Chapter Thirty-Four
From what we can see through the windows, a riot has begun outside the palace gates. Torches are burning, and hundreds are begging for an audience with the queen, shouting over each other, so it’s just a roar of outraged voices.
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Faith says. Marion lays her hand on Faith’s shoulder and nods. “If you’re going, we are too.”
“I’ll have you remember, I absolutely cannot stand to be left out,” Emmy says.
Olive sniffs back tears. “Oh, fine. Let’s go.”
“I can’t guarantee your safety,” I say, overwhelmed with emotion.
Faith pulls on her cloak. “No time for a speech. We get it. Come on.”
We circle along a path through Kensington Park that pops us out on a sleepy, moonlit lane off the high street, far from the riot at the gates.
“He said something about the Tower,” I explain. It’s what we overheard him talking about when we walked in.
The Tower of London is all the way on the other side of town. It will take us hours to walk there and we don’t have the time, so we risk hailing a hackney carriage. Still in my wedding dress, the other girls in their bridesmaid gowns, we don’t make an inconspicuous group, but we don’t have any other options.
Marion passes a thick stack of bills through the window to the driver.
“The Tower, and a little extra if you keep this ride between us.”
The driver tips his cap.
The streets of London are quiet tonight, as if everyone who isn’t rioting at the gates of the palace have barricaded themselves inside their homes. The carriage is so crowded, Olive has to sit on my lap.
The hackney driver lets us out on the dark cobblestone streets in the shadow of the Tower of London. The smell of the Thames is thick and heady
tonight.
Olive takes me by the hand. “Let’s go.”
At the gates is a yeoman guard with a bayonet in his hand. “No one in or out tonight,” he barks without looking at us.
I straighten to my full height and stare him down as best I can from six inches below him. “Do you know who I am?”
The guard’s gaze flicks down to me.
“I’m Queen Ivy, wife of King Bram. Please don’t waste my time with these theatrics.”
The guard pauses, and I sneer. “Are you going to make us wait all night?n outside the My husband will be hearing about this.”r an audience After a moment the guard reaches for his thick metal keys, unlocks theof outraged gates, and waves us inside.
The Tower is dark and quiet. The only sound is that of the waves of theher hand on Thames crashing at Traitors’ Gate and the chattering of the ravens watching us from the eaves.out,” Emmy It’s as if we’re being surveilled by ghosts as we creep through the Tower.
We split up into two groups, Marion and Faith search one end, and Olive, Emmy, and I search the other. We meet back in the middle on Tower Green.
He’s not being held in the basement cells, nor in the queen’s apartments or the towers along the ramparts. There is only one place left to look.us out on a “Emmett?” I whisper. The only answer is a caw-caw from a raven perched on the ancient turret.we overheard The steep spiral steps to Wakefield Tower are lit with a single flickering torch.n. It will take “That’s hopeful,” Emmy says.isk hailing a “Oh yes, I feel full of hope.” I try to joke, but the words come outirls in their sounding as scared as I feel.we don’t have “I’m sorry,” I say to Faith as we begin to climb. She pauses on the stairs.
“Sorry for not telling you the truth, for not pushing Emmett to be moreo the driver. transparent with you, for seeing you as competition when I should have been supporting you.” It’s not the right time, but I have to say it.
Faith smiles sadly. “It’s all forgiven. Let’s go get your boy, yeah?”sn’t rioting at There are two guards at the door, but I command them to wait at thehomes. The bottom of the stairs.
The small chamber at the top of the tower is lit only by a beam ofstreets in the moonlight streaming in from the narrow archer’s window.ck and heady The bars of the cell look new, as if they were only recently put in, and behind them, sitting perfectly still, isn’t Emmett. It’s Queen Mor.
No one in orShe’s unsettling in her perfection, looking unmussed, even here. I’m struck by how young she looks, stripped of her finery and jewels. Her long can from sixblack hair hangs in ribbons over her sharp shoulders, and her hands are covered in dried blood. Edgar’s blood.
She sighs as we approach her cell. “Not you all, again.” my time withI sit down on the cold ground, as close to the bars as I can get, and the others lower themselves beside me. “Where is Emmett?” wait all night?Something like sadness passes over her face like a breeze. “He took
Emmett?”
, unlocks the“He’s not here?” I ask.
