Reckoning (31 page)

Behind him, Stone stood, his arm dangling uselessly at his side. I met his gaze and nodded, then yanked the royal dagger from my belt. I threw it across the room and Stone caught it.

Stone plunged it deep into Ide’s heart, then yanked the handle upward with a hard thrust. “No. You lose.” He spit in Ide’s face. “Like I said. This is for Chloe.”

Ide’s eyes widened, and he feebly clutched at the dagger. He gasped and blood bubbled from his lips. His mouth gaped and he hit his knees, staring at me with surprise. Then he slumped to the floor. Stone jerked the dagger from his body and wiped the blade on the royal robes. When it was clean, he handed it back to me. “I believe this belongs to the king.”

I took it and raced from the room toward the NoG. When I reached the opening, the president slammed the door shut and hit the rock beside it, bringing down a massive wall of rock permanently sealing the entrance. No Supernatural power could budge the rock. Since the rock fed on the power of Supernaturals trapped in the Void, the wall was too strong. Juliet was now trapped in the portion of the Void housing the NoG.

Despite what Juliet had done to me, her death brought me no satisfaction. The pain unleashed a tidal wave in my heart, nearly drowning me.

I held myself together and looked around. “Where’s Agent Davis?”

“I’m afraid he fell in.” She tried to arch her body away.

I grabbed her arm and shoved my hand into her pocket, searching until I pulled out a Corresponder. The only way she could have this Supernatural device is if someone gave it to her. “What the hell is this?”

She licked her lower lip. “Ide said he would end the war and the Supernaturals would leave Earth if I let myself be used as bait to lead Juliet to him. He wanted to kill her. He was afraid of her power.”

The realization of how she’d maneuvered us like pieces on a chess board made me sick to my stomach. “You played us all against each other. The Tazavorn, the Ragespawn, and the humans. You’re responsible for countless deaths, human and Supernatural.” I motioned for a Guard. “Put her in chains and arrange an uplink to the humans’ news stations. We’ll announce her capture.”

I thrust the woman away from me and walked up the stairs toward the royal chambers. I made it almost to the top of the staircase before the emotions I’d held at bay hit. Anger, grief, betrayal, and loss pounded into me, each emotion a nail in the coffin holding my heart. I walked into the royal chambers and closed the door behind me.

“Juliet!” I screamed and her name echoed through the chamber.

Chapter 26

JULIET

I crawled through darkness and ash, searching with my hands for the body of Agent Davis. I was hoping he had a flashlight. When my hand bumped against a leg, I moved my hands across the pants, going upward toward a pocket. When a hand grabbed me, I shrieked. “Agent?”

“Juliet?”

“That bitch pushed me in,” he said. “If I get out of here… Is there a way?”

“We have to break the glass of the viewing room.” I craned my neck to see and could make out a little bit of light. “It’s lined with Void rock so I can’t use my power to do it. You’ll have to break it.”

We moved slowly and carefully through the ash until we reached the glass. We weren’t quite tall enough to reach it. I linked my hands together. “I’ll lift and you hit it with your gun.”

“How about I lift you and you hit it with my gun?”

“I’m strong enough to hold you up,” I said.

“I’m sure you are.”

I stepped into his hands, and he thrust me up as high as he could. I fired the gun at the glass and nothing happened. I fired again and still nothing. I could use my power, but I would risk blowing a fail-safe. I flexed my fingers, still feeling a little weak from having destroyed the NoG. “Watch yourself in case this reverberates.”

His eyes widened. I shivered at the sight of the reptilian pupils. I was standing in the hands of a Ragespawn. Who would ever guessed I’d have to work with the enemy this way?

Holding my hands up toward the glass, I shot a burst of my power. It hit the window and slid harmlessly away. Maisy needed me. I couldn’t be stuck here dying a slow death. Taking a deep breath, I didn’t hold back.

