To Kill a Kingdom

by Alexandra Christo

  “Look at you, trying to hide your surprise,” Princess Yukiko says. “There’s no reason for it, you know. The hiding or the surprise. Aren’t we old friends? Isn’t this my home? Where else should I be but with such dear friends and family?”

  “Of course,” I say tightly. “I’m just surprised by how quickly you made the journey.”

  “Not all ships float,” Yukiko says. “Some prefer to fly.”

  Her voice is unduly self-assured, and unlike Lira’s there’s nothing I enjoy about her brand of arrogance. I resist the urge to roll my eyes and settle for a curt nod of understanding.

  Págese airships are some of the best in the hundred kingdoms. They vary from the bullets – darting balloons with barely enough room for half a dozen passengers – to lavish ships that are opulent enough to be dubbed floating palaces. They have at least eight separate rotors and span up to three floors, depending on the cargo or, more often than not, the social standing of the passengers.

  The Págese have always been on good terms with the Efévresic, who birth the world’s greatest inventions. They’re a kingdom at the forefront of nearly every technological triumph, and there’s rarely an invention today that can’t trace its origin back to Efévresi. Págos has been their ally for so long now that it doesn’t even matter if they exist at opposite ends of the world. There’s seldom anything stronger than two kingdoms drawn together by a decades-old marriage alliance. It means that Págos is privy to many of the technological advancements that Efévresi has, and so they’re one of the few kingdoms with the means to confine most of their travel to air rather than sea. For the rest of the hundred kingdoms, airships tend to be unreliable. Malfunctions are not uncommon, and unless the journey spans longer than a month, it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

  “You’re the princess?” Lira asks.

  As much as her contempt for everyone around her usually entertains me, I send Lira a pointed look, warning her not to say anything out of line. But she either doesn’t notice or she doesn’t care. I can guess which one is more likely.

  Yukiko nods. “I didn’t realize the prince was recruiting new members for the Saad.”

  “Oh, I’m not a recruit,” Lira says. “I’m just here to kill him.” She stares pointedly at the princess. “And anyone else who gets in my way.”

  Kye makes a poor attempt to muffle the sound of his laughter with the back of his hand.

  I snap my gaze to Lira and clench my teeth. Has the cold gone to her head, or is she so used to our rapport that she thinks it can be the same with every royal? I try to catch her attention, but she’s fixated on Yukiko.

  Her eyes are as cold as the wind.

  “She’s joking,” I say, pushing Lira behind me. “And probably drunk.”

  Lira scoffs and I squeeze my hand across her waist to silence her.

  “Pay no attention to my crew,” I say, giving the king a blithe smile. “When the food runs low, they tend to live off the rum.”

  King Kazue dismisses the comment with a laugh, though it’s every bit as precise as his military stance. Beside him, Yukiko eyes my hand on Lira’s waist.

  “There are more important things to discuss,” Kazue says. “Come, we must talk at the palace, away from the teeth of our weather. From what my sister has told me, there is a rather interesting bargain to be struck.”

  AFTER BEING SHOWN TO our guest chambers and given enough food to put Torik’s mood to rest, I’m escorted to the grand hall. At the request of King Kazue, I’m alone, and yet there are seven guards who walk in step behind me as the royal concierge leads the way. I took it as a compliment when they came to fetch me from my new chambers, armed to the teeth with spears that looked like they may have actually been made from teeth. It’s almost a testament to my reputation that they trust me so little.

  The grand hall hides behind a set of iceberg doors that must be rotated via wheel mechanism. The cogs make an unreasonable amount of noise as they heave the great doors open to reveal the chamber inside. It’s not a large space, but everything about it is grand and opulent. Chandeliers drip down in frozen teardrops, and icicles sprout up from the solid ice floor like weeds. I step on it, half-expecting to land with my legs in the air, but the surface is surprisingly dry under my feet.

  The five siblings of Págos eye me from their thrones. Each of them is dressed in black finery that seeps from them like oil. From behind their lavish seats, there is a single window clawed with blue frost. It creeps across the pane like a flower, obscuring the last few minutes of sunshine that could penetrate the cavern.

