Sixteen: Chimia

The only thing I knew with certainty now was that I could not trust anyone in Echelon but for the two I'd sent here before me.

I'd been able to avoid them so far to avoid any repercussions from the Queen, but now I needed my friends. They were all I had left, and I was going to need every ounce of strength in the world if I was going to achieve my goals now.

If no one else, Fen had *always* believed in me. Someone had done the impossible and taken his immortal life from him, so I would honor him in defiance of every naysayer in Echelon and accomplish everything he and I had ever dreamed of together in the many harsh, disparaging nights we'd shared on our way here together.

"Chimi, I--"

"Stop," I asserted, holding my hand out to Malfizan. "I'm exhausted by this back and forth. I'm the crown princess, now, officially, and in no capacity do you have a say when I give you an order. You are wasting time, and, Mal, if the being who killed my protector escapes this castle, I will hold you personally responsible for his death, do you understand?" Mal's eyes searched mine, and when he saw no bending of my will there, he silently made to leave. "Let your men know that unless someone comes forward in the next 48 hours to claim their punishment, I will lock down the city and everyone who is currently Earthside will be made to return until this crime has been answered for."

I saw the twitch of frustration leap across his muscular back and knew he'd heard me as he continued, otherwise uninterrupted, out the door.

My mother made to protest, then.

"You may be the Princess, Alchimia, but you can not give orders outside of your power. I still run this city for the next three years." Her words were weak, her esteem watery, and I was more sure than ever that she was behind Fen's death. No one else in the city would be this outrageously obvious. This *sloppy*. But I needed her to think I thought she was innocent, at least long enough for her to expose the person who'd executed her orders. She could not have acted alone.

Lucky for me, though, the list of people in The Palace capable of killing Fen and leaving a body behind was much shorter than the list of suitors I still needed to comb through. I had no doubts that I would find them and force them to give up the information I needed to prove that my mother had done this.

I took one step toward her, then laughed outright when she flinched at my movement. I did not recognize the darkness in the voice that emerged from my chest. "You haven't run this city for centuries, *Mother*. Malfizan has been doing your job while you open your legs and grow fat and drunk."

Her face blanched, and I took a sick pleasure in the way my words affected her.

"You've wasted all of this time mad at me when my arrival here wasn't even my idea. Did you think the Gods believed you to be a good ruler?" I scoffed. "Olympus decided their only options were to destroy Echelon or get rid of you, so the only reason you *survive at all* is because I have proven my viability as a swift and capable replacement. The only reason I don't take the crown now is so *my* people get a chance to swallow the change before it's thrust upon them." My lips curled into a sinister crescent moon smile, watching her choke spit down her dry throat, reveling in the fear she was suddenly showing. "From now on, when I give you an order, you take it. You do not act, speak, or *have a stray thought* unless I give you permission first, or I will have you destroyed bit by bit until all you know is torment."

She watched me for several seconds, frozen with wide eyes, waiting to see if I was done. When she was sure that I was, she nodded, shakily, and made to leave. My hand shot out like an angry viper and closed around her swollen, fat little wrist. She winced from the pain, and that was when I started to calm down, finally realizing that I did not recognize my own words and behavior.

"Tell me you understand."

"I do, I understand," she said hastily. Her voice was thin and shaking when I released her, and she scurried out of the room like a roach from daylight.

I did not feel good about it, but there was no time to second guess myself. I had a death to avenge, a city to repair, and another crown to wear. Once the door was shut and I was certain my mother had magicked herself to another region of the tower altogether, I fell onto the couch and screamed, thrashed, and sobbed. Everything I'd felt in the last few hours released itself from my body but hung, thick and unwavering in the air around me. The smog of it reentered me, gumming up my lungs and my soul with every new breath.

When I was spent and out of breath, I ripped the tiara from my hair and the clothes from my body, throwing them both to the plush carpet under my feet, my wrath further fueled by the lack of breaking and noise-making they did. Naked, exhausted, and not totally in my right mind, I started in on my hair, carefully and slowly removing each knot.

Malfizan returned before I was finished, Presta and her brother in tow. Malfizan angrily averted his eyes but my friends bent their knees and bowed their heads to me. Second later, Presta rushed forward and threw her arms around my neck, nearly knocking us both down to the ground. My swollen, red eyes began to prickle again as new tears formed.

The demi-goddess was a full head shorter than me, and she wore her tightly coiled jet-black curls in a neatly cropped halo about her gorgeous face, beset by stunning, ocean-sculpted angles but filled with gorgeous, feminine features like her proud Greek nose and deep dimples. Her body, pliable but shapely, pressed hard against mine and comforted me. She spoke in a flurry of madness, her words a mixture of languages I did not know as she peeled herself from me and walked around to finish the work on my hair. Mal tossed me the soft white shirt he was wearing as she did, and I slipped it on over my head. It swallowed my body whole, covering it down to a few inches above my knee, and for a moment I was overwhelmed by the scent of him--like stormy weather and a raging ocean.

I can't lie. I was enjoying the attention and his frustration equally. It was making it difficult to focus in combination with the joy of finally being next to my friends once more.

"Reus?"

"Princess," the guard said, bowing his head again when he addressed me. "The Palace is being secured by my men as we speak. We are making fast work of finding and holding the likely culprits until you're ready to commence questioning." Hearing his confident, level voice provided an extra layer of support that I hadn't known I needed, and I relaxed my shoulders, allowing Presta to guide me down to the couch as she continued with her task.

"Perfect, thank you," I said. Reus looked like Presta, but his face had none of the tender curvature hers did and his hair was much longer.

"The next matter we need to address is a replacement." I nearly choked on the word, my grief threatening to spill over.

"I'll do it," Malfizan said, his voice tight and incredulous as if he wasn't sure why it was a question at all. Reus started to protest, but I held my hand up to stop him.

"No," I answered solemnly. "If Reus does not want to serve as my protector, I will have him assign his best man to the task, Mal." I watched him deflate, slowly and felt a pang of regret for denying him so coldly. "Thank you for initiating the lockdown and bringing my friends to me, but you may go now. Find Nero and send him here. Then get some rest. You've only just come off your injuries." I could almost feel his pain and frustration with me, but there was no trusting Mal at this stage.

If Liessa was willing to murder Fen, there was no telling what was coming for me next.