She sat up and stared out over the sea, not meeting his eyes. She’d probably heard that phrase one too many times. “What’s that?”
“I have to go with them.”
“Will you be safe?” She turned and searched his face. There was something in her eyes that he couldn’t place, but he wasn’t sure what.
He put his arm around her and pulled her into him. “Yeah, of course. I just need to make sure they really take him out. Nothing will happen to me.” He couldn’t tell her the real possibilities. He couldn’t let her know it was dangerous.
“You promise? I lost Ari. I can’t lose you too.” Her voice was pleading, her eyes panicked.
“Yes, I promise.” He hated lying to her, thinking of what she’d have to go through when this was over.
Her face went stoic. “Well, then I guess you better get going. I’m going to shower and get this sand out of my hair. You go and come back safe. Is anyone staying here with me, or will I be alone?”
“Titania will be staying with you.”
“Okay.” She embraced him hard and whispered in his ear, “Come back to me. Please.”
Then she spun and jogged back up to the castle. She’d given in too easily. Maybe she had heard him. No. That was the guilt that plagued him. If he died, she’d never let anyone out of her sight again. He let out a breath. It didn’t matter.
If Raaf died, it would be worth it.
Chapter 29
The Escape
Zwaantie locked her door and flung open her closet. She’d heard every word Leo and Sage said on the beach, and she wasn’t about to let them both go and kill themselves for her. The biggest threat Raaf presented was to her, so she would either kill him or die trying. Part of her was angry they were hiding one more thing from her, but a bigger part of her understood.
She wouldn’t have told them either if she was doing something that could get her killed. Like now, for instance. But she’d never forgive herself if they died protecting her. Too many people had died already.
She pulled on black shorts and a tank and stuffed a Solite dress and cloak into her bag. She’d stowaway on the boat and get to the castle before all of them. She’d send a message to Leo on his disc just before she went in so he wouldn’t try to bring down the castle on her.
She turned on her shower so everyone thought she was in there and snuck into the hallway. Low voices came from the dining room. If she was lucky, they would stay in there until she slipped out the front door. She tiptoed down the hall. She heard her name a couple of times, but she didn’t stop to find out why.
Once out the door, she raced to the boat, not bothering to be quiet since everyone was inside. This boat was bigger than the one she and Leo came in on. It had a large hull with several Zwaantie-sized cupboards. She opened a few until she found an empty one and slipped inside. It smelled musty, and the wood was rough. This would be the most uncomfortable ride of her life, but at least she was able to sit down.
She adjusted herself until she was sitting with her back against a wall and her bag on her lap. Maybe she’d manage to get a nap in. Though with her nerves on high alert, she doubted sleep would come.
It wasn’t long before she heard Leo and Sage’s voices.
“Who’s driving the ship?” Sage asked.
“Mother. She’ll get us there the fastest,” Leo replied. Zwaantie’s heart squeezed at the sound of his voice. He’d be so angry with her when he found out what she’d done.
More footsteps clattered down the stairs.
“This is so nerve-wracking. Six hours to go to what is probably our death,” Phoenix said. Zwaantie could almost see the anxiety on his face.
“Eight hours. It’s six from the City of Stars. Don’t think like that. We could survive,” Leo said. His voice wasn’t very convincing. Zwaantie was doing the right thing. She couldn’t let them die.
“Right. Sage told me what happened the first time you did this spell and brought down a small building. They almost burned you on the funeral pyre. That’s how close to death you were,” Phoenix said.
“There are five of us,” Leo said.
“And a massive castle,” Phoenix replied.
“We’re sacrificing for our kingdom. It’s what leaders do. If we succeed, Zwaantie will live to rule, and our people will be free,” Ajax said.
Zwaantie didn’t regret a minute of her decision. Leo lied to her. He would not come home from this safely. She had no intention of ruling alone. If they all died to protect her, she’d never be happy again.
This was her mess, not theirs. She’d clean it up.
