I hadn’t noticed that when I shoved all those treasures in a sack for my family. Alisdair was right. I was a terrible thief.
“What I now believe to be true is that Callidora bedded one of the faeriken and convinced him over pillow talk to whisk her away to Wind and Wild, where she’d be a go-between for her family and Shadowsoul. They spy on our kingdom in exchange for wealth and riches. That’s the only explanation for the millions’ worth of jewels, gold, and treasure discovered upon search of their home.”
Anger laced his tone, but it wasn’t for the loss of his war wife or child. I’d come to know this monster too well over the last sixteen years to mistake his true feelings. Kirwan was angry... at my mother.
I suspected the minute those jewels arrived, she quit working as a war wife, and dumped Kirwan in the trash where he belonged. He could no longer delude himself into thinking they were in love, when the door kept slamming in his face.
Finding the crest on the treasures gave him his ultimate wish—ensuring that if my mother didn’t belong to him, she belonged to no one.
Meliora swung to me, face stricken.
I had no idea how Kirwan got her included in the charges. I assumed he did so just to cause my mother the ultimate amount of pain before the end. She would’ve known whatever trumped-up bullshit he spun to get a young woman executed, but I couldn’t ask her.
By law—Salman’s law—the accused weren’t allowed to speak in this room, and naturally, the entire trial from start to finish always took place in this very room. Meaning, she couldn’t speak one word in her defense while these uncaring monsters spouted lies and determined her fate.
Salman truly was a vile man.
“Thank you, Lord Dawnbreaker.” The priestess inclined her bare head. “Now, Queen Emiana, what have you to say for these women?”
“I have only the truth, O Holy One, for I dare not speak anything else into Meya’s ears,” I replied. “There is another explanation for this money, and I shall tell it to you. I sent these treasures to Aya Olene because Callidora wouldn’t accept it for herself. She wanted my thanks to go to her family, precisely because she cares only for them and her responsibilities.”
“Your thanks?” Salman questioned.
“Precisely so, Father. You see, the night before my wedding, I was targeted by an assassin who wanted nothing more than to stop the signing of the treaty, and keep Lyrica under the grip of war. It was Callidora who saved my life.”
Salman stiffened, eyes sharpening. “An assassin?” he barked. “How? Who!”
“The how was frightfully simple,” I replied. “Poison slipped into my evening meal. You can imagine my surprise when a peasant girl burst into my chambers, screaming at me not to eat a morsel. I almost sent for the guards to have her flogged, but then she told me of the awful plot she overheard... while in the home of House Dawnbreaker.”
Kirwan’s head snapped up. “Excuse me? What did you say!?”
I sniffed. “Again my would-be assassin addresses me. You truly have no shame.”
“Would-be assass— That’s preposterous!”
“Silence,” Salman ordered.
“But, my king—”
“Silence!” Salman shoved out in front of him, bearing down on me. “Explain this. Immediately.”
“It is what I’ve said,” I replied, lifting my nose in the air. “Callidora overheard a plot to kill me, and fulfilled her rightful duty—saving my life. It was me who asked her to come to Wind and Wild with me, not some love-addled faeriken. I did this to protect her in case Dawnbreaker figured out who foiled his plot, and attempted to kill her next.”
“These are lies!” Kirwan roared.
The advisor who spoke up before separated from the pack. “I beg King Salman, Meya, and the priestesses for pardon, but I must say, I find the accusations against Advisor Kirwan highly unlikely. He has served my king faithfully for hundreds of years.”
“Because we’ve been at war for hundreds of years,” I sliced in. “Callidora and I have had many discussions in the months I’ve been away. House Dawnbreaker has been the exclusive military miner and seller of coudarian crystals since the war began. He’s profited tens of millions, but with the treaty in place and the war over, that money goes away.
“Isn’t that correct, Father?”
Salman turned on his advisor. A million emotions warred on his face, but one was clear as day—suspicion. “Yes, my child. You are correct.”
Kirwan advanced on his king, and the soldiers reacted. Swinging their swords away from my family, they leveled them on his chest.
