“Her breathing.” She stood up. “Of course. I need to stop blindly looking for her. I should listen.”
“That’s what I said.”
Mariana closed her eyes and focused her energy on listening to the sounds of the forest. Like when she’d gotten near the chest of Sensitivity Stones, she felt something inside her light up. A door in her soul opened, and she felt the life around her like a warm, soft blanket.
“A family of deer are just over that small hill,” she said, opening her eyes.
Elnys rolled his eyes. “That would be useful if we were hunting.”
“You don’t understand,” she said. “I was able to separate them from the cacophony of breathing and heartbeats I can hear.” She swallowed. “Now I have to find Ursula. She is probably frightened, so I’m sure her heart is beating fast.”
After another deep breath, Mariana gasped. “I found her. She’s this way.” She grabbed the torch from Elnys and started through the forest.
Ursula’s heartbeat was like a violet light in Mariana’s head. She recognized her sister’s Air and Water Sensitivities pushing back at her as Ursula tried to feel if rescue was coming.
The scents of the forest were mixed with a fragrance Mariana recognized as belonging to her sister. It wasn’t a perfume or cosmetic Ursula wore, but Ursula’s unique scent, something she’d smelled her whole life and never realized it. The aroma was something like a mixture of new spring leaves and warm apples touched by pepper and wine.
This wasn’t something she could truly smell with her nose, but her mind had no other way to explain what she was sensing.
Fascinated by this new knowledge, she tested it by turning her attention to Adindira.
Her Elemental scent was like wood smoke, cinnamon, irises, and peaches. Now that her Abilities were open to it, she could see Adindira surrounded by a faint yellow light with a nearly invisible green swirling in it.
This was an intoxicating power. Mariana turned to Elnys and nearly laughed out loud to see his light was the same green but with Dira’s yellow running through it. His scent had undertones of wood smoke like hers, but Mariana could sense pine, grapes, and basil.
When they got finished with this challenge, she would talk to Kylan to see if he could explain what this all meant.
If she survived.
Like a splash of cold water, the reality of her situation hit her, and she focused on Ursula, only to find her heartbeat was now a darker purple and had slowed.
“Something’s happened,” she cried. “Ursula is in trouble.”
She began to run, but realized the direction they’d been heading had changed.
“I think Father’s found her, but I think she’s dying. Maybe he didn’t get to her in time.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Traren said, running next to her. “It’s nowhere near sunrise. Why would she be dying now if he found her?”
Mariana shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t sense anyone else near her, but she’s not in the same place as before, and her heartbeat has gotten weaker.”
Suddenly, they were out of the forest and the garbage pit where Elnys had been kept was in front of them.
“No.” Mariana scowled. “This can’t be right. Kylan said she was in the forest.” She kept walking toward the pit where she knew the trapdoor was hidden, because the heartbeat was definitely here.
“This is where I was.” Elnys’s voice trembled.
Mariana stopped. “You don’t have to come, but I have to save Ursula.”
“She can’t be here,” he said. “Kylan wouldn’t put her here and tell you something else. He believes you should be Queen. Why would he lie about the challenge?”
Mariana turned back to the garbage pit and reached out with her Sensitivities, trying to come up with an explanation.
The heartbeat was weak, and the person it belonged to was ill. She could feel an angry infection. There were no other words to describe the pain and hurt she felt coming from the hole under the door she still couldn’t see.
“Someone is here,” she whispered. “It’s not my sister, but whoever it is is dying. I have to save him.”
“What about the challenge and Ursula?” Traren said. “You have to win that. The kingdom needs you as Queen.”
Stunned, she stared at him. “But this man is dying.”
“Your sister could die, too,” he said. “Don’t you see? Your father’s Abilities are weakening. Are you sure he can get to Ursula before morning? You know how hard it was for you to find her, and you’re stronger than he is.”
“And he’s not an Air Sensitive,” she said to herself, looking back at the forest. “She is in there all alone.”
“Exactly.”
She could still feel fear and pain coming from the unknown man under their feet. “But what about this man?”
“We could come back for him. Let’s get back to the forest.”
Mariana took a deep breath and started back to the challenge, but her gaze caught Elnys’s. Without any words exchanged, she knew he was remembering how hard his time in the dungeon had been, and the sense of despair that washed over her nearly made her physically ill.
She fell to her knees. “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t leave him here.”
“But the King could win if you take the time to do that,” Traren said. “You don’t know what kind of condition you’re going to find if you open that.”
“I do know. It’s horrible. He’s hurt and sick, and he probably won’t last until morning. I don’t know who it is, but I know my father put Elnys down there and was going to execute him without any trial. I can’t let that happen now.”
She stood and hurried to the center of the pit, but as she searched on her hands and knees, she couldn’t find the trap door.
“Help me,” she cried.
They searched until the moon began to descend to the horizon, but even with all four of them searching through the muck and garbage, no one could find anything.
Tears of frustration and fear ran down Mariana’s cheeks as she knew she was wasting precious time when she could have found Ursula and won the challenge.