Zwaantie waited a good fifteen minutes after everyone left the boat before she crawled out of her cupboard. Leo and the others weren’t planning on attacking until the middle of the night. This gave her several hours to take care of Raaf. Maybe she wouldn’t even have to alert Leo to what she was doing.
She threw the green Solite dress over her tank and shorts, slid on her wooden shoes, and tied her cloak at the neck, with the hood up. Hopefully no one would look twice at her since she looked just like everyone else in Sol. She clattered onto the dock. It’d been so long since she wore Solite shoes. She was making a racket, but no one glanced her way.
The Stellans and Solites were busy. Zwaantie admired how well they worked together. When Raaf died, it wouldn’t be hard to merge the kingdoms. She was ready for the challenge.
She didn’t arrive at the castle for another hour. Her feet ached. She wasn’t used to walking that long anymore while wearing unyielding shoes.
There were fewer people near the castle, but nobody really noticed her. She kept her hood up so her face wasn’t visible, but then so did most of the others. She dug around her pockets for some of the Solite gold she’d brought with her and stopped at a fruit stand.
She picked up a basket and filled it with apples, grapes, and bananas. The food would provide a nice distraction for the guards so she could get into Raaf’s room. After she paid for the food, she stopped at the bakery and bought a few rolls. She nibbled on one as she approached the castle.
Leo and Sage stood near the edge of a field, talking in low voices. She recognized their disguises from before. Zwaantie averted her eyes and pulled her hood down a little more. If they caught her, she’d never make it inside. She took the path to the slave entrance. Several others trudged along with her. A few were free, but most still had the bands on.
She would free the slaves as soon as she did away with Raaf. Her pity for him was gone. He killed Ari and Luna. He would pay.
She blended well. The basket helped. Once inside, she headed up the stairs to her old room. She wasn’t going in there, but she wouldn’t be able to get to where Raaf was by going down the hall to the king’s chambers. That would be too well guarded. No, she had a better idea.
She’d go through Raaf’s rooms. When they said it had fewer guards, Zwaantie knew this was the place to get to Raaf. She could find her way through his room. Quickly too.
She peeked around the corner. Three guards sat outside his door. She ducked into a cove, pulled out her bottle of Deep Sleep, and poured it over the fruit and bread. It seeped into the food, but the food still looked exactly the same. Xandria was good at what she did.
She approached the guards with her head bowed.
“Your lunch, sirs.”
“Thank you,” one of them grunted and took the basket from her. She waited nearby and shuffled her feet.
“What are you waiting for?” One asked Zwaantie with a mouthful of food.
“I need to take the basket back to my mother.” She needed this to happen quickly. If they didn’t eat fast or if one passed out before the other, she’d be made.
The guard rolled his eyes, but they all scarfed down the food and shoved the basket back into her hands.
“Tell your mother we want more bread next time.”
She nodded and slipped around the corner. She’d been just as rude to Luna at times, though never rough. She wished she’d been nicer. T
he hole in her heart by Ari overshadowed everything, but a big part of her missed Luna as well.
Less than a minute later, she heard the first thump, then a second and third.
She peered around the corner. All three were out on the floor. She wouldn’t have much time. Once someone discovered the guards, they would come after her. She stepped over them and slipped into Raaf’s rooms. Then she locked the door and slid the couch in front of it. She whipped off her dress and noisy shoes. She still had on her black tank and shorts. She’d maneuver better this way.
Now all she had to do was find the secret passageway. When she was a child, they’d played hide-and-seek so many times, and no one ever found Raaf. She’d searched his room high and low, pushing bricks and pulling out books, but never found him or caught him going in and out of his hiding place. Usually she or Raaf would win the game because Luna and Phoenix never knew of the secret passages.
It took the guards hours to find her holed away in her own passageway when the Voice turned off the necklaces, so Raaf’s trigger was probably not a brick, or he would’ve instructed them to press all of the bricks. She searched the bookshelf first, thinking maybe she missed something as child, but nothing seemed unusual there.
