The Pledge (32 page)

Before Max was all the way to his feet again, his elbow was already smashing into the face of the other man, the second attacker who threatened his brother. The man tried to remain upright, but he wobbled, and then crumpled, his legs failing him.

“Enough!” The commander’s voice bellowed against my ear, as he grabbed me from behind, and I wondered where he’d come from, how he’d managed to sneak up on me. But before I could react—move or even breathe—the steel of his blade found the hammering pulse hidden within my throat.

Xander was the first to turn, followed quickly by Zafir and Claude, and then Max, who looked so furious—his entire body quivering with rage—that I worried for the commander myself.

“Now, we’re all going to move calmly and orderly,” the man stated, wrapping his arm tightly around my chest as he prompted me to take a step forward. “The queen is waiting for us.”

xxii

There were now at least thirty of the queen’s guards in all, although only one of them was armed with a combat rifle like those carried by the soldiers and guards who were stationed throughout the Capitol. Even the resistance fighters favored guns over blades. Yet here, in the queen’s palace, I saw mostly hand-to-hand weapons, like knives, daggers, bows, and double-edged broadswords; it was an antiquated way to fight.

I glanced around at all four of the men who’d come to escort me. They were covered in blood—although mostly it wasn’t their own. All were being held at knifepoint.

The steel edge pressed deeper into my flesh. “Eyes ahead,” the commander hissed.

I wanted to tell him to go to hell, but mine wasn’t the only neck on the line.

My heart leaped into my throat as we approached the huge gilded doors in a hallway that was wider than any room I’d ever been in, and taller than my entire home.

I was finally going to meet the queen.

The doors were opened by footmen who bent low at the waist as we passed. And despite the blood rushing noisily through my ears, my eyes swept the enormous room, taking in the high ceilings, the rich tapestries, and an ornate fireplace that took up nearly an entire wall. Royalty, it seemed, spared itself no luxury.

Even though summer approached, a fire blazed in a massive hearth that was framed by an enormous carved mantelpiece.

But my heart plummeted once more as my eyes fell upon the throne, and I wondered if this was yet another distraction, a new place to keep us captive. There was no one awaiting us inside.

I couldn’t stop myself from wondering where my parents were at this moment, how close they were to the place in which I now stood. I clung to the hope that their prison was as lavish as mine had been, but I worried that the fate they’d suffered had been less than extravagant.

The thought that they’d been used, pawns in the queen’s game, made my stomach ache and made me all the more apprehensive about meeting her.

But we didn’t have to wait long, and Her Majesty’s arrival came with all the fanfare I would have expected of a queen. However, if I’d expected a regal woman who could storm the room and exert dominance by her very presence, I’d been sorely mistaken. The queen could no more storm the room than she could walk into it of her own accord.

I certainly hadn’t expected to see an old woman being wheeled to her place at the throne.

She looked shriveled and frail, this woman who commanded a queendom, the body she wore betraying her, withering around her.

At her arrival, all the guards restraining us took a step back, yet not one of us moved. I was astonished, then, when everyone in the room, including Xander—leader of the revolutionaries, grandson to the queen—and Max bowed down in her presence, despite the fact that she’d just taken them both as prisoners. I followed suit, and remained there until I was told otherwise.

Xander had warned me not to be fooled by her outward appearance, but it was difficult not to overlook her weakness. The queen was an elderly woman who could no longer carry her own weight from one place to another. It was nearly impossible to believe that she was as merciless as I had been led to believe.

Until the sound of her voice cut through the room, and the crystal clarity of it belied her delicate physical state. “Rise,” she commanded, not a quiver to be heard. Her opaque eyes fixed on me as I lifted my head. I counted silently as I drew in air, exhaling to quell my trembling nerves. “Come closer, Charlaina Di Heyse.”

The surname she spoke meant nothing to me, just a name from a history book. It felt strange to hear it leaving her lips and finding its place beside the name my parents had given me.

I stood, my legs quivering beneath me.

