Shallow breaths ease in and out of my nostrils, barely filling my lungs. Dad is because I delivered the lethal blow. Mom and the twins are still in the stadium, awaiting their turn with the new Scorpio. Prince Kevon is in this medical prison with artificial fibers in his heart that can cause him pain or death at the click of a button.
I lick my lips. The only way to save everyone is to destroy what’s left of Prince Kevon’s love.
“Zea?” he croaks.
My gaze snaps up to his face. “You’re awake.”
He reaches out his hand. I fold my arms across my chest and turn my gaze at his increasing vital signs.
“What happened?” he asks. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“I’m returning to Rugosa.”
“If it’s because of my mother—”
“It’s not her.” I exhale the tightness in my chest in a long breath. “All those things she said about me are true. I told Vitelotte to find a way to kill you. When that didn’t work, I decided I could try again after the birth of our first child, so I could become the regent.”
Prince Kevon draws his brows together and stares at me as though I’ve just said the words in another language and he’s trying to translate them before responding. I drop my gaze to the needles sticking out from under his collarbones, only noticing now the tiny threads that stretch up to a headboard that extends across the ceiling.
Silence draws out, and I realize that I’ve only mentioned two of the items on the queen’s list. She will use any deviations from her orders as an excuse for punishment.
I’m about to speak, when he says, “You’re saying that because I couldn’t keep you safe.”
“It’s the truth,” I reply. “My reason for joining the Princess Trials was to infiltrate the palace and find a way for rebels to slaughter the royals. When I talked about wanting to help someone lead the country, I was referring to Ryce Wintergreen.”
“What?” he whispers.
“I’ve wanted to be close to him ever since your father killed his father.”
Prince Kevon winces.
The tightness in my chest returns, as do the cramping pains in my stomach. If this continues for much longer, it will be me who needs the hospital bed. I’m sure Queen Damascena wanted me to weave these sentences into a conversation, but I blurt them out in a list.
“I’m grateful for our extra water rations, but I can’t continue this lie. You’re clingy, and you never listen. You bought my affection with wealth, but even that wasn’t enough to tolerate you. You weren’t enough.”
Prince Kevon’s face turns as hard as stone. “Why are you saying these things?”
I glance down at my clasped hands. “The queen has finally given me permission to leave the Princess Trials.”
“She’ll hurt you and your family if you leave my protection.”
“I’m giving her what she wants.” I recite even more of the queen’s words. “The chance for a happy life with a girl who doesn’t resent you.”
“You…” He pauses. “You resented me?”
The tightness around my chest loosens. I can’t tell if it’s because I’m nearly at the end of my list and he’s finally accepting my words or because my heart has shriveled and there’s nothing left to squeeze.
“I grew up never having enough to eat or drink. How do you think I would feel to see people living like gods in the Oasis?”
“Zea.” He leans toward me, lighting up the threads that link his needles to the ceiling, and flops back onto the pillows.
I draw in a sharp breath through my nostrils, suppress my shock, and raise a palm. “Will you stop being so persistent and needy?”
Prince Kevon flinches. The pain in his eyes tells me he has heard these words before, most likely from Queen Damascena. A muscle in his jaw clenches. “It would seem I’m doomed to love women incapable of loving me back.”
That’s not true. A sharp pain lances through my insides, but I clamp my lips shut. Queen Damascena should be satisfied that I have said everything she wanted. All that's left are my parting words.
I break the tomato necklace off my neck, slide the ring off my finger, and place them onto his lap. “Goodbye, Prince Kevon. Spending time with you was harder than working the fields on a hot day. I hope you don’t take back the water rations I worked so hard to attain.”
“Get out,” he snarls.
My legs shake as I rise from my seat. Prince Kevon bows his head and closes his eyes. It’s better this way because he won’t see me waver.
Without me at his side, the Chamber of Ministers might treat him with more respect when he takes the throne.
