“For the last time, Jesse,” I said, my eyes never leaving the Fate Maker. “You’ll never be king.”
“So decrees the queen,” the Fate Maker chuckled. He held his hand out, palm down, and I took it reluctantly, letting him lead me up the stairs.
When we reached the doors, I turned to look over my shoulder one last time, gazing out over the people of Neris. The people my mother had condemned to suffer. The people who might die from my attempt to save them.
I tried not to stare at them as the Fate Maker urged me forward. My mom had left these people behind. A woman who made me scoop up bugs in the house with paper and release them outside. And she’d left these people to die. The mom I’d always tried to live up to. A woman I couldn’t even stand to face while she was lying in a coma because it hurt so much to see all her light gone, and it was all a lie. She wasn’t good or kind. She wasn’t noble. She’d been a coward. And a liar. She’d let me live a life that wasn’t mine for years, and as much as I loved her, I wanted to hate her so much for it. I wanted to hate her for the war she left for me to fight.
“Are you ready?” the Fate Maker asked, pulling me from my thoughts of my lost mother, as the elaborate, gold doors slowly creaked open.
“As I’ll ever be.” I’ll be more prepared to fight you than she was, at least.
“Just remember what I told you,” he whispered. “You serve at my will.”
I didn’t answer him but turned back to the hall instead, ready to meet the fate I’d chosen for myself. Time to be brave.
He escorted me inside, his hand clenched into a fist under mine, and the hall fell silent as the nobles inside turned en masse to stare at me. There was a brief shuffling, and then the men bowed as the women dipped into low curtsies, all of them keeping their eyes fixed on the ground.
Darinda stood at the end of another long aisle, on the dais, one of her hands resting on the box I’d first seen my crown inside that day inside the Fate Maker’s room, her face an expressionless mask.
I lifted my skirts slightly and started forward. I walked slowly across the room—Jesse trailing four steps behind me—trying to keep my knees from wobbling, and looked over at Mercedes when I passed her. She gave me a tight smile before dropping her head again.
I kept moving forward, my hands shaking now, and pinned my eyes to the ground in front of me so I didn’t trip. A pair of glossy black boots came into view, and I found myself face-to-face with Winston, dressed entirely in black from the tips of his shoes to the high collar of his inky-black velvet jacket.
He extended a hand, covered in a tight-fitting black glove, to me, and I took it. He brought it to his lips and kissed my knuckles. He dropped to one knee and lowered his head in front of me.
It was time.
“Your Highness?” Darinda asked from the dais. “Are you ready to begin?”
“Yes.” I took a deep breath, like I was getting ready to dive into the pool, and tried to steady myself. “Yes, I’m ready.”
The head of the Dryad Order nodded and then opened the box the crown was kept in.
“Kneel,” she said loudly, her voice commanding.
I knelt in front of her, my head bowed. Ready or not, Allie. Here goes nothing.
“Do you, Alicia Wilhemina Munroe, pledge yourself to the people of Nerissette?” Darinda continued. “Do you swear as their queen to protect them, love them, and nurture them as your own?”
“I do.”
“Will you lay down your life to protect the people of this realm?”
“Without a second thought.”
“Then, in the name of the Pleiades, and in accordance with the Declaration of the Sight given to us by the Great Oracle of Devim, I name you the Golden Rose of Nerissette, Queen Alicia Wilhemina Munroe the First. Long live the queen.”
“Long live the queen,” the crowd of nobles roared, making the stained-glass windows shake in their frames.
Darinda placed the gold-and-silver crown down over my forehead, and I felt it tighten against my scalp. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but I knew that there was no way it was accidentally coming off, either. The silver thorns twined around my head, elongating and twisting through my hair until it all tangled together.
I glanced over at the Fate Maker and saw that his face was flat and expressionless, but his eyes were blazing. I raised my chin, keeping my eyes fixed on his. I wasn’t going to let him hurt anyone else. I was going to stop him. Or I was going to die trying.
