Evadere (20 page)

The guards glanced up momentarily at us before lifting the body onto a large canvas and carrying it out of the room. This seemed to disturb Atavia further.

“She’s human. I want her locked in the dungeon immediately.”

“Out of the question,” Emry said, his tone calm and controlled.

I wanted to scream at her that I thought she was capable of doing it, that maybe Jillianne had crossed her somehow and she was pinning this whole thing on me to get me away from Emry, but I couldn’t make the words come out of my mouth. She had strong powers, and I didn’t know the extent of them, but I didn’t doubt that she could kill me if she wanted to, or if she lost all control, which by the look on her face, wasn’t far from happening.

“She killed that woman in the courthouse back on Earth,” Atavia quickly pointed out.

“That woman was coming after me,” Emry snapped.

“Without hesitation,
she
killed her.”

Emry’s eyes narrowed. “Or I’d be dead.”

Atavia let out a huffing noise.

“You just don’t like her,” Emry said. “Your judgment is impaired because of your dislike. Someone else did this.”

“Who?” she screamed. She turned around and looked at Ben who shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t seem to have anything to say.

“Ow,” I mumbled trying to wriggle my wrists.

Emry shot me a glance. “You’re hurting her. Let her down.”

Atavia’s fingers massaged her temples.
 

I felt whatever force was holding me, slowly release. I fell to the floor. Emry came over and helped me up.

“You okay?” he whispered.

I nodded.
 

“I can’t think with her here,” Atavia confessed.
 

“Mother, she’s innocent,” Emry continued.

Atavia didn’t seem capable of listening to reason anymore. “Something is wrong here. Something is wrong …”

Emry put his hand on my back and slowly led me out of the room. Then I smacked into what seemed like a wall that wasn’t really there. Emry looked back at me. Atavia had done it again. His mother was holding her hand pointed at me.

“Dungeon, murderer,” she growled.

Emry clenched his jaw together. “Okay, mother, listen, you need space. You need to grieve your friend.”

“Jillianne worked for me,” she said.

“Whatever,” Emry continued. “Anna will stay in her room for awhile.”

“Emry, no …” I started to say, but he stopped me.

“She won’t leave. She’ll be watched. Just compromise with me on this. What do you say?” he asked.

She stared at me for a few seconds. “Ben …”

“I’m on it,” Ben replied. “I’ll make sure she goes nowhere.”
 

“Ben’s going to escort you upstairs,” Emry told me. “I need to speak with the queen.”

Atavia released her hold on me yet again, and I walked out of the room, Ben right behind me.
 

When we reached the base of the steps, I felt my stomach clench up as if I were going to the dungeon. “Ben, I can’t be locked in that room.”

“I don’t know what to tell you at this point. Room or dungeon, take your pick. Queen Atavia has been through a lot lately. I don’t need her pushed over the edge,” Ben told me.

I sighed. “But you don’t understand …”

He turned around and bent down to look me straight in the eye. “Anna, this castle is pure chaos right now. I don’t think you’re a murderer. Is that what you need to hear?”

“I appreciate your being on my side and all …”

“That doesn’t mean I’m on your side.” Ben pressed his lips together and straightened out his back again. “I work for the Queen. Just because I believe you’re innocent doesn’t make me your friend.”

I swallowed. “You’re going to make me go back to that room, aren’t you?”

He nodded.

I gave in and followed him up the stairs. I went back into the room and turned around to look at Ben who lingered for a few seconds.

“If there’s nothing else you need …” he said.

I felt the tears threaten to come. I thought I might explode if he left, the emptiness already too much to bear. “Ben, wait.”

He turned his head, his annoyance of watching over me clearly shown. I knew he had a lot to handle right now and my emotional state was far from a concern of his. “Could you please get Emry for me? I need to speak with him. Right now.”

He stared at me for a few more moments before nodding and turning to go.

The door shut and I couldn’t move. I stood there and looked at it. My mind swirled with the picture of the guards carrying out Jillianne’s limp body. I wrapped my arms around my ribs and hugged myself. My eyes wandered around the walls of the room where heavy curtains hung to the floors, a great spot for someone to hide out and wait … wait for me to sit down, lay down, turn my back, anything just so they could sink a knife into me. I was sure I wasn’t the only one feeling the paranoia right now. Someone had killed Raleigh and Jillianne, and whether it was the same person or not, someone had access here in the castle. I felt vulnerable. I doubted Ben would have watching me as his top priority. Why hadn’t I made him search the room before he left? Why hadn’t he thought of that himself?
 

My nerves were getting the best of me. I looked around the dimly lit room for something to use as a weapon. I couldn’t find anything suitable. I rushed over to the curtains and ripped them back. Nothing. My heart pounded as I walked to the other side of the room to the other window and did the same thing. Again, nothing. I flipped the light on in the bathroom, my hands trembling. No one was here.
 

I walked back out to the bedroom and over to the door. I turned the knob. Ben had locked me in. I covered my face with my hands and let the tears fall. I leaned my back against the door and let my body slump down to the floor. This stuck feeling was one of the worst ones I had ever experienced. I didn’t belong on Evadere. I didn’t belong on Earth. Emry was the only one I wanted to be with, and now everything was a giant mess with our relationship, with his relationship with his newly-found mother. Nothing made sense, and I felt so useless. There wasn’t one thing to concentrate on. I couldn’t help Emry. I couldn’t help figure out who had killed Raleigh, or Jillianne, or what the motive was. Everyone thought I was a threat no matter what I said. Emry didn’t, but now wasn’t a good time to be working on
us
.
 

