THE EFFECT OF my words was immediate.
A great cry rose up behind me. The air shook with thousands of voices, some in protest, but many more in triumph.
Prince Colin glared at me with murder in his eyes, but Patrick simply nodded and took a slow, measured step away from the prince—but not before edging his blade a breath closer to Prince Colin’s throat, leaving a long, thin cut. A reminder. A promise.
Then Patrick’s blade hit the floor and he held out his arms in surrender.
“Arrest him,” I told the red-coated guards.
They hesitated, looking between Patrick, Melanie, and me.
“Do it,” Melanie said. “Wilhelmina is your queen. You answer to her, not to Patrick.”
They obeyed without further question.
Within two hours, one of the wagons became a moving prison, guards of both colors watching over Patrick. The soldiers stationed at Snowhaven Bridge were reinstated, and the wraith boy began to clear snow under my direction; I didn’t trust him not to move it all into the bay and cause a flood.
“Prince Colin will not forgive this,” James said as we walked back to my wagon where a dozen Aecorian guards waited.
“I did it to save his life.”
“He won’t see it that way.”
“Unfortunately.” Had I made things better or worse? It was impossible to know.
The night had deepened and grown colder. The snow Chrysalis had moved away from the caravan formed glistening walls to the north and south, stinking like the wraithland.
After that exertion, Chrysalis was paler, his movements sluggish, but I stopped myself before asking if he was all right. He was going straight back to his wardrobe. At least I didn’t have to worry about him running away; he stuck to my side as surely as a puppy, desperate for attention.
“I should warn you.” James kept his voice low. “Several Aecorians have named themselves part of your royal guard. You can accept or dismiss them as you wish, but you should make a decision soon. Some will want favors in the future. You should be mindful of who you owe.”
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want any of them. I already have you.”
“Then you risk offending potential allies.”
Not what I wanted to hear.
“At any rate, there will be new sleeping arrangements. You’re no longer incognito and I’m not willing to risk your reputation—”
“It’s my reputation to ruin if I want, James.”
“And I’m not willing to risk mine, either.” He gave a smug grin and motioned to the wagon just ahead. “Lady Melanie will join you. I will station myself outside your wagon, along with any Aecorian soldiers of your choosing.”
“Oscar and Ronald.”
“The ones who brought Prince Colin to Lien?”
“They’re Ospreys. They may have sided with him during the Inundation, but they won’t allow any harm to come to me. The Gray brothers might have been born high noblemen, but they’re clever and good with their weapons.” I paused. “Besides, I don’t know any other Aecorians.”
James nodded. “Very well.”
“As for the others who’ve named themselves my royal guards, I’ll find out what Melanie, Ronald, and Oscar think of them before I accept any oaths. I’d like to know your opinions, too, if you happen to spend time with them.”
“Of course.” He wouldn’t forget, either. That was one of James’s best qualities: complete reliability. “As for the wraith boy, his wardrobe has been moved to the wagon following yours.”
The wraith boy gasped. “No! I want to be close to my queen.”
“It’s only a wagon away.” I leveled a glare on him, though the expression didn’t feel as menacing as I intended; I was too exhausted. “That’s close enough, and I will visit you in the morning.”
The hardness of his face softened. “You trusted me tonight. I wanted to make you proud.”
I forced my voice neutral and chose my words carefully. “You did well tonight. I was pleased with your work, and the way you obeyed my instructions.”
A smile lit his face as we continued toward his wagon. The mirrors had been moved, too, though at the moment they were covered with sheets. He hesitated at a sliver of glass showing near the floor; I stepped in front of it.
“In you go.”
His smile returned as he went inside his wardrobe. “Do I need to hum again?”
“Only if you want. Just behave. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“I cannot wait. Good night, my queen.” He remained grinning even when I closed the doors and pulled the sheets off the mirrors. The glass reflected his wardrobe from every angle, making it impossible for him to escape.
How secure was it really, though? He avoided mirrors. He acted like they hurt him. But he’d destroyed the mirrors as wraith mist. Perhaps he couldn’t anymore, now that he was a boy.
What about the rest of the wraith?
“Wil?” James touched my elbow.
I blinked and stepped back from the glass I’d been glaring into. My face was ashen with cold and exhaustion, and my eyes rimmed with red. “Sorry,” I muttered. “I was thinking about mirrors again.”
