Tether (24 page)

“Where is she?” Selene asked. We were all in the drawing room at the congressional mansion in the Tattered City. Thomas and Adele had flashed their KES badges at the guards and gotten us in easily; Selene and I had slipped in among the group of KES agents, who took care to shield us with their bodies as we trooped past servants and staffers in the hallways.

“She’ll be here in a second,” Navin said. Selene’s restlessness was making everyone kind of jumpy, me most of all, since I could feel her emotions lighting up the tether like fireworks. “Keep your sandals on.”

Selene glanced at her feet. “They
are
on.”

“Oh boy,” Tim muttered. “Here we go.”

Selene, it’s okay,
I said.
You can relax. We found her.

I don’t know, Sasha,
Selene replied.
I don’t like this place. I don’t like having all these people around. They want to take her away from us.

First of all, nobody can make Juliana do anything she doesn’t want to do. They work for her. And second … Thomas wants her to go to Taiga. He told me they need a place to hide Juliana until the Rowanites can bring down the General.

She gave me a sharp look.
He said that?
The tether loosened a little.

Everything is going to be fine,
I assured her. Call me selfish, but Juliana was far from my biggest concern at the moment. Thomas hadn’t spoken more than two words together since Gorman’s Gate, and now he was standing apart from everyone else, staring out the window, lost in thought. Under normal circumstances I would’ve tried to talk to him, but we were still tiptoeing around each other in public, and this did not seem like the right time for me to show more interest in him than was appropriate. But I couldn’t stop watching him and wondering what was going through his head.

The doors opened, and we all stood as Juliana strode into the room. She still had that awful blond hair, but in all other ways, she looked the same as I remembered her—the same as Selene, standing right by my side. Each of the KES agents, including Thomas, took a knee in front of her, something I’d never seen them do before, even when I was pretending to be Juliana. I glanced at Selene, who was curious but not surprised, and then I understood, with gut-wrenching certainty, that the king had died. Juliana was the queen presumptive of the United Commonwealth of Columbia.

It happened this morning,
Selene explained.
There wasn’t time for them to tell us before we had to leave Gorman’s Gate.

Then how do you know?
I demanded.
Wait, no, let me guess
—
listening.

That’s right. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you.

Why not?

I was afraid it might upset you.
Selene put a hand on my shoulder.
I know how attached you were to Juliana’s father. I assume that’s why none of the KES agents told you, either.

I stepped away from her, feeling betrayed. Just because the
KES agents didn’t want to tell me about the king—for which I blamed Thomas, the only person in that group who cared how I felt about anything—didn’t mean she should have kept it from me. We were supposed to be a team. Grief washed through the tether, soaking it all the way through, and it was hard to find the boundary between the sadness I felt over the king’s death and the devastation Juliana was experiencing.

Her face was a dark mask of anguish, and in spite of all she’d done, I felt an overwhelming desire to comfort her, even as the repulsion that struck whenever I met one of my analogs pushed me away. What we’d been through mattered—I wasn’t naïve enough to think that it didn’t—but it seemed so small in the face of this enormous, unprecedented moment. We were together, the three of us, and it felt as right as it did wrong. The tether writhed with emotion and power; it was a struggle to stand still and say nothing.

“No,” Juliana croaked. “No, no, no—get up! I’m not your sovereign. Do not kneel in front of me.”

“Your Majesty,” Thomas began, but Juliana covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Her shoulders trembled with everything she was trying to keep inside, but I could sense it all through the tether; it seemed as if the universe were crumbling to pieces. Selene grabbed my hand, and I squeezed her fingers. I was so sorry for Juliana. Everything she’d run from was staring her right in the face.

“Don’t call me that!” Juliana snapped. “What are you even doing here?”

“Juli,” Callum said, in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper. He put an arm around her. “It’s going to be all right.”

“No, it’s not! Look at them, Callum.
Look.
What makes you think that anything is ever going to be all right?” Juliana pointed at Selene and me, and Callum noticed us for the first
time. Confusion flashed across his face as he tried and failed to make sense of what he was seeing.

