As I promised her I would, I help Grace Stevens get settled in. We have a long talk about what life here at Court will be like. I explain to her that those of us who live here are not like her, explaining as much as I can without fully disclosing what we really are.

She’ll figure it out eventually. But that doesn’t need to be right now.

We talk about her life back in New Orleans. To my surprise, she doesn’t have any children, has never been married. Her life has been her work as a nurse.

That career is going to be difficult to give up.

But beside that, she doesn’t seem all that concerned about the fact that she will never return to her life.

Then again, I think about that feeling she’s described, about knowing when someone is cursed and how long it will be until they are claimed by it, and maybe this will be a relief for her. Maybe it’s better that she only have to be exposed to the curse on Cyrus and I.

And then I’m back to dealing with the drama at hand.

Over the course of the next two days, I make phone calls to fifteen different Houses around the world. I explain to them that we have a few individuals here at Court that we aren’t sure are trustworthy when it comes to our secret. I tell them that in the next day or two, they will be sent an individual who is to live in their House, and that they are to watch them for the rest of that Royal’s life.

No, they will never have any Royal claim over the House they are sent to, and neither would any heirs they may ever produce.

No, they will never, ever be allowed back at Court, even to visit.

No, there is no choice in this matter.

So for the two days after that, the soldiers in the valley below us escort individual Royals to privately chartered jets, they point guns at them the entire flight to their destination, and then they are handed off to the Houses in their new parts of the world.

We shrink here at Court, but already, I feel the weight on my shoulders get just a little lighter.

Seventeen days after this “invasion” began, I know that the time has come.

It’s time to release Alivia, Ian, and Eshan.

It’s time to bring Mina, Fredrick, and Horatio back to duty.

As soon as it is dark, I slip down to the base and give word to Matthias and Dorian and Malachi. I ask that my grandsons escort the releases to the castle at midnight. Then I return to the castle.

I find Cyrus in the lab. I walk up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist, hugging myself into his back.

He’s reading some kind of ancient text. But I don’t bother trying to decipher its words. That’s not what I’m here for.

“I’m bringing some back to the castle tonight,” I say. “Mina, Fredrick, Horatio. Eshan. And Alivia and Ian.”

He lifts his head at that, his attention piqued at the names.

“I need you at my side,” I say, cutting to the heart of my request. “You don’t have to do anything. They don’t even have to see you for more than a minute or two. But I do need them to see you. I need them to see with their own eyes that you’re still alive and well. Because I need at least Alivia to take word back to the House of Conrath that she’s seen you with her own eyes. So she can spread the word that you’re still standing. Many of the Houses doubt me, and we can’t have that show of uncertainty.”

I turn my head, pressing my lips to the base of Cyrus’ neck. His flesh is warm and soft. “I need you at my side when they come back tonight. Even if only for a minute.”

Maybe he can hear my desperation. Maybe he can sense how tired I am.

But Cyrus turns, holding me against him. His eyes glow with intensity as he looks down at me.

“I will be there for you, my love,” he says softly.

I smile in appreciation, rising onto my toes to kiss his lips.

---

Together, we get ready. I’m not really sure how to dress. We need to show a strong front, for Alivia and her House’s benefit and impression. But these are also people who are close to us, people who are going to be angry and hurt when I explain what I did to them.

I end up choosing a dark purple dress that hugs my bust and fans out from there, dropping to the floor. Not a chance I’m going to wear the crown today, but I do twist my hair up, regal and elegant.

Cyrus dresses in black slacks, a white button up shirt, and a vest.

Powerful, but not overbearing.

Still, my heart races in my chest as the hour ticks closer. With ten minutes to go, we go down the stairs.

Cyrus’ hand reaches for mine, and my eyes whip over to him.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re angry, or if they understand,” he says as we stop at the base of the stairs. “They may be important to you, you may even love them, but you have to think about more than just them. You did what you had to, my love.”

