Infinity

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, young one,” my aunt said, her voice bitter. “It’s not likely you’ll be able to do more than pull the blade from its scabbard before my men cut you down.”

“Bavasama,” I croaked as I managed to pull myself to a stand. I glared at the tall, skinny woman with frizzy red waves who sat on the raised black throne in front of me.

“Alicia.” She gave me a tight smile. “Do you know how much you look like your mother right now? Identical. You and darling, flawless Preethana, two perfectly polite princesses, both of you huddled on the floor, waiting for me to destroy you. Completely undeserving of the crown placed on your head.”

“My mother was a good woman,” I said. “She would have been a good queen if you wouldn’t have kidnapped her and put yourself on her throne instead.”

“My baby sister was a wimp. She got what was coming to her when I locked her in that tower. She was too weak to sit on the Rose Throne. Too stupid.”

“No, she wasn’t. She was good and sweet and smart. She wasn’t weak and neither am I.”

“Yes, she was.” She pushed herself up from her throne and came toward us. “Such a terribly weak princess. But you? You’re not, I agree. You inherited my mother’s strength. Her convictions. Her stubbornness. I can tell. I used to see the look that’s in your eyes all the time when I looked at her. You’re so much like Bavamorn you could be her reincarnated. That’s what’s going to make this so much fun.”

“My army is marching toward your palace as we speak, and they intend to set fire to everything in their path. Thousands of soldiers. Dragons. Nymphs. All united for the sole purpose of deposing you and putting me on your throne. How exactly is that fun for you?”

“It’s true that you have an enormously large army.” Bavasama nodded. Her eyes focused off to the side before she brought them back to stare at me. “But I have you.”

“And what do you think that’s going to get you?” I spat.

“I think you’ll be amazed at what your Prince Consort and lord general agree to when it comes right down to it. What John of Leavenwald will be willing to give up to save his only remaining child. After all, Bathune isn’t that rich a prize, especially not if they have to sacrifice their queen to get it.”

“They won’t surrender to you.” I lifted my chin higher and glared down my nose at her. “None of them will. Not Winston or Rhys or even John.”

“They will.” She stepped back. “It’s their only choice—your only choice. You surrender Nerissette to me and live as my servant queen or I put your head on the block and remove it.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Dare?” Bavasama wrinkled her nose and stepped back again, still facing me. “Haven’t you realized by now just how much I’m willing to risk for a chance to regain my rightful place on the Rose Throne? What I’m willing to destroy to reclaim what should have always been mine?” She lifted one of her hands and waved toward the guards. “Take her away. The tower, of course, and bring her a bucket of water to bathe. She reeks.”

One of the guards stepped forward. “Your Graciousness?”

“If you kill me, then they’ll burn Bathune to the ground. They’ll never surrender to you.”

I felt a hand grab each of my upper arms, and then two of the guards started to drag me away. I lifted my toes and tried to dig my heels into the floor, fighting them, but they just pulled harder.

“When I get free…” I snarled as they pulled me through the door.

“Oh, darling,” she said. “I seriously doubt that’s going to happen.” She burst into shrieks of insane laughter, and the doors to her throne room slammed closed in front of me as I struggled harder against my captors, kicking my feet and flailing my arms.

“Forget this,” one of the men said in a gruff voice. He let go of my arm before jamming his shoulder into my stomach and picking me up, throwing me over his shoulder. “I’ve had enough of you now.”

“Let go of me,” I said, trying to ram my knee into his stomach.

“That’s it.” He wrapped his arms tightly around my legs and held me pinned against his shoulder as I squirmed.

“Her Graciousness may want you alive, but I don’t think it matters. Dead now or dead later, it’s all the same to me. Besides, she did tell me to make sure you had a bath.”

I felt the brush of the window’s sides as he pushed my legs through and then a sick feeling in my gut as he leaned forward, forcing me to slide off his back. Then the snaggle-toothed monster holding me simply let go, and I could feel myself fall, probably from much too high of a height to be good for me.

Chapter Seventeen

I hit the water with a loud crack, and all the air in my body rushed out of my lungs in one solid push. My back burned from the sting of the impact, and when I tried to scream, water filled my mouth, and I swallowed it into my lungs. Flailing, I tried to kick myself to the surface, but the heavy weight of my sword pulled me down, dragging me toward the bottom. I scrambled upward but everything hurt, and my arms didn’t want to move. Nothing wanted to move.

Then there were strong arms wrapped around me and bodies pressed against my sides, and I was going up, being dragged to the surface by people I couldn’t see inside the murky, green depths.

“Breathe now, sister queen,” a familiar voice crooned as we broke the surface, and I sucked in a lung full of air. “Breathe easy now. You’re safe.”

I pulled in more air and let it out in a sob as Talia and two other mermaids began to swim me toward the grassy bank that surrounded their pool. “Talia? What are you—” I stared at her, my eyes wide and my heart pounding as Talia fought to lift me onto the cool grass. “Oh my God, I thought you were dead.”

“No.” She reached out to stroke my cheek, and I crumpled onto my side, dropping my head into her hand and letting it hang there.

“The wizards—” I coughed, spitting up water.

“Took us prisoner,” Talia said softly, still stroking my cheek and occasionally bringing her hand down over my wet hair. “Timbago and the rest of your staff were fighting bravely to protect us, but they were outnumbered. They couldn’t have protected us any more than they already had. There were too many of them, and when Timbago and the others were distracted by the Fate Maker’s army, the wizards surrounded us, and we didn’t have a chance.”

“Timbago…” I felt light-headed, as though I was going to be sick, at the thought of the goblin who’d been my friend, the goblin who’d died to protect me and my throne. He’d come back to me once—briefly—in death to share with me the secret of the Dragon’s Tear. He had been its keeper, its guardian.

“Is a fierce enemy when he’s riled,” Talia said and then smiled. “I watched him take on two wizards all by him—”

“He’s dead,” I whispered.

I heard the mermaids around us suck in their breath, and it was like the entire world had stopped as they stared at me. I struggled to sit back up and pushed my hair off my face. “He died at the labyrinth. They all died. The entire household staff.”

“All of them?” Talia asked, her face paling.

“The Fate Maker and Bavasama’s combined army killed them all,” I said, my voice trembling.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered into my hair.

“I thought you were dead, too. I went to the palace, and they were all dead and you were gone, and I thought you’d died with them.”

“Allie—”

“So many people have died,” I whispered. “Timbago and Darinda and all the dryads. My half brother Eamon. The village of Socastia. The Firas. I thought you were dead, too. I cried for you.”

“I know.” She cradled me close and patted my hair. “There was no way to send you word, no way to let you know that we had been taken prisoner. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I nodded, stunned. “I’m just glad you’re safe. Or as safe as any of us can actually be right now.”