The Mirror King (Orphan Queen) (22 page)

JAMES AND THE
wraith boy followed my gaze to the bridge that spanned the entire bay. “What if he’s not there?”

“Then we stand in the center and draw his attention.” A dozen flags snapped in the cold wind, and four indigo banners hung from the parapets, emblazoned with House crests. Gas lamps shone down on the battlefield, hot white lights above the flames.

“How will you get there?” James gestured to the fighting masses between us and our destination.

“You will help me reach it safely.”

James heaved out a breath. “All right. Let’s go. But we’re doing this my way. We’re going
around
the fighting, not through the worst of it.”

“I can fight.”

“It’s not your duty to fight this time. It’s your duty to stay alive.”

Even so, I drew my sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. With the boys flanking me, we slipped around the edge of the battle. It took more time, but when combatants spilled into our path, James or the wraith boy pushed them out of the way. Only twice did I have to remind the wraith boy not to hurt people.

At last, we came to the shore; Tangler Bay surged below a small cliff. My homeland was still too far to see the lights of the city, but the bridge’s towers and cables were lit with gas lamps.

My heart thrummed as James and the wraith boy carved a path to the guard station. The sound of the sea swelled within me. I was so close.

A blue-coated body dropped at my feet. James staggered and breathed a name, but we moved over the soldier and found ourselves at the main door. The guards wore indigo, but they were engaged with Aecorian rebels, and no one noticed us as James heaved open the door and ushered me into an antechamber, its walls covered with yet more indigo flags and signs.

With my dagger hand, I grabbed the metal-reinforced door handle to the main chamber and my shoulder almost came out of place as I heaved the unmoving door.

“What’s wrong?” James asked.

“Locked. I can pick it.” There was always magic, but considering how dizzy just animating notebooks made me, I shouldn’t. Not now, when I needed to face Patrick.

“Let me.” The wraith boy took the handle and gave it a sharp tug, and the entire door came off its hinges with a deafening
crack
. He staggered back against the size, but held the door’s
weight without a problem. “What should I do with it?”

“Just put it against the wall.” I stepped clear of the door and into the main chamber filled with desks and bookcases. Hallways branched off, and a series of doors ran along the back wall. “Who was that outside, James?”

The body, I meant, but I didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Someone I knew from school. A friend.” His face was hard as he scanned the room and pointed his sword toward one of the hallways on the far side of the room. “There.”

I flexed my fingers around the hilts of my weapons as we walked.

“Footsteps,” whispered the wraith boy. “Someone’s following.”

We started to run as a handful of red-coated soldiers thundered after us, their blades drawn.

“Stop there!” The feminine voice was as familiar as my own.

I skidded and spun, my cloak flaring. On either side of me, the wraith boy lifted his hands like claws, and James melted into a guarded stance, but I sheathed both of my weapons. A true smile—the first in what felt like forever—slipped out. “Melanie.”

“Wil!” She motioned for her five soldiers to stay their weapons, and a moment later, we stood between our groups, embracing.

A hard knot inside me loosened at last. “I missed you so much,” I whispered.

“Me too.” Her voice hitched. “It feels like forever.”

There was so much to talk about. So much to do. But I wanted to stay like this. Magic, wraith, war: What were those
things to true friendship? We could fight—with each other and on opposite sides of a battlefield—but our bond ran stronger than any of that.

“Wil,” said James. “I know the feeling, but there’s no time.”

Melanie and I stepped back from each other, and she reached as though to move a strand of hair from her eyes, but she’d cut it. The black locks that had once fallen to the middle of her back were gone, leaving choppy sections that framed her face. It made her look older. More mature.

“Where is Patrick?”

Her gaze shifted upward. “Here. We learned Prince Colin was returning to Aecor. We’ve been waiting for his convoy to arrive. This side of the bay has been ours for almost a week—and the soldiers stationed here didn’t even realize.”

“Good work.” The praise came automatically, making James give me a sharp look. “I mean, I’m impressed, but I’ve come here to stop the fighting. I won’t allow Patrick to destroy the peace I’ve been working to build.”

