Page 120 of Once the Skies Fade

It had to be humans.

Nothing else would have both the queen and her general as rigid as garden statues. A quick glance toward Graham further supported my suspicions, as he was sitting on the edge of his chair, his fingers drumming nervously on his knees as he watched intently. My skin prickled with unease when I picked up their faint scent. This wouldn’t be good. Resting my chin on my hand, I watched, waiting and searching for any clues that might help me determine Calla’s innocence—or guilt.

Isa was shaking her head vehemently, and I managed to catch some of her tense words: “No, we can’t delay. It has to be now. The Assembly insists.”

Calla hissed back, “I’m the queen. They areadvisors,not rulers.”

“It will look bad if you refuse. This is a chance to rebuild trust with your kingdom.”

Calla’s hands trembled as she clasped them tightly behind her back, as if she were wrestling with her shadows to keep them contained.

“It will be worse if I lose control,” Calla seethed.

Isa flashed her signature stern, motherly look at her. “Then don’t lose control.”

Spinning away from Isa and pulling her hands in front of her, Calla faced her throne. She stared down at her open palms as if her shadows might be able to tell her what to do. After a few tense breaths, she turned back to the crowd and dipped her chin in a single nod to Isa.

The general, stepping to the side, gestured to the lead guard to come forward and speak.

The guard—a male about my age, give or take a decade or so, with graying hair at his temples—bowed to Calla, nodded to me and the other males sitting on either side of her, and then spoke, his deep tenor immediately silencing the crowd’s murmurings.

“Your Majesty, apologies for the intrusion, but this is a serious matter indeed. We caught these individuals sneaking into our kingdom from Wrenwick, a strict violation of the law.”

Calla lifted her chin once, but said nothing, and the guard immediately turned and instructed his team to remove the prisoners’ hoods. A man I didn’t recognize stood at the rear beside a young woman with reddish-brown hair. In front of him, the hood lifted to reveal a young woman whose face I immediately recognized.

Raven.

But my sister had said she’d slipped into Kinham, hadn’t she? Thinking back to that conversation at my sister’s home weeks ago, though, I realized that no, she had only relayed information passed to her through a friend, and that friend hadn’t offered any description.

Regardless, Raven was here now.

But why?

I’d been searching for her—and the other rebels—for so long, a brief wave of relief washed over me, replaced instantly by a weighty worry over what she was doing here and whatwould happen to her now. Could I protect her against the consequences? Should I?

While I pondered those questions, the guard removed the fourth hood, and I nearly leapt to my feet.

Sera.

My sister.

What was she doing here? Why was she sneaking into Arenysen? She knew the stars-damned risk, especially for her.

Her brown eyes glided over to meet mine, widening slightly with a flare of defiance mixed with obvious fear. My mind immediately pulled up the memory of the children covered in their mother’s blood. The image shifted into a pile of bodies and limbs on this floor. I hadn’t needed to see it with my own eyes to know the horror Calla had caused that day—a horror I couldn’t let her repeat today, for Calla’s sake as much as for my sister’s, Raven’s, and the others’.

Calla cleared her throat, drawing all eyes to her.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice eerily calm, almost sweet even.

Raven stepped forward half a pace and locked eyes with the queen, no sign of fear on her face.

“The poison used by the rebels in Emeryn has been coming from Dolobare through your port in Crowmer. I came to intercept the latest shipment to keep it from getting into the wrong hands in Wrenwick.”

Calla’s face remained stoic, her body rigid, making it impossible to tell how she was receiving this news. Did she know the poison was coming through her country? Was she the one authorizing it? Did she believe Raven at all? She didn’t ask anything more, though, and instead addressed my sister.

“And you?”

Before Sera could answer, Isa was rushing over to Calla’s ear, frantically whispering words I couldn’t hear. Whatever it was, though, had Calla asking, “Are you sure?”

---