Perhaps, the secret passageway wasn’t in his bedroom, but deeper in his rooms. She slid open the door that led to the hallway. She hadn’t been down here in years. She crept down the hall, past his private dining room and library. The room on the left used to be his toy room. She’d spent hours playing with his toy swords and building blocks. They were much more interesting than her dolls and tea sets. If only they could turn back time and be kids again. Maybe then she could teach him to not be a ruthless killer.
At the very end of the hall was an old stone door with an empty box outside of it. Of course. This was where he went. The grand chancellor title was a cover for what he really was doing. He was either controlling or was in fact the Voice. She’d find out soon enough which one it was.
This would be too easy.
She shoved the door, and it opened to a small closet. She felt along the walls, but still nothing. She ran her hands along the stones on the floor, but it was an ordinary closet.
She frowned and stepped back into the hall. Everything looked normal. She examined the small table. It was so useless sitting there. Why even bother with it?
She crouched down, not quite sure what she was looking for. In the corner, there was a small nub on the leg of the table. She pressed it, and the floor under the table gave way, revealing a ladder.
Stars. She found it.
She shimmied down the ladder and into a long dark passageway. She pulled out her disc.
“Light,” she commanded, and it lit right up.
She started down the hall and found the door Sage spoke of. This was it, her last chance. She could turn around, climb up that ladder, and live to see another day.
Or she could save the world.
She turned the knob and pushed open the door.
Chapter 30
The Missing Queen
“I’m telling you that was Zwaantie,” Sage said, her disguised face full of concern. She looked weird as an old Solite woman.
“No way could you tell because of the way she walked.” Leo glanced down and startled again at his pale hands. The disguise was necessary, but he hated not looking like himself. It was disconcerting.
Sage stomped her foot and glared at him. “Yeah, I could. Seriously. Call my mother and ask her where Zwaantie is. Please. We can’t go through with this if she’s in there. Do you really think she’ll be able to defeat Raaf on her own?”
Leo groaned. “This is impossible. We left her in Stella. She’s not here.”
Sage shoved a disc in his face. “I’m calling my mother.”
“Mom,” Sage said.
“Hey,” Titania said groggily. Her head hovered above his disc, but her eyes were still closed.
“Where’s Zwaantie?” Leo asked, not concerned.
She rubbed her eyes. “I’m not sure. She left a note on her door that she wanted to be alone, so I went out to swim. I spent a few hours in the water, went for a hike, and then I fell asleep on the beach. Give me a moment, and I’ll go check on her. Sorry.”
Dread filled his stomach. He’d expected her to say they’d been together all day, but if she hadn’t seen Zwaantie since they left, it was possible. Why would Zwaantie come to Sol?
“Hurry, please.”
He bounced back and forth on his feet. If Sage was right, that changed everything.
“Why would she be here?” he asked Sage.
“Maybe she overheard us talking, and she doesn’t want you to die.” Sage glared at him.
He swallowed. He really thought she’d been asleep. “No. Titania’s going to call back and say she’s safe and sound.”
“Believe what you want. We’ve got three hours to find her, and if she was heading into the castle, she won’t be easy to find.”
A few minutes later Sage’s disc buzzed. Titania’s face floated over the disc, her eyes wide with panic. “Her shower was still running, so I opened her bathroom door. She wasn’t there. I don’t know where she is.”
“Search the castle and the beaches and call me immediately if you find her.” He turned off his disc. “We need to see if she’s in there. Call the others and tell them the plan is on hold for the moment.”
Sage nodded and clicked open her disc. Leo stared at the castle. Why would Zwaantie go in there? If she was going after Raaf, he worried she wouldn’t be able to go through with actually killing him. He was her brother. If the tables were turned, Leo wasn’t sure he’d be able to kill one of his own siblings, no matter the crime, and he had eleven of them. Zwaantie only had one.