“Some peace, if what I heard is true.” Her eyes cut to the wraith boy, then to James. “Captain Rayner. Lovely to see you again.”

“This is taking too long,” he said. “If you’re on Wil’s side, take us to Patrick.”

She’d take me to Patrick, regardless.

Melanie gestured to three of her men. “Fix the door. Make sure no one follows us. And you two”—she turned to the others—“come with me.”

The six of us moved through the room, into the hall and a dark staircase that switched back several times. We passed
doors to other levels of the guard station, and to the interior of the passageway that stretched over the bridge entrance. Finally, we came to the top.

“You know what he’s going to tell you to do,” Melanie said as the guards hauled open the door. “You know what he wants.”

“Patrick no longer gets to make demands of me.”

Icy wind blasted through the doorway, tearing at my cloak. Lights shone in from atop the passageway, blinding as I stepped outside to find Patrick exactly where I’d expected. He’d torn down the Indigo Kingdom flags, and was releasing them one by one into the sea. The House banners hanging over the parapets were likely next, but he saw me first.

“Wilhelmina.” The last indigo flag whipped toward the ocean.

James’s whole body tensed, but he didn’t stray from my side.

Patrick didn’t move; he waited for us to come closer as he took in the group surrounding me: Melanie, two of his own men, a boy who looked like me, and the new king’s cousin. He placed his hands behind his back. “The convoy is overwhelmed. Casualties on both sides will be heavy.”

“Call them off. If you do, James can stop the Indigo Army. We will discuss everything peacefully, once we reach Sandcliff Castle.”

Patrick shook his head. “It’s not going to work like that. Colin will never give up Aecor, not willingly. There’s only one way to get it back, and that is to take it. Our people don’t want to be under Indigo rule. They want their queen. They want
you
.”

“And you told them I’ve been a hostage in Skyvale.”

“Haven’t you? The Wilhelmina I know would never have
sent letters like the ones I intercepted, claiming to be from you.”

“That just proves how little you know me.”

“The letters weren’t even in your handwriting.”

I clenched my jaw. “Call off your soldiers, Patrick.” Wind tugged at my clothes again, and flecks of snow from drifts stung my face.

“I will not. This is an important battle for our people. They’ll see we
can
beat the enemy.” Patrick glanced at the door opposite the one we’d come from, but the way was dark. “I won’t stop you from doing whatever you came to do, though. You are still my princess, after all.”

I turned to the wraith boy. “Chrysalis, I need to be heard.”

A smile sliced across his face, and he leaned over the edge of the passageway. “People of Aecor. People of the Indigo Kingdom.” The wraith boy’s voice boomed across the area, thunder in my ears. “Stop what you are doing.”

The sharp, ozone scent of wraith flooded the battlefield, but still the fighting continued.

The wraith boy looked at me, as though for permission.

“Don’t
hurt
anyone,” I warned. I touched Connor’s mirror in my pocket.

James was already standing close to me. Melanie moved near Patrick, their red-coated guards in close attendance as they all watched, waiting to see what the wraith boy would do.

Chrysalis stretched out his hands and turned up his palms. A low rumble filled the area, making soldiers stagger to stay in combat, but when the snow began to draw away from the bulk of the battle, shooting between legs and away from the wagons, people halted and looked around. A few took the opportunity
to run, and some finished the fights they’d been involved in, but most just stood and stared.

Someone pointed up. Toward me.

The snow pulled itself into a wall along the entrance to the bridge, covering the guard stations. It gathered higher and higher until the top of the mound touched the passageway. Shards of compacted snow jutted up, reflecting the light of gas lamps. Angles shifted and focused until the white light surrounded me.

Everyone saw me.

“Soldiers of Aecor,” called the wraith boy, unnaturally loud in the sudden stillness below. “Your queen—”

“
Princess
,” I hissed.

“Your princess is here. She wishes to address you.”

