by Jodi Meadows
“I did ask you before. As Black Knife.”
I swallowed hard. “And that was why I didn’t tell. I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me.”
He stepped closer. “What happened?” he whispered. “What do you know?”
Outside, the clock tower chimed nine.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come to you.” He moved back, giving me space to breathe. “I should have come to find out what you knew, and to update you on James’s progress. I should have given you freedom of the palace and allowed you visitors. I should have realized I had effectively trapped you here, without access to your friends or anyone else.
“But I was caught up in everything I needed to do, because my father was just assassinated, and my city demolished by something I don’t fully understand, and—” He dropped to the foot of James’s bed, and all the breath whooshed out of him. “I suppose you know how that feels better than anyone.”
“When my city burned, there was someone with me, holding my hand. I wasn’t alone.”
“And I made myself alone.” Tobiah looked up at me. “Because I was embarrassed. Because I thought I had to be alone to think and plan. Because I thought no matter who was with me, I was alone. I wasn’t thinking about you suffering, too. I’m sorry.”
My hand twitched, as though I might touch him, comfort him, but I caught myself and pressed my palm to my thigh. “I’ll tell you what happened in the wraithland,” I said. “But not for you. I’ll tell you because I need to stop the wraith, and the only chance I have of accomplishing that is with your help and cooperation.”
“I understand.”
When I’d dragged a chair closer to the boys, I opened my notebook to the sketches and entries I’d made during my time in the wraithland. I indulged a moment of hesitation before I handed it to him. Voice dropped low, I told him how I’d slipped out of West Pass Watch and stolen down the mountainside. He turned the pages along with my story, never looking up.
“I collected several pieces of the barrier from beside Mirror Lake. I don’t know if they will be useful, but I wanted to offer them to your committee for study.”
“Thank you.”
“Did you already know that Liadia had broken the Wraith Alliance by pouring magic into the barrier?”
He shook his head. “We heard the same rumors you investigated, but there was no proof beyond refugee claims. But with the pieces you brought back, it can be verified.” He dropped his eyes to the notebook again and brushed his fingers over a drawing of the locust-covered village. “What happened here?”
My voice tightened as I described the blackening sky, the bugs falling to their death when they flew too close to the lake’s reflection, and the pattering of their bodies all around me.
“The locusts were everywhere, smothering me. They were in my hair, my mouth, and even my nose. I couldn’t get away, so I used my power.”
Tobiah’s fingers clenched around the notebook. This was why I hadn’t told him, even as Black Knife. I didn’t need to see the disappointment in his eyes; no one was more disappointed in my weakness than I.
Ignoring his reaction, I continued. “Usually, I have to touch things, so I reached out for the air. I told it to wake up and save me, but it wasn’t the air that I awoke.”
“It was the wraith.” He stared at the sketch of the field of dead locusts, and the clear sky above.
“Yes.” I rubbed chills off my arms. “It drained me to use so much magic. I passed out for at least a day, and when I woke up, it was gone. The whole area was clear of wraith, because the wraith I’d brought to life had left.”
“But when you returned to the Indigo Kingdom, it followed you.”
“It followed me through the mountains, but then the mirrors on West Pass Watch frightened it away. It must have found a different path later, since the castle is still standing.”
“When you found it in Skyvale, why didn’t you tell it to go back to sleep?”
“If I had, the wraith would have stayed here and corrupted the city. I thought by making it solid, I could take it back out to the wraithland. I didn’t expect it to become human.” No, not human. Too easily I could remember the wraith boy’s body stretching, growing claws. Too easily I could imagine how quickly he’d have killed Tobiah before James or the other guards had been able to move at all. “Human shaped,” I amended. “I don’t know what he is, really. My power isn’t supposed to work like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I was young, before I understood, I animated my toys to play with me. I thought I was bringing them to life. But I wasn’t. Not life. Rather, I gave them the ability to do what I wanted them to do.”
“But not life. You say ‘wake up,’ but you don’t really awaken it.” He glanced at James, finally understanding why I couldn’t help his cousin.
“What happened in the wraithland was different, and I don’t know why. I don’t know how. Just that I’ve created this thing and I don’t know anything about it or what to do with it. I wish I hadn’t.” But giving life to the wraith boy—like this sudden and uncomfortable confession to Tobiah—was something I couldn’t take back. It was done. And I would have to deal with the consequences.
The wraith boy wanted me to go to the wraithland with him. In the spaces between breaths, I could still hear his whisper in my ear: Come to the changing lands with me. Come back with me.
Tobiah closed my notebook, and his fingers stroked the worn leather cover as though it were a pet. “Do you think what you did mitigated the wraith’s approach any?”
“I don’t know.”
“Could you do it again?”
“Possibly.” Probably not. Just the once had nearly killed me; I’d never animated anything so large before, and giving life to something was completely new. “But I don’t know if it would help. I don’t know what the consequences would be.”
He nodded and studied the front cover of my notebook, as though deciding whether to open it and start from the beginning. What would he think, seeing the writing of a nine-year-old girl there? But he didn’t open it. He handed it back to me, and seemed suddenly unsure what to do with his hands. No notebook, no weapons, no one safe to touch. “I may be able to modify the language of the Wraith Alliance to allow for experimentation. It would cover what you did in the wraithland and the other night.”