Halting, Kirwan raised his hands, away from his weapons and crystals. “King Salman, none of this is true. These lies are fabricated by— by— by that worthless brat, Callidora.” Kirwan half-bowed to me, suddenly capable of deference and respect. “I do not blame you, my lady, for being taken in. Callidora is a troubled child and an accomplished liar. She’d have said anything to indebt you to herself, and beg a carriage ride out of Lyrica.”
I scoffed. “What am I? A fool? Of course I checked her story before believing a word of it. While the poisoned food is gone and can no longer be used as evidence, there is more proof of sabotage. Proof that was witnessed before the entire court, and before you, Father.”
“What is this proof?” Salman demanded. “Tell me, child.”
My gaze swept the room, expression solemn. “My out-of-control, crazed behavior the day of the wedding. You are my beloved father,” I demurred. “You know me. You know I never would’ve behaved that way unless something horrible was done to me.”
Shocked hisses filled the room. Salman placed his body between me and Kirwan, as if he actually cared a whit about me.
“It’s true,” Salman barked. “I said myself that my Emiana wasn’t herself that day. She never would’ve behaved that way unless her mind was addled by a spell. A spell intended to destroy the marriage before it began, and nullify the treaty.” His lips peeled back from his teeth. “You.”
“No! Someone may have spelled her, but it was not me!”
I shook my head. “You stand under the judgement of Meya, and still you lie. Very well,” I said. “Since it has come to this, I will provide my final proof. Callidora told me much in our time together, including that Kirwan bragged about slaughtering the village of Lutin, because it was discovered their homes sat on a wealth of crystals. Proof of his insatiable greed.”
I left out that Salman sanctioned that atrocity. That wasn’t something Emiana was supposed to know, nor was it something Salman would ever admit.
“But there’s more. He also—” I hitched a breath, sorrow drawing the corner of my lips down. “Father, I’m sorry to tell you this. But, it was Kirwan who hunted your other sons down, and slaughtered them.”
Kirwan’s eyes bugged. “What?!”
“It was all part of his plan to leave you without an heir, so that you’d be forced to make the same decision my grandparents did—give your throne to someone not of the bloodline. As your trusted advisor and supposed friend , he knew he would be at the top of your list.”
“Lies, lies, all of it, lies,” Kirwan bellowed.
“How can it be a lie?” I snapped, stepping out from behind a shaking Salman. “Not even I knew I had half-siblings before Callidora told me what she overheard that fateful day. My father protected the information because he wanted to protect them, but he told you, didn’t he?” I spun to Salman, hoping against hope my desperate gamble was correct. “Didn’t you, Father?”
Face a mask of shadows, Salman looked at Kirwan... and nodded. “It is so,” he rasped. “I trusted you with the knowledge and location of my only sons, and you killed them.”
“I would never!” Kirwan ran at him and was roughly thrown back.
Not a single word of defense came from behind him. His fellow advisors had distanced themselves as far back as the wall would let them. They looked at him with nothing but betrayal.
“I deny this slander utterly and without reservation,” Kirwan roared, spittle flying. “Not a word she has spoken here today is truth!”
“Very well,” I shouted over him, my voice rising partly due to him, and partly due to the screaming pain of my crushed feet. “If you deny my truth, I ask that you hear my logic.”
“Speak, child,” Salman said. “You will be heard in this place.”
“Then I say this, my final witness.” I moved toward my mother and sister, and Kirwan. “Kirwan claims my gift for saving my life was actually payment for espionage. To assume Aya Olene would have information valuable enough for my husband to listen to, you must assume these poor women from the Gutter had an equally valuable source.
“Who else would that source be but their war husband and father, Kirwan Dawnbreaker?”
“No,” Kirwan cried. “That’s not— You’re twisting everything!”
“Am I? Or am I merely being logical? These two could know nothing of worth unless they heard it from you .” I smiled mirthlessly. “Which would make you the spy, would it not? You’re the leak. You are the one sharing information that wasn’t meant to go farther than your king’s ears.”