Clutching my insides as though they might fall out, I walk across the hospital room to the exit. The only thing keeping me from falling on the floor and begging for his forgiveness is the drug suppressing my emotions. I’ve never been so cruel.
Just as I reach for the door, it flies open, making me stagger back.
General Ridgeback’s huge body fills the doorway. “Zea-Mays Calico, you are under arrest for treason.”
Chapter 24
I stagger back into Prince Kevon’s hospital room, my breaths turning shallow. General Ridgeback grabs my tunic and yanks me into the hallway. Queen Damascena and Dr. Ridgeback stand behind him, each staring at me with satisfied smirks.
“Stop,” Prince Kevon shouts from his bed.
At his words, the queen’s face splits into a wide grin. Of course, she relishes the power she wields over her son. It was her who decided on the implant that now controls Prince Kevon’s heart.
The general clamps a massive arm around my bicep and marches me down the hallway, where the guards stand at the walls and sneer. Behind us, a body thuds to the floor, and overhead speakers ring with an alarm. Every single guard stops looking at me and rushes into Prince Kevon’s room.
Worry ties my stomach into knots. I twist around, only to see the backs of the guards. What if he’s injured? What if he’s ruptured his heart?
I slap at the general’s padded arm. “Prince Kevon—”
“Will be fine, now that you’re no longer trying to kill him,” he growls.
“No.” I stiffen my legs, throw my weight back, dig my heels into the smooth floor—anything to stay and check that Prince Kevon is alright—but the general drags me down the hallway and stops at the elevator.
“Let go,” I snarl through clenched teeth. “I’m innocent.”
“Everyone heard your confession.” He jams a thick finger at the call button.
The effort of struggling against him makes sweat break out across my brow. I curse Carolina and Ryce for not teaching me how to defend myself against a larger opponent. I can’t let him take me away. Without Prince Kevon’s pendant and ring, I would be lost within the Oasis or beyond.
With my free hand, I reach up at the general’s Amstraad ear cuff and pull. It’s not like an earring as I originally thought, but seems to connect with the skull.
General Ridgeback releases me with a roar and backhands me across the face. The blow hits like a stagecoach and spins me down the hallway until my head smacks into the wall.
I crumple to my hands and knees and crawl toward the hospital room. The alarm stops, and guards stream out through Prince Kevon’s door.
“Scum.” The general hooks his hand under the neckband of my tunic, hauls me to my feet, and shoves me toward the open elevator door. “My daughter was a disappointment but she was still worth ten of you.”
One foot stumbles over the other, but I right myself before I fall and slam my elbow into his gut. It knocks him back a tiny step, but he wraps a hand around my neck and shoves me into the wall.
All the air leaves my lungs in a pained cry.
“Wait.” Queen Damascena’s voice rings through the hallway.
General Ridgeback drops his free hand and stands to attention. “Your Majesty?”
I claw at the hand around my neck still pinning me to the wall. As much as I despise the queen and want to plunge
an electroshocker in her face, my shoulders sag with relief. Breathing hard to calm my senses, I snap my gaze back to the general’s ear cuff, the exposed skin of his neck, his groin. The next time he attacks, I’m fighting dirty.
Queen Damascena stalks toward us, a grinning apparition in watermelon pink. The hallway’s fluorescent lights make the ends of her blonde hair shine like the sun reflecting off cornsilk, but it’s nothing compared to her radiant smile.
I tighten my muscles, school my expression, and brace myself for the worst.
“Zea-Mays Calico,” she purrs. “Ambassador Pascale was wrong to call you the bucking bronco. You’re a cat with nine lives.”
Cramps of anxiety ripple through my insides, and I swallow back a groan. I’ve lost count of the number of assassination attempts, and I have no idea what the queen is planning.
“Release her, General.”
He tightens his grip around my neck. “Your Majesty?”
“Miss Calico is free to go back to her Region.”
I turn completely still, and my mouth drops open. If this is another trick…
“But she confessed to treason and regicide,” says the general.
