Prince Kevon presses his lips together and exhales a slow breath through his nostrils. “Whatever the colonel wants can wait. Please lead us to where you’re keeping Loam, Oria, Yoseph, and Flint Calico.”
I shake off my confusion. Of course, he knows their names. He was the guard who let visitors in and out of my room when I passed the marquee round of the Princess Trials.
Fear flashes across the guard’s eyes. It’s the conflicted look I’ve seen on people torn between following orders and doing the right thing.
I place a hand on Prince Kevon’s arm. “Maybe we should see what this colonel wants.”
“After ensuring the safety of your family.” He laces his fingers through mine.
“Of course, Your Highness.” The guard inclines her head. “Follow me.”
She leads us through the hexagonal hallway. Parts of it branch off into smaller corridors that lead into dormitories, and one side passage is crammed with guards lining up for the infirmary. I’m too preoccupied with the wellbeing of Mom, Dad, and the twins to concern myself with the ironic justice of the guards falling to their own chemical weapons.
The guard reaches a white door and presses her palm to a wall panel, making a screen appear on its surface. It’s a bedroom similar to the one from earlier. Mom and Dad sit on a bed beside each other, clad in their nightclothes with a twin on each lap. Nobody moves for several moments.
Guilt squeezes at my chest. They look so small, unworldly, and frightened. This is probably their first time in a Guardian fortress, and I can’t imagine what they’re thinking. I’m about to ask if this is a still picture when one of the twins shifts on Mom’s lap and wraps his arms around her neck.
“Did anyone explain what's happening?” asks Prince Kevon. “Have they been offered food or drink?”
She grimaces. “I’m not sure, Your Highness.”
Prince Kevon brings our interlaced hands to his lips and presses a kiss on my knuckles. “I will leave you alone with your family. Please explain that they have the option to return home.” He turns to the female guard. “Let’s see what your colonel wants.”
The guard taps a command into the screen, which turns white again. A mechanism within the door clicks, and I inhale a deep breath.
Prince Kevon places a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
As he follows the guard down the hallway, I push the door open and step inside. Mom and Dad stare at me with their mouths agape, and the twins slide off their laps and rush at me.
“Zea.” Yoseph wraps his arms around my hips and cries.
“Those bad men took us away.”
I can barely hear Flint through his sobs.
The ache in my heart spreads across my chest and up my throat. I stare down at the little, blond heads pressed into my body, and tears fill my eyes. If they knew I was the cause of their troubles, they wouldn’t turn to me for comfort. My gaze rises to Mom and Dad, who stare at me through haunted eyes.
“I’m sorry.” My voice cracks.
Mom is the first to rise. The rims of her eyes are as red as blood, and her lips tremble from holding back her emotions. “What is happening in the Oasis?”
A dozen answers surge to the back of my throat. When I was young, I could tell Mom and Dad everything. Dad was the first person I ran to when I saw that guard smash the butt of his rifle into Mr. Wintergreen’s head. Mom was the person who held me through my nightmares, even years after the event, when twin babies kept her awake.
I shake my head. “There’s so much I can’t tell you.”
“One of the guards showed us that footage,” says Dad.
I gulp. Now they’ll hate me for condemning so many innocent Harvesters to life in the Barrens. “Those things I said—”
“You and the prince in the hospital.” He glances away.
Shock hits my gut like a fist. Dad is talking about the video someone made of my head on the body of a naked girl. How can I tell them it was fake when even the Noble girls believed it to be true? I part my lips to speak, but anything I say would sound like a lie.
“Zea.” Mom places her hand on her chest. “We’ve been so worried.”
“And they showed us the speech you made in the dome,” Dad adds.
My chest tightens. They’re poisoning Mom and Dad against me. Now, they’re going to think I’ve forgotten my Harvester roots and become the worst kind of elite.
“Is the prince threatening our lives?” he asks. “Is that why you’re …” Dad’s face tightens as though completing his sentence would hurt.
His words shatter my heart into pieces, and I draw the twins closer. Dad thinks Prince Kevon is forcing me to become his royal mistress when it’s the opposite.
“It’s the queen,” I rasp, hoping she isn’t listening. “She’s sending people to harass you because she doesn’t want Prince Kevon to choose a Harvester. That footage from the hospital isn’t even me. We’ve fallen in love, and he’s been nothing but a gentleman.”
Mom’s brows draw together. I can tell she doesn’t understand, but she nods anyway and glances at Dad, who mirrors the expression. She turns back to me. “Did he send that rice?”
“Did you eat it?” I ask.
“We thought it might be poisoned,” says Dad.
My shoulders sag. “Who knows what might have happened to it on the journey.”
They exchange another glance and don’t look at all reassured. It’s because I haven’t told them why they’re in Fort Meeman-Shelby. “Lady Circi brought you here for your protection.”
“Supposedly,” Dad mutters. “I don’t know anyone who ever returned after being snatched from their beds.”
“Do you want to go back home?”
“Of course,” says Mom.
“But there was