“Rise, Queen Alicia, and meet your subjects.” Darinda took my hands in hers and helped me stand. Once I was upright she dropped to her knees before me and bowed her head.
“I, Darinda, head of the Dryad Order, protector of the great maples, defender of the Tree Folk, guardian of the eastern lands, swear my fealty to you and to the throne of Nerissette. The Dryad Order shall follow the rule of yourself and your offspring until the day the next story ends and the Time of Waiting begins again.” She stepped back, her eyes still locked on mine.
“Thank you.” I met her eyes and saw a brief flash of terror there before she tightened her grip on her staff.
Darinda’s jaw clenched and she gave me a curt nod. She must have suspected what I had planned, and I could only hope that her head bob was a sign that she was on my side. Winston stepped forward and dropped to his knees in front of me, taking my hand in his. “Your Majesty.”
“Win.”
“I, Winston Carruthers, ambassador of the Dragos, warrior of the black dragon clan, swear my fealty to you, Alicia Wilhemina Munroe, Queen of Nerissette. We are always your obedient servants and will fly wherever you and winds request of us. Against all enemies. You need only say the word.”
He’d spoken to the dragons and convinced them to our side. We wouldn’t be alone in this war against the wizards and their allies. The dragon forces wouldn’t be much, but they might be enough to tip the war in our favor.
And I would have Winston. No matter what happened next we’d be together, and it would be better to die fighting, together, than to give in and live, knowing that others would die. I knew that now.
I turned to Jesse. His eyes were fixed on the plain brown box next to the one my crown had been in, staring into the open lid at the crown inside that was meant for him. He licked his lips. Already imagining what it would be like to rule. And if I crowned him prince consort that’s what he’d do. He and the Fate Maker. They’d strip me of my powers, and I’d do nothing but sit on the throne, a doll for them to bring out and show off. I’d be my mother. I would be weak. Worthless. And the people in front of me would powerless again. And I couldn’t let that happen.
I slipped my hand into the box that Jesse was staring at and my fingers wrapped around the cool metal of the prince consort’s crown. I wasn’t sure if my plan would work. With the way items seemed to be violently attached to their rightful owners, I wasn’t sure what would happen, if Winston would be hurt.
No one had tested Jesse against his crown to see if he was fit to wear it, though. It was assumed that if Fate had declared him the crown prince then obviously he must be a prince. But I wasn’t interested in listening to what Fate thought was best right now. I lifted the heavy crown, and I looked up to see Rhys staring at me, his eyes wide.
“Winston Carruthers, Ambassador of the Dragos,” I said loudly, lifting the crown up higher as the people watching all seemed to suck in their breath at the same time.
“Allie?” Winston asked, confusion painted on his handsome face.
“Do you pledge yourself to me and the people of Nerissette? Do you swear to protect them, love them, and nurture them as your own? To defend me and the crown of Roses, even unto the death?”
Like Coach had always told us at swim meets—go big or go home. If I was going to risk my life and everyone else’s then I was going big, and I was going to make sure I had a crown prince I knew would support me—and not the Fate Maker—when the war came.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Winston whispered.
“I’m making my own fate. And if the goddess Fate herself wants to rain down revenge upon me from her palace in the stars above, then so be it. I am the Golden Rose of Nerissette, and we’re not going to be hostages to a goddess no one has ever seen ever again.”
“No!” the Fate Maker cried out, stepping out of line from behind Rhys and throwing his hands out. “You can’t go against Fate.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows in challenge. “Watch me.”
People gasped, and I turned back to Winston, intent on finishing what I started. “Now, do you, Winston—”
“No!” The Fate Maker rushed forward. Two strong hands enveloped mine and jerked as Winston pushed the crown onto his own head.
“I accept your offer.” Winston stood and turned so that we were standing shoulder to shoulder, staring down the Fate Maker.
“Good. I, Queen Alicia the First, Golden Rose of Nerissette, name you crown prince of Nerissette.”
