I didn’t watch her die. I didn’t feel bad about it, but with my newfound mommy-strength, there was a whole lot of mommy-nausea as well, and the smell of her blood made me want to puke. I rolled off of her and pulled myself to my feet. My knees were weak. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my head. I held the knife out, waiting for the next assailant to come—but instead, all I saw was Apex standing in the midst of a shockingly large number of Rutharian bodies. He held the Rutharian king’s head by the horns at his side. Where the king’s body had gone, I didn’t want to know.
“Apex,” I breathed as I took a shaky step toward him.
He dropped the king’s head and rushed to me, a blur all over again. In an instant, I was in his arms.
“Are you hurt?” His hand was shaking as he moved it to my cheek and brushed my hair away from my face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I told him. “Idria is dead. I killed her. It’s done.”
“You did so well, my love.” He kissed my face all over, like he didn’t care where his lips landed as long as it was against my skin. “I am so proud of you. And so sorry, too.”
“Yeah, well…”
We both froze as a boom! sounded from outside in the hall.
“Please tell me that’s part of your plan, too.” I stared up into his eyes for reassurance, but Apex looked as confused as I was.
“I wish I could say that it was,” he told me slowly. “But…”
We both spun towards the doors as they exploded outward in a massive cloud of smoke. I pointed the dagger I’d taken from Idria at whatever new threat awaited us. Apex leveled his blaster at the smoke, ready to kill.
“Die, you Rutharian baz-terds!” Gallix rushed from the cloud with a collar around his neck. The chain connected to it swung dangerously in his hands. He was wielding the anchor—one that I recognized as the same I had pulled from the wall of the dungeons a lifetime ago—like a mace.
“May your gods weep over your corpses, for today—” Ronan sprinted out of the smoke behind Gallix with something that looked an awful lot like a Molotov in his hand…then skidded to a halt as he looked around the room and realized there was nothing left to fight.
Apex’s shoulders slumped forward slightly. A little groan of annoyance left his lips as he lowered his gun.
“Blood. It took the two of you long enough!”
Gallix and Ronan looked at each other, confused. Then Ronan tossed the explosive aside, where it immediately set fire to a large tapestry, and Gallix shrugged.
“We did not exactly have much help, Apex,” Gallix grumbled as he approached us. “All of this was part of your plan, then?”
“Everything always is,” Apex said simply.
“Then we are glad to hear it,” Ronan said. He embraced Apex, then came over to me. “It is good that Apex did not betray you. We spent far too long discussing exactly how to kill him for it.”
“You all right, Atlanta?” Gallix glanced down at the dagger in my hands, and I realized my fingers were shaking. The blade was still dripping with Idria’s blood.
“I’m…fine, yeah. Just a little shaken up.”
“She is with child. Mine,” Apex said. His eyes twinkled as he said it. He looked far too proud of himself—though, I guessed that was maybe fair, given that he’d just singlehandedly murdered every other enemy we’d had in the room. “And she has taken her first blood. Idria.”
“Well, fuck me upside down and call me a Turunian whore.” Gallix clapped me on the shoulder, a little too hard. Luckily, Apex was there to steady me when I stumbled aside. “Good work.”
“And congratulations,” Ronan said with a smile. “On both counts.”
“Yeah. Well. I’m not planning on doing it again.” I laughed, but it felt forced. The dagger was suddenly so heavy in my hands, I would have dropped it if Apex hadn’t taken it from me before I could.
“You must not feel bad, my love,” he told me. “You did what you had to in order to survive.”
I bit my lip and nodded. I agreed, of course, but it wasn’t the weight of Idria’s death that was on my shoulders in that moment. I just felt…tired. More tired than I’d ever felt in my entire life.
“And look,” Apex whispered in my ear. “They are thanking you for it.”
All around us, the servants, courtiers, and even Lieja’s harem were dropping down to their knees. For us. Gallix chuckled as he glanced around and puffed out his chest, looking smug. I’d never seen Ronan look so uncomfortable. And Apex…
He only had eyes for me.
“They are bowing to you, Atlanta. Tell me—would you like to be queen?” he asked, gesturing to the crowd in the ballroom as they bowed low.
“That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed. “I’m not really the authoritarian type.”
“Then what do you want, my love?”
Despite the way that everyone was bowing to us, I couldn’t have possibly felt less regal. There was blood on my hands, a strange heaviness in my belly, and a tiredness in my bones that made me feel like I’d suddenly transformed into a bag of bricks. I folded my body against Apex’s and laid my cheek against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, which was nice of him. If he’d been a second slower about it, I was pretty sure my knees would have given out.
“I want to go home,” I said softly.
“Ah,” he breathed. This time, I was pretty sure the disappointment in his voice wasn’t just an act. “Earth is…very far from here, my love. But if that is what you wish—”
“Apex. Come on. Seriously?” I looked up at him and gave an exhausted laugh. “Not my home. Yours. To Lunaria, where Savannah and the rest of your people are. Wasn’t that the plan all along?”
Apex
