Page 112 of The Queen

Jared gave me a big smile after having jammed the locking mechanism, so there was no way to open it from the outside. By the looks of it, all the other doors had been similarly sealed.

“Impossible! How did you escape? Where’s Mik?” Edeth’s face was as red as the paint on her lips, and spittle flew from her mouth as it twisted in a snarl.

Shadow stepped up next to me and upended the black bag he had strapped to his hip earlier. Mik’s severed head dropped out of it with a thunk and made a sickening squelch as it bounced down each step before coming to rest at the feet of a pale-faced Lady Baxter. The countess screamed, her blue eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

I swallowed down the bile creeping up my throat and averted my attention from the grisly mess. That was what I expected to be in the bag, but even expecting it hadn’t prepared me for the reality of a man’s head rolling down a set of stairs.

Violet made no move to help her mother and stayed stalwart at my side. A gaggle of richly dressed women scurried to the unconscious woman, fussing over her. They didn’t seem to be helping much, but they were making a spectacle of it.

Titus cast a questioning look at his wife before addressing me. “Saphyra, really, my dear? This is unnecessary. Edeth has been nothing but helpful and kind while waiting for your return. I’m sure a conversation will clear all of this up.”

Edeth scowled and shushed him, talking over me with venom in her eyes. “More proof of why you are unfit to wear the crown. As I was just saying. She’s a liar and doesn’t respect our culture or values. She’s a murderer and has desecrated our poor, sweet Mik.”

I let her finish. She didn’t know it yet, but she was digging her own grave. “While you were expounding on my shortfalls, did you also explain to them how you were a murderer yourself? One sent here to assassinate their queen, my mother? To hand me over to be bred like livestock in prison? And to give the Imperatrix access to our resources and to fill our halls with their troops?”

Titus puffed out his chest. “That’s absurd. Edeth would never do something like that. All you had to do was marry Lex and everything would’ve been fine.”

There was movement from a far corner, and the Duke of Spectre stood from a table where he’d been sipping brandy. “Is this true, Edeth? Could that be why you sent two companies of my trained soldiers halfway across the planet to investigate an uprising that wasn’t happening? I’d long wondered how convenient it was that you were the one to deliver the order that left the capital, and my wife, vulnerable in the attack ten years ago.” Bitterness and suspicion coated his words. He already knew what she’d done, but he played his part for the other nobles well.

A hushed murmur rippled through the assembly.

“She definitely did do that,” Shadow confirmed and dropped the blood-soaked sack to the ground with a splat.

I ignored Shadow’s dramatic statement. “You put her in power. She had exactly what she wanted. Of course, she was good and kind. She thought she’d succeeded. She thought this was her planet. But it never was. The Imperatrix used Edeth for her own ends.”

She was never the mastermind of her own greed, always having been the Imperatrix’s unwitting pawn. She didn’t need to be smart. It was probably better that she wasn’t. All Edeth had to do was to be here to turn suspicion away from the obvious problems while the Imperatrix used our planet for whatever she wanted.

Titus shuffled up the steps to stand beside his wife, his face pale as a sheet. “Edeth, what is going on, my dear? You said no one would get hurt. Where is my son?”

“No one else would have been hurt if that worthless boy would have done his job,” Edeth hissed under her breath. Her lips pinched together in anger and her nostrils flared. She looked like an angry bull backed into a corner.

She was letting her temper and greed get the better of her. Or was she really stupid enough to think no one would hear her? Did she not realize what she’d just said?

Titus took a step away from his wife. His eyes were wide with disbelief. Gasps and whispers circulated around the room.

Losing track of what we were here for, the shock of what she’d muttered about Lex sunk in. “Are you trying to say Lex knew about this all along?”

Edeth scoffed, dusting off her skirt. “Of course not, stupid girl. That never would have worked. He’s loved you his entire life. His obsession has fueled every facet of his career. It’s like he knew you were his Star-blessed mate before your designation even revealed. Pathetic, really.”

The banging increased, followed by a metallic whine, and the whole wall shuddered. Nervously, I glanced over my shoulder and took a step away from the clamor. “You admit you had this planned, then?”

The nobles needed proof of what she’d done or they would never side with me.

As the sound of machinery from outside intensified, Edeth’s confidence returned and the fear in her eyes dimmed. “I admit nothing, and you can’t prove it because it’s a lie.” With a smug smile, she walked back to the throne and sat down.

The grinding and shuddering from beyond the door grew louder and a fine dust rained down from the frame behind me. Stars, what was going on out there? I needed to hurry. I had a feeling there wasn’t much time before her soldiers found a way in here. “You don’t need to admit it. I saw everything. You stabbed her in the back and handed me to the enemy. You were her friend. She trusted you, and you betrayed her.”

Titus stared wide eyed at his wife. “Edeth, my love. How does Saphyra know how her mother died? You said that you were with her alone in the garden when the assassin attacked. She couldn’t know that unless she was there. And you still haven’t answered me. Where is Alexi?”

Edeth’s eyes rested on the wall behind me, where the vibration continued. The wall groaned and began to shudder.

Realization washed over me. The whole structure was moving.

I froze in panic, unable to believe what I was seeing.

Metal fasteners pinged free and rained down on the landing I was standing on.

I leaped aside just as the wall gave way and the entire section fell inward on top of where I had been seconds before.

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