“It happens to all of us.”
The wagon guards were eyeing me, too. I drew myself up and straightened my cloak. “Don’t open the wardrobe doors for any reason. And don’t taunt him.”
Without another word, I swept out of the wagon, James at my heels.
“Do you think he can ever be useful?” James asked. “Can he learn to be more human?”
“Meredith thought so. And you saw what he did to her. There’s nothing human about him.” At James’s flinch, I softened the edge in my tone. “He’s just wraith and magic and destruction. A mistake I mean to correct. Tobiah said I can’t just bring things to life without consequences, and he was right.”
“Can you destroy them without consequences?” James shook his head as we approached my wagon. “Tobiah said that because he’s made mistakes, too. And he’s tried to correct them without thinking, and the results were even more undesirable than the original problem.”
I lifted an eyebrow.
He shrugged. “It’s not my story to tell. But I’ve said before that you two are a lot alike.”
How strange that anyone besides an Osprey might know me well enough to make a statement like that.
Oscar and Ronald stood guard at my wagon door, their red jackets buttoned tight against the cold. Black caps hid their dark hair.
“Look, it’s Wil,” said Oscar, smiling.
“That’s Queen Wil.” Ronald elbowed his brother, but didn’t smile. “There were about ten people here earlier. We told them to shove off for now.”
“Thank you.” Quickly, I gave them the same orders I had James, concerning a guard. “I need one of you to watch Patrick, too. I’m sure there are a lot of people loyal to him and I can’t risk his escape. He needs to be tried for his crimes.”
“I’ll go.” Ronald offered a quick bow before heading toward Patrick’s wagon.
“He feels bad about Quinn and Ezra still,” said Oscar, though I hadn’t asked. “He’s afraid you think it’s his fault.”
Their names stung. “It’s Patrick’s fault for sending them. Ronald did all he could.”
Oscar nodded. “I’ll tell him you said that.” He opened the wagon door to let James and me inside. The lamps were already lit, and Melanie stood on the other side, near a small bedroll where the wraith boy’s wardrobe used to be. She offered a quick greeting as James shut the door behind us.
“It’s so unsettling to see you trusting anyone,” James said.
“I’ve known them most of my life.” I’d known Patrick most of my life, too.
He took the desk chair and pulled out the blue notebook he used to communicate with Tobiah. “I need to report what happened tonight. It will give him time to prepare for the official news.”
Prince Colin’s riders would be at least two days behind James’s letter, more if snow impeded their travel.
“No doubt he’ll appreciate the warning.” I shed my cloak and hung it on a hook by the door. My hands drifted down the smooth fabric, cold and damp with bits of snow. “Tell him—”
James uncapped a jar of ink and waited.
I unhooked my sword and its sheath. My daggers. I placed all my weapons in a trunk and straightened. “Tell him I had no choice. That I haven’t forgotten what he said about authority and my status, but I had to do something.” Then, softer: “A declaration like that is hardly official. It doesn’t make it real.”
“It was real enough for Patrick,” Melanie said. “After everything, you gave him exactly what he wanted.”
“Doubtful he wanted to go to prison.”
“Wanted? Probably not. Was willing? Definitely.” She crossed the wagon and linked our arms together. “You know Patrick. Everything is part of some elaborate plan. I don’t know how being arrested figures into it, but I’m not ready to say he’s no longer a problem.”
James opened his notebook to the first blank page and dipped his pen in ink. “You’re sure you don’t know his plans?”
Melanie shook her head. “He wanted to take Prince Colin prisoner and execute him in the courtyard.” She squeezed my arm. “And on the off chance Prince Colin’s forces overwhelmed us, Aecor City was prepared to resist. Known loyalists have been . . . dealt with.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Imprisoned until they’re sufficiently encouraged to support you.”
“We’ll have to free them at once.” Saints, the things Patrick had done—and was willing to do—in my name. “And whatever he gains by being in prison himself, we’ll have to wait to find out. Prince Colin looks ready to murder me, and I don’t think Tobiah will have a much more positive reaction.”
“Oh, I can’t imagine His Royal Sullenness being happy about anything.” Melanie pulled away and sat on my bed. “Sorry, James. I know you like him. For some reason.”
James smirked and bent over his notebook. “Wilhelmina likes him, too.”