“Would the other kingdoms sign it?”
“There aren’t many left. They’re as desperate as we are. They’d sign it.”
We sat in awkward silence for a minute before I said, “I know who killed your father.”
Tobiah jerked straight. “Who?”
“The same man I suspect tried to assassinate you.”
“Who?” The prince flashed a desperate look at his unconscious cousin.
“Patrick Lien, the son of the general who kidnapped you.” I rested my hands on my knees, forcing my voice even. “Patrick confessed that he assassinated your father, and that he intended to have you killed, too. The last time I saw him, he said he was heading to Aecor to amass an army. In my name. He’ll claim you’re holding me hostage.”
Tobiah stared at me.
I slumped, exasperated. “Obviously, this isn’t something I asked him to do.”
“Then he’s a traitor not only to the Indigo Kingdom, of which he is technically a citizen, but a traitor to the vermilion throne as well.” Tobiah rubbed his temples. “The guards I sent after the shooter never found anyone. You’ve heard nothing of your wraith boy?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know why he hasn’t returned yet.” There were too many options I didn’t like: that the wraith boy didn’t have to do my bidding, like I’d thought; that Patrick had been able to outrun the wraith boy; that the wraith boy had been captured. . . .
“Melanie is with Patrick. She’ll get word to me before he does anything else.” I hoped. I’d trusted her when she took that step toward Patrick but held my gaze, but I couldn’t forget how passionately she’d felt about him before.<
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“I’ll have my men begin searching for him. If I asked whether you know where he might be, would you tell me the truth?”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to my people. Not the Ospreys who went with him, or whoever might be sheltering him. If you can promise their safety—”
“My orders will be to spare them.” Tobiah met my eyes. “I cannot promise more than that.”
It was better than I’d expected. “I’ll give you the locations I know about, but he might not go to them.”
Tobiah rose and pulled out the chair to a writing desk. “I want us to work together, Wil. I know you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be. I’m angry with myself, too.” He pulled out a few sheets of palace stationery and a writing box. “But I am willing to do whatever is required for my kingdom’s security, and I think you are, too.”
“I am.” I took the desk chair he offered and arranged the writing utensils. “Rather, I used to be. Now, I find myself butting up against lines I won’t cross, but Patrick will. He is the one who will do anything for Aecor. Revolutions. Regicide. Revenge. The end justifies the means for him. He sees the most direct path to his goal, and he takes it. He sheltered me from those decisions for so long; I never understood doing anything for one’s kingdom until I realized the lengths he was willing to go.”
Tobiah leaned on the corner of the desk, absorbing my words as I dipped my pen and began writing locations in his handwriting.
“How—” He shook his head. “The note I sent earlier.”
“You should be more careful about your messages, Your Highness. You never know who is paying attention to the way you write flourishes on your name.”
“First my vigilante identity, and now my handwriting.” He gave an exaggerated sigh, and a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “You are incredible.”
I capped the ink and began cleaning the pen. “You should hear what else I’ve done in my time here.”
“I’m afraid to ask.” He took the list and studied it for a moment. “I’m going to have men sent immediately. I’ll be right back.”
When he left the room, I sat on the bed next to James and touched his hand. “You’re missing all the excitement.”
James’s fingers jumped, and he opened his eyes. “Julianna?”
I stood, stepped back, and my palms brushed my empty hips. “It’s Wilhelmina.”
He sat up and shook his head. “Of course . . . I’m sorry. Is Tobiah all right? Where is he?”
“He’s fine.” I forced myself to relax. “He stepped out for a moment, but he’ll return soon.”
“How long was I unconscious?”
“Three days.” I wanted to ask how he’d healed, and how he’d awakened, but he looked so dazed and concerned for his cousin, I couldn’t bring myself to speak the words. “I’m sure Tobiah will tell you everything you need to know.”
James nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.” He flashed a strained smile. “I’m sorry about the way I treated you in jail. I suppose you know it by now, but it was for others’ benefit.”
I took the chair I’d abandoned earlier, and placed my notebook over my knees. “It’s fine.”
“You didn’t give him up.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Black Knife. You said you weren’t protecting him, but you were.”
“Maybe. I didn’t know his real identity any more than he knew mine. But you knew his. And that I wasn’t who I claimed to be. Or who others assumed me to be.”
James let out a soft chuckle. “What a tangled web of identities you two made together. Yes, I knew. He’s my best friend. I know everything about him.”
“My best friend doesn’t know everything about me.” And now we were even further apart.
He offered a sad smile. “Well, there’s no way Tobiah could have slipped past me all those nights. I trusted him to come back in one piece, and he trusted me to go along with the mask he wore for court.”
“You think that Black Knife is the real Tobiah?”
“Yes. He’s a lot more fun like that. And not as poor of a swordsman as I claimed. He did chew with his mouth open that once, though. I wasn’t lying about that.”
“And I’m still scandalized.” I hesitated. “Does Meredith know? The queen regent?”
