“Zea.” He leans toward me, lighting up the threads that link his needles to the ceiling, and flops back onto the pillows.
I draw in a sharp breath through my nostrils, suppress my shock, and raise a palm. “Will you stop being so persistent and needy?”
Prince Kevon flinches. The pain in his eyes tells me he has heard these words before, most likely from Queen Damascena. A muscle in his jaw clenches. “It would seem I’m doomed to love women incapable of loving me back.”
That’s not true. A sharp pain lances through my insides, but I clamp my lips shut. Queen Damascena should be satisfied that I have said everything she wanted. All that's left are my parting words.
I break the tomato necklace off my neck, slide the ring off my finger, and place them onto his lap. “Goodbye, Prince Kevon. Spending time with you was harder than working the fields on a hot day. I hope you don’t take back the water rations I worked so hard to attain.”
“Get out,” he snarls.
My legs shake as I rise from my seat. Prince Kevon bows his head and closes his eyes. It’s better this way because he won’t see me waver.
Without me at his side, the Chamber of Ministers might treat him with more respect when he takes the throne.
Clutching my insides as though they might fall out, I walk across the hospital room to the exit. The only thing keeping me from falling on the floor and begging for his forgiveness is the drug suppressing my emotions. I’ve never been so cruel.
Just as I reach for the door, it flies open, making me stagger back.
General Ridgeback’s huge body fills the doorway. “Zea-Mays Calico, you are under arrest for treason.”
Chapter 24
I stagger back into Prince Kevon’s hospital room, my breaths turning shallow. General Ridgeback grabs my tunic and yanks me into the hallway. Queen Damascena and Dr. Ridgeback stand behind him, each staring at me with satisfied smirks.
“Stop,” Prince Kevon shouts from his bed.
At his words, the queen’s face splits into a wide grin. Of course, she relishes the power she wields over her son. It was her who decided on the implant that now controls Prince Kevon’s heart.
The general clamps a massive arm around my bicep and marches me down the hallway, where the guards stand at the walls and sneer. Behind us, a body thuds to the floor, and overhead speakers ring with an alarm. Every single guard stops looking at me and rushes into Prince Kevon’s room.
Worry ties my stomach into knots. I twist around, only to see the backs of the guards. What if he’s injured? What if he’s ruptured his heart?
I slap at the general’s padded arm. “Prince Kevon—”
“Will be fine, now that you’re no longer trying to kill him,” he growls.
“No.” I stiffen my legs, throw my weight back, dig my heels into the smooth floor—anything to stay and check that Prince Kevon is alright—but the general drags me down the hallway and stops at the elevator.
“Let go,” I snarl through clenched teeth. “I’m innocent.”
“Everyone heard your confession.” He jams a thick finger at the call button.
The effort of struggling against him makes sweat break out across my brow. I curse Carolina and Ryce for not teaching me how to defend myself against a larger opponent. I can’t let him take me away. Without Prince Kevon’s pendant and ring, I would be lost within the Oasis or beyond.
With my free hand, I reach up at the general’s Amstraad ear cuff and pull. It’s not like an earring as I originally thought, but seems to connect with the skull.
General Ridgeback releases me with a roar and backhands me across the face. The blow hits like a stagecoach and spins me down the hallway until my head smacks into the wall.
I crumple to my hands and knees and crawl toward the hospital room. The alarm stops, and guards stream out through Prince Kevon’s door.
“Scum.” The general hooks his hand under the neckband of my tunic, hauls me to my feet, and shoves me toward the open elevator door. “My daughter was a disappointment but she was still worth ten of you.”
One foot stumbles over the other, but I right myself before I fall and slam my elbow into his gut. It knocks him back a tiny step, but he wraps a hand around my neck and shoves me into the wall.
All the air leaves my lungs in a pained cry.
“Wait.” Queen Damascena’s voice rings through the hallway.
General Ridgeback drops his free hand and stands to attention. “Your Majesty?”
I claw at the hand around my neck still pinning me to the wall. As much as I despise the queen and want to plunge an electroshocker in her face, my shoulders sag with relief. Breathing hard to calm my senses, I snap my gaze back to the general’s ear cuff, the exposed skin of his neck, his groin. The next time he attacks, I’m fighting dirty.
Queen Damascena stalks toward us, a grinning apparition in watermelon pink. The hallway’s fluorescent lights make the ends of her blonde hair shine like the sun reflecting off cornsilk, but it’s nothing compared to her radiant smile.
I tighten my muscles, school my expression, and brace myself for the worst.
“Zea-Mays Calico,” she purrs. “Ambassador Pascale was wrong to call you the bucking bronco. You’re a cat with nine lives.”
Cramps of anxiety ripple through my insides, and I swallow back a groan. I’ve lost count of the number of assassination attempts, and I have no idea what the queen is planning.
“Release her, General.”
He tightens his grip around my neck. “Your Majesty?”
“Miss Calico is free to go back to her Region.”
I turn completely still, and my mouth drops open. If this is another trick…
“But she confessed to treason and regicide,” says the general.
Queen Damascena’s violet eyes sparkle with delight. “My son absolved her with his first and final pardon as Phangloria’s regent.”
“Final?”