“Wil?” Melanie lifted an eyebrow, but I was not going to get into that right now.
Time to change the subject. “Where is Paige?” She’d been the other Osprey to side with Patrick. So far I’d seen three out of four of them. “Is she—”
“She’s fine. Waiting at the castle. We took it almost two weeks ago, while most of the regiment was still in Skyvale.”
“And the soldiers who had to stay in Aecor?” I asked, though I could guess. A pit of dread pulled in my stomach.
“Dead. Or imprisoned, if they had military knowledge he wanted. Same conditions as the loyalists.” Melanie sighed and ran her fingers through her short, choppy locks. “It’s been hard. Ugly. I’ve seen more death than I ever thought I would. But we’ve held Aecor City, which is more than I thought would happen.”
I tried to imagine Aecor City now. My memories of my childhood home were foggy with time, and charred black after watching the city burn during the One-Night War. I hardly knew it. Not like I knew Skyvale. Just closing my eyes, I could see the peaked roofs, the mirrors aglow in the light of the setting sun, and the blue mountains that surrounded everything.
But Aecor City as it stood now was a blank. Some queen I was.
Nevertheless, it was home. And it was right across the bay.
For a moment, we listened to the scratching sounds of James writing.
“Paige has made herself into quite the steward,” Melanie said. “Patrick told her to make the castle ready for your return. She’ll be so panicked when she realizes you’re here already.”
“We’ve lived in poor conditions before. I’m sure everything is more than adequate.” I pulled the tie off the end of my braid and threaded my fingers into my hair, unbraiding section by section. “Besides, Prince Colin and his regiment were living there, and the crown prince requires a certain level of luxury.”
“That he does. He—” She hesitated and shook off whatever she’d been about to say. “We have a lot to discuss. I want to know all about the other Ospreys, and how you ended up traveling with Tobiah’s bodyguard. And that boy who could be your brother.”
“So much has changed. Including this.” I touched her hair. “What happened?”
Her face darkened. “Oh—”
“Sorry to interrupt.” James turned from his notebook. “Melanie, I need to ask you a few questions.” He glanced at me. “Apparently he’s awake. He keeps writing where I’m trying to write. He says congratulations.”
“He doesn’t mean it.” I’d probably ruined a hundred of his plans I didn’t even know about.
“What is this?” Melanie grabbed the notebook and turned it over and around. “Both of you write in here? How does it work?”
“Magic.” I plucked the notebook from her hands. “I’ll explain later.”
More words appeared on the page—mostly questions with underlines and multiple pieces of punctuation—as I handed the notebook back to James.
“Thank you.” He started writing on the next page, as Tobiah’s questions continued appearing on the previous. “Let’s start with the goal of the ambush. Patrick’s force wasn’t big enough to invade, though you said you managed to take and hold Snowhaven Bridge for a matter of days.”
Melanie glanced at me, eyebrow raised.
“Answer all of his questions honestly.”
She gave a quick nod and faced James. “That is correct. Patrick had no desire to invade the Indigo Kingdom. He wanted Aecor as it had been. The ambush was on the Indigo side of the bridge for two reasons: to prove to the Indigo Army that we were truly a force, and to keep them out of Aecor.”
“I see.” James’s pen scraped paper. “And you took the bridge. How?”
While James and Melanie discussed, I slipped behind the partition and changed into my nightclothes. Once my dressing gown covered me, I stepped out to find James pushing back the desk chair.
“I’ve already sent a list of the Indigo Kingdom dead I know,” he told me. “We’ll have a more complete list once the dead are moved and on a wagon home.”
“All right.” For a moment, I wasn’t sure why he was telling me that, but then I realized it was because I should have someone do the same thing for the Aecorians. See to the dead. Ensure the families were told. Figure out how to transport the bodies.
All things queens should remember to do on their own.
“In addition to my account of what happened tonight, Tobiah would like to hear it from you. He’d also like to know your plans for the prisoners in Aecor City and whether you plan to free them. What you intend to do with Prince Colin now. And the wraith boy . . . Well, you’ll see the questions. I circled the ones you need to answer.” James offered the pen to me.
“Thank you.” So much for catching up with Melanie tonight, let alone getting any rest. Once James left, I dipped my pen into the ink and wrote.
Hello, Tobiah. It probably won’t help to know that I didn’t intend any of this. . . .