  “I trust your rooms are satisfactory,” King Kazue says. “I must admit, I’m glad your crew is a little more downsized. A hundred pirates is enough; I dread to think what having an entire legion in my palace would be like.”

  “A lot of fun, I’d wager.”

  The young Prince Koji murmurs a laugh. “The stories speak for themselves,” he says. “I’m a little sorry I won’t get to experience them firsthand.”

  “Next time,” I tell him, “I’ll bring the whole horde.” I turn back to the king. “Does our deal still stand?”

  “I don’t remember ever making a deal with you,” King Kazue says. “But my sister seems to think she has the authority to.” He casts an irate glance at Yukiko, but she waves him off with a flick of her eyes as though he’s the nuisance.

  Prince Hiroki leans over to his brother. “She gave him the map,” he says. “I hope that means we got something equal in value.”

  “You did,” I say, and pull the necklace from my pocket.

  I let it dangle in the air between us, a beautiful drop of blue that dances from the chain. Still specked with Lira’s blood.

  King Kazue’s fists tighten around the arms of his throne. “What a thing you present to us so casually,” he says. “Where did you find it?”

  “The same place I found that prisoner you’ve got locked away in your dungeons.”

  Prince Hiroki shuffles in his seat, and I stop wondering which of the king’s brothers Rycroft was talking about.

  “The Xaprár,” King Kazue snarls. “Tallis Rycroft and his band of damned thieves. I should have known that anything lost would find its way into his hands.”

  “It’s not in his hands now,” I say, clasping the necklace. “It’s in mine.”

  Prince Tetsu leans forward with a growl. “You’ll do well to hand it over.”

  “Now, now, brother.” The king chuckles. “I’m sure that’s his plan.”

  “Of course,” I say. “As soon as the right offer is made.”

  Yukiko’s smile is slow and devious. “You have to admire his courage,” she says.

  King Kazue rises to his feet. “You want entry to our mountain so you can find the Crystal of Keto,” he says. “Then what?”

  “Then I give you back your priceless necklace and, when I’m done with it, the crystal, too. This is the chance for Págos to make history as the kingdom who helped destroy the sirens once and for all. Your family will be remembered as legends.”

  “Legends?” The king’s sharp laughter slices the air. “What’s to stop me from just taking it from you now?”

  “Once the Crystal of Keto is freed, the Sea Queen will know it,” I tell him. “And you’re a lot of things, Your Highness, but a siren killer isn’t one of them. If she’s going to die, it’ll have to be by my hand. Let me climb the mountain and we can make history together.”

  “It’s a perilous journey,” the king says. “Even with our sacred route. What would your father say if I put his son in danger like that? Even if it was for something as noble as saving the world. Furthermore” – he nods toward his sister – “Yukiko traveled all this way, finally returning home after so many years. It seems curious to me that she would do that just because she believed in your cause.”

  Yukiko eyes me with amusement, taking pleasure in the idea that I might just squirm. As though I’d give any of them the satisfaction. I’m not sure if the king is goading me, or if Yukik
o really hasn’t told him about our engagement, but I know I won’t be the first to speak of it.

  “Of course I didn’t,” Yukiko says to her brother. “I came because I want to be the first one to see it. I want to be there when the Crystal of Keto is finally found.”

  My jaw tightens as I clench my teeth together. The last thing I need is a murderous princess following me up the Cloud Mountain.

  “I don’t think that would be particularly safe,” I say. “As the king mentioned, it’s a dangerous journey.”

  “That she has taken before,” Hiroki cuts in. “That we all have.”

  “Not all of us,” Koji amends.

  Hiroki casts an endearing look at his youngest brother and then turns his pale eyes to the king. “If she goes with him, then at least we can be certain we won’t be double-crossed.”

  I try not to look insulted.

  “And that way, one of our own will be there when the crystal is finally freed from the depths of the dome,” Tetsu says.

  Yukiko reclines. “I’m glad you’re all so eager to get rid of me after just a couple of days in my company.”