Queen Damascena’s violet eyes sparkle with delight. “My son absolved her with his first and final pardon as Phangloria’s regent.”
“Final?” I whisper.
She tips her head back and chuckles. It’s a throaty sound that makes me want to hurl. Her hand falls onto her chest, and the laugh deepens. At any moment, I feel she’s going to plunge a knife in my pounding heart. Out of the corner of my eye, I see every face turned to us, but I can’t stop watching this woman revel in madness.
Eventually, Queen Damascena pulls her head back and exhales a long sigh. “Kevon abdicated, and now I’m the regent.” She leans toward me and whispers, “You have twenty-four hours to leave the Oasis before I grant General Ridgeback a sabbatical.”
The general releases my neck, stamps his foot on the ground, and bows. “Thank you Your Majesty!”
Implications hit me with a hard slap. Prince Kevon traded his throne for my freedom. Queen Damascena is now the absolute ruler of Phangloria. I have less than a day left to escape before General Ridgeback hunts me down in revenge for killing Berta.
I hurry back toward the hospital room, but the guards around the wall step into my path.
“He doesn’t want to see you.” The glee in Queen Damascena’s voice grates on my nerves. “In fact, he’s eager to restart the Princess Trials with candidates vetted for quality and good breeding.”
I turn back to find the General standing in my path and staring at me as though I’m a fresh slice of steak.
“What about my family?” I ask.
“You’re all free to return to your hovel.” She smirks. “What’s left of it.”
Keeping my gaze on the queen, I edge around the general’s body toward the elevator and grope at the wall panel until my finger presses the call button. Jagged pains stab through my belly, and the first signs of panic bleed through the emotion suppressant’s wall of calm. I’ve got to find the stadium, retrieve my family, and leave the Oasis before the general can start his hunt.
The elevator doors open. I step inside. General Ridgeback moves forward, and I hold my breath. He plans on following me around until the end of the twenty-four hours.
Queen Damascena places a hand on his arm. “Any serving officer violating the royal pardon will face execution.”
As the elevator doors close, the general inclines his head. Now I understand why the queen gave him a sabbatical instead of a vacation. By the time General Ridgeback catches up with me, he’ll no longer be a serving officer.
The elevator makes its slow descent, and I lean against its wall, breathing hard. Will Prince Kevon’s abdication mean the end of his torture? I wish I had hinted something to him about the remote control. It’s too late unless I find a way to send a message.
There’s no point in trying to find the palace, because I’m no longer welcome, and I don’t have a chance of sneaking back into Prince Kevon’s hospital room. Maybe if I reach Rugosa, I’ll tell Mr. and Mrs. Pyrus, then they’ll tell Forelle, who will tell Garrett.
The elevator stops, the doors open, and the guards in white armor move aside. I step out into the half-dome, feeling exposed as an unescorted Harvester in uniform. The Nobles, who once inclined their heads, now glare at me as though they want to join General Ridgeback on his hunt.
Swallowing hard, I hurry toward the exit and keep my eyes away from the glowering faces. A large hand lands on my shoulder. My heart somersaults. I spin around to meet the unsmiling face of Garrett.
“You need a ride out of the Oasis,” he says.
Pressing a palm to my heart, I sag with relief. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t a favor for you.” He turns on his heel. “Follow me.”
The fabric of my Harvester uniform makes my skin itch, even though it’s the same outfit I’ve worn since turning fifteen. I hurry after Garrett and hunch my shoulders. He had been present in the Chamber of Ministers and saw the footage of Ryce kissing me, heard the queen uncover the truth about my reason for joining the Princess Trials, and heard what she said about me killing King Arias.
Garrett pauses at an elevator positioned next to a booth where a man in white sticks needles into Nobles’ faces and makes their muscles twitch.
“How much of what you said to Kevon was true?” he asks.
I gulp. “You heard?”
“I came as soon as the Lifestyle Channel broadcasted you arriving at my cousin’s bedside. Apparently, we’ve been looking for you in all the wrong places.”
