The Mirror King (Orphan Queen) (11 page)

PRIOR TO KING
Terrell’s memorial, Theresa arrived at my quarters to prepare for the ceremony. I donned one of the splendid gowns the late king had commissioned for me. It had been part of his plan to marry Melanie and me to some lucky noblemen from the Indigo Kingdom and fulfill his obligation as our guardian. He’d done his best, truly.

The entry hall was packed with people waiting for their carriages. A few people glanced my way as Theresa and I arrived, with Sergeant Ferris in tow.

The other Ospreys hovered around the far edges of the hall, shifting uncomfortably in their suits. When Connor spotted me, he straightened and nudged the others, and all three boys grinned as they moved to join us. “Wil! Rees!” As if they hadn’t seen us in weeks, rather than hours.

The display drew curious looks, which none of them noticed.

“Took you long enough to get ready.” Carl’s pockets hung
heavily at his hips. Later, I’d have to find the owners of whatever he’d stolen, and have everything returned discreetly.

“This way, Your Highness.” A footman signaled our carriage’s arrival, and I pulled my lacy shawl tight as our group snaked through the room.

Our carriage was white with red trim, and spread-winged ospreys painted across the top. Tobiah’s doing, no doubt.

The interior was crowded, but the journey was mostly pleasant, with the boys admiring a clock installed in one of the doors. Carl and Kevin held a whispered debate over what was worth more: the gold clock hands, or the gear mechanisms in the back.

I reached across them and drew the curtains over the windows. Although it was unlikely we’d be threatened during the journey through Hawksbill, I didn’t want my rowdy companions to draw too much attention. The bright birds on the carriage already singled us out.

If Melanie had been here, she’d have filled the ride with polite talk and charm. As it was, Kevin asked questions about which nobles lived in which mansions, and Sergeant Ferris—perhaps unwisely—told him about fortunes made by inheritance, entrepreneurship, and scandal.

The sun touched the horizon just as we reached the Cathedral of the Solemn Hour, an immense pre-wraith building of sparkling white stone. It boasted three square towers, innumerable arches, and hollow places where there used to be windows. Those had been blown out the night of the Inundation, and not yet repaired with emergency shipments of glass from nearby towns and cities, like the palace and several Hawksbill homes.
Now the empty frames looked like eye sockets. Blind, but always watching.

Our carriage pulled up the long drive, past gardens and statues and fountains. An enormous line of people waited at one side of the drive, some standing, but most sitting. Police officers paced the line, keeping people from spilling into the carriages’ path, but as we rolled by, voices lifted. Just before the curtains fell shut, I caught glimpses of people pointing at us.

“They’ll be admitted later,” said Ferris. “Once all the nobility is seated.”

“They look like they’ve been there all day.” Connor slumped in his seat. No one needed to confirm it.

The carriage halted and the door was opened. Sergeant Ferris climbed out first, wearing a hard scowl as he touched the sword at his hip. He gave a wary look around, then motioned for the others to emerge. Connor, Carl, Kevin, and Theresa. Once they were out, I scooted toward the door.

The thunder of voices crescendoed as the line of people waiting to enter the cathedral watched me emerge from the carriage. Their cries slowly shifted into a recognizable chant.

“Wraith queen! Flasher queen! Wraith queen!”

A few chanted “Black Knife!” instead, but they were the minority. Most shoved their fists into the air.

The Ospreys surrounded me, while Sergeant Ferris took the rear as we walked up the steps, past the first groups of people. Their chanting continued, and several reached out as though to touch me.

My heart thrummed and my hands slipped to my hips for daggers, but all I felt was silk and wool. I breathed through a
surge of panic. Even unarmed, I could defend myself. There was nothing to be afraid of.

The police inserted themselves between the crowd and me, brandishing short swords and batons. It killed me not to look over my shoulder as I ascended the wide staircase, but I forced myself to remain tall and face forward, as though I trusted the police to protect me.

“Wow.” Connor brushed my hand as we climbed the last stairs. “They really don’t like you.”

“They’re punishing me for the Inundation.”

“But you didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

I squeezed his hand. “My intentions of learning about Mirror Lake were noble, but my choices in the wraithland were unwise. My choices led to the Inundation. I didn’t want people to get hurt, but they did anyway.”

And now the wraith was closer than ever. Already in the Indigo Kingdom.

“You could tell them what happened?”

“I think that would make it worse.” I shushed more questions. This wasn’t the time.

Though the cathedral was massive, there was but one door in the front, and it was tall and narrow—so narrow we had to enter in single file. Every sound from the outside became muffled as soon as I crossed the threshold. The entrance hall was just as majestic as the exterior, with gilt friezes and marble statues of unnaturally tall saints; they rose up the walls, praying over the people passing beneath them.

