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“Aurelia,” Kellan said urgently. I turned and looked at him. At Simon. And finally at my mother. If the Tribunal were to overthrow Mother, I was the only hope of returning our family to the Renaltan throne. I needed to keep Conrad safe. I needed to become queen of Achleva. And once I had the power required, I would return to Renalt and reclaim what was rightfully ours.
Throat constricting, I said, “I will.”
It wasn’t until I was down the dark passageway that I realized I’d forgotten to tell her that I loved her too.
* * *
The passageway led out to the Kings Hall, lined on either side with ceiling-high portraits of twenty generations of Renaltan royalty. Beneath their stoic gazes we dashed—?Kellan, Conrad, and I—?as distant, angry shouts seeped through the walls. We rounded the corner to my chambers to find the door ajar. Pressing a finger to his lips, Kellan drew his sword and pushed it open.
It had been ransacked. Everything that I owned, everything I ever considered mine, was scattered across the floor. The tapestries were torn, the wardrobe overturned. My bed was upended and snapped down the center, jagged slats reaching into the air like the ribs of a long-wrecked ship. Scrawled across every wall were the words Malefica, malefica
, malefica. Witch, witch, witch.
“Gather what you need as fast as you can,” Kellan said. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“There’s nothing to gather,” I said. “Everything is gone.”
There was a scraping sound as a large piece of my fractured desk was moved aside. Kellan brandished his sword and Conrad ducked behind him, but the face that peeked out was a familiar one.
“My lady?” Emilie asked timidly. “Princess, is that you? Are you all right?”
I helped her from her hiding place. “Are you?”
“I hid when I heard the other servants coming. It’s a wonder they didn’t find me.” She shivered. “The things they were saying about you, my lady . . .”
“They’ll be back,” Kellan said. “We must go now.”
“Wait!” Emilie said, “They’ll find you for sure wearing that color. There must be one of your others in here somewhere . . .” But the closet door was hanging crookedly on its hinges, the dresses it still held were slashed and torn, and the rest were gone, likely looted. There was nothing still wearable inside it. She picked up a scrap and then immediately put it down. “Trade me clothes,” she said, determination on her face. “We’re about the same size. They’re looking for a princess in a bright green ball gown. They won’t look twice at a servant girl.”
“That’s a brilliant idea,” Kellan said. “Do it. Quickly.”
“No,” I said firmly. “It’s too dangerous. Think of what your mother went through—?”
“It’s because of my mother that I’m offering,” Emilie said, face aglow with fervor. “I was helpless to save her; I am helpless to avenge her. But I can do this for you.”
Speechless, I put my hand on her shoulder. She said, “If anyone can make the Tribunal pay, it’s you. Maybe if I help you today, you can someday return and make it right for us all.”
“Hurry!” Kellan said. “The crowd is moving.”
I worked with clumsy fingers to extricate myself from the green dress, handing it to Emilie when I finally succeeded. “Find a safe place and lock yourself in. Tell them I did it,” I told her as I pulled her simple shift over my head. “Tell them I forced you to give me your dress. Say whatever you have to. Make them believe it.”
“Yes, my lady,” she said as I helped her do up the laces on the stained gown. She smoothed out the fabric. “I’ve never worn anything so lovely.”
“Someday I’ll pay you back with a better one.”
“It’s a deal,” she said, and removed her yellow headscarf, situating it on my head and shoving my recalcitrant hair beneath it.
“Emilie,” I said under my breath, “I won’t forget this. I won’t let you down.”
Kellan, at the door with Conrad, waved me to follow him. Time was running short.
“Wait!” I said before leaving. “In the pocket.”
Emilie pulled out the broken bracelet and handed it to me. On impulse I found the dragon charm—?emerald, like her mother’s favorite stone—?and yanked it from the chain. Pressing it into her hand, I whispered, “Thank you.”
She nodded, clutching the charm, a token of her mother and my promise to avenge her.
We made our way back to the Kings Hall. Kellan went to scout out the way ahead, but not before situating Conrad and me behind the tapestry across from the portraits of famed King Reynald on one side and his trusted second-in-command, Lord Cael, on the other. The Founder of the Tribunal.