Tears of gratitude well at the backs of my eyes, but thankfully do not shine in them. I nod once, bolstered.

It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Together, we cross the main floor and go to the front doors.

When the clock in the entry chimes midnight, I squeeze Cyrus’ hand once more, and together, we each take one of the door handles, and pull them open wide.

There, walking up the road, just twenty yards away, is a group of eight.

And the second their eyes land on Cyrus, every one of them stops dead in their tracks.

I take advantage of the stalled moment to observe every one of them.

Alivia and Ian seem no different than the day we were “invaded.” Fredrick is as pale and thin as ever. Mina nearly looks bored, as if the past two weeks were merely an inconvenience. But Eshan… He looks thin. Pale. The bags under his eyes make me think he hasn’t slept this entire time.

He only takes a moment, taking the both of us in. And then he breaks out into a sprint, dashing up the road.

He collides with me as he crashes into the castle. His thin arms wrap around my shoulders, hugging me tight to him. Startled, I hug him back, pulling him in close. Emotion pricks the backs of my eyes as I hold my little brother who is at least six inches taller than me.

Behind him, I hear footsteps again as the group once more finishes the journey to the castle doors.

“Your majesty,” multiple voices murmur. Eshan releases me, and I see Mina, Fredrick, Dorian, Malachi, Horatio, Ian, and Alivia dipping in a bow.

There’s awe in each of their faces when they look up at Cyrus.

Most all of them knew there should be a possibility that he would recover. But one wouldn’t suspect that from the looks on their faces.

There’s reverence there. Absolute awe.

“You’re alive,” Alivia breathes. And I see fear in her eyes.

Justified.

She saw the man staked, and then just moments later she was dragged here for a trial, accused of orchestrating it.

“It seems my curse continues to be stronger than anything,” Cyrus says, fixing Alivia with dead eyes. “Even death.”

I hate that fear and uncertainty in Alivia’s eyes right now.

This needs to end.

“So is anyone going to explain why the two of you are here, in the castle, looking quite comfortable, while the rest of us have been wasting away down in the slums?”

Oh, Ian is too bold. Too stupid.

Does the idiot not know when it is the place and time for blunt words?

“Let’s get inside,” I say through gritted teeth. I nod my head further in the castle, my eyes flicking out to the complications outside. I close the castle doors and lead the group toward the Great Hall.

Eshan hovers at my side, and I reach my hand out, taking his in mine.

Guilt sparks in my throat when I look over at him.

He’s sixteen. He’s human. He’s innocent in all of this.

It’s my job to protect him. To guard him.

And look what I’ve just put him through. Because all I could think about in the last two weeks was Cyrus and our twisted hearts.

I go to the head of the table, Eshan on my one side, Cyrus standing at the other. I wait for everyone else to sit, but none of them do. They stand around the edges of it, and just look at Cyrus and I expectantly.

“I think the betrayals we’ve faced run deeper than anyone realizes,” I begin. All eyes flick from Cyrus over to me. As he promised, Cyrus is at my side, and I can feel his support, but he doesn’t say a word. “I think there are Born who have infiltrated Roter Himmel, but I also believe there are Royals here, maybe throughout the world as well, who want to see the monarchy fall.”

I look around to each of the people that surround me. And I’m one hundred percent faking everything. My confidence. My bravado.

Really, inside, I’m flaking. Crumbling. I’m filled with doubt.

“We interviewed everyone here at Court and they swore their loyalty, but words are only words,” I say. My throat grows tight as I close in on the words I don’t want to admit to. “For the safety of the Court, for the safety of the world, I needed to find the truth.”

“All of that down there was staged,” Alivia concludes instantly.

I nod. “I needed to get down to the core of everyone here at Court. I needed them to have motivation to tell the truth when interrogated about our kind and their intent.”

“So you used fear,” Ian says, disgust seeping into his voice.

