Page 76 of The Queen

Lex stood over me with a scratch on his cheek, and his brows pulled together in confusion. “Are you alright? You were shouting.”

Fear painted Grey’s features, and his emotions in the bond quivered with tension.

I gulped cold, wet air into my lungs. My eyes darted around, searching for the unknown soldier, even though I knew he wasn’t there. It felt all too real.

Concern etched my mates’ faces, but when they reached for me, I stepped away. I didn’t want to be touched. Not yet. The memory of Edeth’s bony fingers was too fresh.

The wind was cold, biting at the tears rolling unneeded down my cheeks, and nausea burned the back of my throat.

“Edeth killed…” I choked on the sound. My stomach heaved, and I ran to the arched window, emptying its contents over the ledge into the garden below. I hung there, bent over the stone sill, saliva dripping from my numb lips.

How could I have missed it? How could I have been so stupid? She’d been there under my nose, pulling the strings all along. I should have known.

Soft hands lifted my hair from my face and rubbed my back as I gasped for breath. I allowed the comfort of Grey’s touch, but was still reeling after my recent revelation.

The words wouldn’t come, but now I knew what I’d tried so hard to forget. The drugs they’d given me to erase my memories may have been a blessing more than I’d given them credit for.

Moments ticked by as I drew in the courage to say what had to be said. I eased myself into a standing position, wiping my nose and mouth on the back of my hand. “I remember what happened. It was Edeth. She did this. I think she’s doing it again.”

Lex looked stunned, but didn’t question my words. I hoped that meant that he was starting to trust me. Or at least trusted that I wouldn’t make up something as serious as that. He’d only ever presented her to me as his father’s wife and not much else. Maybe he never really liked her, anyway. I certainly never had.

Everything she’d done since I’d arrived had stalled my efforts. She kept my mates busy with work. Kept us from sealing the bond. Installed her daughters to watch me and tempt Ghost away. The soap, the poison. She had access to all of it, even if it wasn’t delivered directly from her hands. Titus trusted her, and she had used him. Or maybe he helped her.

Edeth, I could believe this of easily. But it hurt to think that the man who’d taught me to ride a horse, and gifted me my first pony, might have conspired to destroy my whole life.

“She had a deal with the Imperatrix to kill the queen and hand me over to them.” Based on my memory, that all made sense. I still had questions, but it was becoming very clear. Edeth wanted control of Verden.

Lex held out a bottle of water for me and I took a sip, swished, and spit it over the windowsill. His hand shook when I gave it back.

“Are you sure?” His face was void of color and his jaw was as hard as granite.

The only thing I could do was nod in reply. I snatched the datapad up off the floor where it had fallen and headed back toward the control room. “Shield or no, Altaira is already here.”

Our steps held urgency as we raced down the ancient rock-walled passage. A storm crashed in the distance, rattling dust from the crumbling mortar. The air was heavy with the scent of rain in my starved lungs.

Edeth would know I wasn’t off planet, not with the magnetic field growing in intensity. If she was working with the Imperatrix, they may not have been diverted by our decoy for very long. My only hope was that they didn’t know for certain where we were yet.

If we were lucky, she’d check the hunting lodge first, assuming we’d gone there after shaking the pursuers. They’d still be looking for a ship, not a handful of horses.

We had to get that shield working before the rest of the armada arrived.

It was our only hope, small as it was.

I burst through the metal bound door into the tower. Eddies of swirling wind whipped through the roofless stone cylinder, sending my hair rioting around my head.

“Did you fix it?” I panted.

Grey and Lex filed in after me, their breathing much less panicked and labored than my own.

Our attention was on Ghost, who was sitting on the steel floor fiddling with a black box, but it was Shadow who spoke. “Ax rewired it. The mechanism moves the platform, but nothing’s changed.”

Ghost’s light brows bunched in concentration as he tapped codes onto the screen of the box. “Fuck, where is everyone?”

“We’re right here?” What was he talking about? We were all back.

“Sorry, princess.” He lifted his icy blue eyes to me. “I’m trying to contact Albion, but she’s not answering. No one that we left in charge is replying, either.”

The bitter taste of fear crawled up my throat.

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