The advisors exchanged looks, murmuring amongst themselves. The expressions as they beheld Kirwan made him lurch back a step.
“But, no,” I said, voice heavy. “You’re not a spy for Wind and Wild, because they are not spies for Wind and Wild. They had no opportunity to pass information from you to my husband since we married, because I will bet anything Aya Olene has refused you every single day since she received my gifted treasures.
“So, speaking only logically, how could I have been paying her to spy, if she’s refused to have anything to do with the only person worth spying on since she received said payment?”
An oppressive atmosphere smothered the room, but it wasn’t a silent one.
“She’s right.”
“The princess speaks only sense.”
“The real traitor is here, and it’s not these poor women!”
“She’s a liar!” Kirwan bellowed. “None of this is true, you must believe me!”
Facing the priestesses, I bowed. “Thank you for allowing me to speak as an ally to Lyrica and to peace. I give all that I’ve said to the judgement of Meya, for she is wisdom and truth. She will make the right decision here today.”
“She will, and she has,” said the priestess. “Meya declares these women innocent—”
“No!”
“—release them at once.”
“NO!”
I stood, rising up beside Kirwan. “I told you,” I whispered. “Everything you do to my mother, I’ll do to you—tenfold.”
Kirwan stilled. Flicking down, he latched immediately on my darkening ends. The ebony had climbed high enough to be unmistakable. “You...”
I brushed past, flashing a smirk that was just for him. “Have fun in the Burning Plains, bitch.”
He shook, face turning an alarming shade of purple. “You!”
Kirwan lunged at me, slamming into my back. We crashed to the floor in a shower of punches, roars, and screams.
“Imposter! It’s her. She’s Callidora!”
“Help me!” I shrieked, covering my face. “He’s gone mad! Help!”
“Get off of her!”
Half a dozen coudarian crystals were whipped out, but none were so quick as Bradach. He grabbed Kirwan under the arms, wrenched him off, and threw him at the stone wall. His bones collided, snapping on impact, then dropped the wretch groaning and broken on the floor.
“Arrest him,” Salman shrieked, showering spittle. “Execute him!”
“Can you stand?” Bradach whispered, dropping next to me. “You must leave.”
I lifted my face and he blinked, jaw slackening. There was something on Emiana’s face that shouldn’t be.
“We must go now!”
I didn’t need to be told again. Shoving up, I bowed my way out of the room—keeping my head lowered. Escaping out into the hall, the peasant queen and the bird man ran. Ran as fast as their feet and wings allowed them.
Bradach shot me a smile. “You never cease to impress me, keva. All of Elva has met their match in you.”
I winked. “You should see what I can do to a man with a brick and a few berries.”
Our laughter rang through the hall.
I ROCKED HER IN MY arms, listening to her giggle, babble, and coo.
“I can’t believe I ever forgot you, sweet girl.”
Savia shrieked, equally outraged by the insult.
The front door swung open, beckoning in a wild-haired, panting Meliora. She landed on me sitting on the couch holding Savia—the real me. The last traces of Emiana faded by the time I stumbled barefoot to my family’s new home.
“Calli!” Racing past the twins, she threw her arms around me, hugging me as tight as our baby sister allowed. “I can’t believe it’s you. It’s really you.” She snapped back. “But where have you been? We’ve been worried sick! We thought you were killed by the faeriken until Riordan brought all those jewels, and we figured they had to be from you. But how could that be possible? You—”
“Meli,” I cried, cutting in. “Slow down. I will tell you everything, I promise, just as soon as Mama comes. I want to tell you together.”
Her face fell.
“What? What is it?” I bolted upright. “Oh no, did they not let her go!”
“No, no, that’s not it. She was released with an apology, just like me, but...” Meliora’s lips trembled. “She only walked as far as the hallway before she collapsed. I needed help to carry her back home, so...”
“Collapsed?” I got to my feet. “Why would she collapse? What’s wrong?”
“You know what’s wrong,” she snapped. “The wasting sickness. It’s only gotten worse since you been gone.”