  King Kazue casts a sideways glance to his sister and then looks at me with a guarded expression. “If you manage to kill the Sea Queen and the Princes’ Bane,” he says, “you’ll have to tell the world that we had a hand in it.”

  It isn’t a request, and so I bow my head in agreement, sensing the fragility of the moment. I’m so close that I can almost feel it in the back of my throat, like a thirst.

  “The crystal, the necklace, and the glory.” King Kazue slides back onto his throne with hungry eyes. “I want Págos to have it all.”

  “I’ll tell them whatever you want me to,” I say. “As long as the Princes’ Bane is dead, it won’t matter to me.”

  The Págese siblings look down at me from their icicle thrones and, one by one, they smile.

  WHEN I FINALLY LEAVE the grand hall, Lira is waiting, a foot kicked up against the icicle doors. Her hair is damp from the cold and she’s wearing a thick knitted sweater that dwarfs her spindly wrists. When she sees me, she lets out a breath and pushes herself from the door.

  “What are you doing?” I ask.

  Lira shrugs. “Just making sure you weren’t dead.”

  I shoot her an unconvinced look. “You were eavesdropping.”

  “And now I’m done,” she says, and raises her eyebrows, as if daring me to do something about it.

  Before she has a chance to walk away, I make a quick grab for her wrist and pull her back toward me. Lira whirls around so quickly that her hair splays across her face. She shakes her head to throw it from her eyes and then looks down at our locked hands, frowning.

  “I want to know what you were thinking before,” I say. “Threatening to kill a princess in her own kingdom like that. It’s not your best attempt at humor.”

  Lira snatches her hand from mine. “Kye thought it was funny.”

  “While I’m glad the two of you are bonding, you should try to remember that Kye is an idiot.”

  She smirks. “And so are you if you trust the Págese.”

  “I don’t need to trust anyone. I just need for them to trust me.”

  “For a pirate, you’re not a very good liar,” she says. “And you’re not very good at bargaining. Everything you’ve given up seems so vast compared to the nothing you’ve received in return.”

  “It’s not nothing. It’s to end a war.”

  “You really are a child if you believe it’ll be that easy.”

  “You think surrendering my kingdom to Princess Yukiko was easy?” I ask. “It’s not just having to marry her, you know. I have to give up every dream I’ve ever had and stay rooted in duties I’ve spent my life trying to escape.”

  My hands clench reflexively at my sides as I watch for her reaction. I want Lira to understand that I didn’t just make that deal on a whim and that every day since I’ve regretted it. I know the consequences of my actions, and I’m doing everything I can to find a way out.

  Lira looks at me wordlessly and I’m not sure how I expect her to react, or if I have the right to expect anything at all, but her silence is more unnerving than anything I could have anticipated.

  The clock in the great hall chimes, marking the beginning of the night winds. Lira waits a moment, until all three bells have cried out, and then, finally, she swallows. The sound is too loud.

  “Are you really going to marry her?” she asks, and then shakes her head like she doesn’t want to know the answer. “It’s a smart plan, I suppose,” she says. “You get the Crystal of Keto and an alliance with a powerful kingdom. Even if you have to give up life on the Saad, you still come out a winner.” Her forced smile falters a little at the last part, and when she speaks again, her voice is quiet and severe. “You never quite seem to lose, do you, Elian?”

  I’m not sure how to respond to that, since I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is losing. And this deal with Yukiko is just one more strike in that column.

  I sigh, and when Lira pushes her hair from her face, I feel the need to explain my plan. Everything I’ve orchestrated to escape my deal with Yukiko lingers on the tip of my tongue like an impulse. I know I shouldn’t have to defend myself to Lira, or to anyone, but I feel the compulsion to do just that.

  “It won’t matter what bargain I’ve struck when this is over,” I say. “If I survive, then I have a proposition that Yukiko won’t be able to refuse.”

  “Don’t you think you’ve done enough proposing?” Lira asks.

  There’s nothing endearing about the way she looks at me now.

