She tips her head back and chuckles. It’s a throaty sound that makes me want to hurl. Her hand falls onto her chest, and the laugh deepens. At any moment, I feel she’s going to plunge a knife in my pounding heart. Out of the corner of my eye, I see every face turned to us, but I can’t stop watching this woman revel in madness.
Eventually, Queen Damascena pulls her head back and exhales a long sigh. “Kevon abdicated, and now I’m the regent.” She leans toward me and whispers, “You have twenty-four hours to leave the Oasis before I grant General Ridgeback a sabbatical.”
The general releases my neck, stamps his foot on the ground, and bows. “Thank you Your Majesty!”
Implications hit me with a hard slap. Prince Kevon traded his throne for my freedom. Queen Damascena is now the absolute ruler of Phangloria. I have less than a day left to escape before General Ridgeback hunts me down in revenge for killing Berta.
I hurry back toward the hospital room, but the guards around the wall step into my path.
“He doesn’t want to see you.” The glee in Queen Damascena’s voice grates on my nerves. “In fact, he’s eager to restart the Princess Trials with candidates vetted for quality and good breeding.”
I turn back to find the General standing in my path and staring at me as though I’m a fresh slice of steak.
“What about my family?” I ask.
“You’re all free to return to your hovel.” She smirks. “What’s left of it.”
Keeping my gaze on the queen, I edge around the general’s body toward the elevator and grope at the wall panel until my finger presses the call button. Jagged pains stab through my belly, and the first signs of panic bleed through the emotion suppressant’s wall of calm. I’ve got to find the stadium, retrieve my family, and leave the Oasis before the general can start his hunt.
The elevator doors open. I step inside. General Ridgeback moves forward, and I hold my breath. He plans on following me around until the end of the twenty-four hours.
Queen Damascena places a hand on his arm. “Any serving officer violating the royal pardon will face execution.”
As the elevator doors close, the general inclines his head. Now I understand why the queen gave him a sabbatical instead of a vacation. By the time General Ridgeback catches up with me, he’ll no longer be a serving officer.
The elevator makes its slow descent, and I lean against its wall, breathing hard. Will Prince Kevon’s abdication mean the end of his torture? I wish I had hinted something to him about the remote control. It’s too late unless I find a way to send a message.
There’s no point in trying to find the palace, because I’m no longer welcome, and I don’t have a chance of sneaking back into Prince Kevon’s hospital room. Maybe if I reach Rugosa, I’ll tell Mr. and Mrs. Pyrus, then they’ll tell Forelle, who will tell Garrett.
The elevator stops, the doors open, and the guards in white armor move aside. I step out into the half-dome, feeling exposed as an unescorted Harvester in uniform. The Nobles, who once inclined their heads, now glare at me as though they want to join General Ridgeback on his hunt.
Swallowing hard, I hurry toward the exit and keep my eyes away from the glowering faces. A large hand lands on my shoulder. My heart somersaults. I spin around to meet the unsmiling face of Garrett.
“You need a ride out of the Oasis,” he says.
Pressing a palm to my heart, I sag with relief. “Thank you.”
“This isn’t a favor for you.” He turns on his heel. “Follow me.”
The fabric of my Harvester uniform makes my skin itch, even though it’s the same outfit I’ve worn since turning fifteen. I hurry after Garrett and hunch my shoulders. He had been present in the Chamber of Ministers and saw the footage of Ryce kissing me, heard the queen uncover the truth about my reason for joining the Princess Trials, and heard what she said about me killing King Arias.
Garrett pauses at an elevator positioned next to a booth where a man in white sticks needles into Nobles’ faces and makes their muscles twitch.
“How much of what you said to Kevon was true?” he asks.
I gulp. “You heard?”
“I came as soon as the Lifestyle Channel broadcasted you arriving at my cousin’s bedside. Apparently, we’ve been looking for you in all the wrong places.”
Garrett steps into the elevator, where two Noble boys my age who were about to step out remain to gape. When the doors slide closed, neither boy presses a button. Instead, they nudge each other and whisper as though plucking up the courage to say something.
I stare at the numbers on the display, which take us to the fifth-level basement. As soon as the elevator doors open and we step out into a dimly lit parking space filled with solar vehicles, one of the boys shouts something obscene. I turn, but the elevator door closes.
“My family is in the stadium,” I say to Garrett.
He walks around a two-seater solar car and opens the driver-side door. “Where?”
I clench my teeth. Of course, they would keep such a vile place quiet. The passenger door swings open, and I slide into the leather seat. As I try to describe the stadium, Garrett’s Amstraad ear cuff beeps. He pulls a tablet from his inside pocket.
“A friend just spotted a Harvester woman and two little boys outside the Ministry of the Environment experimentation laboratories.” He taps a command on his tablet. “I’ll have someone pick them up.”
Warm gratitude fills my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and exhale my relief. My mind is still a jumble from everything that’s happened since the king’s funeral. I still can’t believe that Prince Kevon would give up his throne to save me even after I convinced him of all those terrible things.
If only I had known his heart before I agreed to this stupid