“I don’t understand.” She pounded her fists on the ground. “I saw it open. I saw it. Father opened it. It’s not fair. What could he do that I can’t? Was all of this for nothing?” She looked up at the stars and screamed, let out all the anger she felt at the Elements for conspiring against her.
Suddenly, a loud thump shook the ground, and all four of them jumped back. The round handle of the door rose about the mud, and the door became clearly visible.
“You did it,” Adindira said, and the two men grabbed the metal slab and lifted it.
Mariana hurried down the ladder, followed by her friends. A man about Orlando’s age lay in his own filth, his clothing torn and stained. Blood had dried around a slash across his cheek, and his arm was resting in an unnatural position.
Blinking, he raised his eyes to her, and gave her a weak smile with swollen lips. “Your Majesty, I hope this means the Brotherhood was successful and you’re our new Queen. I’m Mikael, and I am honored to meet you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Elnys and Traren helped Mikael to his feet and carried him out of the dungeon.
“We’ll take him back to the palace, Princess,” Elnys said. “You need to find Ursula.”
She ran back to the forest. Traren jogged behind her.
“You might need me,” he said.
“I hope I don’t, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Reaching for her Abilities to locate Ursula was a bit easier this time, and she gave a silent sigh of relief when she realized her sister’s heartbeat was steady and strong.
The sky to the east of the forest, what Mariana could see through the trees, was beginning to lighten, and her own heart beat faster. She had to get to Ursula before whatever Kylan had arranged harmed her.
Suddenly, she and Traren stepped into a clearing, and Mariana stopped short.
; Ursula was fine, standing next to her father in front of a group of people, all of them looking at Mariana.
“It looks like you lost, Progenna,” the Queen said, taking several steps toward her. “It looks like we know who will lead Valborough. The Elements have spoken.”
Mariana swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke to her sister. “I’m so glad you’re unharmed, Ursula.”
“No thanks to you.” The Princess spun away from her and walked out of the clearing in the direction of the palace.
Traren put his hand on Mariana’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Mariana. You did well.”
The rest of the people who had been with the King followed Ursula; however, he himself stayed behind.
“I’m sorry it ended this way, Mariana,” he said. “It would have been better if you hadn’t challenged my right to rule.”
“It would have been better if you hadn’t lied to me my whole life, Father.” She turned her back on him and spoke to Traren. “Let’s get back to the palace. I need to see Orlando.”
Deliberately, she led him away from where the King stood. This would be a longer way back, but she didn’t want to walk with her father.
“What happens now?” Traren asked when they entered the trees again. He spoke quietly.
“I don’t know how the execution will work.” She fought to keep the tears out of her voice. “There hasn’t been a challenge in my lifetime, so I’ve never seen a winner, much less a loser.”
“Your father won’t really have you killed, will he?”
“I can’t even think about this,” she said. “If I do, I will run away. Maybe to the mines with the rebels.”
“We could do that.” Traren stopped walking. “You could hide in the tunnels until we get Orlando, then we could get you out of the kingdom. It would take some doing because the King would be looking for you, but it’s not impossible.”
She threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you for that. But you know I can’t run away from this. I knew it was a possibility when I started this, so I can’t back out now.”
“Of course you can.” He gently took her arms off his shoulders and stepped back from her. “You didn’t know this would happen. By definition, Chaos Sensitives are the strongest in the kingdom. If you haven’t saved that man…”
She shook her head. “I won’t regret that. If I’m remembered for nothing else, at least I saved a life.”
In silence, they walked back to the palace.
****
They reached the entrance to the residence wing of the palace. Orlando waited at the bottom of the steps, and when he saw her, he ran to fold her into a tight embrace. An instant later, he kissed her as though he hadn’t seen her in weeks. When he finally pulled back, he gazed into her eyes.
“I’m so proud of you.”
She scowled. “No. I lost.”
“That doesn’t matter to me. You saved that man from the dungeon. Kylan said he might not regain full use of his arm, but he will live. That wouldn’t have been possible if he’d stayed there much longer.”
The tears she’d been holding back streamed down her cheeks at his words. “I wanted to save Ursula, too, but I didn’t get there in time.”
Before Orlando could say anything, Kylan stepped out onto the entry. “Princess, we need you inside.”
“Of course.”
She, Orlando, and Traren followed him to the same ballroom where the challenge had begun.
The King and Queen stood on a raised platform on one end of the room, Ursula next to the Queen. They watched Mariana approach, each with a different expression on his or her face.
The Queen preened as though she had won the challenge herself. Ursula glared at Mariana, and the King, to his daughter’s surprise, had tears in his eyes.
“Your Majesties,” she said bowing.
“Kylan,” the Queen said, not taking her eyes off Mariana, “what is the procedure for the execution when a challenge has been unsuccessful?”
The Abilities Trainer stepped forward. “Before I pronounce sentence on the Princess, there were some interesting developments that need to be considered.”
“Interesting developments?” The Queen now glared at Kylan. “What does this mean? The challenge was clear. She lost.”
The older man glanced at the far end of the ballroom, where a crowd had gathered, and motioned with his hand.