I stepped onto the ledge. Behind me, Patrick and Melanie hadn’t moved, and their guards were with them. I hated turning my back to Patrick, but I trusted Melanie. James hoisted himself up beside me, and together we gazed down the steep slope of glittering snow, where thousands of men waited at the base.

The angled planes of snow amplified my voice. “My name is Wilhelmina Korte. I’ve come to tell the people of Aecor the truth about my stay in Skyvale. King Tobiah Pierce has not held me as a hostage, nor has he forbidden me to reclaim Aecor. For the last several weeks, since I first revealed my identity, we have been in
peaceful
negotiations. Patrick Lien returned to Aecor without my blessing. He incited this resistance without my consent.”

A blast of icy wind pushed at me, stealing my breath and whipping my cloak, but the wraith boy reached up and held me in place. James warmed my side: a steady, strong presence.

“I have with me Captain James Rayner, cousin to King
Tobiah. He is here as proof of our alliance, and our dedication to work together to resolve the conflicts between Aecor and the Indigo Kingdom.”

“Very good,” James muttered.

Below, people shifted. A low hum of voices came, but it was impossible to understand anything that was said.

“This fighting will cease immediately. When I reach Sandcliff Castle—”

At the far end of the passageway, a door slammed open. Ospreys Ronald and Oscar Gray strode out, and between them they dragged a limp and bloodied Prince Colin.

“Oh, by all the saints.” James groaned.

Patrick beckoned the Gray brothers closer. There was no emotion on his face, just the same unwavering determination to do what he thought was necessary.

“I have what I came for.” He didn’t need to raise his voice, or even look at me. “This ambush was not to invade the Indigo Kingdom,” he said, drawing a sword. The point touched the side of Prince Colin’s neck, but the unconscious prince didn’t move. “I simply want to take back Aecor. Terrell, the man who took it, is dead by my hand.”

James stiffened beside me. I touched his forearm. “Don’t move.”

“Though my plans for the new king were thwarted, the message was delivered: Aecorians will fight for their home.” When Prince Colin began to stir, Patrick edged the blade away. He wouldn’t cut by accident; when he did, it would be with deliberate precision. “Now I have the
Overlord
of Aecor. He’s raised incredible taxes on the people, forced them to the front lines of
the wraithland, and has even had the audacity to live in Sandcliff Castle—the home where the Kortes once resided. With his death, Aecor will be one step closer to reclaiming its independence.”

“No.” I drew my sword and dagger. “Drop your weapon, Patrick.”

He met my eyes, only a flash of triumph in his expression before he said, “You know how to enforce that command.”

Prince Colin blinked a few times and awakened. Blood dripped down his face as he scanned his surroundings, muttering curses under his breath. When he looked from Patrick to me, his eyes were filled with hate.

Patrick would kill Prince Colin. Just like he’d killed Terrell, and almost killed James and Tobiah. Just like the wraith boy had killed Meredith.

He’d kill Prince Colin for me. For my kingdom.

Tobiah’s words haunted me: “
What kind of queen will you be? The kind who allows others to murder in her name, or the kind who stands up and makes decisions her conscience can agree with?
”

“Fine.” The word was a breath. My heart sped faster, and the cold sapped at my strength, but I forced my voice to project. “I hereby declare myself Queen of Aecor.”

THE EFFECT OF
my words was immediate.

A great cry rose up behind me. The air shook with thousands of voices, some in protest, but many more in triumph.

Prince Colin glared at me with murder in his eyes, but Patrick simply nodded and took a slow, measured step away from the prince—but not before edging his blade a breath closer to Prince Colin’s throat, leaving a long, thin cut. A reminder. A promise.

Then Patrick’s blade hit the floor and he held out his arms in surrender.

“Arrest him,” I told the red-coated guards.

They hesitated, looking between Patrick, Melanie, and me.

“Do it,” Melanie said. “Wilhelmina is your queen. You answer to her, not to Patrick.”

They obeyed without further question.

