Chapter Thirteen #2
An uncontrollable surge of surprise forces a laugh out of me.
Oh, Will. The cheek of it. There, tucked right in the top plate of Ava’s armor, is a hawthorn blossom.
Is it the same one I gave him, or would he want to keep that?
Either way, it has my heart soaring. He must have taken note when I told Pigeon that I know Ava.
Is it a message? Does he know that the hawthorn blossoms mean hope?
Card shifts at my side.
“Prince Merit needs rest, but he doesn’t have any serious injuries,” Ava continues. “However, we found him in the company of Willoh Vane.”
“Will? Of course,” Bash spits out.
“We don’t know if it was a coincidence. He wasn’t willing to cooperate,” Ava says.
Of course he wasn’t. But I’m sure he was willing to stall and give me time to get as far away as possible.
“Howell, take Merit to his room. Tarin, call for the physician,” the queen orders, then ushers Ava forward. “Please, Captain, tell us everything.”
Ava dismisses her guards and joins us by the thrones. When she finds me among the group, her eyes sweep up and down my body as if checking for any wounds. I must look a state then. I’ll probably find tears in my clothes and leaves in my hair when I get home.
“When we searched the site of the attack, we found metal and phosphorus debris but no trace of the rebels. A few of the guards accompanying the prince were unconscious and some sustained minor injuries. They were able to tell us that the caravan of Dreyan food supplies en route with the prince had been raided. However, there had been a larger explosion when a leaking barrel of alcohol caught fire, after which the rebels retreated.”
That sounds like an accident…a bad one. After seeing what the explosion did to Merit, I hope Pigeon is okay. I’m glad I was able to keep quiet about her.
“One of the guards was able to point us in the direction that the prince fled. We eventually found him unconscious on the coastal road with Willoh Vane.”
“Did he say anything? Was he involved in the attack, do you think?” Queen Fern asks with stark focus.
“I’m not sure, Your Majesty. He said he was out enjoying the splendor of northern Alrick when the prince stumbled out of the forest. After that, he said that the prince interrupted what had been a very pleasant day, and that if you wish to invite him to the wedding, next time it would be wiser to not send Prince Merit with any invitations. ”
Bastion swears so violently that his mother slaps him around the back of the head.
A very pleasant day, he’d said.
I work hard to dim the glow in my chest. Not here, not now.
“Perhaps the sorcerer was telling the truth,” the king says, slumped in his throne.
“It matters not. We must focus on bringing Merit back to full health first and foremost. Once he is awake, he will be able to tell us more. Captain, in the meantime, provide the injured guards with whatever they require and set up more patrols in the forest. Sweep a wider area and bring in anyone found wandering. We need more intel on these rebels before we can consider a strong countermove.”
Ava nods, bows, and makes her leave.
“Dad, if Will was involved—” Bastion starts, but the king raises his hand, face heavy with exhaustion.
“Let it be for now. Your brother needs you.”
Bastion grumbles, and in the silence that follows, Nettle clears her throat from where she’s taken to sulking against the wall, her knife twirling between her fingers.
“Just reminding everyone that the prince was found with Vane on the coastal road. The same coastal road Felicity took,” she says.
Crap.
All eyes are on me—including Card, who looks at me with a curiosity usually reserved for his textbooks. Queen Fern approaches and places her delicate hands on my shoulders, that sweet foxglove scent wrapping me in its tendrils.
“Felicity, are you sure you have nothing else to tell us?” she asks.
When I struggle to think of a quick answer, she bores her dark gaze into mine like she wishes she could bury herself in my mind and discover the truth for herself.
“If Willoh Vane has threatened you or told you to keep silent, know that you are safe here. You can share what you know.”
“I didn’t see the attack and Willoh hasn’t threatened me. I’m glad Prince Merit was found safely, though. I hope he recovers soon,” I say, and pray the quavering in my voice doesn’t betray me.
The queen rubs the sides of my arms. If I’m not wrong, she’s disappointed in me. Disappointed that her tool didn’t function as it’s supposed to.
“Okay,” she says. “Go home and get some rest, but if you remember anything else, come and find me immediately. You may leave.”
I curtsy and cross the hall with echoing steps. Don’t hurry too fast. Don’t match pace with the pounding in my chest. Keep it slow and steady, a calm mask of chamomile.
Outside in the empty entrance hall, I gasp and lean against the cool stone wall, my basket almost slipping from my shaking fingers.
Relief cascades through my chest. Oh my gods.
