The Pledge (27 page)

“
And you believe she’s safer with you and your band of misfit soldiers? Have you told her who you are? What you used to be?
”

Xander cast a quick glance in my direction, as if his words were veiled, their meaning hidden, and I knew in that moment that my secret was still safe. He had no idea that I understood what he was saying. Angelina was the only one in the room who didn’t comprehend. “
Damn right she’s safer with us. We have her best interests in mind.
”

“
Your interests are as selfish as the queen’s. You need a ruler, and you think Charlie fits the bill.
”

“
She does. She’s the One. And you know it too, or you wouldn’t be here on the queen’s errand.
”

Max’s teeth ground together as he took a warning step toward Xander. “
You have no idea why I’m here, and neither does the queen.
”

Xander hesitated, but only for a moment. “
She must know something. Otherwise . . .
” His eyes swept over the destruction inside the house. “
Otherwise she would have no need for Charlie’s parents.
”

I gasped, my hand reaching around my own throat as I staggered backward. I settled down on the sofa, where Angelina sat silently.

“You—you think
Queen Sabara
has my parents?”

Xander’s eyes grew wide, his anger toward Max momentarily forgotten as he stared at me, finally realizing that I’d understood him. He didn’t ask for an explanation; he just frowned, looking sorry. “I do, Charlie.” This time in Englaise, so there was no room for misinterpretation. “And you may be the only chance they have. But right now, we need to get you out of here.” He shot an angry glare in Max’s direction as he added, “Before she sends someone back for you and your sister as well.”

Suddenly my home had become a trap, and we stayed for only as long as it took me to gather Angelina in my arms and rush through the doorway into the street. Brooklynn was waiting there, along with a small contingent of Xander’s soldiers, and I was again struck by how at ease she appeared among them. We made an odd assemblage, our traveling party—soldiers and commoners, rebels and royalty; although I doubted anyone looking would recognize us for what we truly were.

Once it was decided that the only place we could safely go was back to the underground city, we traveled in silence. It wasn’t a comfortable silence, however; it was strained and filled with unspoken tension.

Claude and Zafir had both made it clear that they had reservations about going with the resistance fighters, while
Xander had qualms about allowing the queen’s grandson, and his two guards, into his underground operation. But no one could agree on an alternate option, another place where the queen would be unable, at least for the time being anyway, to locate Angelina and me.

Brooklynn walked at my side, and I wondered if it was simply out of habit or if she was still my oldest friend. I honestly couldn’t tell any longer, and I hated that I was questioning her loyalty.

Max stood on my other side, his bulky guards surrounding him as best they could, keeping Xander and his people at bay.

We didn’t go back the way that Angelina and I had come, through the tiny fissure in the ground. Instead Xander led us through the back entrance of a restaurant that was closed for the night. We made our way through the shadowy kitchen and through a doorway that should have led to a cellar below, but rather than a cellar, it opened up into a passageway that stretched endlessly before us. There were lamps, already lit, along the way. It was cleaner, and smelled better, than the sewer through which my sister and I had traveled earlier.

Still, whether from fear or attraction, I found myself moving closer to Max. My shoulder bumped against him, and I felt the tension within me unravel with his proximity.

I set Angelina on the ground between Brooklynn and me, my arm aching from the weight of carrying her. On her other side, I saw her reach for Brook’s hand, clinging to each of us as she walked. It was reassuring to know that Angelina still trusted her.

Only once we were securely ensconced within the tunnel,
away from the staircase that led back to the restaurant above, did anyone speak.

It was Xander who first broke the silence. He fell back so he could speak directly to Max. “If
you
didn’t tell her, how did the queen know about Charlie?” His voice echoed along the dim corridor.

There was a brief pause, and I got the distinct sensation that this wasn’t a question Max wanted to answer. But I, for one, was anxious to hear his response. I glanced up so I could see his face.

His brow creased when he finally spoke. “They had no idea who she was until they went to her home and discovered her parents.” Accusation was heavy in the stare he directed at Xander. “It was you they were looking for, questioning everyone with suspected ties to your revolutionaries. They use force to gain any information they can.”

“But what did I do to draw their suspicion? Why would they believe I knew where Xander was?” I still didn’t understand.

“You didn’t do anything, Charlie.” Max’s hand reached over and slipped around mine, squeezing tightly. I didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of the gesture; his next sentence explained it all. “One of the people they tortured was your friend Aron.”

For a moment, I didn’t realize that I’d stopped walking. It wasn’t until Angelina tugged at my hand, reminding me that she was still there . . . that they were all still there, watching me.

I looked up, swallowing the anguish that threatened to clog my throat, my eyes stopping at each one of them. At Max and at Xander. At Claude and Zafir, the guards who had sworn
their lives to protect their prince. At Xander’s well-armed revolutionaries, including Brooklynn, who had sworn their lives to their cause. And at Angelina, who stared back at me with her trusting blue eyes.

Aron
. I couldn’t fathom it. They had tortured Aron to find
me
. And not because of
who
I was, but because of who I might know?

It was only a bonus, I supposed, that they’d discovered the missing royal family in the process.

