Page 153 of The Forgotten Queen
“I think I’ve wrongly accused King Marx,” he said to the crowd. “If Seran believes him innocent, then he is in my eyes too. I trust her judgment.”
The crowd erupted in noise.
It was her turn to set Marx free.
53
Marx
Marx watched as New Hope guards worked to clear the spectators from the square. A team of servants disassembled the podium where the rulers had been seated while other servants scrubbed away Doctor Von’s and Stoddard’s scattered blood.
His eyes met King Ezra’s. Both men stared at each other for a moment before Ezra nodded in his direction. It was his offering of peace. His apology for everything that had happened that day. In time, he’d forgive Ezra, just not right after he had nearly been executed. Marx needed a few days.
Dannyn pushed him from behind. “If it wasn’t for me, you would have died today.”
Marx puffed out a laugh, slinging his arm around his sister. “I can see you’re going to be really humble about this.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. “No, I don’t want to think about this day ever again.”
He looked at Kase. “Let’s go home.”
Dannyn shifted her head so she could see him. “To Cristole?”
“Yeah. Where else would we go?”
She released her hug. “I thought you’d want to stay around here for a little bit.”
“Half of these people tried to kill me.” Marx shook his head. “I don’t feel like hanging out with them.”
“That makes sense.”
“We’ll go get the transporter ready and meet you out front,” Kase said, reaching for Dannyn’s hand.
He looked over at Seran. She was talking to King Davin. Then her dark eyes found him.Marx gave a noncommittal wave, a signal letting her know that he was leaving. She nodded at King Davin and then walked toward Marx. He didn’t know what to say to her. It had been three weeks since they’d last seen each other. So much had happened between them. Would they ever be able to get back to how things had been before? Did she even want to?
She offered a small smile as she closed the gap until she stood in front of him. They stared at each other for a moment.
“I like your suit,” she finally said.
“I like your dress. I thought we outlawed chartreuse.”
“That was Dannyn.”
“Thank you for saving my life today,” he said. It sounded stupid, but what else was he going to say?
“It was all Dannyn.”
“It wasn’tallDannyn.” Marx shook his head. “It’s kind of crazy.”
“What?”
“You and me.” He shrugged. “How in the end, you’re the one who set me free. It was supposed to be the other way around.”
“Perhaps we both set each other free.”
His lips pressed together. “I hope.”
“Then our deal was successful.” She forced a bright smile, but her eyes betrayed her.