Within two hours, one of the wagons became a moving
prison, guards of both colors watching over Patrick. The soldiers stationed at Snowhaven Bridge were reinstated, and the wraith boy began to clear snow under my direction; I didn’t trust him not to move it all into the bay and cause a flood.

“Prince Colin will not forgive this,” James said as we walked back to my wagon where a dozen Aecorian guards waited.

“I did it to save his life.”

“He won’t see it that way.”

“Unfortunately.” Had I made things better or worse? It was impossible to know.

The night had deepened and grown colder. The snow Chrysalis had moved away from the caravan formed glistening walls to the north and south, stinking like the wraithland.

After that exertion, Chrysalis was paler, his movements sluggish, but I stopped myself before asking if he was all right. He was going straight back to his wardrobe. At least I didn’t have to worry about him running away; he stuck to my side as surely as a puppy, desperate for attention.

“I should warn you.” James kept his voice low. “Several Aecorians have named themselves part of your royal guard. You can accept or dismiss them as you wish, but you should make a decision soon. Some will want favors in the future. You should be mindful of who you owe.”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t want any of them. I already have you.”

“Then you risk offending potential allies.”

Not
what I wanted to hear.

“At any rate, there will be new sleeping arrangements.
You’re no longer incognito and I’m not willing to risk your reputation—”

“It’s
my
reputation to ruin if I want, James.”

“And I’m not willing to risk mine, either.” He gave a smug grin and motioned to the wagon just ahead. “Lady Melanie will join you. I will station myself outside your wagon, along with any Aecorian soldiers of your choosing.”

“Oscar and Ronald.”

“The ones who brought Prince Colin to Lien?”

“They’re Ospreys. They may have sided with him during the Inundation, but they won’t allow any harm to come to me. The Gray brothers might have been born high noblemen, but they’re clever and good with their weapons.” I paused. “Besides, I don’t know any other Aecorians.”

James nodded. “Very well.”

“As for the others who’ve named themselves my royal guards, I’ll find out what Melanie, Ronald, and Oscar think of them before I accept any oaths. I’d like to know your opinions, too, if you happen to spend time with them.”

“Of course.” He wouldn’t forget, either. That was one of James’s best qualities: complete reliability. “As for the wraith boy, his wardrobe has been moved to the wagon following yours.”

The wraith boy gasped. “No! I want to be close to my queen.”

“It’s only a wagon away.” I leveled a glare on him, though the expression didn’t feel as menacing as I intended; I was too exhausted. “That’s close enough, and I will visit you in the morning.”

The hardness of his face softened. “You trusted me tonight. I wanted to make you proud.”

I forced my voice neutral and chose my words carefully. “You did well tonight. I was pleased with your work, and the way you obeyed my instructions.”

A smile lit his face as we continued toward his wagon. The mirrors had been moved, too, though at the moment they were covered with sheets. He hesitated at a sliver of glass showing near the floor; I stepped in front of it.

“In you go.”

His smile returned as he went inside his wardrobe. “Do I need to hum again?”

“Only if you want. Just behave. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I cannot wait. Good night, my queen.” He remained grinning even when I closed the doors and pulled the sheets off the mirrors. The glass reflected his wardrobe from every angle, making it impossible for him to escape.

How secure was it really, though? He avoided mirrors. He acted like they hurt him. But he’d destroyed the mirrors as wraith mist. Perhaps he couldn’t anymore, now that he was a boy.

What about the rest of the wraith?

“Wil?” James touched my elbow.

I blinked and stepped back from the glass I’d been glaring into. My face was ashen with cold and exhaustion, and my eyes rimmed with red. “Sorry,” I muttered. “I was thinking about mirrors again.”

“It happens to all of us.”

The wagon guards were eyeing me, too. I drew myself up and straightened my cloak. “Don’t open the wardrobe doors for
any reason. And don’t taunt him.”

Without another word, I swept out of the wagon, James at my heels.

“Do you think he can ever be useful?” James asked. “Can he learn to be more human?”

