“Kill our father? Do you have proof of her plot?” Carys asked.
“She confessed it all to me along with her desire to see me on the throne.”
Elder Jacobs had actively given Andreus advice during the Trials to further that goal and since then had even gone so far as to express that the Queen would never have allowed Carys to take the throne. Then tonight, Elder Jacobs pushed to deny Carys had returned and worked to keep Andreus on the throne. Andreus had no proof, but he was starting to believe that the smooth, snakelike Elder had been a coconspirator with the Queen all along.
“Elder Jacobs is up to something,” Andreus admitted. “But whatever his true motives and loyalties are, I am certain his intent is to keep me on the throne.”
Carys might not like hearing that, but it was the truth as Andreus knew it. “It is Elder Ulrich who is working to give the throne to the Bastians. I heard him say as much tonight atop the battlements just before I addressed the city.”
“I heard him, too, Princess,” Graylem said quietly.
“Elder Ulrich was the one who told us we needed to be in the Hall of Virtues after Mother rejected her claim to the throne.” Carys frowned as if trying to remember every word he spoke and every inflection in his voice. “He was the one that pressed Elder Cestrum to restart the Trials today.”
“And Imogen was the one who made sure the throne was not given to Garret, and revealed the need for the contest between us. The Trials made certain the entire city was focused on us, instead of on questioning why and how our father and brother were killed.” And he had fallen for the ploy because he had loved Imogen.
Carys cocked her head to the side and frowned. “And with the final Trial happening tomorrow night, we will once again be following whatever plan the Council has for us. Meanwhile, the rest of the city will be focused on watching to see who wins the crown. No one will be paying attention to what is happening outside the walls.”
“No one will see the Bastian army coming until it is too late to stop them,” Andreus said, finishing his sister’s thought.
The fire popped and crackled.
“So what are we going to do?” Max asked. “We can’t just let an army take over Garden City.”
“We aren’t going to let them, Max,” Andreus said, looking at his sister. “But we will need to work together in order to stop it. I cut the power to the orb so Elder Ulrich won’t be able to use it to signal the Bastians, but if he doesn’t find a Master to repair it, he’ll find another way to put the final phase of his plan into motion. Thanks to Graylem, we know at least part of that plan.”
Quickly, the young guardsman explained what he had already told Andreus about the guards at the gate.
“They have more guards than you can identify.” Carys looked at Graylem, who nodded. “Which means there is no way to eliminate everyone involved before tomorrow night.”
“We could try to warn the other Elders about the Bastian army,” Andreus said. “But without proof . . .”
“They will question Elder Ulrich and no doubt warn whoever is plotting with him. That won’t work.” Carys sheathed her stilettos and paced. “If we are going to stop them, we need them to think their plan is unfolding as they wish. We need the Trials to start as scheduled so they believe we are distracted. That’s when we’ll strike.”
“You have an idea of how to get around us participating in the Trials?” Andreus asked.
“No.” His sister smiled. “But if the trial takes place in the city, I think I have an idea of how to use Elder Ulrich’s own plan against him. We are going to need a lot of luck and some extra help if it is going to work. Right now, there are only the five of us.”
“Six,” Max said loudly. “I can help. No one really pays attention to kids unless they have to.”
“Max followed Garret for me during the Trials and was never spotted,” Andreus assured Carys.
“And there are several who entered the guard with me that I can vouch for,” Graylem said. “If we are going to eliminate the traitors manning the southern gates, there will be a need for extra swords.”
“My father and his friends will give aid,” Larkin offered. “They aren’t trained guards, but they will fight.”
“Even if we remove the traitors inside our walls, everyone inside the city might be called upon to fight,” Carys said.
“They will,” Andreus assured her. “The people are scared, but they are proud of Garden City and their lives. They’ll fight for them if need be. But they won’t be able to hold off the Bastian army if they get inside the gates.”
“If we do this right,” Carys said, “they won’t need to. We will lead the guards Graylem trusts to eliminate the traitors manning the gates. Once they have taken over the duties of those men, Andreus and I will remove Elder Ulrich from Eden before he has a chance to signal the Bastians to attack. With the Xhelozi roaming the countryside, the army won’t be able to hold their position for long. A smart leader will understand something has gone wrong and retreat.”
“And if he doesn’t,” Andreus said, “he will reach the gates expecting them to open for him and realize that Garden City will not allow him entry without a fight.”
“But how are you going to know if the Trial will work for what we have planned?” Larkin asked.
Carys looked at Errik then down at her hands before saying, “I think I know a way.”
At the same time, Andreus stepped forward and said, “Leave that to me.”
17
“You?” Carys asked.
Andreus nodded and gave her the smile she knew was designed to charm. How many women had he enticed into his bed with that grin? How many promises had he made that he always intended to break?
Carys shook her head as Andreus said, “Elder Jacobs wants me to win the Trials. During the Trials, he gave me advice on how best to win the temperance challenge. Since I took the throne, he has been working to gain my trust and help me secure my position. He even went so far as to recommend that I marry an Adderton princess as Father had once agreed to do in order to end the war and bring peace to Eden.”