“You can’t do this,” the Fate Maker screamed. A huge black ball of sparked light grew between his hands. “I am the Fate Maker. I declare the roles of the people of Nerissette. I choose who will rule and who will be ruled.”
“Not anymore,” I said.
Rhys and Darinda hurried to the dais, their people flooding in behind them to form a solid block of warriors behind me. I lifted my chin and glared at the Fate Maker. “I, Alicia Wilhemina Munroe, Golden Rose of Nerissette, hereby banish—”
The ball of pulsing black light came hurtling at me, and strong arms grabbed me from behind, pulling me backward while Winston and Rhys both ducked. I looked back and saw it was Darinda who held me.
“I think it’s time to stop talking now, Majesty.” She lifted me off the stage. “You can talk more later. Right now, we’re going to shut up and flee to safety.”
“But I’m supposed to be fighting. Warrior princess, remember?”
“Do you have a sword?” she screamed in my ear.
“No.”
“That’s why we’re fleeing. Unless you want to die in the first few minutes of your war.”
The hall had erupted into chaos around us. People were screaming, and men had drawn swords. A large creature that I thought might be the ambassador from the giants had turned to attack someone from the Dragos Council. Members of the nobility had also pulled weapons, facing off with one another as they chose sides in an instant.
The Fate Maker lobbed another black sphere at me and I felt myself pushed back as it exploded in between us, a bright light that forced me to bring my hands up to cover my eyes or risk blindness. “I’m going to make you watch as I rip apart everything you love. They’ll die screaming your name.”
“Soldiers of Nerissette.” Rhys held up his sword, now standing between me and the Fate Maker. “Defend your queen.”
More swords were pulled, and men spilled off the platform behind Rhys and Winston, battling against the trolls and the giants who had sided with the wizard.
“Flee now, Queen Alicia.” Darinda ushered me toward the back of the hall, underneath the dome.
“But if I could just get my hands on a sword, I could—”
“Leave that to us,” Lady Arianne said as she and a mass of armored men swarmed around Darinda and me. Mixed in with the gleaming metal of the knights’ armor were the softer dark-green clothes of the woodsmen.
“You?” I looked from her to Sir John. “And you?”
“The chance at freedom will cause stranger alliances than this,” Sir John said, his eyes fixed on mine. “Now, run.”
“But I can’t lead my people if I’m running.”
He turned to Darinda and put a hand on her shoulder. “Keep her safe. She’s worth more—”
A glowing orb flew at us, and the knights raised their shields to block it.
“Come, Your Majesty. We must go.” Darinda pushed me into the hall, steering me toward a set of doors leading to an escape.
There was a crack and then the sizzling sound of black magic coming toward us, and I spun around, staring like an idiot at the malevolent black sphere coming toward me. I froze unwillingly as I watched it coming closer, arcing above the heads of the warriors, and I knew it was going to hit me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. I was going to die, standing there with my mouth hanging open.
Darinda threw up her hands, a mass of brilliant, intertwining vines popping up between us and the hurtling mass. The ball of magic rammed into the shield, and I felt the entire room shake from the force of the explosion as light surrounded us.
“What should I do?” I yelled.
“Make for the doors,” she said, her entire body trembling with the magic she was using to protect me. “There are woodsmen waiting for you. Find them and go.”
“But—”
“Go!”
Another orb of magic crashed into the barricade she’d built, but this time instead of blinding light, flames licked along the lengths of the vines.
“Sapling. A little help would be very much appreciated.” Darinda screamed the words, and Mercedes turned from her place on the dais and sprinted toward us. Mercedes slipped behind the shield with us. She reached up to touch the wall, and I could see her own vines beginning to interlace with Darinda’s, strengthening the protection.
“Well,” my best friend said, panting. “I think it’s fair to say he isn’t going to accept your rule without a fight.”
“Nope,” I said. Another ball hit the wall, and this time I could see it buckling.
“What’s up with making Winston crown prince?” she asked, her face steeled as she used her magic.
“Last-minute decision.” I pushed myself back up. “Why? Too much?”