My power flew forward, hitting the center of the glass, causing a spider web of cracks in the center of it. I fired the gun again and a small hole opened up. Pushing against the glass as hard as I could, I broke it and the pieces fell into the room.

I jumped back down beside the agent. “You have to go first, then pull me up.”

“You trust me not to leave you here?” he asked.

“Trust you? Never. But you have to close your eyes and go to sleep sometime. When you do, I’ll find you.”

“Fair enough.” He hoisted himself up and through the window, then reached back and hauled me up. “Let’s find the others,” he said, but I stopped him.

“I’ve been labeled a traitor and my execution ordered. So was Henry’s. Riley hates me. The Supernaturals think I’m their enemy because I killed Riley. It’s better if everyone thinks I’m dead. Henry and I will take the children and disappear.” I forced myself to speak calmly, to remain calm when all I wanted to do was cry. I was afraid to let the tears fall. If they did, I might not be able to stop.

The agent nodded and waved me off when I tried to return his gun. “Keep it. You might have to shoot me in the future.”

I nodded and he took out his wallet to remove a handful of money. He thrust it at me. “You’ll need supplies.” He shook his head when I arched an eyebrow. “No, I don’t suddenly like you any more than you like me. I respect what you did. Saving my life and everyone else’s. This is my way of saying thanks.”

I took the money for the sake of the children and shoved it into my pocket. Then I slipped from the castle without looking back.

* * * *

“How’s that feel?” Henry asked as he adjusted Maisy’s prosthetic hand.

She moved it back and forth. Impatient with the numerous adjustments she’d had to endure. “Fine. Can I go play now?”

He smiled. “Sure.”

After she raced through the cabin and outside to join the other children, I said, “It’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks. She seems to have bounced back fast.”

“Children are resilient,” Henry said, then gave me a look. “Still carrying the guilt?”

I shrugged and dried a plate before stacking it in the cabinet. We’d moved around for three days before we’d found this abandoned cabin on two acres of land forty miles from Cane Creek. I was determined to give the children as normal a life as I could after all they’d been through.

“How about your heart?”

Clenching my jaw, I shut the cabinet door. I didn’t want to have this discussion.

“Since you couldn’t speak of the Untolds, it wasn’t your fault any more than it was Riley’s. He acted based on the information he had at hand. You killing Riley broke the curse. He didn’t know you had to do it to save us all. There was no way he could have guessed the Untolds were tied to the virus.”

“I’m okay, Henry.” The words didn’t even sound convincing to me.

His mouth slacked and his eyebrows rose. “Sure you are. I hear you cry at night when you think no one is listening.”

I had the feeling I’d cry for years. I’d lost my first love. Some people moved on to a second and even a third love. I knew I never would.

I turned around and reached for the hoodie I’d draped across the back of the kitchen chair. “I’m going to do a parameter check.” Rumbling came from the distance and I froze.

Alarmed, Henry jumped to his feet and hurried to the door.

I raced past him and gave a shrill whistle. Within minutes the children ran toward me. They knew the drill. If I whistled, they didn’t ask questions, and they didn’t hesitate.

“Get into the compartment.”

Tobiah moved a rug out of the way and raised the trapdoor. The children quickly disappeared down the steps into the underground room. “Go,” I told Henry. As soon as he was out of sight, I covered the trapdoor with the rug.

Yanking on the hoodie, I pulled the hood low over my face and stood beside the window, carefully peeking out. A car I didn’t recognize pulled to a stop. The driver’s side door opened and Riley stepped out. He wore a pair of faded blue jeans and a simple gray T-shirt. He didn’t look like a king at all. He looked like my Riley. No, not my Riley. Not my anything anymore. I couldn’t believe he’d found me. How he knew I was alive. Agent Davis, that double crossing son of a—

“Juliet! I’m not here to hurt you.”

When I didn’t answer, he said, “I’m alone.”

I opened the door a crack, and he walked slowly toward me, making sure he kept his arms by his sides. When he reached the doorway, I stepped back to let him in and crossed my arms. “What do you want?”