Small alcoves and drops of shadow hung to the sides, but a silver light shone ahead, keeping my attention as I led the others.
The Ospreys’ gasps and exclamations of awe were music nipping at my heels.

At the end of the hall, a white-robed figure ushered us around a corner, where others waited to direct us into the sanctuary in the center of the building.

An immense chamber opened before me, lit by great chandeliers. Hundreds of benches sat in rows on the main floor, with thousands more in tiers along the sides and on balconies. Columns created aisles down several series of steps with long landings, all leading to a dais in the center. There was nothing on it but a shallow pool guarded by a low, gold rail.

The benches in the front were already filled with the king’s family and closest companions. The queen stood near the dais, statuesque in her floor-length gown. Nearby, Tobiah held his hands behind his back and his shoulders squared. Dark hair hid his downturned eyes as he spoke with Lady Meredith, though whatever they said was too soft and obscured to hear over the echoing footfalls and other voices.

She reached for his hands in a comforting gesture that seemed to have little effect. The king was dead. His father was dead. And tonight there would be no forgetting it.

I was halfway down the stairs when Tobiah glanced up and found me watching him. Even from this distance I couldn’t miss the naked ache in his gaze. Not a crown prince. Not a vigilante. Just a boy who’d lost his father and might face the rest of his life in a spiral of questions: What if he’d been there? What if they hadn’t argued that night? What if . . .

Our gazes held for another moment before Meredith twisted
in her seat to see what had distracted him. My name took shape on her lips.

Another face turned up, this one with a scowl. Lady Chey said something, drawing Tobiah’s and Meredith’s attention.

Theresa leaned close and kept her voice low as we continued down the stairs. “What was that?”

“You know all about Chey,” I said, but we both knew she hadn’t meant Chey. People didn’t share long looks with princes they’d written—at length—about hating.

A minute later, I took my seat in the second row, right behind the duchess and countess. Chey turned her head just enough to show me her profile as she muttered to Meredith, “Don’t you think it odd they were invited here, considering it was an Aecorian under Wilhelmina’s command behind King Terrell’s murder?”

Meredith pulled back and scowled. “That’s inappropriate, Chey.”

Whether she meant the comment in general, or specifically saying it at the memorial, I couldn’t tell. I just glared at the back of Chey’s head as Meredith shot me an apologetic glance.

“After the wedding,” Chey added, “you’ll have more influence over who he invites to important events.”

“Chey!” Meredith’s tone turned warning.

“Speaking of your wedding, we should discuss your dress and all the arrangements soon. Winter solstice isn’t very far, and there’s a lot of planning that must be done.”

“This isn’t the time to speak of such things.” But Meredith glanced toward Tobiah, her expression warming.

Quiet mutters echoed in the chamber as everyone arrived. Skyvale nobility, those from other cities in the kingdom, and even foreign. There was a duchess from Laurel-by-the-Sea, followed by nobility from kingdoms farther to the north. Gowns and suits rustled in the echoing quiet.

The late king’s brothers were already here, sitting in the first row with other family members. Prince Colin was too deep in conversation with Prince Herman to notice my arrival, thank saints. No, tonight their eyes moved toward Tobiah, who stood stiffly, but with far more ease than anyone who’d been shot just days prior should.

What had the messenger told them? How much did they know?

Theresa nudged me and jerked her chin toward Connor, on the other side of her. He pointed upward.

I lifted my face just slightly, my gaze traveling along a column across the dais. The marble split into several sections at the top, splaying like finger bones as the column flared and held the roof. It looked like a great forearm and hand; they all did.

And the ceiling itself—

I bit back a gasp as chandelier light caught veins of gold laid into the white stone. The ceiling was covered in angles and swirls that shimmered in strange patterns. But when I blinked and my eyes refocused, the gold lines resolved into constellations.

Astronomy lessons fluttered in the back of my mind. Five stars connected into the rood, and a nearby woman dipped water from a well. As the chamber grew warm with the heat of bodies, I let my thoughts wander to an overlook on Sandcliff Castle where my father taught me star stories. Radiants’ Walk
was what he called it. It had been cold that first night, with the breeze coming off the Red Bay. He’d bundled me in his own cloak and stayed by my side as I peered through the pre-wraith telescope.

I’d forgotten about that. But now, more than ten years later, the memory surfaced with the salty scent of the ocean and the cries of gulls as they found their nests. I could almost hear my father’s voice in my ear as he showed me how to find the boat and the cup.

I missed him. Those moments. That innocence. The security of my father’s arms around me.