“Meredith thought so. And you saw what he did to her. There’s nothing human about him.” At James’s flinch, I softened the edge in my tone. “He’s just wraith and magic and destruction. A mistake I mean to correct. Tobiah said I can’t just bring things to life without consequences, and he was right.”

“Can you destroy them without consequences?” James shook his head as we approached my wagon. “Tobiah said that because he’s made mistakes, too. And he’s tried to correct them without thinking, and the results were even more undesirable than the original problem.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

He shrugged. “It’s not my story to tell. But I’ve said before that you two are a lot alike.”

How strange that anyone besides an Osprey might know me well enough to make a statement like that.

Oscar and Ronald stood guard at my wagon door, their red jackets buttoned tight against the cold. Black caps hid their dark hair.

“Look, it’s Wil,” said Oscar, smiling.

“That’s Queen Wil.” Ronald elbowed his brother, but didn’t smile. “There were about ten people here earlier. We told them to shove off for now.”

“Thank you.” Quickly, I gave them the same orders I had James, concerning a guard. “I need one of you to watch Patrick,
too. I’m sure there are a lot of people loyal to him and I can’t risk his escape. He needs to be tried for his crimes.”

“I’ll go.” Ronald offered a quick bow before heading toward Patrick’s wagon.

“He feels bad about Quinn and Ezra still,” said Oscar, though I hadn’t asked. “He’s afraid you think it’s his fault.”

Their names stung. “It’s Patrick’s fault for sending them. Ronald did all he could.”

Oscar nodded. “I’ll tell him you said that.” He opened the wagon door to let James and me inside. The lamps were already lit, and Melanie stood on the other side, near a small bedroll where the wraith boy’s wardrobe used to be. She offered a quick greeting as James shut the door behind us.

“It’s so unsettling to see you trusting anyone,” James said.

“I’ve known them most of my life.” I’d known Patrick most of my life, too.

He took the desk chair and pulled out the blue notebook he used to communicate with Tobiah. “I need to report what happened tonight. It will give him time to prepare for the official news.”

Prince Colin’s riders would be at least two days behind James’s letter, more if snow impeded their travel.

“No doubt he’ll appreciate the warning.” I shed my cloak and hung it on a hook by the door. My hands drifted down the smooth fabric, cold and damp with bits of snow. “Tell him—”

James uncapped a jar of ink and waited.

I unhooked my sword and its sheath. My daggers. I placed all my weapons in a trunk and straightened. “Tell him I had no
choice. That I haven’t forgotten what he said about authority and my status, but I had to do something.” Then, softer: “A declaration like that is hardly official. It doesn’t make it real.”

“It was real enough for Patrick,” Melanie said. “After everything, you gave him exactly what he wanted.”

“Doubtful he wanted to go to prison.”

“Wanted? Probably not. Was willing? Definitely.” She crossed the wagon and linked our arms together. “You know Patrick. Everything is part of some elaborate plan. I don’t know how being arrested figures into it, but I’m not ready to say he’s no longer a problem.”

James opened his notebook to the first blank page and dipped his pen in ink. “You’re sure you don’t know his plans?”

Melanie shook her head. “He wanted to take Prince Colin prisoner and execute him in the courtyard.” She squeezed my arm. “And on the off chance Prince Colin’s forces overwhelmed us, Aecor City was prepared to resist. Known loyalists have been . . . dealt with.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Imprisoned until they’re sufficiently encouraged to support you.”

“We’ll have to free them at once.”
Saints
, the things Patrick had done—and was willing to do—in my name. “And whatever he gains by being in prison himself, we’ll have to wait to find out. Prince Colin looks ready to murder me, and I don’t think Tobiah will have a much more positive reaction.”

“Oh, I can’t imagine His Royal Sullenness being happy about anything.” Melanie pulled away and sat on my bed. “Sorry,
James. I know you like him. For some reason.”

James smirked and bent over his notebook. “Wilhelmina likes him, too.”

“Wil?”
Melanie lifted an eyebrow, but I was
not
going to get into that right now.