“As soon as I found out you were alive, I issued a pardon.”

“I’m grateful, Your Majesty,” I said, my sarcasm fueled by hurt.

“Juliet, please. Hear me out and if you don’t like what I have to say, I’ll leave.”

“Fine.” I walked to the table and pulled out a chair.

“You look tired,” he said.

“Staying on the run trying not to get your head removed from your body takes a lot of energy.”

“I told you I issued a pardon. For Henry too. No one is going to hurt either of you.” He sat across from me, his eyes never leaving mine. “I had to find you and tell you I’m sorry.”

RILEY

Whatever she’d expected me to say, it wasn’t that.

She blinked. “You’re sorry?”

I nodded. “I was blind. All I could focus on was what I thought was your betrayal. Then when you stabbed me, I didn’t just die physically. I died emotionally. I was devastated. I should have trusted you, but I didn’t know the truth until I heard what your full destiny was in the Untolds.”

Her eyes widened. “Those aren’t to be spoken. We shouldn’t speak of them.”

“It’s okay. Your actions destroyed the power of the Untolds. They’re gone.”

“How did you find out what was in them?”

“The president read them aloud at a news conference.”

“But if they’re read aloud, they kill whoever reads them,” she said with a frown.

“Yes. She died in front of the entire world. That was Agent Davis’s plan all along.”

“Why?”

“He wanted the news conference so the remaining Ragespawn would witness her death and know it was safe to contact him.”

She chewed on her lip, and I could see the question in her eyes.

“No, I didn’t know it would kill her. Agent Davis suggested she read them out loud as a way to honor your sacrifice in saving the world. I knew something was off because he’d made it clear he despised you.”

“He’s studied Supernatural history in depth and knew about the Untolds,” Juliet said.

“Yes. When the president read the Untolds, was when I learned if you didn’t kill me, the Night of Grief would release. King Faulk created the curse not out of evil but because he hoped to protect our people. He wanted us to live in peace. My father didn’t know bloodshed would set the curse in motion. Since seven is the core number of Shimea Prime, it could only be broken with the death of the seventh king. Me. I had to be sacrificed and you knew that.” Slowly, I moved my hand across the table and covered hers with mine. “I talked to Agent Davis after the news conference and he slipped up. Said he was angry that the president had tried to kill you and him. He spoke of you in the present tense and that convinced me you were still alive. I’ve been searching for you ever since.”

“You found me.” Her voice wasn’t soft, and I was afraid she wouldn’t forgive me for not trusting her when she needed me the most. When I thought of how much harder I’d made it for her to go through what she had, it filled me with shame.

“I thought I’d known the greatest agony I could ever know when you stabbed me. But even with everything between us, believing you’d died left me feeling lost. For two days I could barely function.”

“Hmmm,” she murmured, looking away.

I rose. “Let me show you something.” She didn’t move. “Please.”

With a sigh and a shake of her head, she stood but crossed her arms over her chest.

I backed up slowly, leading the way to the car, not wanting to take my eyes off her. I was too afraid she’d disappear. At the car, I reached into the passenger side. Taking out a steel case, I opened it to reveal a smaller version of the crown I would wear after my coronation.

“I’m hoping someday you’ll accept this.”

She touched the crown, her fingertips tracing the jewels. “You want me to be the queen? Is it because you have to have a queen in order to rule?”

“I want you to be queen. My queen. And no, not because I have to have a queen. I mean, I do, that’s our law, but I want you to be the queen because I love you and for no other reason. I would do anything for you, including turning over the kingdom to you if you wanted the throne.”

She shook her head. “It was never important to me. All I ever wanted at the time was you.”

I caught her use of the past tense, and it rocked me. My father would have scoffed at the idea of begging, but I would crawl if I needed to. I knelt at her feet. “I can’t believe I was so stupid. I’m begging you to forgive me. Please.”