Garrett steps into the elevator, where two Noble boys my age who were about to step out remain to gape. When the doors slide closed, neither boy presses a button. Instead, they nudge each other and whisper as though plucking up the courage to say something.
I stare at the numbers on the display, which take us to the fifth-level basement. As soon as the elevator doors open and we step out into a dimly lit parking space filled with solar vehicles, one of the boys shouts something obscene. I turn, but the elevator door closes.
“My family is in the stadium,” I say to Garrett.
He walks around a two-seater solar car and opens the driver-side door. “Where?”
I clench my teeth. Of course, they would keep such a vile place quiet. The passenger door swings open, and I slide into the leather seat. As I try to describe the stadium, Garrett’s Amstraad ear cuff beeps. He pulls a tablet from his inside pocket.
“A friend just spotted a Harvester woman and two little boys outside the Ministry of the Environment experimentation laboratories.” He taps a command on his tablet. “I’ll have someone pick them up.”
Warm gratitude fills my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and exhale my relief. My mind is still a jumble from everything that’s happened since the king’s funeral. I still can’t believe that Prince Kevon would give up his throne to save me even after I convinced him of all those terrible things.
If only I had known his heart before I agreed to this stupid mission. Phangloria would have had a merciful king, but I ruined everything. I rub my dry throat and lick my lips.
Garrett maneuvers the car himself instead of programming it to drive and demands to know where I’ve been.
I tell him how Queen Damascena brought Mom to the stadium to slaughter someone I believed to be a stranger in a Scorpio suit. His face tightens as I describe charging into the stadium to rescue Mom and poisoning then electrocuting our attacker, only to discover that he had been Dad all along.
He turns to me. “If this is what the queen does to her enemies, it’s no wonder you became a rebel.”
“She also made me memorize those phrases I said to Prince Kevon,” I murmur.
Garrett’s eyes soften. “On some level, Kevon must suspect you were coerced.”
I gulp. Prince Kevon is merciful but not naive. At least half of what I was supposed to have done was true.
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br /> At the end of the parking space, Garrett turns right, and we enter a long tunnel that slopes upward. “It sounds like they controlled your father with a rehabilitation suit.”
“Pardon?”
He rubs his chin. “People who damage their spinal cords have to wear versions of these to control their movements. Kinesiotherapists program the suits to keep the muscles active while the nervous system heals. Someone likely perverted it to make the wearer attack their family.”
I slump back in my seat. We continue in silence toward an exit that leads to a tall bridge that passes over a wide river. The sun shines down from a cloudless sky, illuminating the water’s surface like droplets of gold. I still don’t have a plan for what we’ll do when we reach Rugosa or how we’ll get there, but at least I know the secret entrance to the Red Runner headquarters.
“Forelle postponed our engagement,” Garrett says.
“Why?”
“She believes that the Nobles will attack her and her family next.”
“Will they?” I ask.
“My father is the next in line to the throne, and then it’s me.” He clenches his jaw. “There’s Briar, but the Chamber of Ministers would never let her take the throne because that would create an Amstraadi king.”
Garrett tells me that Forelle has gone into hiding and that her parents are making their way out of Rugosa with the help of his friends. From the tone of his voice, it sounds as though he and his allies are preparing to strike out against Queen Damascena.
I don’t know enough about Garrett’s father to determine if he has a chance against the queen and her supporters, but there’s little point when she holds the most devastating leverage.
“Queen Damascena’s new lady-at-arms has a remote control that affects Kevon’s heart.”
Garrett turns to me and gapes. “She told you this?”
I shake my head. “Dr. Ridgeback had the remote in her hand back when we were trying to escape the Chamber of Ministers. Each time she pressed it, Kevon clutched his heart.” My voice becomes hoarse, and I can barely say the next words. “If he doesn’t find someone to remove that synthetic tissue, he’ll never be free.”
The Princess Games: A young adult dystopian romance (The Princess Trials Book 2) Page 34