Page 113 of The Queen

They didn’t unlock it, because they couldn’t. They cut through it.

Edeth sneered now that her soldiers had access. “You didn’t really think this would work, did you? You’re surrounded. Stuck in here. I’ve been bringing in my own security for months. Axion was too busy chasing you around to even notice the staffing changes. My troops outnumber you. You’ll never escape this.” Edeth’s earlier concern was gone, replaced with an overabundance of confidence. “Storming in here and demanding that I admit to murder. Shameful. I wanted to do this the easy way, Saphyra. But again, you’ve forced my hand. You could have married any alpha, had a child to carry on your bloodline, and followed instructions. But instead, you chose this. Arrest them all.”

Shock registered on Titus’s face as he backed away from his wife. “What have you done? I trusted you.”

Soldiers streamed through the ragged opening, guns drawn and trained on my alphas and the ragtag groups of civilians. Nobles huddled in the center of the room with panicked looks on their faces, trying to stay out of the path of the troops that were hurrying down the steps.

Shadow moved in front of me as armed troops crowded through the gap in the wall. My guards and the citizens shifted to face the flood of soldiers, but there were so many, and they all had guns fixed on the tool wielding farmers and workmen.

I couldn’t let this happen.

My pulse thrashed wildly in my veins. I wouldn’t stand by and watch them be harmed in my name.

I was doing this to save my people. Not hurt them.

“Wait! Wait!” The sinking feeling of defeat washed over me. I’d be giving up without a fight, but this was no fight. It would’ve been carnage. “No one needs to die today. Throw down your weapons. I came here to help Verden, not see its citizens murdered. I won’t let anyone suffer for my crown. Not if I can stop it.”

There was a pause, and no one moved. Hopeful faces turned to me from every corner, but when they saw that I was serious, the rattle of pitchforks and rifles hitting the floor echoed around the room. Shadow looked at me in shock. My heart broke looking back into those eyes filled with the depths of a starry night. Murder was written all over his stance. He was ready to fight and die for this, but I couldn’t stand to see him hurt, or worse.

My stomach churned, and a cold numbness tingled across my whole body. I raised my hands in surrender. This was supposed to be peaceful, not a bloodbath. We were outnumbered and outgunned. That was why we had to sneak in like we did. We knew we didn’t have a chance against the trained force outside of this room. And now they were inside.

“That’s very noble of you.” Edeth stood from my throne to survey the crowd. “Very noble, but very stupid. I’m bored, and this is taking too long. We really don’t need any of them. Arrest the girl. Kill the rest.”

What? No!

“W-we surrendered!”

My heart seized when, from beyond the jagged hole in the wall, a staccato of blaster fire erupted, deafening me. What was that? Had Lex and Ghost finally made it? Where was Grey? I just saw him by the north exit. Everything had gone so wrong.

Edeth was going to kill them all.

Utter chaos broke out in the throne room. Nobles screamed and trampled one another, trying to escape. Edeth’s forces turned their attention to the turmoil in the corridor, rushing back the way they’d come. My guards picked up their guns, and the citizens grabbed their tools but hadn’t entered the fray until I nodded my assent.

I never wanted this to happen, but Edeth was going to kill them, anyway. Everyone loyal to me would’ve been dead by morning if she had her way. I was naïve to think differently. I’d hoped for better. I’d hoped for peace. And we would have that, just not tonight.

Blaster fire pinged off the railing beside me and Shadow snatched me up around the waist and dragged me to cover. “Stay behind me.”

I could barely hear him over the plasma bolts zipping past us.

Nobles dove under tables, taking shelter, sobbing. Citizens bludgeoned soldiers over their heads with crowbars and wrenches, knocking them unconscious while Albion’s team laid down cover fire and moved unerringly toward me.

Lanxer stumbled, red blooming across his chest. A silent scream etched on his face as he fell under stampeding boots. I turned away, pressing my bloody tears into Shadow’s back as his body shook with the kick of his weapon.

My pulse buffeted my eardrums, competing with the shrill ringing in my head. Acid boiled in my stomach, and I swallowed past the dry lump lodged in my throat. I couldn’t watch them die, but I had to witness what I’d done. All of this was my fault.

Edeth ran to the corner, barricading herself behind a card table and using a groggy Lady Baxter and the women who’d tried to assist her as a buffer to the carnage. More enemy soldiers rushed out of the throne room into the hall to address the attack that had erupted in the corridor and found themselves directly in the line of a firing squad.

At the head of the advancing force, I caught a glimpse of Lex and Ghost. I felt their exhilaration closing in on me. Shadow swung me away from the wall where I’d been able to see and set me in the corner where Albion and her team made a perimeter. Hot blood sprayed my face when a bullet clipped one of the alphas in the arm, followed by a string of feminine curses, but she didn’t waver and held strong despite the apparent pain.

A dark-haired man with almond eyes and a familiar voice jogged toward us with Violet slung over his shoulder and a pale faced Melody following close behind. “I try to stay out of political squabbles, but you just can’t keep yourself out of trouble, can you?” He set Violet on her feet beside me and bowed quickly. “Your Majesty.”

Before I had a chance to react, he was sprinting into the fray as it spilled into the throne room once again. I looked to Shadow, who was watching me out of the corner of his eye while also staying alert to the rest of the battle. “Was that Maddox?”

He gave a single nod before taking aim and firing at an approaching soldier. Blood sprayed from his head, painting the wall behind him red. The room was roiling with bodies, and the chaos was growing. Nobles were scrambling to the exits only to find that they were locked, and resorted to pounding on the walls, trying to break through.

“We need to get the queen to safety,” Albion said, scanning the battle with her gun.

Violet and Melody were both nodding in agreement, wild-eyed and panting. No doubt I looked much the same. Through the crowd, Edeth and her friends were dragging the card table they’d taken cover behind toward the side of the room. I remembered a hidden passage we hadn’t used near there.

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