“No, no one else knows. I’m not sure what Prince Colin and Prince Herman would do if they even suspsected.”
“Well, everyone thinks I’m Black Knife now. And I’ve heard them calling me the ‘wraith queen,’ because of what I did during the battle.” It had only taken one night’s work to corrupt the symbol Tobiah had worked so hard to create. “I’m certainly not helping Tobiah’s image by being here, but I can’t leave, either. Well, I could—”
Tobiah’s voice came from behind me. “Why are you always trying to leave me?”
James surged to his feet, but before he could bow or perform any kind of genuflection, Tobiah rushed in and hugged him tightly.
“You’re awake,” he rasped. “I can’t believe you’re awake.”
I made myself appear busy while the boys laughed and hugged and pounded each other’s backs. After a few minutes, they pulled away and mussed each other’s hair.
Tobiah combed his fingers through his curls. “James, put on some real clothes. There’s a clean uniform in the wardrobe. I’m going to need you on the balcony. You too, Wil. My mother and Meredith should be here any moment.”
While James and Tobiah were in the dressing room, Francesca and Meredith arrived. We didn’t speak to one another, even when the boys emerged and Tobiah motioned us all toward a balcony door.
Like the apartments Melanie and I had shared, this balcony had two doors, one from his private room, and one from the guest room. It overlooked a garden, though now the area below held blackened foliage and a crowd of protesters, shouting about me.
“Kill the wraith queen!”
“Punish the wraith queen!”
Beyond the forever-changed gardens and courtyards of the King’s Seat, Hawksbill rose in a statelier glory than it had any right to, but the nobles living in those mansions could afford to repair their homes more quickly than anyone beyond the wall.
Below, someone pointed up at us, and the crowd grew quiet.
Tobiah lifted his hand. “People of the Indigo Kingdom.”
Others below joined the crowd, coming from the nearby mansions or the destroyed fountain by the palace steps. Maids, builders, governesses: they all stopped what they were doing to look up at their prince.
“I know what you’ve been hearing these last few days, since the Inundation.” Tobiah gripped the balcony rail and dragged in a heavy breath. “You’re afraid of the wraith beasts that attacked our city three days ago. The assassin who murdered my father. Rumors of war from the east.
“I won’t tell you not to be afraid of those things, because I don’t know what the future will bring. But I have made some decisions that I hope will restore your faith in your leaders and heroes.” The prince motioned James forward. “You all recognize my cousin, Lieutenant James Rayner. Effective immediately, I am promoting him to the rank of captain. He will oversee security for the entire palace.”
Color rose to James’s face, but he knelt and bowed his head.
Tobiah bade James rise before turning to Francesca. “My mother will continue acting as queen regent for the time being. After the mourning period and memorial, my coronation will be held in Skyvale Palace. This ceremony will be witnessed by my dear and trusted friend, Princess Wilhelmina Korte of Aecor.”
Muttering spread out below, but that was all.
“Princess Wilhelmina, Prince Colin, and I will begin immediate negotiations to determine the future of Aecor and the Indigo Kingdom. War from the east is not inevitable.” Tobiah touched my elbow, drawing me forward to stand beside him. “It is because of Her Highness’s intelligence that we have identified the assassin who killed my father, and who likely attacked me. And it is because of Her Highness’s quick action t
hat the wraith beasts were stopped during the Inundation. Together, we are devising a plan to stop the wraith’s approach. Princess Wilhelmina is a true friend to the Indigo Kingdom.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” I lifted my voice. “I look forward to repairing the damage of the One-Night War and the years since.”
The prince took my hand and kissed it, lingering just a second too long. My heartbeat throbbed as he whispered, “I’m sorry,” against my skin.
Sorry for what?
He drew back, squaring his jaw. “The last item I would like to share with you is this: my father’s death has convinced me of what must be done. I am moved to act for the benefit of this kingdom and the people within it.”
The crowd below was absolutely silent.
“I’ve already announced my engagement to Lady Meredith Corcoran.” He motioned the duchess to stand next to him, and she did. They were beautiful together, his darkness and her lightness, regal in the way they complemented each other just as King Terrell had said they would. “My lady, I humbly apologize for the delay in setting a date.”
She nodded, all forgiveness.
“It was my father’s dream to see us married. Though he’s gone now, I must believe his spirit is still with us. Immediately following my coronation, I will begin the preparations for our wedding. I hope the winter solstice is soon enough.”
Meredith hadn’t taken her eyes off him the whole time he was speaking, and now her face lit up with a smile. “It’s perfect.” Daintily, delicately, she lifted onto her toes, and kissed him.
Below, the crowd cheered and celebrated. Tobiah’s mother and cousin smiled approvingly.
Only years of disguising my emotions saved me from the urge to stagger back, to press my hands against my heart or mouth. He was really doing it. He was really going to marry her.
I shouldn’t have felt betrayed. He’d been promised to her from the start, and I’d been the interloper. I hadn’t even liked Tobiah. Only Black Knife.
But maybe that didn’t matter.
As the cheering crescendoed, I gazed across the courtyard, praying my expression was cool and unaffected by the prince holding his duchess in his arms.