I thought Max would remain where he was, rooted to his spot until he was ordered to do otherwise. There were still rules to obey, despite the unusual circumstances surrounding our meeting, and as far as I knew, he was still a prisoner. We all were.

But instead he moved to stand beside me, a prince at home in a castle. He laced his fingers through mine.

I have a purpose
, I reminded myself once again.
My family is counting on me
.

The air around me smelled of a fire’s smoke and a queen’s power as her lips drew back from her teeth in a startling attempt to smile. I couldn’t tell if it was meant to depict good humor or if she was mocking me, and her voice didn’t make my assessment any clearer. “So you are the girl who has turned my country upside down.” Her pale eyes looked dead already but felt as if they were boring right through me. She ignored Max’s presence at my side.

I flinched from her statement. “No, Your Majesty.” I wondered what sort of answer she’d expected. But from the tightening of her lips, I recognized immediately that I had misspoken. “I—I certainly didn’t mean to.”

“
Of course you didn’t, my dear. But you have.
” Her use of the Royal tongue was deliberate, and I realized that she knew I understood her.

Max squeezed my hand, a gesture of encouragement as he tried to intervene. “You can’t do this,” he stated to his grandmother, his voice low and steady. “You can’t hold her hostage. She’s not property to be bargained with. She can’t be forced to take the throne.”

I waited for the queen to answer him, but instead she stared blankly at my face, memorizing me as if she’d never heard Max speaking at all. I felt myself wanting to recoil from her chalky gaze. “
I’ve searched for so long. . . .
” Her voice faded, drifting off, before finding its way once more. “
You’ll make a good queen. So strong. So lovely.
”

“But what if I don’t want to be queen?”

I thought she’d raise her voice, berate me in anger. I didn’t expect her to smile. “It’s not up to you, child. It never has been.”

Xander stepped forward then. He’d torn one of his sleeves from his shirt and tied it around his wounded arm. Blood still soaked through. He moved to stand in front of both me and Max, as if he’d listened to enough.

Hostility split the air as the two of them stared at each other, and I wondered how long it had been since they’d been face-to-face like this. The silence between them was palpable, and in that moment, I felt that Xander was in more danger than the rest of us.

It was the queen who spoke first, her voice low and menacing. “
How dare you show your face in my home? What right do you have to stand before me?
”

Xander’s voice belied the bitterness that was etched across his scarred face. “Grandmother,” he bowed comically—mockingly. He spoke in Englaise, an obvious jab at his royal heritage. “Always a pleasure.”

“
Don’t ‘grandmother’ me, you insolent brat. I’m your queen, and you’ll show me the respect I deserve while you stand within these walls.
” Her eyes grew glassy. “
There was a time I would have done anything for you,
” she said in a tone that neared affection. The way she spoke to him, the way her voice dropped, made me think she’d forgotten that it wasn’t just the two of them, that she wasn’t having a private conversation with her grandson, but rather a public discussion with the man hell-bent on destroying her. “
My sweet Alexander, you were the only boy I’ve ever truly cared about.
” She closed her
eyes, permitting herself a moment with her memories. And again, I saw a weakened woman before me.

Xander grinned. “You won’t be my queen for long. Charlie will never agree to your terms. She won’t accept your Essence.”

She opened her eyes just a sliver, and then she cackled, a sound eerily similar to laughter escaping her thin lips. “
We’ll see about that, won’t we?
”

At last, a grim smile settled over her face. She spoke not to Xander, or to me, but to the guard at her side. “
Bring in the prisoners.
”

xxiii

I saw my father first. His hands were bound behind his back and his mouth was gagged. The cuts and bruises I could see were a thousand times worse than I ever could have imagined. My mother stumbled in behind him, and when one of the guards shoved her from behind, she nearly tripped over the shackles that weighed down her ankles.

I belatedly realized that the gasp I heard was my own as I watched Aron being dragged in. Dragged, because he was incapable of walking on his own, as his feet dangled limply behind him and his head lolled forward, sagging uselessly against his chest. Even from where I stood, I could hear his jagged breaths; they were difficult to listen to.