I put a hand on Meli’s shoulder, stopping her saying anymore when the twins’ round, curious faces turned to us. I gave them a bright, carefree smile like I always used to do, and they smiled back.
When Bradach and I left the castle, I turned left immediately, making for Gutter Galley. He pulled me up short, reminding me my family would’ve moved after coming into wealth.
It took little asking around for us to find out where. It seemed the poor family from the Gutter who suddenly became wealthy and brought a home in the noble district was the talk of the town for weeks.
I knocked on the door and Jaclan threw it open. I barely got out a greeting before he tackled me, throwing himself into my arms. Gisela wasn’t far behind him.
After talking to the twins, it was clear they had no idea their mother and sister were sentenced to be executed that day, and just as well. It haunted me the whole flight to Lyrica thinking of the terror they were going through, believing everyone they loved would leave them and never come back.
On the contrary, they were their happy little selves, giving me the grand tour of our new home, and even showing me my new room.
Even though Mama had the coin to buy the biggest mansion in the district, she didn’t. She bought the home Papa left for her. The one that was always meant to be ours.
It had sweeping, vaulted ceilings; three floors of extra bedrooms, dining rooms, servant quarters we’d never need; a grand dining room with a mile-long table, and huge, four-poster beds in every room, perfect for jumping as Jaclan assured me.
“Children, have you had dinner yet?” I asked. “Why don’t you go into the dining room, and I’ll be along soon with your supper.”
“That’s okay, Haeowen,” Gisela said, pulling Jaclan up on his feet. “Peri makes supper for us now.” She lit on my wrist. “Oooh, I like your charm, Haeowen. It’s so pretty.”
“Thank you, sweet one. I’ll get you one just like it.” I watched them go, chuckling. “I’ve been replaced by Peri. Glad to know they didn’t miss me too much.”
The look Meliora gave me could’ve peeled paint. “They missed you, Calli. They cried every night for three weeks. They were inconsolable. We thought you were dead while the whole time, you were hiding out in Wind and Wild. How could you?”
“That’s not what happened. Just let me explain—”
The guards chose that time to walk in, carrying my mother on a litter. My explanation was on hold while we got her settled in her room, placed baby Savia next to her, and covered them both with soft, downy sheets.
The baby fell asleep almost instantly. My mother stared at me like she’d never seen me before.
“Explain,” she croaked, lips paper dry. “Did you truly overhear Kirwan plotting an assassination? Have you been sheltering in Wind and Wild all this time?”
I perched on the side of her bed with Meli sitting on the other side. She wasn’t going anywhere until she heard my story, so I told them everything.
From the night Kaelan kidnapped me out of my bed and forced me to switch bodies with the princess of Lyrica, to getting word that they were about to be executed and flying across the Wastelands on the back of raven men.
“Speaking of, I asked Bradach and the others to hang back and give us some privacy, but they’re going to need a place to shower and sleep. They haven’t taken a break in over a day.”
“Well, of course they must stay here,” Mama cried. “Sounds to me Meli and I wouldn’t be here without them. And you left them out in the cold, Calli, shame on you.” Even lying in her sick bed, Mama scolded with the best of them. “You go send for them right this minute.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Calli, wait for me.” Meliora jumped out and followed, trailing me out of our home and into the night.
“What is it?” I finally spoke up. “Say what’s on your mind.”
“I’d rather know what’s on your mind. After your faeriken have rested and eaten, what do you plan to do?”
I frowned. “What do you mean? I’m going back home to Alisdair.”
“Home,” she repeated. “You used to call Lyrica home.”
“And I still do.” We skirted a couple walking down the sidewalk. “But Lumenfell is my home too. It’s also where my husband is. Now that I know you both are safe, I have to return.”
“Love has made you blind, Calli.”
“What? Why would you say that?”
She gave me a hard look. “Mama is not safe. She’s dying, Haeowen. She hasn’t kept a single thing down for weeks. We can afford the best healers coin can buy now, and they’re all saying the same thing. She doesn’t have much time left.”