“Whoever is working with my uncle to retake the Throne of Light for the Bastians wouldn’t want to end the war,” Errik said, stepping next to her.
Carys turned. “We don’t know that Andreus is telling the truth.” She turned back to face her brother. “And even if you are correct about Elder Jacobs, how do you expect me to trust you to alter the Trials to benefit the kingdom instead of yourself?”
“Because I’m not going to win the Trials of Virtuous Succession this time.” Her twin’s dark eyes met hers. “You are.”
The words rang loud and true in the dirt-packed corridor. Andreus once again sounded like the brother who she had loved and protected before everything had changed.
She stepped back—away from the pull of emotion that bound them together. Trusting him would be a mistake. She had made that error before. She could not afford to make it again.
Will you forgive? She heard Kiara’s words in her head.
No. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
“You don’t believe me. I don’t blame you.” Andreus sighed as he ran a hand through his dark hair. “Carys, the last time we faced the Trials of Virtuous Succession, you told me we could control our own fate by working together. I cared about wearing the crown then. I thought I needed it to prove that I could stand on my own. I was wrong.” Tears shimmered in his eyes. He blinked them away and straightened his shoulders. “I can’t change the past, but I can set things right from here forward. Elder Jacobs saw how much I wanted the throne before. He won’t question my words when I tell him I want it just as badly now. If I tell him I have a plan to win the Trials, he will listen. More important, I believe he will do whatever it takes to make sure the Council listens. And he will report back to me when the final plans for the trial are decided.”
If she could believe Andreus, her brother’s plan made as much sense as the one Carys intended to embark upon. Maybe more. And yet . . .
She saw her brother’s hesitation, and the doubt wedged deep in her heart grew. “You can’t expect me to trust what I don’t . . .”
“Mother,” Andreus snapped. “Elder Jacobs has told me he is working with Mother. He’s supporting me because our mother does not want you to sit on the throne.”
And in those words, Carys once again heard the ring of truth.
Carys closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The whispers inside her head grew at the thought of the woman who had from the first insisted that Andreus must be protected at all cost. That it was Carys’s responsibility—to keep him safe even if it meant putting herself in harm’s way. The woman who put the Tears of Midnight in her hand and encouraged her to stay under the drug’s thrall.
“Carys, I . . .”
“It’s fine.” She shook away the whispers and opened her eyes. “You have always been the one mother preferred.”
“Which is why it will be doubly rewarding when she has to watch you sit the throne,” Andreus said. “Trust me, Carys. I can make Elder Jacobs push for the type of trial we need to take Elder Ulrich and the Bastians down.”
Andreus had already shown willingness to do what was necessary to win the Trials. If Elder Jacobs was on his side, Carys didn’t doubt the man would aid her brother now.
Could she trust him not to betray her again?
Doubt swirled and a single whisper echoed in her mind.
Will you forgive? Seeress Kiara had asked.
I don’t know, Carys thought. But she could try.
“Go to Elder Jacobs now, before the Council of Elders have a chance to finalize their plan, and see if you can get him to push for the trial to be outside,” Carys said before she changed her mind. “Graylem, pick a handful of the most skilled and loyal-to-the-crown guards to aid us. Larkin . . .”
“I will go talk to my father,” her friend answered. “Then I will return to work on our disguises. Max,” she said with a smile, “I could use some help carrying the things I need. And maybe some extra food for all of us.”
Max smiled like the sun.
Graylem bowed. He and Larkin headed down the corridor with Max skipping ahead.
“I won’t fail you, Carys,” Andreus said quietly before turning to follow them. “Not this time.”
She wished she believed him as he faded into the shadows.
“Do you want me to follow Andreus?” Errik asked, stepping to her side.
Her mind said yes. Instead, she answered with her heart. “No. If this plan is going to work, I have to trust him.” She walked closer to the fire Larkin had built to chase away the cold and the darkness. “I thought I knew how I would feel when I saw Andreus again, and I’m still angry and hurt. But—”
“He’s still your brother.”
She nodded. “It was easier to push that to the side when I didn’t have to face him. But just because I still feel connected to him doesn’t mean that I trust him.”
“Which is why you didn’t tell him about your ability to call the winds and why you didn’t mention the part of your plan that you are going to ask me to participate in now.”
She should have known he would guess what she was thinking. Slowly, she turned and reached for Errik’s hand. “I still hadn’t decided if I was going to ask you. With the Xhelozi roaming in the dark and no way to know where the Bastians have set up camp . . .”
“You need to learn how close the army is and find out when they plan on attacking. As a member of the Bastians, there is a chance I can get close enough to discover the information you require.”
“And if your uncle learns of your presence?”
“He will either consider me an ally and welcome me with open arms or realize I am a spy and have me killed on the spot.”
She shook her head. “We are almost certain the attack will come tomorrow night. You don’t need . . .”
Errik gently touched her arm. “We both know you cannot make choices based on what you might personally want. You aren’t just Carys now. You are the Princess of Eden, and you have to keep your kingdom safe.”
She had never been just Carys.
Sister.
Shield.
Princess.
