“That was indeed me. I was returning from the southern reaches and heard the battle. Unfortunately, I was too late to stop the initial attack. I am glad to see you’ve recovered.” One corner of Xelon’s lips lifted higher than the other, and a dimple appeared on the left side of her face under a high cheekbone. “I admire your strength.”
“Oh…” Once again, Alice thanked the heavens her dark skin concealed her blushes. “Thanks.”
“Milady.” Xelon bent forward slightly. “What brings the Dreamwalkers to our door?” She addressed the three of them.
“We came looking for help.” Alice took a steadying breath as Xelon fixed her gaze on her. “Addison Hatta’s been injured by someone calling himself the Black Knight. He poisoned Hatta with a curse called the Madness; now he’s fading.”
Xelon’s eyes narrowed, and her sharp jaw tensed. “Fading?”
Alice described what had happened to Hatta, how he’d changed before Maddi gave him the potions. How he was still fighting it when Alice left. “Only a member of the royal family can save him, with the Heart,” Alice continued. “Maddi said the White Queen knows where to find it.”
Xelon frowned, her gaze dropping to search the ground. The twins exchanged a glance, but Alice kept her eyes on Xelon.
“That is going to prove difficult.” Xelon finally looked at them again. “Come with me.”
The three of them followed her up the stairs and along the walkway. Alice glanced at the imposing doors that remained shut. It was probably a lot of trouble to unlock and open them. Xelon led the way through a smaller set of doors that resembled the main ones at the front.
Inside, the palace was equally stunning. It held the same shimmering walls adorned with crystal sconces and chandeliers. Light poured in from the glass ceiling, catching every glossy surface before being reflected out again. It filled the place with energy and life.
“This way.” Xelon headed down one of the carpeted halls. Her cape billowed behind her with each step. People roaming through the halls moved out of the way and bowed to Xelon as they went. More than a handful of curious stares trailed after Alice and the twins, accompanied by hushed whispers.
The guards stationed at intersections of hallways and in front of a door here or there wore armor similar to Xelon’s, just no cape. Paintings of oddly dressed persons seemed to watch the group as they passed by. Every bit of furniture looked delicate enough to crumble at the slightest touch, so Alice kept to the center of the corridor.
Xelon stopped outside a pale blue door, nodding to a pair of guards who stood on either side, a man and a woman with deep, earthy brown skin and flame red hair. A small silver stone sat at the center of the woman’s forehead.
The woman gripped the door’s sloping silver handle and spoke to Xelon in a language Alice didn’t understand, the sound centered at the back of her mouth. Xelon responded in kind, the two going back and forth a bit before the woman released the handle, looking less than thrilled about it.
Xelon cleared her throat, looking from the woman to Alice and the twins. “This is Malal and her brother Kapi. Like me, they are part of Her Majesty’s personal guard.”
“Her Majesty is not expecting an audience.” Malal eyed the three of them, her brown-eyed gaze hard. “She will not be pleased.” She aimed this statement at Xelon.
“No, she will not.” Xelon took hold of the handle this time. “I apologize in advance,” she said to Alice and the twins, then swung the door open and stepped through.
“Majesty, you have guests.” She waved them in.
The twins entered first, flanking the doorway and Alice, consequently, as she stepped through, into some sort of sitting area given the lush-looking couches, chairs, and chaise longues.
At the center of the room, draped in silver and white fabrics that fell over her body like water, sat a girl. She glanced up from a book, blinked large blue eyes, brushed snow-white strands from her face, and scowled. Despite the ugly expression, she was storybook pretty, with round features and rich, amber skin. Like Malal, a small silver jewel rested in the center of her forehead. Her eyes pinged on Alice with a hardness that didn’t match the rest of her.
That’s the Queen? Prom queen, maybe. She looked Alice’s age. Then again, she could be Methuselah.
The door shut behind them, and Xelon made her way between the trio and the girl, gesturing to her. “May I present Her Royal Highness, Princess Odabeth of Legracia, daughter of the White Queen and heiress to the throne.”
“Princess?” Alice cut a look to Xelon, who nodded.