“I’m the only prisoner here tonight.” waves of theMy hope deflates. “I know you can lie,” I say, but for some reason, I ens watchingdon’t think she is.
This gets her attention. “You spoke to Bram, then?”
“I’d like to hear the story from you,” I say. d, and Olive,“I thought I was doing what was best,” she says. “I didn’t know what he’d become. You must understand, he’s not all bad.” ’s apartments“Emmett loved him and was betrayed.”
Mor looks at me with pity. “That was always Emmett’s great flaw. He rom a ravenwas so hungry for love, he couldn’t see the faults in who was offering it to him. His father was all too willing to let you both risk your life for his
gle flickeringzealous cause.”
“You knew?” I ask.
“People like his father have existed for as long as I have reigned.
ds come outRebellion isn’t novel.”
“Why did you marry Edgar, then?” I ask. on the stairs.“Because I didn’t realize his true motives until he was already my to be morehusband. By then I was quite fond of him. It seemed a great inconvenience to
uld have beenkill him.”
“But then you killed him anyway.”
She doesn’t reply, but for the briefest moment, sorrow breaks through her
o wait at thecool mask of detachment.
“Why didn’t you stop us?” I ask. y a beam of“You weren’t really a threat.”
“But we were, weren’t we? We worked out that the May Queen trial was y put in, andthe key to violating the terms of your bargain.”
The queen laughs at us like we are children. And to her, we are. “You
en here. I’mthink I would have let that trial happen if there was any risk in it? No. The els. Her longrisk was from my own son. He was still king of the Otherworld, which I er hands aredidn’t know. I thought he was telling the truth when he came to me, distraught, a few years ago, with a story of his father ousting him. I loved him too much to see through his lies. I didn’t know that when he married, his get, and thebride would be both a princess of England and queen of the Otherworld. It didn’t matter what girl he chose. This was always going to be the outcome. I ze. “He tookunderstand now why he was so keen to marry.”
Queen of the Otherworld. The words settle over me, and some awful part of me is tempted to laugh. I got what my childhood self always wanted, but now I’d do anything to undo it. me reason, I“This was always his plan?” I ask.
Queen Mor settles against the back wall of the cell and extends her legs in front of her. “Before you or your parents or your grandparents remember, the portal between our worlds was open. The folk could pass through as they t know whatpleased. And oh, did they please. But they didn’t call it England in the court of the Otherworld. They called it the Hunting Grounds. My kind are easily bored and have long used humans as our playthings. The games were bloody reat flaw. Heand the humans were always the losers. It got so bad, the folk whipped up a offering it tocivil war and sat in the trees to watch the battles for fun. I couldn’t dance at r life for hisrevels, where the dance floor was so bloody, I slipped. I couldn’t bear to smile from my throne as another courtier brought an enchanted human for my entertainment. It wasn’t fun anymore. It was disgusting. My people were half ave reigned.out of their minds at all times, intoxicated on human emotion. It was completely undignified. I announced to my court the portal between our world and the Hunting Grounds was closing. already my“But there were many who didn’t take kindly to that. My son among onvenience tothem. He was young then, and, together with a group of like-minded courtiers, he staged a coup. It placed my then-husband on the throne, but that was always part of his plan. Bram played a long game. I didn’t see it coming. s through herI didn’t see tonight coming either. I suppose that is my great flaw. I will always believe the best of him.
“As the band of traitors took the palace that night, I had enough time to run, and I will always believe that was intentional. I ran for the woods. My ueen trial wasfinal act there as queen was warding the portal between our world and yours.
I enchanted it so that only members of my family could come through. I we are. “Youalways harbored a hope that Bram would come to me and we could be a
n it? No. Thefamily again. He’s got a good heart under all that ambition. orld, which I“When I crossed through the portal for the final time, it was onto King came to me,Edward’s battlefield. You may fault me for this, but I had grown used to m. I loved himbeing a queen. I had no desire to be a witch in the woods. I wanted a castle. married, hisSo I made my first bargain with the humans. I do not regret it.
Otherworld. It“When Bram passed through the portal four years ago, he came to me on he outcome. Ibended knee. He told me he was sorry for the coup, that he was manipulated by his father, that he regretted it and he missed me. He told me he, too, had me awful partbeen deposed in a coup by a rival family, such things are fairly common in s wanted, butthe Otherworld, and he begged me for shelter. It was everything I had dreamed of for four hundred lonely years. I welcomed him with open arms.”