  “You’re putting your entire kingdom in danger by letting yourself be manipulated by a power-hungry princess who—”

  She breaks off and looks to the floor with an unreadable expression.

  “Lira.”

  “Don’t.” She holds her hand up, keeping the distance between us. “You don’t owe me anything, especially if it’s an explanation. Royalty never owes anyone anything.”

  Her use of the word royalty stings more than it should. I’ve spent so long trying to escape that as my only marker, and for her to say it with such certainty, as though she’s never once seen me as something else, pinches. Always a prince, never just a man.

  I exhale carefully and shove my hands into my pockets. “I never said I owed you anything.”

  Lira turns. Whether she heard me or not, I can’t be sure, but she walks away without looking back and I don’t follow. There’s part of me that wants to – a part larger than I’d like to admit – but I wouldn’t know what to say if I did.

  I run a hand through my hair. This night really can’t end fast enough.

  “I’m not blind to it.”

  Yukiko steps out from the shadows like a ghost. In the pale torchlight, her eyes look near-white, and when she walks closer to me, the glow of the fire smooths the harsh lines of her face until she looks kind. Gentle.

  The light really does play tricks on the mind.

  “It just doesn’t matter to me,” she says.

  “I’m pretty sure that I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That girl,” Yukiko says. “Lira.”

  “I suppose she’s pretty hard to be blind to.”

  “Yes.” Yukiko’s smile burns brighter than the fire. “It’s clear you believe that.”

  I rub my temples, not up for yet another cryptic conversation. “Say what it is you have to say, Yukiko. I’m not in the mood for games.”

  “A change from the usual, then,” she replies. “But I’ll grant the request, since you’re a guest in my home.”

  She threads her fingers through her hair and bites down on the corner of her blue lips. The gesture looks far more foreboding than teasing. “You may care about her,” Yukiko says, “but it won’t change anything. Love is not for princes, and it’s most certainly not for kings. You promised me that you would become a king. My king. I want to remind you of that promise.”

  The
savage look in Lira’s eyes flashes across my mind. She didn’t even give me a second glance before she walked away. The last thing she seemed to want to hear were reasons or explanations. You’re letting yourself be manipulated, she said. Royalty never owes anyone anything. But that isn’t true. I owe a lot of people a lot of things, and Lira is no exception. Maybe I don’t owe her an explanation, but I do owe her my life, and that seems like the same thing.

  I shift, and when I realize that’s exactly the reaction Yukiko wanted, I glare. “I didn’t promise you a king,” I say. “I believe the condition you were sold on was a kingdom. Do you even care which one it is?”

  “That sounds an awful lot like you want to break our deal.”

  “Not break,” I say. “Renegotiate.”

  Yukiko grins and leans over my shoulder, brushing a catlike hand against my chest. Her cold breath presses against my neck, and when I turn my head away, I hear the smile in her voice.

  “So many tricks,” she whispers. “You’ll need sturdier sleeves to hold them all.”

  34

  Lira

  THE MOUNTAIN TIP IS hidden by its namesake clouds, and a never-ending snowstorm obscures most of its magnitude. Even so, I marvel. I know that long past the sky that hides half of the rock face is an endless peak. A gateway to the stars. The Cloud Mountain of Págos is the highest point in the world, farthest from the sea and so farthest from my mother’s hold. From mine. If the Second Eye of Keto really is on this mountain, then it would have been the perfect hiding spot. Far from where I could follow. Until now.

  My face is covered by layers of thick fabric that obscure everything but my eyes. I itch to pull the cloth and furs from my face, but the cold is more than I can bear. And I dare not let go of the snow poles clenched tightly in my grasp. I’m not even sure I could if I wanted to. My hands feel like they’ve been frozen into solid fists.

  We follow the trail up the great mountain for days that turn to weeks, with more silence than I’ve ever failed to hear from the crew of the Saad. Even Kye, who walks so perfectly in step with Elian, glancing back to Madrid every now and again – to make sure, perhaps, that she hasn’t turned into some kind of frozen sculpture or been blown from the cliff by the brutal winds – remains quiet. Elian is no different.