“No.” I could see sweat collecting on her forehead. “I’m happy you two figured out that you’re perfect together, but a little advance warning next time would be helpful.”
“Will you two quit talking so the Rose can run?” Darinda hissed.
“No,” I said. “I’m not leaving. This is my war, and I’m going to stay and fight.”
There was another explosion, and we shifted backward as the force of the explosions shook Darinda and Mercedes, straining against their vine barricade.
“Sword Slayer, Breather of Fire,” Darinda screamed. “We cannot hold.”
Rhys and Winston were covered in grime, and my crown prince had a rapidly swelling eye.
“Oh bloody—” Rhys snarled and turned back quickly, swinging his sword into an enemy in front of him. He grabbed Winston’s jacket and pushed him toward me. “Take the queen and go.”
“But you need warriors here.”
“Go!” Rhys yelled.
The two men clasped hands briefly before Winston turned and sprinted toward me. He jerked me away from the two dryads and moved directly underneath the dome.
“What are you doing?” I shouted over the melee.
“Keeping you alive.”
“But I’m supposed to stay and fight. I’m a warrior queen, remember?”
“Yeah, we’ll try that tomorrow. Today let me keep you alive. Please.”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Dramera, to raise the dragon forces.” He pushed his sword into my hands. “And just so you know, I really liked this jacket.”
Black flames erupted around him, and he howled, his head thrown back, as the flames flickered higher, engulfing him. His whole form seemed to waver. The scream deepened, changing from the anguished cry of a boy into the full-fledged roar of an angry dragon. He opened his mouth, roaring again, making the entire world seem to vibrate from the sound, and then sucked the fire back into his mouth, swallowing it.
He dropped onto all fours and lifted his head, letting flames pour out over the top of the hall.
Winston bellowed again, and I cowered back, bringing my hands up in front of my face as he let loose another blaze, the heat causing the windows overhead to shatter in their frames. When he’d cleared a circle around us he lowered his head, and I could see the impatience in his
eyes as I dropped my arms and stared at him.
“You have got to be kidding me.” I scrambled up onto his neck, hiking the full skirts of my gown up over my knees, and let my shoes drop off onto the floor. I lay flat and wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him when he let out another loud roar before launching himself upward, straight toward the dome.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Winston exploded upward toward the glass, and I instinctively nuzzled my head into his neck, pressing the length of his sword between us as I clung to him. He kept flying higher, and I squeezed my eyes closed tight, bracing for impact.
There was a great, shattering explosion as he hit the dome, and I shrank into him, trying to cover my face from the falling glass. He let out an angry roar and another cracking sound echoed through the air as his wings cleared the dome and the cold wind swept against the back of my neck.
I lifted my head and gazed over my shoulder, watching as the remains of the great crystal dome buckled and began to collapse inward. “Oh my God,” I breathed as the glass fell into the hall, onto the people fighting below.
I heard an enraged howl and turned to see giants rampaging in the square, their clubs swinging, as people screamed and began to pelt the monsters with anything they could find. Dark magic exploded in the sky around us, and I couldn’t do anything but turn and stare as the battle spilled out of the hall and into the square.
“Oh, crap,” I said. We flew above the city streets and watched as the battle followed behind us, the world below soaked in blood as the people of Neris began to fight back against the giants and the trolls who had terrified them for so long.
We dipped lower, and I saw that a group of men had surrounded two wizards and managed to tie them up, gagging them so they couldn’t perform any spells. One man raised his sword, and I buried my face in Winston’s leathery skin, unable to watch what came next.
Winston leveled out and extended his wings, soaring higher. Once I was sure he wasn’t going into another rapid climb, I loosened my hold on his neck and sat up, watching as we flew toward the Crystal Palace. The crowds that had been waiting for me when I’d left were now working together, attacking the giants and the trolls, and I could see flames licking at the sides of the palace itself.
Everlast (The Chronicles of Nerissette) (Entangled Teen) Page 20