“She’s been obsessed with me for years,” he replies.
“What does that mean?” asks one of the ministers.
“She used to stare at me from across the dome, and everywhere else I went,” Ryce answers. “She even joined the Red Runners to be close to me.”
“I take it you didn’t share her feelings?” asks Montana.
“Not at first.” Ryce dips his head. “But she’s so brave and beautiful and committed to our cause. It’s hard not to fall for a girl like Zea.”
Despair washes through my veins like sour vinegar. I make a noise of protest in the back of my throat, which everyone ignores. He makes me sound like I’m still carrying out my mission. I want to scream my innocence, but my muscles won’t move.
The queen glances at me over her shoulder and smirks. Part of her must know that I changed my mind. If she interrogated Ryce under truth serum, she would have discovered that I didn’t report the location of the underground river or anything that would compromise the palace’s security.
New images appear on the screen. Ryce and I run hand-in-hand through the Rugosa Streets on the evening I was selected to go to the Princess Trials. Next is another one of us standing within the crowd, but it’s hard to tell that it’s us.
The door on the far left of the chamber slams open, and Prince Kevon stumbles inside. His eyes are wild, his hair disheveled and his white-and-silver jacket undone.
My breath quickens. I don’t know if I’m happy to see him or horrified. He’s my only chance of escaping, but if he hesitates for a moment, Queen Damascena will spill her poison into his ear.
A guard at the door touches the prince’s shoulder, but Garrett appears behind the man and punches the guard to the ground.
Prince Kevon bares his teeth. “What is the meaning of—”
He freezes at something on the screen.
It’s me with Ryce at the farmer’s market. He cups my face with his hands and smiles. We’re so close that it looks like we’re lovers. The camera closes in as he strokes my cheekbone and moves in for the kiss.
Queen Damascena points a remote at the screen. “You should be resting.”
Prince Kevon’s gaze flicks from me, to Ryce, to the footage of us frozen on screen with our lips pressed together. “Mother, what are you doing?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you, son.” She shakes her head and sighs. “Miss Calico only sees you as a means for benefitting her Echelon. She’s really in love with Ryce Wintergreen.”
His features turn slack. Garrett grips his arm and whispers something, but Prince Kevon doesn’t react.
“Zea?” The prince’s gaze sweeps down my form.
I can’t even shake my head to deny the accusations.
“What’s wrong with her?” Prince Kevon continues down the steps, past the gaping ministers, and stops at my side. “Why can’t she speak? Why did you drug us?”
Tears roll down my cheek, and the tension around my chest compresses my lungs to the size of my fist. Queen Damascena has enough evidence to turn his concern to contempt.
“Zea.” He hooks an arm beneath my leg and another around my back. “I keep failing to protect you. Now my mother is attempting to slander you with salacious lies.”
“I love you, Zea-Mays Calico,” says onscreen Ryce as he holds me to his chest. “You’re the bravest, most interesting girl I’ve ever met.”
Prince Kevon’s head snaps to the screen, and I squeeze my eyes shut. This is the most damning evidence of all.
“You’ll have to try better than that, Mother,” says the prince. “You were probably also behind the other digital fabrication to discredit Zea.”
“This one is real,” the queen says.
I open my eyes, wishing I could twist around to see Prince Kevon’s expression. He sighs and carries me up the steps. Garrett offers to take me, but the prince refuses. My heart fills with gratitude within a chest tightening with guilt. For once, the allegations Queen Damascena hurls at me are true.
As we progress up the stairs toward the back door, Ministers stare at us with varying degrees of disapproval. Even if they don’t believe in the footage shown on the screen, they can’t deny that I have changed Prince Kevon.
The young man I met had been reluctant to wield the power he held in our society and had believed in the half-truths its leaders told to maintain order. Now, he wants to act against the inequalities, and that makes him dangerous.
“Kevon,” the queen snaps. “The girl you’re whisking away is the leader of a rebel group called the Red Runners.”
He pauses at the door and addresses a pair of guards. “Arrest my mother and confine her to my study.”
The guard’s face drops, but Prince Kevon adds, “I promise you, with the Chamber of Ministers as my witnesses, that no repercussions will fall upon you or your colleagues for following my order.”
With a nod, the guard progresses down the stairs.
“Wait,” the queen screeches. “You can’t marry a girl who came to the palace to destroy it.”
I lean into Prince Kevon’s side, silently urging him to leave before somebody in that room changes his mind. Instead, he turns toward his mother and sighs again.
“Zea saved my life and wants the best for the country,” he replies. “I love her.”
A crack forms in my heart. Prince Kevon didn’t tell his mother that I loved him back because I never said the words.
“She’s taking advantage of you,” the queen snaps.
A recording of Prince Kevon’s voice fills the room. He turns to face the screen. We’re sitting in the front seats of his car, and I’m saying that I don’t love him. The next is a clip from my room, where I’m telling Prince Kevon we can only be friends.
My throat thickens. He can’t deny these events ever happened.
“You threatened her parents’ lives,” he says. “Of course, Zea would say these words under duress.”
The guards reach the bottom of the stairs. Queen Damascena raises her palms