I couldn’t do anything locked in this room. I was going to lose my sanity this way. Me alone with my thoughts was not a good thing. All I felt was self-pity. I was wallowing in it. I leaned my head against the door and closed my eyes.
 

Someone knocked on the door. The sudden noise startled me as I clambered away from it on my hands and knees.

Chapter 13

“Anna?”

The door opened. It was Emry. I hurried to get to my feet, the tears still streaming down my cheeks. He walked over and hugged me, his warm chest against my cheek.

“This is too much for you,” he whispered, his arms gripping me tighter. “Look how upset you are. I never wanted this for you.”

I looked up into his blue eyes, now clouded with the wreckage of a castle that was being handed over for him to take care of. He wiped away the dampness on my face with the palms of his hands.
 

“I don’t know what to do about this, about us,” he said. It sounded so honest, it hurt. “I have to deal with my mother who is very unstable at the moment. Ben said he’s only seen her like this one other time, when my father was killed and she had to send me to Earth.”

I understood, I really did, but I wished I didn’t. This just wasn’t working with us. He was trying to become this great king, and I had to be locked up in a room. I was just another nuisance to add to his huge list of problems. I wasn’t helping matters by being here.

“Emry,” I whispered, choking on the lump forming in my throat. “I’m so confused right now.”

“Me too, me too,” he agreed.

“But I do know that I can’t stay here anymore, not like this.”

He nodded. His hair fell forward and he instinctively pushed it away with his fingers. He avoided making eye contact with me as he pulled away.
 

“There are things going on here,” I continued. “Things detrimental to people’s lives. Evadere is a place on the verge of war. It’s not fair for me to wage war on you, too, which is what I feel like I’m doing.”

“No, it’s my mother …”

I took his hand and stared at his fingers. Then I looked up at him again. He was still staring at the floor. “You’ve found family. You’ve discovered who you really are. I’m so happy for you.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you. I didn’t mean to …”

“I’m not looking for you to make me feel better. The truth is, I feel horrible. I feel like I’ve caused you more problems that you should’ve had to deal with. If only I would have known and wouldn’t have tried to come here,” I said, more tears slipping from my eyes.

“No one could’ve known all this was in my future.”

“Or your past,” I added.

He grinned. “Yeah, really.”

“Emry, I’m going to leave you to deal with all of this. I don’t want to be a distraction anymore. I don’t want to keep coming between you and Atavia,” I said.

His eyebrows lowered in concern as he looked at me. I wondered if he was feeling as much pain at this moment in his gut, in his chest, in each breath he inhaled and exhaled, as I did.

“What do you want to do then?” he asked.

I bit my bottom lip. This was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to say. I had thought starting out here on Evadere that it was just me and Emry against the world, against any world. “I want you to take me back to Earth.”

“I think that’s the best thing, too,” he whispered.
 

Wow
, I thought. He didn’t even try to stop me. This had to have been in his head before I suggested it. Did he even realize that if this happened, which it would, that I doubted I’d ever see him again? This could possibly be our very last personal conversation with each other, and he was avoiding even touching me.
 

“You know, maybe spend some time with Carlin. She’s probably worried sick.”

“You’ve thought about Carlin?” I asked, surprised. I had barely thought about her.
 

He shrugged. “Take a break from all this.” He spread his arms in the air and looked around the room. “Get to know your mother.”

“While you get to know yours,” I said, feeling as if I were going to puke.

“Yeah.”

“Get to know our mothers …” The words floated off my tongue. “And never get to know you.”

These words struck him as he shot me a glance. “You’re the one who said you wanted to go.”

“And you agreed with me,” I added.

Emry began pacing around the room the way he always did when his mind was going full throttle, his temper peaking along with his thoughts. “You want to stay here locked in this room, then fine, have at it.”

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I’m locked up in this room,” I yelled. “You know I don’t deserve this.”

“Right. You don’t deserve any of this, which is why you need to go back to Earth. That’s the reason I agreed.”

“We don’t spend any time together. Atavia is always putting me down.” I watched him pace. I could feel the emotions bundling up within me. I didn’t want to have a fight.

“It’s not my fault, Anna. I need to be properly trained …”

“Atavia has put all of this in your head to keep us apart.”

“You don’t like her,” he accused me.

“She doesn’t like me,” I replied, my voice rising.

There was a knock on the door. Emry glared at me before opening it.
 

“Everything okay in here?” It was Ben.

“Fine, Ben,” Emry answered, shutting the door again and turning back to me. “I’ll take you back then.”

I closed my eyes for a few moments trying to block out the pain of his words, the harshness that his voice had turned into. “When?”

Emry walked over to the window and peered out. “After the execution.”

“What?” What was he talking about? “Who’s being executed?”

A smirk crossed his lips as I could see he found delight in whoever it was. He turned around and stared into my eyes. “Mrs. Anderson.”

“What?” I said. This new information shocked me.
 

“She’s been after me for a long time, as you’re well aware of,” he explained.

I struggled to process it. Had this been his decision? Atavia’s? “She’s in the dungeon, though,” I said. “She can’t hurt you down there.”

“Yeah, but she can’t stay there forever.”

“So you’re going to kill her?”

“It’s an execution, Anna,” he corrected me, his blue eyes dark in the delightfulness of destroying an enemy.
 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I told him. “I thought execution
was
killing.”

He sighed. “I actually thought that’s the one thing you’d understand.”