Odabeth’s nostrils flared slightly. “What is this?”
Xelon bowed at the waist, deeper than she had before to Alice. “Dreamwalkers. They’ve come with an urgent matter for Your Highness to hear.”
“Urgent, you say.” Odabeth snapped her book shut and set it to the side. Brown markings decorated her hands in what looked to be an intricate, flowing design. The princess’s fingers fell to her chest, then shifted and revealed a jewel star hung on a thin, white chain around her neck. She toyed with the gem, twirling it so it caught the light in soft glints.
“We know the Tweedlanovs, but you’d bring a stranger before us?” Odabeth waved and Xelon crossed to stand beside her.
“This is Alice, Addison Hatta’s charge.” Xelon gestured to Alice, who felt the need to step forward.
Alice cleared her throat. “A pleasure, Your—”
“Is she?” Odabeth interrupted, sounding disapproving as she smoothed out imaginary wrinkles along the front of her skirts before toying with her necklace again. “I’m surprised to find someone trained by none other than Addison Hatta has such poor manners.”
Alice blinked. “Excuse me?”
“So rude, talking out of turn. Hatta must not be instilling proper etiquette in his charges anymore.” Odabeth drummed her fingers against her thigh. “Very well. We shall hear them. You may speak, Alice.”
She’d never heard her name spoken like it was a cuss word before. Swallowing her retort—this was for Hatta—she bent at the waist the same way everyone else had. “Thank you, Your Highness. We’re actually here to talk to the White Queen. Iiiis that possible?”
Odabeth eyed Alice up and down. “Our mother is currently indisposed. We will relay your concerns.”
“That’s not—”
Xelon cleared her throat.
Alice’s teeth ground together. “Thank you. Addison Hatta’s been hurt, bad. Someone calling himself the Black Knight att—”
“The Black Knight?” Odabeth sniffed. “Impossible.”
“You are the third person to say that, but it’s what he calls himself.” Alice waited a moment before continuing. “He poisoned Hatta with the Madness. We need the White Queen to tell us where the Heart is so we can find it and she can use it to help him.” She hated herself for letting her voice break. She didn’t want to appear weak in front of the princess.
Odabeth’s arrogant expression softened. Her fingers tapped her thigh all the faster. “Our sympathies. Hatta has been good to this family. Good to us.”
“So can your mother help?” Alice asked, her breath catching.
Odabeth peered down her nose. “The Heart is gone.”
“Right.” Alice pushed down on a twinge of irritation. “But your mother and her sister are the ones who hid it. We can go get it, we just need to know where it is.”
“You don’t understand—it’s gone,” Odabeth pressed. “My mother and aunt hid my grandmother’s artifacts, but they didn’t do it together. Each sister took one artifact, so neither would ever know where both lie. My mother hid the Eye, and my aunt took the Heart. It disappeared with her.”
Alice stared at the princess, her mind tripping over what was said. The Red Queen had the Heart. The same Red Queen who went missing decades ago. This wasn’t happening. They’d come all this way! “S-so the Heart is … gone?”
“That is what we said. At least, the one person who knows its location is gone.” Odabeth folded her h
ands against her stomach. “We regret to say we cannot offer more than this.”
Ice poured through Alice. With the Heart gone, there was no way to save Hatta. Tears burned her eyes. No.
A hand fell on her shoulder. One of the twins, but she didn’t know which. “Alice—”
“No!” She shook her head, swallowed the tightness in her throat, and drew in a slow breath. The pain in her chest left her lungs rattling. “No, there has to be a way.”
Someone pulled at her elbow, trying to get her to head for the door. Xelon bent near the princess, saying something under her breath. Odabeth looked less than pleased. Everything slowed as Alice’s heart and mind raced. There has to be a way!
“The Eye let her see things about people, places, things.” Maddi’s voice practically rang in Alice’s ears.
Her head snapped up. “The Eye.” She planted her feet and shook loose of whichever twin had hold of her. “It sees things, or whatever. Right? We can use it to find the Heart. Right?”