“What’s going on?” he asked, although it was hard to tell whom he expected answers from. Thomas’s shoulder brushed mine as he stepped past me to stand in front of Callum and Juliana.

“Your Highness,” he said to Callum. “I’m not sure if you remember me. My name is Thomas Mayhew, and I’m an agent with the King’s Elite Service.”

“Of course I remember you,” Callum said coldly, but he seemed relieved to have someone to direct his anger toward. “You’re Juliana’s bodyguard. I’d like to know where you and your friends were while Juliana was being held against her will by Libertas.”

“Callum …” Juliana put a hand on his arm, then snatched it away. In a few seconds he would know everything. She was afraid that when he did, he would hate her. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“Who are they?” he demanded, staring at Selene and me.

Juliana knew she had to explain, but she couldn’t find the words. Her mind reached out to me, pleading for my help. She didn’t even know she was doing it, but the dark red of her presence smoldered like burning coal at her end of the tether, and her desperation pummeled through my brain.

“Callum,” I said, venturing a tiny smile. This was going to be so hard for him to understand. I wanted to show him, in whatever way I could, that he had nothing to fear from me. It surprised me how happy I was to see him again. “My name is Sasha Lawson. The girl you met at the Castle wasn’t Juliana—it was me.”

“That’s ridiculous! Juli, tell her that’s ridiculous.” He glanced at Juliana, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Juliana, please.”

“It’s true,” Thomas said. “Juliana went missing three weeks
before the wedding was supposed to take place. She turned herself over to Libertas in exchange for help escaping her life at the Castle. I took Sasha out of her world—a universe parallel to ours called Earth—and forced her to act as the princess while the KES looked for Juliana. It was Sasha you spent time with and Sasha you ran away with. It was Sasha your mother threw into the Hole.”

“Out of her
world
? Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Callum couldn’t stop looking at me. All the scrutiny made me nervous—reminded me, in a way, of having to perform as Juliana back at the Castle. Now I had to perform as myself, to prove who I was, and I found I knew how to do that even less.

“And what about her?” Callum pointed at Selene. “Don’t tell me she’s from a parallel universe, too.”

“I am.” Selene was irritated at having to deal with all of this. Callum meant nothing to her. But Juliana was an entirely different story. This was the first time Selene was meeting her, I realized with a start. She was absolutely thrilled. “Juliana, I’ve come a very long way to find you.”

Juliana shook her head. “This is not happening.”

“Let me get this straight,” Callum said. All the color had drained out of his face, which made his blue eyes seem even brighter. “
You
were the one I was … with at the Castle. You’re the one I almost married.” We never would’ve gotten married, but it wasn’t the time to quibble over details. “The one who almost
poisoned
me.”

“What?” Juliana glared at me. “You poisoned him?”

“Please note that he said ‘almost,’ ” I shot back. Who was she to get on her high horse after all the trouble she’d caused and all the people she’d hurt? Anger was quickly burning away any sympathy I’d felt for her. Typical Juliana, still out to save her own skin.

“And
you.
” He turned to face Juliana. “You lied to me. You
pretended it was you I’d been with at the Castle. You let me apologize for leaving you behind in the Hole when the entire time it wasn’t even you who got thrown in there!”

“I didn’t want you to hate me,” Juliana said, clutching his arm desperately. He shook her off and refused to look her in the eye. “I like you so much, Callum, and I didn’t want you to know what I’d done.”

“This is absurd,” Callum said. “I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it,” Selene said impatiently. “I can appreciate that you’re getting a lot of new information all at once, but to be honest, this has very little to do with you. You’re just one small piece of a large puzzle, and we don’t have time for you to come to terms with this slowly.”

“And which one are you?” Callum demanded. “The one I kissed on the beach or the one I danced with at the gala?”

“Neither,” Selene said with a haughty glare. As if she would
ever
have allowed some strange boy to kiss her. Leonid’s face flashed across the tether.

“You kissed him?” Juliana asked me.

“Oh my God,” I exclaimed. “I didn’t kiss him, he kissed me, and by the way, let’s not forget that I never would’ve been here in the first place if you hadn’t run away from your own life!”