Time to change the subject. “Where is Paige?” She’d been the other Osprey to side with Patrick. So far I’d seen three out of four of them. “Is she—”

“She’s fine. Waiting at the castle. We took it almost two weeks ago, while most of the regiment was still in Skyvale.”

“And the soldiers who had to stay in Aecor?” I asked, though I could guess. A pit of dread pulled in my stomach.

“Dead. Or imprisoned, if they had military knowledge he wanted. Same conditions as the loyalists.” Melanie sighed and ran her fingers through her short, choppy locks. “It’s been hard. Ugly. I’ve seen more death than I ever thought I would. But we’ve held Aecor City, which is more than I thought would happen.”

I tried to imagine Aecor City now. My memories of my childhood home were foggy with time, and charred black after watching the city burn during the One-Night War. I hardly knew it. Not like I knew Skyvale. Just closing my eyes, I could see the peaked roofs, the mirrors aglow in the light of the setting sun, and the blue mountains that surrounded everything.

But Aecor City as it stood now was a blank. Some queen I was.

Nevertheless, it was home. And it was right across the bay.

For a moment, we listened to the scratching sounds of James writing.

“Paige has made herself into quite the steward,” Melanie
said. “Patrick told her to make the castle ready for your return. She’ll be so panicked when she realizes you’re here already.”

“We’ve lived in poor conditions before. I’m sure everything is more than adequate.” I pulled the tie off the end of my braid and threaded my fingers into my hair, unbraiding section by section. “Besides, Prince Colin and his regiment were living there, and the crown prince requires a certain level of luxury.”

“That he does. He—” She hesitated and shook off whatever she’d been about to say. “We have a lot to discuss. I want to know all about the other Ospreys, and how you ended up traveling with Tobiah’s bodyguard. And that boy who could be your brother.”

“So much has changed. Including this.” I touched her hair. “What happened?”

Her face darkened. “Oh—”

“Sorry to interrupt.” James turned from his notebook. “Melanie, I need to ask you a few questions.” He glanced at me. “Apparently he’s awake. He keeps writing where I’m trying to write. He says congratulations.”

“He doesn’t mean it.” I’d probably ruined a hundred of his plans I didn’t even know about.

“What is this?” Melanie grabbed the notebook and turned it over and around. “Both of you write in here? How does it work?”

“Magic.” I plucked the notebook from her hands. “I’ll explain later.”

More words appeared on the page—mostly questions with underlines and multiple pieces of punctuation—as I handed the notebook back to James.

“Thank you.” He started writing on the next page, as Tobiah’s questions continued appearing on the previous. “Let’s start with the goal of the ambush. Patrick’s force wasn’t big enough to invade, though you said you managed to take and hold Snowhaven Bridge for a matter of days.”

Melanie glanced at me, eyebrow raised.

“Answer all of his questions honestly.”

She gave a quick nod and faced James. “That is correct. Patrick had no desire to invade the Indigo Kingdom. He wanted Aecor as it had been. The ambush was on the Indigo side of the bridge for two reasons: to prove to the Indigo Army that we were truly a force, and to keep them out of Aecor.”

“I see.” James’s pen scraped paper. “And you took the bridge. How?”

While James and Melanie discussed, I slipped behind the partition and changed into my nightclothes. Once my dressing gown covered me, I stepped out to find James pushing back the desk chair.

“I’ve already sent a list of the Indigo Kingdom dead I know,” he told me. “We’ll have a more complete list once the dead are moved and on a wagon home.”

“All right.” For a moment, I wasn’t sure why he was telling me that, but then I realized it was because I should have someone do the same thing for the Aecorians. See to the dead. Ensure the families were told. Figure out how to transport the bodies.

All things queens should remember to do on their own.

“In addition to my account of what happened tonight, Tobiah would like to hear it from you. He’d also like to know your plans for the prisoners in Aecor City and whether you plan
to free them. What you intend to do with Prince Colin now. And the wraith boy . . . Well, you’ll see the questions. I circled the ones you need to answer.” James offered the pen to me.