“Why lie and say he was so young?” I ask. ds her legs in“Humans aren’t fond of being reminded of their own mortality.” Mor emember, thegoes on: “We thought it best that you see Bram as closer to one of you. It ough as theywould allow him to integrate himself into London society and life at court d in the courtwithout humans fearing him.” nd are easilyMy stomach is in knots. “How old is he?” were bloodyThe queen waves her hand vaguely. “We stop counting after one
whipped up athousand.” dn’t dance atNext to me, Olive winces. ldn’t bear to“He said he’s still king in the Otherworld. He’s been going back and uman for myforth,” I say. ple were half“I know that now,” Queen Mor says. “I loved him too much to be otion. It wassuspicious of him.” between our“How could he rule there and spend so much time here?”
“Time works differently there,” Queen Mor explains. “What is only a few y son amonghours here could be days there.” like-minded“Now that Bram is king, we could do away with the bargain system,” rone, but thatOlive says hopefully. “He could still be a just and fair ruler. We could usher ee it coming.in a new age of democracy and equality, just like you wanted, Ivy.” flaw. I willI wonder if the other girls still believe there’s good in him. He was skilled at being exactly the right thing to each of us. ough time toThe queen laughs once more. “Your soft heart is going to be the death of e woods. Myyou, Olive Lisonbee. Bram isn’t here to usher in a new age of anything. He’s ld and yours.doing the bidding of his courtiers back home. He’s here to reopen the portal. me through. IHe is singularly focused.” e could be aSomething that isn’t sadness but close to it flickers in her eyes. “Steel
yourself for what’s to come.” She turns to me. “And you, Ivy Benton. You’re as onto Kingstronger than you believe. You were always my favorite.” own used to“We could kill her now, get our revenge,” Faith suggests. nted a castle.“You’re going to need me,” the queen replies icily.
The five of us stand, now towering over her as she sits in her stone cell. ame to me on“An apology, then,” Marion says. “Say you’re sorry for what you did to us.” manipulatedThe queen’s steely gaze rakes over us, one by one. “I’m not sorry at all.” e he, too, had“Why not?” Emmy asks. y common inQueen Mor almost smiles. “Look at how strong I made you.” ything I had“But what about Greer?” Olive croaks. “What about what you did to our friend?”
The queen waves her off with her hand. “It’s been a long night, and I am rtality.” Mortired.” ne of you. ItThere are heavy footfalls on the stone steps. Emmy races to the door and life at courtthrows her body weight against it, but the guards are pushing in.
“I have just one more question before we take our leave,” I say. “Where was Lydia?” ng after one“You already know the answer to that.”
I think of myself, lost and cold and alone, searching for a door to the Otherworld the night I first met Emmett. I was right all along. “Why send her ng back andthere?”
The queen shuts her eyes, dismissing us. “I was bored.” much to beAfter an eternity, there is only boredom or the lack of it.
But something about her explanation rings hollow. For the first time
tonight, I’m not sure if I believe her. is only a few
gain system,” e could usher
e was skilled
e the death of
nything. He’s en the portal.
eyes. “Steel
yourself for what’s to come.” She turns to me. “And you, Ivy Benton. You’re stronger than you believe. You were always my favorite.”
“We could kill her now, get our revenge,” Faith suggests.
“You’re going to need me,” the queen replies icily.
The five of us stand, now towering over her as she sits in her stone cell.
“An apology, then,” Marion says. “Say you’re sorry for what you did to us.”
The queen’s steely gaze rakes over us, one by one. “I’m not sorry at all.”
“Why not?” Emmy asks.
Queen Mor almost smiles. “Look at how strong I made you.”
“But what about Greer?” Olive croaks. “What about what you did to our friend?”
The queen waves her off with her hand. “It’s been a long night, and I am tired.”
There are heavy footfalls on the stone steps. Emmy races to the door and throws her body weight against it, but the guards are pushing in.
“I have just one more question before we take our leave,” I say. “Where
was Lydia?”
“You already know the answer to that.”
I think of myself, lost and cold and alone, searching for a door to the Otherworld the night I first met Emmett. I was right all along. “Why send her there?”
The queen shuts her eyes, dismissing us. “I was bored.”
After an eternity, there is only boredom or the lack of it.
But something about her explanation rings hollow. For the first time tonight, I’m not sure if I believe her.
