“Once I’ve gotten rid of you, they’ll fall into line,” I said as I pressed the knife harder against her neck.
“They won’t. None of them. The wizards aren’t going to let you just take over Bathune. If you let me go, let my army surrender, and keep me on my throne, I’ll help you defeat them.”
“Shut up.”
“I will,” Bavasama pleaded. “I’ll abide by the terms of our peace treaty. I’ll help protect your borders, and I’ll keep the wizards in check. I know how. I can teach you to rule this world like it’s supposed to be ruled. Show you how to be a strong queen.”
“There’s nothing in this world, or any other, that I could ever learn from you,” I snapped.
“You can’t kill me,” she said, her eyes wide. “You can’t, Allie. I’m your aunt. A member of the royal family. You can’t just murder me.”
“Watch me,” I ground out. “You’ve killed so many people. So many people have died because of your actions, your twisted desires. Darinda. Timbago. The people who lived in the forest of Ananth. The Firas.”
“They were nothing,” she said, her eyes fixed on mine. “Servants. Peasants. Their lives were meaningless. But I’m a
“You ordered the death of my friends. You killed good people, and you want me to let you live? If I could kill you and every single member of your army every day for the next hundred years, I would. I would kill you over and over again to make up for what you did to them.”
There was another roar, and I glanced up, looking out over the roof to see the dragons herding my aunt’s soldiers toward the center of her courtyard, my army surrounding them. I glared down at my aunt and then smiled. “And guess what? It looks like I just might get my chance.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Three dragons broke free from the rest and started toward the palace, Winston in the lead with Ardere and Kitsuna’s mother behind them. I pressed the knife against Bavasama’s throat, hard and watched as blood began to trail down her skin toward the neckline of her dress.
“Start making your peace with the Pleiades, Aunt Bav.” I glared down at her as the dragons landed. “Because it’s time for you to pay up on our little bet.”
“Allie!” Mercedes’s voice was clear and strong. I glanced back to see her sliding off the back of a gold dragon.
“She’s responsible for Darinda’s death,” I said, my words shaky. “And all your other sisters. The Firas. The people of Sorcastia.”
“I know,” Mercedes said as she came closer. “And she’ll be punished. But not like this.”
“She trapped my mother on the other side of the Mirror of Nerissette. She tried to take my throne. She stole the lives my mother and I should have had.” I felt tears running down my face, and my hands began to tremble, making the knife quiver in my hands.
“I should kill you.” I narrowed my eyes at my aunt. “Right here. I could do it. You know that, don’t you? I’m the Golden Rose of Nerissette, and no one would stop me. Not after everything you’ve done.”
I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. “Enough,” Mercedes said, her voice low and soothing. “Allie, it’s enough.”
“No.” I shook my head, trying to whip the tears from my eyes, afraid to take my hands off the knife to wipe my face in case I couldn’t pick the now-heavy metal up again. “They are responsible for the deaths of so many people, she and the Fate Maker. If we don’t kill them now, then they’ll just find another way to hurt us later.”
“I know.” She let go of my shoulders and wrapped her arms around my waist, careful not to touch the blade in my trembling hands. “I know what they’ve done, but you can’t kill her here. Not now. Not like this. You need to make her face the army. Make her answer to the charges against her.”
“I’m queen,” I said, my voice choking on the words, as the knife dropped from my trembling fingers. “I was supposed to keep everyone safe, and I didn’t. They killed all of those people, and I have to end this. I have to make this right.”
“Not this way,” she said. “Not by assassinating your aunt in the dark.”
“But—”
“Boreas, Aquella,” Mercedes said quietly. “Arrest the Lady Bavasama. I’ll take Her Majesty down to formally accept the surrender of the army of Bathune.”
She tugged on my shoulder again, and I stood, wincing, my hand clutched to my still-bleeding side. “But first,” Mercedes said. “We need to find a medic.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s a scratch.”
“Sure it is,” Mercedes said as she looped my arm over her shoulder to let me lean on her.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, limping slowly toward the doorway to the palace. “It’s not like it can kill me or anything.”
“Whatever.” She grunted as she hoisted me higher on her side, taking more of my weight as we reached the ladder. She let go of me, leaning me against the wall, and then scurried down the ladder. “Just try to get down without passing out, Oh Immortal One. If you fall on me, I’ll turn you into a fern.”
“No, you won’t.” I huffed as I pushed off the wall and stumbled toward the ladder. I grabbed the first rung and swung my legs down, my feet slipping with each step. I clung tighter to it and began to descend slowly. When I reached the bottom, I slumped against the ladder, resting my forehead against it.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go see a medic?” Mercedes asked as she wrapped her arms around me, letting me lean back against her.
“Surrender first,” I said. “Let the medics work on the people with the real injuries. I’ll be fine.”
“Allie—”
“There are soldiers out there that I know are hurt worse than me,” I argued. “People like Jesse.”
“Jesse is fine,” she snapped as she slung my arm over her shoulder again and started to maneuver me toward the stairs. “Kitsuna’s mom caught him.”
“She what?” I gasped, partially in surprise but mostly in pain, as we started down the stairs from the tower to the main floor of the Palace of Night.
“We’ve got him,” Kitsuna said as she ran up the stairs toward us and then tucked herself under my other arm, helping Mercedes half carry, half help me down the stairs. “Mom saw him fall, and she managed to snag him. I’ve got to tell you it was the scariest thing. She just dove, and I thought we were going to hit the ground and then we’d all be dead, but she managed it.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“As only someone who’s done a dive-bomb on the back of a dragon can be. Your friend is fine. Or at least he was when we left him with the army. He did mention something about finding a sword, though, so who knows what sort of scrape he’s gotten into since.”
“What about Heidi?” Mercedes asked. “Is she here, too? Do you have her stashed somewhere with the Fate Maker?”
“Heidi’s dead,” I said, hanging my head. “The Fate Maker killed her. I gave her my grandmother’s combs to protect her, but they didn’t, and he just killed her.”
“Are you sure?” Mercedes said, her voice breaking. “Because they weren’t dead last time and—”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “This time I’m sure. He squashed her like a bug.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs, and I pulled away from them, determined to accept the surrender of my aunt’s army while standing on my own. Mercedes reached for my wrist, but I yanked it back.
“I’ll be okay,” I told her, trying to smile. “We just have to get through a little bit more, and then, I swear to you, I’m going to find a way to get you home.”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about that now.”
Kitsuna moved forward and rapped on one of the doors. She stepped back then, and I tried to straighten my shoulders, a grimace disguised as a bitter smile twisting my lips as the doors creaked open.
I stepped forward as soon as the door was open wide enough for me to fit through and took in the sight before me. There, clumped together, was an entire courtyard of weary warriors, smudged with dirt and smoke, on