Odabeth blinked in surprise, though whether it was at what Alice said or because she was still present was unclear. The princess shared a look with Xelon before both of them focused on Alice. Odabeth refolded her hands. “This is plausible. But as we explained, The Eye has been hidden—”
“Then un-hide it!”
Both Odabeth and Xelon tensed at Alice’s shout. The princess’s lips tightened and the knight shook her head, but Alice was past caring. Hatta was dying and they were just going to let it happen.
“You said Hatta has been good to your family.” Alice’s hands fisted at her sides. Anger bubbled at the base of her skull.
Xelon shook her head again, more adamant this time.
Alice ignored her. “You called him friend, but this. Is. Not. What you do to friends. You people wouldn’t know that, though. After everything Hatta did during the war, you banished him from his home, and now you’re going to abandon him to die?” Fury pounded through her, red-hot. She should stop, part of her rationed. With each word, another section of Odabeth’s amber face burned red. She’d never help now. But that didn’t matter. It wasn’t Odabeth they needed anyway. “I don’t have time for this—where’s the Queen? I came to talk to her, not some bougie-ass princess.”
Silence descended on the room. Odabeth sat rigid, as if her body had turned to stone. Her nostrils flared with quick breaths. Xelon stood to the side, eyes on the princess, looking like a woman waiting for lightning to strike. The twins were silent and unmoving somewhere behind Alice, who held Odabeth’s thunderous gaze.
The princess’s heaving chest slowed. The color in her face slowly evened out. She toyed with her necklace, playing it between her fingers again and again. Over the next several seconds she gradually calmed, but the storm smoldering behind the princess’s bright blue eyes intensified.
Finally, Odabeth brushed her hands against her legs and rose to her feet, all while holding Alice’s gaze. Xelon dropped to a knee beside her.
“The power of my mother’s crown has passed to me. As Lady Regent and acting ruler of Legracia, I hereby dismiss you.” Odabeth flung her finger at the door. “Get out of my sight.”
Sixteen
WHAT MOTHER WANTS
The silence was thick enough to push the oxygen out of the room. Alice’s eyes remained locked on the princess, but this time shock kept her in place.
Oh shit.
“Milady.” Xelon shifted to place herself between Alice and Odabeth, facing the princess. Odabeth’s furious gaze fell to the knight, who bowed deeply. “Milady, I’m certain Alice speaks from her concern for Hatta and means no disrespect to Your Highness.” She straightened, but not fully, and gestured for the princess to take a seat. “If milady will permit me.”
Odabeth cast a glare over Xelon’s shoulder. It took everything in Alice not to recoil, but the princess lifted her chin and lowered herself to the chaise longue. Xelon thanked her, before murmuring something Alice couldn’t hear over her heart, beating like a bass drum. “I know this looks bad,” Dem whispered while the princess and her knight conversed, which consisted of a lot of placating and flailing gestures. “But for what it’s worth, you’re my hero.”
Alice would’ve been amused if she wasn’t terrified.
“Mine, too.” Dee kept his eyes on the show. “I’ve never seen her this pissed.”
“Is she always like this?” Alice asked softly, her stomach squirming.
“Yes,” they both replied.
Xelon stepped aside to reveal Odabeth. Her face had gone a deep coral color, her fingers curled in the fabric along her thighs.
“The princess, in her great wisdom and endless compassion, has conceded her previous position.” Xelon retook her place at Odabeth’s side. “You may remain, so long as you are respectful.” Xelon looked straight at Alice.
Alice sighed in relief. “Thank you, Princess.” She bowed again, this time sincere. “I’m sorry, I … Hatta is important. To you, to me, to a lot of people. I can’t let him die.”
Odabeth scowled, though not as deeply as she had before. “You say this Black Knight has poisoned him?”
“Y-yes.” Alice rubbed her unmarked palm against her thigh.
“What are his symptoms?”
Alice blinked. That was a weird question, but she answered anyway, laying out the details of Hatta’s episode.
Xelon stepped forward slightly. “Your Majesty, it’s the same as—”
Odabeth cut the air with her hand. Her expression twisted briefly, pain fluttering over her face, before she schooled it back into place. “In theory, the Eye could locate the Heart. The two had never been separated before my—our mother and aunt hid them away. Unfortunately, our mother is unable to tell us where she put the Eye.”
