Chapter 4

4: 4

4.

The palace was terrifyingly still that deep in the night.

The black mist led me on, threading me through the dark.

What shook me was this: it skipped past every remote dead well and every abandoned hall in the palace.

In the end it pointed straight at the bedchamber Jasper Harding shared with the queen.

My throat went tight.

Mae's remains were still here.

Watching the fake queen and her own beloved twined close together, day after day. How much pain must that have been.

This time I didn't hesitate. I went over the wall and kicked the bedchamber doors open.

Jasper Harding and the fake queen were getting ready for bed.

Seeing me barge in like that, they rose in surprise.

"Stella, why have you come?"

Behind me, the imperial guard rushed in at the noise and closed a ring around me, their spears leveled at me all at once.

I lifted my hand and pointed past Jasper Harding at the fake queen.

"She is not Mabel Pruitt."

"The real Mae, her body, is right here in this bedchamber!"

Jasper Harding froze, then turned back to look at the wife he loved above all things.

The fake queen startled first, then let out a bitter, resigned little laugh.

"Stella."

"Have you worn yourself thin praying for rain for the people, until your mind's not right?"

"You can't just say things like that."

Jasper Harding said nothing.

After a moment, he spoke, low and quiet.

"Mae, Stella is the Realm-Guarding High Priestess."

"All these years she's prayed for Dayong and put down our troubles."

"If she doubts you, just prove it to her."

The fake queen's eyes reddened.

Then, in front of everyone, she pushed up her sleeve.

Baring a vicious, ugly scar along her arm.

Tears at the corners of her eyes, she looked at Jasper Harding, wronged to the core.

"When His Majesty was attacked all those years ago, I took the killing blow for him with my own body."

"I lost so much blood I was hanging by a thread, and Stella prayed for me three days and three nights without a drop of water."

"Have you all forgotten?"

With that, the fake queen let her sleeve fall.

"Stella, I know worry has clouded your judgment."

"But such hurtful words, don't say them again."

Guilt flooded Jasper Harding's face at once, and he pulled her into his arms.

"Stella, this scar is proof. She truly is my Mae."

"For the sake of all your years with the queen, I won't hold you to the crime of breaking into the royal bedchamber."

"Let this matter drop."

I gripped the dagger in my hand, my eyes gone to frost.

"Fine. You don't believe me."

"Then let Mae tell you herself!"

I cut open my palm with the dagger and smeared the hot blood across both my eyes.

When I opened them again, the black mist that had blurred and faded gathered once more.

Like a snake slithering down beneath the bed!

I said nothing. I stepped around Jasper Harding and the fake queen.

Threw back the brocade quilt on the bed.

Worked the dagger under the yellow rosewood boards to pry them up.

Drew a deep breath, and heaved them open.

When I saw what lay inside, I clapped a hand over my mouth, tears bursting free.

Jasper Harding took one look and spat out a great mouthful of blood.

He snatched a guard's sword and whipped it back against the fake queen's throat.

Eyes gone bloodred, teeth clenched, he roared:

"Who the hell are you!"