I managed it but it was close. Too close.
Will got away unharmed too, which is more than I could have hoped for.
Hope. That blossom. It is possible that—
“Fliss, wait up,” Card calls, jogging out of the hall. I straighten, slipping the mask back on as he comes to a stop in front of me. He exhales deeply. “What are you doing?”
I glance down at myself confused, like he’s caught me in the middle of something surreal.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“You know what I mean.”
I’m taken aback by the weight of his seriousness. Card has a lifetime of reading me, knowing my word patterns, hearing what my silence says. Could he know I was trying to shield information back there?
“Can you be more specific?”
“I saw your face.”
“Uh…when?”
“Your reaction when the guards came back safely. I saw you looking at the flower in Ava’s armor.”
“Card, I’m a florist. I like flowers.”
“It’s not just any flower though, is it?”
I don’t reply. I’m unsure what he wants from me. Ava didn’t say that Will put it there, and I don’t see why Card is so intent on pushing the subject.
“You’re hiding something,” he says. “You literally have the same flowers in your basket. I’m not stupid.”
“It’s…it’s a common flower.”
“Then why is Ava wearing one?”
“Why do you need to know?”
“Because you’re keeping something from me!
” Card bursts, voice raised. His sharp blue eyes scrutinize every inch of me.
“You’re acting weird and distant and constantly leaving the citadel for days at a time, and you’re supposed to be here.
With me. You used to tell me everything, but I don’t even know who you are recently! ”
I stare at Card.
“Excuse me?” I dig my fingernails into my palms. “Are you saying you want me to revolve my entire life around you? Is that it?”
“You know what I mean. There’s so much to do for the wedding and—”
“Oh, the wedding!” I reply, louder than I mean to. “Yes, of course, because it’s the biggest, most—”
Like tripping backward without Will’s magic to save my fall, my throat seizes up. The sarcastic sentence I wanted to say gets stuck and forces out a wheezing cough instead. I splutter and cover my mouth as pain scrapes down my neck.
Card takes a step back.
“What did you want to say just then?” he asks, deadly serious.
I heave in a breath and fight against the agonizing scratch in my throat.
“Nettle says you don’t even want to be my maid of honor,” Card continues, quiet and still. “She says you’re not interested in any of the planning, except when you can work with flowers. That you’re selfish that way. That you’re not even excited for me or for Bash.”
“Nettle’s never liked me,” I whisper hoarsely.
“But you’re not saying she’s lying. Tell me. Tell me she’s wrong. Please.”
He’s surprisingly pleading.
Like he’s clinging to a thread he knows is worn and frayed.
But I can tell. He already believes her.
I wipe my mouth and take a step forward, trying to conjure up some bravery.
“Tell you? I shouldn’t be forced to tell the truth all the time!
Why does everyone else get to choose? Why would I tell you if I had concerns about the wedding if you’re so happy about it?
Do you want to know what I’ve been thinking?
Truly? Do you really want to hear that I was shocked to see you accept the royals as family so easily after the way the queen has treated me?
Or how I think they’re not to be trusted, including Bash?
That maybe, just maybe, the rebels have cause to fight back, because your new family aren’t bothering to help them in their time of need?
You’re planning a lavish wedding while they fight for food. Any of that? Or do you want more?”
Card’s jaw drops open. For once, he’s speechless. No language he knows has any words for him.
I need to leave before I do any more damage. Before I burst into tears.
My lip wobbles.
“I’ve been interrogated enough today. I’m going home,” I say, and spin on my heel.
Card doesn’t stop me.
I wonder if this is how Will felt when he and Bastion fell out, if his most important friend broke his heart like Card is breaking mine.
I’m so sick of being treated like I’m only worth something when I’m telling the truth.
I have to be an open book or I’m discarded in the waste pile.
Well, Nettle can have her victory. She can take my place if she wants.
See how she likes being called upon every waking moment of the day.
After that night, I hear nothing from Card.
The wedding looms closer as the days tick by.
Three weeks until the big day turns into two, and no emergency elecampane flower arrives.
No guards request my presence. I don’t bother to reach out either.
I snap at my mum. I hide in my greenhouse.
I plant that damned crown imperial in my tiny garden and tend to it with ferocity.
Nothing calms the torrent of anger in my stomach.
Not until I check the anonymous request box and find a third form from the same person who sent me into the forest, up mountains, and right into Willoh Vane’s path.
Lunarie. Collection. ASAP.