Now Tobiah’s father was gone, too.

I dropped my attention back to the dais where Tobiah was speaking to his mother, urging her to sit and rest until the memorial began. But even as she started to acquiesce, a hidden piano struck a chord, and other instruments joined a moment later. Strings, winds, and bass.

As one, the audience stood.

As the priests came down the aisles, the thousands of attendees sang a remembrance hymn. Our voices swelled through the chamber, crashing and crushing like waves. I shivered with chills; on the dais, Tobiah looked just as haunted.

By the end of the song, a handful of priests stood on the dais with the queen and crown prince. They dipped their hands into the pool of water and began a prayer. Everyone sat as the memorial began with an account of Terrell’s life and his honors.

A few times I had to shush Carl and Connor, while our neighbors flashed glares, but the chamber was noisy with the movement and breath of thousands of others. My mind
wandered to the city rooftops, the open sky, and pure, uncomplicated vigilantism.

The cathedral was silent as one speaker stepped down and another stepped up. But before he could begin, water erupted up from the pool and the entire building trembled. Gas lamps shuddered and flickered, and droplets of water sprayed over us.

Screams sounded from all around the cathedral, echoing in the huge chamber. Guards surged to their feet, swords drawn as they moved toward their charges.

“Under the bench!” I pushed Theresa to the floor. Just as I was reaching for Connor, shouting the same instructions, a booming voice came from above.

“Wilhelmina!”

I knew that voice.

“You cannot hide from me!”

Dread seeped into every piece of me as I stepped backward, away from Theresa and the others, into an aisle—and into enormous white hands.

A sharp crack ripped through the chamber, and everyone looked up as the golden heavens split in two.

I WRENCHED MYSELF
away from the wraith boy just as the first pieces of stone fell. “Everyone get out!”

My cry was lost in the cacophony of screams and collapsing stone. The whole cathedral was cracking open like an egg. Chunks of gold and marble plummeted to the dais, landing in the empty pool with a deafening crash and shudder. Frigid night wind blew in, and the whole space stank of wraith.

Priests fled, their robes fluttering. James dove for Tobiah, who was reaching for his mother. The three of them, along with another handful of guards, made their way into the aisle. More stones from the roof crashed down, spraying white dust like snow. Their clothes were coated with it.

On the stairs above, people packed so tightly there was no way to get out.

“Wil!” Connor screamed for me as Sergeant Ferris heaved him into Kevin’s arms. Half covered in white rubble, my
bodyguard picked his way toward me, drawing his sword as though he could do anything against the wraith boy. It was too late.

There was no way we could escape before the building came down on us.

I spun and grabbed the wraith boy’s forearms, giant and straining against the clothes I’d given him. “Stop it.”

“I can’t.” He grinned down at me, too wide, too wild. A fist-sized stone dropped overhead, but he batted it away before I had the chance to move. “There’s no way to stop it.”

Streams of people poured up the aisles. The gap overhead widened as the building shuddered again, shaking loose a chandelier. The fixture smashed into the bench where Tobiah and his family had been; I couldn’t see them anymore, not through the debris and a fire that raged upward. Heat blasted through the cathedral.

“Stop the building from collapsing.” I gripped the wraith boy’s wrists. “Put out the fire.”

“That’s not within my power.”

Thousands of people were going to die because of him—because of me.

Unless I did something.

People trampled one another in their efforts to reach the stairs. Real starlight shone through the gap in the roof, faraway points that lined up exactly with the gold constellations.

My Ospreys were leaping across the benches, heading toward the exit. I couldn’t find the royal family, but several more chunks of the roof had fallen in. Another crashed downward, crushing nearby benches. The floor shook, but I stayed on my
feet because of my grip on the wraith boy, who wasn’t bothered by the chaos he’d caused. He calmly stepped sideways as a head-sized chunk of roof broke off and flew at me; he blocked it with his own body.

I had to stop this.

I dropped to the floor and pressed my hands against the stone. “
Wake up
,” I said, and immediately, my breath grew short. My vision turned to fog.
“Stay together. Do not break. Do not fall. Do not shake
.
”

One last stone thudded to the floor, creating a new plume of dust, but the building stopped moving. The constant low rumble ceased. Wind sucked the smoke and dust from the upper reaches of the sanctuary, revealing the impossible.

Great hunks of marble clung to the jagged crack in the ceiling. Chandeliers clutched the golden constellations like iron spiders. The splayed-finger tops of the columns crept out and linked with one another, as though in prayer.

My heartbeat was hummingbird quick in my ears, but the cathedral had animated. It had done as I’d commanded.