Honoria, Raulin, and George Evan approached, helping Mikael walk to the throne.
“Sire,” Honoria said, “Princess Mariana rescued this man from the dungeon when she could have been finishing the challenge. Kylan and the royal physician have both stated he would have died had he remained there until morning.”
“This is your interesting development?” the Queen asked. “This man was in the dungeon because he is a criminal. I don’t believe the life of a criminal is equivalent to the life of my daughter.”
“Why were you in the dungeon?” Kylan asked, looking at Mikael.
When the injured man answered, his voice was barely above a whisper. “I was arrested by the King’s Guard as I rode down the street in Talla. They didn’t tell me what the exact charges were, but they mentioned Orlando and the Progenn..I mean, the Princess Mariana.”
“Were you traveling to their home?”
Mikael looked at Kylan and then at Honoria. He swallowed and said, “I was, sir. I wanted to pay my respects and offer my congratulations to Orlando on his marriage.”
“Would you say you are well acquainted with the Princess’s husband?” This was asked by Raulin.
“I have never actually met him,” Mikael said, “but I know his stepmother.”
“And for that, you were arrested?”
“This is ridiculous.” The Queen stepped down from the platform. “Why this man was arrested has no bearing on the result of the challenge. Mariana lost and the Law is clear. She is to be executed.”
“Mother?” Liliana moved to the front of the crowd. “Why are you so eager to see your daughter executed?”
“It’s the Law, Liliana,” the Queen said. “Aren’t we supposed to uphold the Law?”
“But she is your daughter,” the Princess cried. “Where is your compassion? Your love for her? Why would you want to see your child dead?”
“Alexandria,” the King said, gently. “Perhaps Kylan has a point. Mariana did save this man’s life.” He indicated Mikael. “We should show her the same compassion.” He turned to the assembled crowd.
“It is our determination the Princess Mariana proved herself kindhearted and selfless by releasing a man apparently falsely accused of being a traitor from the dungeon and saving his life. Therefore, we have decided she will not be sentenced to death for failing the challenge.”
Her father took a deep breath. “We will, instead, allow her to live but will banish her to live out her days in the Kingdom of Heyton, and she will not return to Valborough.”
“Father,” Mariana cried.
“Your Majesty.” Kylan stepped forward. “I believe there has been a misunderstanding.”
“There has been no misunderstanding.” The Queen glared at her husband. “Once again, my husband has chosen to take the weaker path when it comes to Mariana.”
“Your Majesties.” Kylan raised his voice. “In consulting with the other observers to the challenge, it has become clear to me that by finding Mikael in the dungeon and opening that door, the Princess showed substantial Sensitivities. As you well know, sire, that dungeon was specifically designed to prevent its discovery, and the door was sealed with several different kinds of Elemental magic. Only a strong Sensitive would be able to open it, and the Princess did it alone.”
The Queen whirled to face him. “What are you saying, old man?”
Kylan took a step toward Mariana, and Orlando squeezed her hand.
“I’m saying, Your Majesties, Princess Mariana not only proved she is a stronger Sensitive than the King, but has shown the ability to put the needs of those weaker than herself above her own.
Isn’t this what a Virtuous Sovereign is supposed to do? I believe she has won the challenge.”
“No!” the Queen screamed. “She is nothing, a child, untrained. She was never taught how to rule the way Ramone was. I don’t care what the challenge says or what the Law reads, I have fought with Jonathan for one reason, to protect and grow the kingdom so I could see my son on the throne.”
“Mother,” Ramone said, taking her hand. “It’s over. I am not going to be King, and honestly, I’m relieved. I never wanted to deal with the politics and intrigue that goes on in the palace. Victoria and I—”
His mother slapped him across the face. “You ungrateful Element-forsaken child. I married a Cognate Prince because I knew one day I would see my child sit on the throne and wear the crown. The day you were born, I knew my dreams would come true.”
“Mariana is your child,” Ramone said, holding his cheek. “You can still see her sitting on the throne.”
“No,” the Queen cried. “She is not my child. She is the misbegotten result of the King’s dalliance with a minor noble slut in Clearlea. Twenty years ago, as Cognate Prince, he led a company to fight in the first war against Heyton. Somehow, he found himself in another woman’s bed.”
For a moment, silence filled the ballroom.
Then, like a giant wave approaching the shoreline, noise crashed around Mariana’s head. She heard exclamations of disbelief, confusion, and anger, but with effort, she forced the sounds out of her head. Her eyes locked on the Queen’s face, which had been red with rage but instantly drained of all color.
“Alexandria.” The King’s voice was both gentle and condemning, like a judge sentencing a loved one to a long prison term.
“I…” The Queen’s eyes darted back and forth, as though she were trying to find a place of refuge from the tumult.
Mariana finally spoke. “Mother.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt Orlando’s arm around her waist, but her mental ability had narrowed to one point. “What did you mean?”
The Queen swallowed and, with visible effort, drew her regal persona around herself. She blinked, and although rage still simmered in her eyes, her expression was calm.
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