I felt sick to my stomach. Max held me up as I swayed, and my fingers clutched his, if only to remain on my feet.

“Did they—” But I couldn’t finished my sentence.

Then Brooklynn, who had been silent up until this moment, finished for me, and in her tormented words I heard her, the person she’d been before I’d lost her to a rebellion. “So it was me they were looking for, not Charlie.” Her voice sounded hollow, and then she whispered her question—
our
question—on a shaky breath. “Did they kill him?”

“No,” Max answered. “When I left, he was still alive.”

I felt her shuddering sigh all the way from the other side of Angelina, as if it were my own.

There was something about knowing that I wasn’t alone in this, that Brooklynn was still with me, suffering because Aron had suffered, that made me feel stronger, more determined.

I stood upright now, releasing Max’s hand just to prove that I could. I held my back straight. “Then we need to save him. And my parents. Somehow, we need to make this right.”

xviii

Brook tugged my hand, drawing me away from the others, doing her best to afford us some privacy as we navigated the chiseled corridors, moving farther underground.

“I didn’t know,” she whispered, keeping her voice low and glancing around to make certain no one could hear us. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt. Especially not Aron.” Her dark eyes were sad, filled with regret.

“I know,” I assured her, seeing her differently now. She was no longer the carefree girl I’d known in my childhood, nor was she the hardened revolutionary I’d imagined she’d become. Instead she was passionate, devoted, dedicated. And, still, my friend. “But you do realize that people are going to get hurt if there’s a war, don’t you?”

“We don’t want that, Charlie. We don’t
want
to fight, but we can’t just go on like this. We deserve to choose what we want to be,
who
we want to be.”

I didn’t disagree with her reasons, but I didn’t know how to respond, so I didn’t try. “What about me? How long have you
suspected—?” I faltered; the right words were difficult to find. “How long did you know who I was?”

“We only just figured it out. Your father did an excellent job of keeping his identity hidden. In fact, your parents weren’t the only ones being watched . . . there are other families who’ve been suspected. But then the night the Academy girl—”

“Sydney,” I corrected her.

Brook shrugged, as if knowing her name was somehow distasteful. “The night
Sydney
came into the restaurant and you spilled water on her, I overheard your parents arguing in the kitchen. Your father was worried that someone might discover the truth if you weren’t careful. He was afraid the queen would learn you existed. I was pretty sure then. After that it was just a matter of getting you close enough to Xander so he could decide if you fit the description.”

“The club?” I asked, understanding dawning.

Brook nodded, the trace of a glint in her eye. “But we left too early that first night. Xander wasn’t there yet.” No wonder she’d been so mad at me when I dragged her out of the club that night, insisting it was time to leave. “You made it easy, though, when you asked if we could go back.” She nudged me playfully with her shoulder, as if we were talking about boys, or school, or anything other than what we were really discussing. “But even then I had no idea what your gift was, what power it was that you were hiding.” She smiled at me then, a wickedly familiar grin. “I wish you would have told me, Charlie. Think of all the cool things we could have done with that little trick!”

“You’re crazy!” I nudged her back, smothering a laugh. This
didn’t feel like the right time for laughter, not while my parents were still out there.

“And the night at the park? Did you know what was going to happen?”

Brook’s head dropped shamefully. “I knew something was up. I was told that I needed to keep an eye on you. I figured the best way to do that was for us to go out.” She glanced sideways at me. “I didn’t mean to lose you in the park. When the sirens went off, I looked everywhere. Eventually, I figured you must have taken off with . . .
him
.”

She didn’t say Max’s name, reminding me that she was still bitter, and I wondered if it was ever jealousy after all, or if she’d known all along who he was. I thought of that night at Prey, when she’d flirted shamelessly with Claude and Zafir, and I wondered if it had all been just an act. A calculated way to gain their trust, to try to gather information. I suddenly wondered at Brooklynn’s choice in men, always leaning toward those in the military.

I didn’t bother asking her.

“We’re so close,” she explained. “To everything we’ve always wanted, to everything we’ve worked for.” Her eyes shimmered as she looked at me. “And you can give it to us, Charlie.
You
can change everything.”

I shook my head, my eyes filling with tears that I couldn’t explain . . . even to myself.

Brooklynn was wrong. I could accept that my father came from a royal bloodline, or at least I could no longer deny it. I’d seen the proof with my own eyes. I could even accept that
that
was the reason I could comprehend the other languages,
that interpretation was my ability as a royal daughter.

But I wasn’t born to rule . . . I could never be a queen.

“Yes, Charlie,” Brook offered before I could voice my denial. She seized my hands, clasping them tightly in hers as she pressed them to her lips. “You must.”

I closed my eyes, hating that I would let her down, and not wanting to have this discussion right now. Not when I finally felt like I had her back.

Once we were back in the underground city, Xander took charge of the situation. “Brook, you take Angelina back to her chamber, so we can talk to Charlie alone.”

“But shouldn’t I be here—”

A fierce look flashed across Xander’s face, warning Brook not to argue; she’d been given an order.