Slowly, bracing myself against a bench, I stood and whispered, “
Now smother the fire
.”

Debris slithered across the floor and rained from the ceiling, focusing on the burning chandelier. The air began to clear as dust settled. The intense heat faded as flames died.

“Get off any people trapped. Make a path so everyone can escape.”

There were voices all around, people sobbing and screaming, but they were distant now—or maybe it was just me. Black shapes dotted the edges of my vision with that last command,
and all I could see was the wraith boy’s enormous grin as he looked around the chamber.

My arm trembled as I sucked in deep breaths, but my head wouldn’t clear. It was too much, bringing the entire building to life, commanding it again and again. I had to get out. I had to put the cathedral to sleep.

I groped for the next bench, ready to drag myself out.

White hands fell on my shoulders, and I jerked away. My elbow caught a stair as I landed and glared up. “Don’t touch me.
You
did this, so don’t touch me. Go back to your closet.”

The wraith boy scowled but vanished, leaving me to regret the command. Now I was alone, on the floor, and unsure whether I could actually get up on my own.

The building groaned with the strain of keeping itself together. I groaned, too, as I turned over and began crawling up the stairs. Masses of bodies writhed up and ahead, people escaping the doomed cathedral, but they were just blurs of color against the white. They were all so intent on escape that no one would look back. No one would notice I wasn’t with them.

Or if they did, they were grateful. The wraith boy had brought down the cathedral because of me.

I dragged myself up, using a bench arm to steady myself. My gown tangled in my legs as I staggered and caught myself on the next bench, and then the next and the next. Dizziness spiraled around me, and my limbs were all cold. Numb. My knees wouldn’t straighten.

“Wil!” The voice seemed to come from far away. I lifted my eyes, but everything was dim.

Warm arms wrapped around me. “Hurry.”

“Rees?” I dug my fingers into her shoulder. Another familiar figure hefted me up on the other side. “Kevin?” My Ospreys had come back for me.

Step by slow step, they helped me climb the stairs. When the lights flickered out—someone had turned off the gas—and everything went dark, Theresa yelped in surprise, but her grip remained strong.

We reached the hall where the crowd caught and slowed in the narrow space, but now that the building had stopped shaking and everyone thought they were out of immediate danger, the pace was steady. There was less trampling.

“Does she need help?” That was Connor’s voice. Thank saints, he was safe.

“I’m fine.” My words didn’t come out any stronger than a mumble, but I could still speak.

Swimming in and out of consciousness, I let the others help me through the hot, noisy halls. It seemed like forever, but finally cold air hit my face as we reached the exit.

But for the moon and stars and lanterns that dotted the huge crowd below, the cathedral yard was dark. Even so, and in spite of my tunneled vision, I could see the legions of police and guards in Indigo Order uniforms. Officers on horseback rode through the crowd, iron shoes striking the cobblestones with mind-jarring rings. They urged the crowd back, farther from the building frozen mid-collapse.

I was the last one out. Those ahead surged down the staircase, throwing themselves into the safety of the crowd.

“Go,” I rasped, drawing myself out of Kevin’s and Theresa’s arms. Connor and Carl stopped on the stairs and turned
around, their eyes big. “I need to finish this.”

They left me standing in the narrow doorway of the living cathedral; only when everyone was a good distance away did I press my palms against the stone. I spoke with every drop of authority I possessed.

“Go back to sleep
.
”

The cathedral sighed and sloughed inward.

Blackness thundered through me, dropped me, and my body—limp and useless—rolled down the stairs, too fast for anyone to catch me.

I opened my eyes and rolled to my back—and dropped another stair before I realized I shouldn’t move. The impact forced the breath from my lungs. I blinked and breathed until my vision focused, only to find a dark figure standing over me.

“Princess Wilhelmina Korte, you are under arrest for the destruction of the Cathedral of the Solemn Hour. Do not resist or we will be forced to use drastic measures.” The voice was too familiar. After Prince Colin’s invasion of my rooms, I would always recognize his voice, his stance, and the slimy way he said my name.

I managed to lift one hand and show him my little finger.

People crowded around us, protesting my arrest. The Ospreys’ voices, plus others I didn’t know. “She needs medical attention,” said Sergeant Ferris.

“She needs to be contained!” Prince Colin’s voice went ragged. “Look what she did here!”

“Yes.” Tobiah’s voice carried across the yard. “Look what she did here.”

My heart sank. Him too?

I pushed myself up so that I was sitting, more or less. I was still light-headed and my body ached with incipient bruises, but if I was going to have to explain myself, I should try to be upright for it.