“You should be thanking me,” Juliana snapped. “If I hadn’t left, you never would’ve met your boyfriend.”

“Hey,” Thomas said, stepping in between us. “Don’t start with that, Juliana.”

Callum tossed me an exasperated look. “So you
were
with him. I knew it.”

Adele cut us off: “You’re acting like a pack of children. We have a war going on here and a brand-new queen who needs protection. You’re just going to have to work out your messy emotional issues later.”

“Adele is right,” Thomas said. “We have to—”

But we didn’t get to hear what Thomas thought we had to do, because the door opened and Sophie barreled through.

“Juli,” she said, her eyes wide with panic, “there’s a whole group of Libertas agents at the door. They’re demanding that we release you to their custody.”

“How did they know I was here?” Juliana asked.

Sophie’s face fell. “It must have been the guards. Everyone in this city is in Libertas’s pocket. You have to get out of here, now!”

Thomas surged forward. “Is there a second exit that would allow us to avoid a shootout?”

“I—I think so,” Sophie stammered. “There’s a hidden door in the back garden wall. My father uses it all the time when there are riots outside the front gates.” Her eyes landed on Selene and me. She looked absolutely floored to see us there, wearing her best friend’s face. “Who are they?”

“Forget it,” Juliana said, grabbing Sophie by the arm. “We need you to show us where this gate is. Can you do that?”

Sophie nodded. “Come with me.”

Sophie led us through the mansion and into the gardens. The KES agents flanked Selene, Juliana, Callum, and me as we made our way through a maze of rosebushes.

It’s going to be all right,
Selene said. Juliana stiffened; I was getting so used to talking to Selene in my head, I’d sort of forgotten just how strange it could be the first time. However good at shutting us out Juliana had been before, that was all shot to hell now. The power had weakened whatever defenses she’d constructed against our minds. It was just as Selene said it would be: the closer we were and the longer we remained together, the more entwined our minds were becoming and the better we got at using the tether.

He hates me,
Juliana thought despondently.
It’s entirely my fault.

It doesn’t matter what he thinks,
Selene told her. She was trying to help, but that wasn’t what Juliana needed to hear.
All that matters is that the three of us are together.

Juliana glared at Selene.
I don’t even know who you are!

Juliana,
I said.
Callum will forgive you. It’s obvious he cares about you a lot
—
he’s just having a hard time coming to terms with all this.
I had no idea why I was trying to help her. What did I care if Juliana was upset? She was only getting what she deserved. But there was the tether, tugging at me, reminding me that whatever my opinion of her was, she and I were connected. Until we broke it, I was going to feel every awful thing she felt.

Regardless of my motivations, the rosy light of her mind brightened, and I felt the tether relax.
You really think so?

I had no idea if Callum would ever forgive her, but the force of her emotions made my brain feel like it was going to explode, so if it calmed her down, I’d tell her anything she wanted to hear.
I do. You have to admit, if the tables were turned, you’d be angry, too.

Sasha, I … I’m so sorry.
I recoiled in surprise. The last thing I expected to get was an apology from Juliana.
I didn’t realize how many people would suffer because of my choices.

I hesitated.
It’s okay. I know what it’s like to live a life you don’t want.
I didn’t think I meant it, but by the time I finished saying it, I realized it was true.

“It’s here,” Sophie said, pushing her way through a gap in the hedge and disappearing. We followed her and found ourselves standing in a tiny stone alcove. There was a door in the wall, fitted with an LCD lock. It scanned Sophie’s palm, and she punched in the code, a process that was far too familiar to
me by now. The door slid open, and when I peered through, I saw a quiet, nondescript private street on the other side.

It felt as though we were walking right into a trap.

“Thomas,” I said. He turned to look at me; so did Sasha and Juliana, perhaps sensing my nervousness through the tether. “I don’t think—”

“Let’s go,” Adele said, waving the KES agents forward. Thomas put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back, but she shook him off. “We don’t have time for any of your petty personal crap, Mayhew. We’re going.”