He was dumped on the floor like refuse, as if his very presence was distasteful.

I didn’t wait for a signal that it was okay for me to move. There wasn’t enough willpower in the world to stop me from running to my parents. I couldn’t reach them fast enough and didn’t care who might try to stop me. They were barely
through the doorway when I was hugging each one of them in turn. I was careful not to squeeze too tight, since I didn’t know how badly they were injured.

It pained me not to go to Aron, but I knew he wasn’t even aware of his surroundings. He was brought only as a message to me: The queen had shown restraint with my parents.

“
Are you okay?
” I whispered in Parshon, slipping the filthy cloth from my mother’s cracked and bleeding lips. Her breath smelled sour, a combination of hunger and bile; I could no longer find the sweet scent of warm bread coming from her skin.

She nodded, her eyes filled with remorse. “
What are you doing here, Charlaina? We told you to stay away, to keep your sister safe at all costs.
”

I glanced back to the queen, grateful that I’d left Angelina behind. “
She’s safe,
” I assured my mother softly. Speaking to the guards, I ordered, “Untie them.” I unbound my father’s mouth and used the dirty rag to blot fresh blood that oozed from a wound at his scalp. I wondered how recently he’d been abused, and the thought made my stomach clench.

Neither of the guards moved, so I turned to the old woman in the throne. “Please, they’re not going anywhere. What harm could it do?”

The queen lifted an eyebrow and nodded, a silent consent to my request, and my parents were freed.

My father wasn’t as gentle as I’d been. His arms reached around me, crushing me against him. “
I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you, Charlaina, about who you were. We worried for your safety.
” He pulled back to gaze at me, and I could see the
sorrow in his swollen, bloodshot eyes. “
We couldn’t risk that
she
find out you existed.
” He squeezed me once more, and this time his words came out on the quietest breath, meant only for my ears. “
Don’t do anything she wishes. Do whatever it takes to get out of here alive, Charlaina. Leave us behind if you must.
” His grip tightened, ensuring that I understood the significance of what he’d just asked of me.

But before I could formulate a denial of my own, the queen’s voice struck like a flash of lightning, causing goose bumps to ripple over my skin and the hair at the back of my neck to bristle. “She will do no such thing! If she does, she’ll have no parents to return to.”

My mother reached for my hand, clutching it so hard that I could feel the tears she was unwilling to shed. “
Don’t listen to her, Charlie. You need to stay alive. Angelina needs you to stay alive.
”

And then the world around me exploded as my father’s entire body convulsed, seizing as he fell to his knees, his eyes widening with panic, his fingers clutching at his throat.

From behind me, Max’s voice rang out in fury. “Stop it! Release him!” I turned to see him hurtling toward the throne, toward his own grandmother—the queen—where she stood, her balled fist lifted, pointing directly at my father. Xander intercepted one of the royal guards who moved to stop his brother, and his fist crashed into the man’s nose. The crushing sound was revolting, and the guard dropped forward, cupping his bloodied face in his hands.

But Max never made it to the throne.

It was the rifle’s blast that stilled everything. My blood
stopped pumping as ceiling plaster clattered in chunks over the polished marble floor at our feet, a consequence of the warning shot. But we all watched in horror as the guard holding the firearm dropped the nose of his weapon and directed it at Max.

No one moved. No one blinked.

Yet it was my father for whom I feared most.

He couldn’t breathe. Somehow the queen was blocking his airway as he writhed on the floor, struggling against her spell.

I stood frozen, watching it all, yet unable to move from my spot on the floor. I turned to the old woman who was showing me just how ruthless she could be. “Please, don’t do this! Don’t hurt him!” I implored.

The queen, indifferent to the weapon aimed at her grandson, quivered as she stared down at me, her fist still extended in front of her. “
You can stop it, Charlaina. All you have to do is offer yourself in their place.
” She pursed her already thinned lips.

I turned to look at my father. Blood began to drip from his nose and seep from his ears. My mother saw too, but her words were determined. “
Don’t do it, Charlie. No matter what. Do you hear me? Never
. Never!”