Chapter 28

**TERRAN** held up a hand. I glanced at Aiden, who nodded at me. He meant to wait.

Soldiers’ voices filled the area—talking, laughing, jeering. Their armor clinked—they were moving around.

They didn’t know we were here.

“That shopkeeper was so frightened,” One said. I could sense the amusement in his voice.

“Aye. I say we take what we want,” Another replied.

“Let’s rest here for a while,” Another said.

The conversation quieted for a while. We didn’t move.

Then a soldier’s voice, louder than the rest, caught our attention. “Why are we even here?”

“Queen thinks the Princess might come through here. Apparently, this village supports the rebels. Useless, if you ask me,” One grunted.

“We have to do our duty,” a soldier said.

“The Queen’s duty. Sometimes I don’t know why,” the first voice said, quietly.

The room fell deathly quiet.

“We do her work because she pays us. The rebels won’t,” a new voice said dryly.

“She’s making a bloody mess of our Forest. Sometimes I think we should join the rebels,” the first voice said.

“Watch it!” Another soldier hissed, sounding alarmed.

“Talk like that could get you killed,” one warned.

But another soldier piped up. “Anyhow, there’s no chance the Princess is going to pass through here again.”

“Why not?” A soldier asked.

“Heard the news lately? Rebels taking over plenty of towns and villages near here. They’ve almost covered the territory guard. Won’t be soon they take over this place, too. Princess can walk right through.”

“For Nalvia’s sake, keep your mouth shut!” A soldier cried—and there came the sound of a loud boom.

“You worthless scoundrels!” A new voice yelled. I exchanged an alarmed glance with Aiden.

Aster pressed her eyes to the hole, then turned around to us.

*A general.

“You dare to speak of your Queen like this! You’ve signed your own death warrant!”

There was the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath, and, a moment later, a horrible yell and the sound of something falling.

“Anyone else?” The general boomed.

Dead silence.

The place shook with the sounds of his heavy footsteps leaving the shop.

“Let’s go,” Terran whispered.

We walked on, away from the village. It was a long time in the dark, so stifling that I grabbed Maple’s hand and held it tight.

***

We were barely a day away from the palace.

The cold stone of dread in my stomach hardened, knowing with every step we were getting closer and closer to the palace.

You could use so many words to describe it—my birthplace, my prison, the place I had been tortured and yet the place where I’d been loved. A place of love and isolation, protection and danger side by side.

But behind this, it was my ancestral home, the place where the royal family had lived for centuries. I had a duty to protect it from the wrong hands. Which I hadn’t

done. But I was doing it now.

A glance at Maple told me she was feeling the same thing. She’d gone through horrible things there, too. Her mother’s death, my torture, and her engagement to Forreston.

We stopped for the night, knowing that we’d reach the next morning. I sat on a pallet, between Maple and Aiden.

“What’s the plan?” Arden asked. We’d gone over it once, briefly, but even I wanted to hear it again.

“We take turns again. I’ll go with the Princess—”

“I’ll come with you,” Maple said. I turned to her. “I know the place, I know how to get in.”

Terran nodded sharply. “Then the three of us will be one group, Aiden and Arden another, and Pecan and Aster the last.”

“I’m not eager to be a soldier,” Aiden said, his tone dark.

“It’s our best option,” Pecan said, sighing.

“Now, the rebel attack will happen three weeks from tomorrow—it’s an eclipse,” Terran said sharply. “The sun will be hidden for almost an hour, and we use that to our advantage.”

“What, exactly, do we do?” Aiden asked.

“Princess, you will make it to Queen Ivy’s chambers. We will escort you. Once you defeat her, we will take care of the Prince. Then it’ll be over.”

Over.

After so long—it could be over in three weeks. It didn’t seem real.

“Get some rest,” Aster said, her eyes gentle, “You’ll need it.”

We cleaned up and finally, I laid down on my pallet.

The others’ even breathing filled the air, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Memories from my time at the palace flashed before my eyes—the beatings, the dungeons—my sisters. My dead sisters.

“El?” Her voice was hushed. “Can’t sleep?”

I looked to the side and swallowed. “No.”

“Me neither,” she said, exhaling. I could just make out her face in the moonlight. Her eyes were dark. “Can I sleep next to you?”

I nodded, and she crawled out of her pallet, into mine. I shifted to make room for her, glad for the extra warmth.

“I’m scared,” Maple said softly. “I don’t want to go back.”

“Neither do I,” I said, even though it was obvious. I turned my head to look at her. “What happened in there? After I left?”

Maple let out a shaky breath. “They told me I’d be marrying the Prince. Of course I didn’t want to. And he didn’t want to either, because you know he prefers male. It was really just a trap to get you, and I knew it. But mother was…gone by then. There was no one to fight for me. And you know the marriage laws.”

I nodded, gazing at the sky above. They had never been as much a priority to me, but I’d always planned to fix them. Or, at least, Laurel had, and her plans had been passed down to me.

It was difficult for a female to get out of an arranged marriage—and once married, nearly impossible. If Maple had married Forreston, no matter the circumstances, it would have been difficult—maybe too difficult—to get her out of it. Despite neither of them truly wanting it.

“I was terrified,” she admitted. “I figured that in the best-case scenario, he would be killed and I’d end up a widow. I didn’t want to think about any other possibility.”

I could imagine that. It was terrifying—especially to be bound to Forreston, for your entire life, or at least until he was dead. I swallowed. “I’ll fix that, you know. If—”

“If we succeed,” Maple finished. She didn’t say what would happen if we lost. It was glaringly obvious, and not an outcome I wanted to consider.

She took my hand lightly, unsurely, and squeezed it. “I know you will. I know you’ll do a lot of things, all good. And I hope to be beside you as you do so.”

I turned to look at her again. This was my best friend. And whatever had happened, I’d need her. Especially there. “Maple, whatever has happened between us—in that palace, we’re a team.”

She nodded sharply. “No lies. From now on. I promise.”

“I as well,” I said quietly.

Maple was the only one who truly understood what it’d been like in there. She’d been by my side the whole time.

“We’re going to defeat Ivy,” she said. I gave her a nod.

“We will.”

***

By dawn, we were getting close. We were approaching from the backside of the palace, where there were only trees, but I could still hear the sounds of the town beside the palace.

Soon enough, we reached.

From the edge of the trees, we peered at the palace, surrounded by a ring of guards. It was a huge, imposing fortress and not a very pleasant sight—but so familiar.

I was back.