“Why not?” The question leaped from Alice’s lips before she could stop herself. When Odabeth tensed, Alice bowed her head. “Apologies, Your Majesty. If you would explain?”
The princess eyed Alice, the tension in her shoulders drawing them up. At least, until Xelon placed her hand on one. Odabeth relaxed with a sigh.
“What we are about to say must never be repeated without our explicit permission. Swear it. On your honor and duty as Dreamwalkers.” Odabeth looked from Alice to the Tweedles. “All of you.”
“I swear,” Alice offered immediately.
“I swear,” the twins repeated together.
Odabeth nodded but didn’t say anything just yet. Xelon rubbed the shoulder she still had hold of and the princess reached up to lay her hand over the knight’s.
“My mother was attacked.” Odabeth’s quiet words rose between them. “A fortnight ago, while we were out riding.”
Xelon’s free hand went to her sword. Her jaw tightened.
“A figure cloaked in shadow,” Odabeth continued. “I think he may have been this Black Knight of yours.”
Alice bristled. Not mine, but okay.
“He demanded my mother give him the Eye. He threatened to take my head if she refused.” Odabeth’s hand went to her neck. “My mother tried to reason with him. She said that she was no longer the Eye’s protector. That it was gone, and she couldn’t give it to him even if she wished to because she had no idea where it was. He didn’t believe her. Then he went for me, and she threw herself in front—” The princess’s voice cracked and her voice trembled. Tears sprung to her eyes.
Xelon looked away but continued to stroke Odabeth’s shoulder as she breathed through a faint sob, wiped at her face, and straightened her shoulders.
“My mother took the blow. It wasn’t deep, she even managed to fight him off. We came home and the next day, just after the Mending, she showed the same symptoms as those you described plaguing Addison Hatta.”
Alice’s pried her tongue from the roof of her mouth. “H-how is she?”
“This morning, the Poets tending her said she would not see the next Breaking.”
“Oh my god.” Alice’s hand went to her mouth, her eyes wide.
“So they put her in s
tasis to preserve what little health she has left while they search for a cure.”
“The night I rescued you,” Xelon began, “I was riding south to seek aid from a Poet known to produce extremely strong potions. We believed it was a simple poison, but now we know what truly ails her.”
“And only the Heart can cure her,” Odabeth said.
A flicker of hope sparked in Alice. “So, you’ll help us find it?”
The princess sniffed softly and nodded.
The twins whooped. Alice was torn between the want to holy ghost stomp and hug Odabeth, so instead she shouted, “Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And I’m sorry about your mom.” She knew the pain of losing a parent, and it wasn’t something she’d ever wish on anyone, even a pompous princess.
“Mmm.” Odabeth squeezed Xelon’s hand and the knight withdrew to stand at her side. “There is still the complication of my mother being unable to give us the location of the Eye. If she even knows.”
And like that, Alice’s joy deflated. Even with Odabeth’s offer, they had no Eye, and without that, there was no Heart. And without that, Hatta would …
Alice groaned, rubbing her hands over her face. What were they supposed to do now? All-powerful heirlooms didn’t just disappear. In every book she’d ever read, every video game she’d ever played, every movie, TV show, and anime, magical shit went missing but turned up eventually. The One Ring, the Deathly Hallows, the Triforce—this stuff didn’t just drop off the edge of the world.
Unless it did …
Alice’s head snapped up.
If you wanted to hide something forever, sending it off the edge of the world is exactly what you would do, or rather, to a completely different world. Alice’s eyes slowly widened. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? Of course it could; only she would miss something so obvious staring her right in the face. “Uuuugh, I’m a moron!” And Hatta was a lying liar who lies! As soon as she saved his lying ass, she was gonna kill him. “But I’m a moron who thinks she knows where your mom hid the Eye.”
* * *
By the time Alice got Maddi and the Duchess on the mirror and finished explaining her theory, everyone looked half confused but also half convinced she was right. It’d be funny, if she wasn’t so irritated.
A Blade So Black Page 17