Now would-be Queen.
Errik stepped closer to her until there was almost no space between them. “The Bastian army is assembling now,” he said quietly. “We know they are going to attack with the intent of putting a new King on the Throne of Light. If my uncle has his way, he will celebrate your death. I would rather die at the hands of my uncle or in a fight with the Xhelozi than live knowing I could have done something to prevent that from happening.”
She placed a hand on his chest. Beneath her fingers, his heart beat strong and true. “If anyone can get to the Adderton camp and learn what their plans are without raising alarm, you can. If you ride out tonight, you can find the army and return before the Trials restart.” Before Elder Ulrich had the chance to call forward the Bastian army.
Carys wound her fingers through his and squeezed tight as the wind whispered in her mind. Between the Xhelozi and the Bastians, the danger was great. He could fall, and she would never know how.
They could succeed without the information he could glean. But with it, they had a better chance of victory.
“You are not a subject of Eden,” Carys said, looking down at the fire. “I can’t order you to leave these tunnels.”
“No, I am not a subject of Eden,” Errik said. His fingers brushed her cheek and gently turned her face toward his. When his eyes looked into hers, he said, “But I am in love with its Queen.”
Love. Her stomach jumped. She shook her head, knowing if she answered with what was in her heart, she would never let him go. So she put those words that she could not speak into her eyes and hoped he understood them as she said the only thing she could. “I’m not Queen. Not yet.”
Errik smiled. “You have fought for people you have never met. You have run toward danger when you would rather flee and you are willing to sacrifice your own heart to see that others keep beating. A crown only bestows a title. It cannot change who and what you are.” He leaned close. His lips gently brushed over hers, and tears lodged deep in her throat and stung her eyes. She wanted to hold him. Instead, when their lips parted, she stepped away.
“Be careful,” she warned.
Errik picked up a small pack, a bow and quiver, then turned toward her. In the firelight, his olive skin glowed. She memorized the set of his strong jaw and the way his dark hair fell across his forehead. Then he smiled. “Don’t misplace your stilettos until I return.”
His smile still bright in her mind, Carys watched him disappear down the corridor heading to the secret entrance that allowed them to flee from these tunnels just weeks ago. Then he was gone. The whispers in her head grew stronger. She paced the corridors and tried to ignore that the one method she had of safely controlling the winds had left her side.
The walls grew thicker and taller with every minute that passed as she thought of Errik, the Bastians, and the Xhelozi. Of the brother who she remembered during the Trials and the one who had faced her tonight. Of the mother who had enlisted her in protecting Andreus and preferred that he become King.
The wind whispered as she thought of Errik riding through the dark and things that could not be. And when the others returned, she pushed those thoughts to the side as she prepared for whatever tomorrow would bring.
Errik had yet to return.
The sky was clear and the air crisp as Carys stepped through the arching entrance of the palace in the last light of day. Music and sounds of celebration echoed from the city below. High above, the windmills were still. All around her, members of the court fell silent as they spotted her moving toward the platforms of blue and yellow that had been placed at the very top of the glistening white stone steps.
She looked behind her as she had dozens of times since leaving the tunnels—hoping Errik would appear. He might still be roaming the countryside, looking for the army. He might have lost his horse and been unable to ride. Or he could be dead.
Fear tugged at her heart. The wind whispered inside her head and she forced herself to take a deep breath and remain calm.
She looked up at the battlements, at the giant scoring board that the Council had created for the original Trials of Virtuous Succession. Once again it had been affixed to the exterior of the palace walls. An equal number of blue and yellow pegs marched across the board—blue for her, yellow for Andreus—providing a visual reminder to everyone in the city that the last trial would be the end of this exercise. The return of the scoring board would help build the excitement. It would have guaranteed that everyone in Garden City was talking of nothing else today. And tonight, everyone would be watching Andreus and Carys to see who would win the crown. Even the guards not part of Elder Ulrich’s scheme would find it hard to concentrate on their duties.
Carys looked past the exterior city walls to the land to the south and the forest beyond. Was the army out there now? Had Errik fallen to them because he had the misfortune to entwine his life with hers? If so, how many more would die before the night was over? And would she be seated upon on the Throne of Light when the sun rose again?
Pink and purple streaked the sky as she waited for her brother to appear. He had returned to the tunnels last night, long after Max had curled up next to the fire on a pile of fabric scraps and fallen asleep.
“The Trials will take place in the city,” Andreus said. “The Council is still working out the final details. I’ll try to find out more from Elder Jacobs and get word to you before the Trials start.”
But Carys hadn’t seen Andreus since then and he had not sent Graylem or Max with word. She just had to hope that her agreement to work with her brother was not a terrible mistake.
The wind whispered, mixing with her anxiety as the seven members of the Council of Elders filed through the gossiping court. Several of the Elders spotted her standing to the side and nodded. Elder Jacobs’s face was calm as he twisted his long dark braid and spoke intently with Elder Ulrich. The one-eyed Elder’s hands were folded in front of him as he listened to whatever point Elder Jacobs was pressing. A small smile played on his lips as he looked over at Carys and nodded.
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