Though that didn’t really matter because Raaf would kill her before she had a chance to kill him.
Chapter 31
The Voice
Zwaantie didn’t immediately see Raaf. The room was tall, with glowing orbs floating around the entire thing. She was mesmerized. She walked right into the middle of them. Most of the balls were small, a little larger than a chicken’s egg, but the one in the middle, it was enormous. She was drawn to it.
The orbs whispered all around her. The big one pulsed light, and wisps shot out occasionally. It reminded her eerily of the wall. She reached a hand out.
“Don’t touch that.”
She spun around and found Raaf standing several feet from her. She felt like she should feel fear, but there was something comforting about the orbs. It was like coming home.
“Raaf.”
He looked healthier than he had when he’d been in Stella. His red hair glowed with the orbs. His face was tight and angry, but underneath she could still see the little boy he’d once been. That boy grew up to become a murderer. She clenched her fists. This was her chance to avenge Ari. She had no weapon. No way to fight him. She wasn’t sure what the plan was. She hadn’t thought much past getting in.
No normal weapon would work. Sage told her how strong Raaf had been. If Sage hadn’t been able to fight him off in this room, neither would Zwaantie. Her only hope was to talk to him and get him away from the orbs.
Raaf stopped a few feet from her. “You’ve been hiding from me. Every person in the kingdom would kill you on sight. You knew this, so what are you doing here?”
Zwaantie took a step forward, reaching for him, but he pulled back. She dropped her hand. “This has to stop. The wall has fallen. The Voice needs to as well.”
“Ah, so you are here to destroy me. The Old Mother warned me of this.”
“Wilma warned you?”
He laughed. “Ironic, isn’t it? I never wanted you dead, you know. But when she told me it was either the Voice or you, I had to choose the Voice. There was no choice. I really am sorry.” His face held the remorse he spoke of.
Zwaantie moved back. “Why didn’t you talk to me? Surely we could’ve worked something out.”
He snorted. “Talk? Look what you�
��ve done since you moved to Stella. You dropped the wall and shut down the Voice. You don’t want to talk. You want to win.”
“That’s not true. I don’t want anyone else to die, but the Voice needs to go away.”
He laughed, and it reverberated around the room. “That’s all I needed to hear. It’s time to die, Zwaantie.”
He held out his hand and squeezed. Nothing happened.
He made the same motion. What in the star gods was he doing? Zwaantie raised her eyebrows.
“Is that supposed to do something?” she asked. Even though fear coursed through her veins, she was able to remain calm. She had to. She didn’t want to provoke him.
“Why aren’t you dead?” His face contorted in anger.
“Maybe the Voice doesn’t want you to kill me.”
She took a step forward, and he shoved his hands out toward her. Again, nothing happened. She moved around him, and he grabbed her arm.
“Maybe my magic doesn’t work on you, but I can still kill you.”
“Why do you think your magic doesn’t work on me?” Her heart raced, but she kept her voice deliberately calm.
He squeezed her bicep and wrenched her closer. “Blood. I read about it, but didn’t understand. You and I share the same blood. I can’t attack you with the Voice, because the Voice sees you as part of me in this room.”
She tugged her arm, but he held tight. “Let me go.”
“I hope you’ve made your peace, because you are not going to walk out of this room alive.”
He dragged her away from the main orb, and she stumbled intentionally. She fell to the floor, and Raaf tumbled on top of her. Zwaantie untangled herself, stood up, and tried to run, but Raaf grabbed her hair. She jerked backwards, and he growled in her ear. “Nice try.”
She twisted, not caring about the pain in her head. She gripped his wrist that held her hair and squeezed. Then she kicked him in the stomach. He let go and fell backwards into the large glowing orb.
Zwaantie should’ve run, but she stared in horror as Raaf floated lifelessly in the orb, his eyes shut. Had she killed him?
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