“Fear brings out the truth of people,” Cyrus chimes in for the first time. And just his words, the hardness on his face, I see that fear instantly back in the eyes of all those that surround us.

“People lie, they can say anything they want, but that doesn’t make it the truth,” I move right along, feeling desperate. I don’t like feeling like I have to explain myself, but it rises in me, choking me. “I didn’t want to have to do this, to bring this on the people, but Cyrus was decapitated, there were people who came to my parents’ house in Colorado and murdered them. The bloodshed would spread and if we did nothing, the entire world could fall apart in a matter of months.”

“And you didn’t trust us?” I’m surprised when it’s Mina who speaks up. “After everything we’ve done, after the service we’ve devoted to not only Cyrus, but you, in the last few months?”

I have to remind myself, that she, and Fredrick, who looks just as betrayed and annoyed, they have never had to be under the rule of anyone but Cyrus. They don’t know me. They don’t trust me.

“You’re all here, in the castle now, while everyone else is down there, because I do trust you,” I say, keeping my voice level and calm. “I am sorry, really truly sorry I had to put you all through everything the last two weeks, but I needed the entire city to truly believe the invasion.”

“We could have helped you, you know,” Alivia says. She looks over at me with dark eyes. “What you had to deal with, what you had to coordinate, the stress you must have been under pulling everything together. We could have helped you.”

I keep staring at her. The woman I look so much like. The woman who’s been a leader for sixteen years now. The woman who finally brought the Queen back into the world.

I hate this disconnect I feel with her. I don’t want it to be there.

But it is.

“I needed everyone to believe it was real,” I reiterate. “I’m sorry for the stress I’ve put you all under. But I did what I had to do.”

I reach out for Cyrus’ hand. I take a step toward the door. “It might be hard, but I need everyone to go back to normal life. I need your help, your services. Alivia, I know you need to return to your House. As soon as our jets have returned from their errands, you can go home. In two days.”

I look back at them one more time.

I’m fracturing. Because I see the looks of betrayal and hurt on every single one of their faces. They hate me right now. They hate seeing me holding Cyrus’ hand for support. They hate him backing me up, and me not refuting anything he said.

Emotion pricks the backs of my eyes. But I have to hold it in.

I have to believe I made the right choices.

So I turn away. I hold my head high.

And side by side with Cyrus, we walk out of the room.

I only get twenty yards down the hall when I can’t hold it anymore. The emotions well up inside of me like a tsunami. I let go of Cyrus hand. And I run.

Down hallways and passages. Cyrus doesn’t yell after me, I know he won’t, because that would alarm those back in the Great Hall, and he won’t make me look weak right now. But he follows after me for a moment, and then he stops, realizing what I need.

I weave through the castle, the air rippling my hair behind me. I twist down one stairway, cut through a room, down a passage.

And finally I can’t go any further.

I collapse in a room I don’t even recognize. There’s an overstuffed purple couch, a vanity, and a chandelier hanging above my head. I crumple into the couch, burying my face in my arms, and I let the sobs rip through me.

I’m only twenty-freaking-years old.

I’m not supposed to have to make these kinds of calls. I’m not supposed to have the power to control a kingdom and influence Houses around the world. I’m not supposed to have armies at my disposal.

I’m supposed to be out figuring my life out. I’m supposed to be worrying over how to pay rent. I’m supposed to be out for weekend parties with my best friend. I’m supposed to be worrying my mom when I don’t check in often enough.

It’s too much.

I feel like I’m drowning.

Because there are a dozen people somewhere in the castle who are livid with me. Who doubt me. Who think I did something dark and terrible.

I’ve done them.

I had to do those things.

But I’m tired. I feel guilty. I can’t hold it all in anymore.

After holding it all on my own, I have to drop the strength. I have to drop Sevan.

So as Logan, alone in a dark castle, in a strange land, I sob. I mourn the life I’ve lost, and the fate in front of me that just feels too damn heavy.