Connor took my shoulders to stabilize me, question in his eyes, but I shook my head. I didn’t need healing, and the
last
thing I wanted was for him to demonstrate his ability in front of all these people.

The crown prince strode up, James and a handful of guards behind him, and lifted his gaze to the destruction behind me.

“Look at what she did here.” The prince swept one hand toward the cathedral. His movements were intentionally stiff as though still recovering, but he commanded attention with the way he held himself and lifted his voice. “How many people were nearly crushed to death? How many were nearly consumed by the fire? How many were nearly trampled?”

The crowd seemed to hold its breath.

“And how many of us were saved because of her quick action?” Dust covered and sweating, the prince climbed the last few stairs and shouldered aside his uncle. He offered one hand to me.

I wasn’t ready to stand—not at all—but I placed my hand in his and let him take most of my weight as I lurched to my feet. My stomach flipped and I started to sway, but Tobiah planted his free palm flat on my back, steadying me.

“Are you all right, my lady?” His words were soft, for me only, but everyone was watching and listening. The police held up their arms, creating a human barrier.

I met the prince’s eyes and squashed the quiver in my voice. “Thank you, I’m fine.”

“Relieved to hear it.” The way his fingers closed over the cloth on my back said he knew I was lying.

Prince Colin pushed forward again. “The wraith creature was here for her,” he said. “And she used magic.
Magic
. This flasher will draw more wraith to us.”

Tobiah raised his voice again. “Princess Wilhelmina saved countless lives. While the wraith boy was indeed seeking her, she cannot control all of his actions. We all know how unpredictable wraith is. It wasn’t her fault the wraith boy came to find her any more than it’s a farmer’s fault when his cattle stampede.” Tobiah motioned for a decorated police officer to approach. “Chief Tegen, question everyone and find out whether there’s anyone missing. Get everyone’s names and addresses, and should anyone
dare
insist my dear friend Princess Wilhelmina is responsible for what happened here, you are to correct them.”

I cleared my throat.

Both men glanced at me; Tobiah’s expression softened.

“You’re right, of course.” He looked back to Chief Tegen. “Forget I said that last part. Find out what they believe happened tonight. But if anyone makes any sort of threat against Wilhelmina’s life, you will alert me immediately.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Chief Tegen bowed and departed.

“Where’s the carriage?” Tobiah asked James.

“It should be here momentarily.”

“Very good.”

“Nephew—”

Tobiah faced his uncle, his arm still around me. “Thank you for your concern, but I have everything under control.” His tone grew bored. “You’re free to return to the palace.”

Prince Colin narrowed his eyes at me, the crown prince’s arm around me, and the close way we stood. But he left, a handful of guards in his wake.

It seemed like ages before the carriage arrived, clattering down the cathedral drive. It was a small vehicle, meant to quickly slip through narrow streets.

“This way.” Tobiah guided me down the stairs, and when I stumbled, he dug his fingers into my side and took all my weight. I hoped no one else could see how weak I was, but I was too exhausted to do much about it, or protest that the prince was still recovering.

Tobiah escorted me down the last set of stairs only after the police had pushed back the crowd. My knee gave out as I climbed onto the velvet-covered bench, but his support never flagged. One hand curled around my shoulder. The other kept tight around my fingers. He held me steady.

When I was seated, I looked over his shoulder to see what remained of the cathedral.

Most of the building had collapsed, with only a few walls reaching up like teeth of a mutilated lower jaw. Rubble pattered down the stairs, and dust blew in a pale column over the destruction.

Two centuries of service as a religious sanctuary, built using pre-wraith methods we’d never again be able to replicate, and one of the most iconic buildings of Skyvale: gone. Destroyed in less than a quarter hour.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t apologize. You saved everyone from being caught in that.” Tobiah angled himself toward the others. “Sergeant Ferris, please escort Her Highness back to the palace. Her companions will take the next carriage.”

Theresa stepped forward. “I’d like to remain with Wilhelmina.” Her gaze darted to my hand, still in Tobiah’s.

“I’m sure that would be a comfort to both of you. Please.” Tobiah moved aside, releasing my hand as he helped Theresa into the carriage. Sergeant Ferris took the seat next to Theresa. Tobiah addressed him. “Place extra guards on both Aecorian suites tonight. Hallways and balconies. If anyone abandons their posts tonight, they will be dishonorably discharged from the Order and their families disgraced. Understood?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Tobiah offered me a curt nod, and then shut the door. “James!” he called, voice muffled now. “Come with me. We need to—”

Whatever he said was cut off by the
clip-clop
of horse hooves on cobblestone as our carriage jerked into motion. Lights blurred past as we drove through Hawksbill. I closed my eyes.