I awoke the following morning with a throbbing pain along my neck, the dull ache running all the way down my shoulder. Still, it was nothing I couldn’t handle after the agony of the night before. No doubt it was just my body getting rid of whatever traces the chip had left behind.

I rolled over in the bed to find Navan gone. My first instinct was to panic, and I sat up and looked around, just in time to see him come through the front door of the chambers. He smiled as he saw me, coming to sit at the edge of the bed.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” he said softly. “How are you feeling?”

I let out a sigh and leaned back. “Groggy.”

“Any pain?”

“Just a few aches, nothing I can’t cope with,” I replied. After the secret discussion with Lazar the previous evening, I was curious to know where he had been. “What have you been up to?”

“I went to pick up the disc from the guys at the palace,” he said casually, taking a seat in a chair.

I was about to ask him further questions about last night, but, realizing I desperately needed to pee, I got up to go to the bathroom. On reemerging a few minutes later, I found Navan’s chair empty.

I glanced toward the front door to see him standing there, in the middle of closing it. He turned to face me with a grim look.

“That was a messenger—the queen has invited us to breakfast,” he said sourly.

“I’m guessing we have to go? I mean, it’s not as if I can eat anything,” I muttered.

He sighed. “Be rude not to.”

Fearful of what the queen might want us for, I dressed quickly, and we left the room, all other thoughts evaporating into the ether. Taking the Snapper across the familiar route, we headed for the palace. After parking, we hurried through the palace in the direction of the throne room, where Queen Gianne was waiting for us.

A circular table covered in a cloth of deep plum velvet had been positioned in front of the silver throne, and there were plates laid out at every seat, with an assortment of vials placed on top. At one seat, however, was a very surprising sight—a bowl full of fruit had been set out, the colors vivid. I didn’t recognize any of the fruit pieces, but my mouth was watering regardless. I couldn’t wait to devour something that wasn’t from a plastic packet.

Nestor, Cristo, Lazar, and the two shifters, morphed back into their Carokian forms, were already sitting at the table, their eyes flickering toward us as we approached. Queen Gianne was speaking with some guards on the far side of the room, but as she saw us take our seats, she swept across the floor to join us. She was dressed in a flowing gown of pure white, with an opaleine brooch clasped to the neckline.

With a flourish, she sat down at the table, removing the stopper from one of the vials in front of her and downing the contents. A trickle of something silver ran out of the corner of her mouth, before being hastily brushed away. Taking it as a signal, we all began to eat—or drink, in everyone else’s case. I descended upon the fruit bowl, a burst of flavor exploding in my mouth, the sugar rushing straight to my head. Some flavors were familiar, but most were brand new, exciting my senses. I hadn’t realized until that moment just how much I missed real food.

“You’re probably wondering why I’ve brought you all together this morning,” Queen Gianne began, after finishing off a second vial.

As a group, we looked up from what we were consuming and let our collective gaze rest on her. I thought she looked paler than the last time I’d seen her, with dark circles under her eyes, almost hidden by deftly applied makeup.

“It was a surprise, Your Highness,” Navan said first, the silence having stretched on a moment too long.

“No doubt I frightened you?” she prompted, giving a slightly manic laugh.

“Not at all, Your Highness,” Navan replied, though I detected a note of unease in his voice.

Queen Gianne looked disappointed by this news. “Well, never mind. I’ve got you here now. You see, I thought we might take a moment to discuss the rebels. That is, after all, why you were permitted to remain in my queendom,” she continued. “I wish to know what you know, since intelligence was your bartering chip.”

Another silence stretched across the table, though it was Nestor who broke it this time. “What would you care to know, Your Highness? We can tell you everything we have at our disposal,” he said calmly.

“Where is the rebel base?” she asked, diving straight in with the big question.

“It’s situated a year’s travel from Vysanthe. I traced a map while I was there—I can bring it to your private study, if you would like, Your Highness?” Nestor offered.

She smiled. “That would be excellent. I am eager to send a portion of my army to seek them out as soon as possible, and destroy their base before they can gather numbers and strike us first,” she explained, a glimmer of fear flickering in her eyes. “This outpost, is it on your map too?”

Nestor nodded. “It is, Your Highness. I made a note of everything we discovered at the outpost, and I would be more than happy to share it all with you, my queen.”

“Do they plan to strike Vysanthe?” Queen Gianne wondered, her voice wavering ever so slightly.

“Those we found felt abandoned by the rebels, Your Highness,” Navan cut in, gesturing to the others at the table, who nodded vigorously. “The last they’d heard, the rebels were trying to piece themselves back together again, but had no immediate plan to retaliate.”

“Indeed, Your Highness, nor did they appear to have the numbers, by all accounts,” Lazar spoke up. “At least, that’s what I gathered from talking with these ex-rebels during the journey back to Vysanthe in my ship. A plague had set in among many of them, similar to the one that ravaged Zai, and I believe their forces took a hefty blow as a result. Nestor and Cristo here were left behind at the outpost because they were showing symptoms, though it didn’t amount to the full-blown infection.”

“Are they still infected?” Queen Gianne cried, horrified.

Lazar shook his head. “No, Your Highness. The plague never took hold of them. Indeed, it’s why I have taken a medical interest in them—I was curious to sample their blood, so I might experiment with a cure for the Draconian plague. If we could cure it, we could begin to mine opaleine again,” he said, tempting her.

“That would be a fine thing indeed,” Queen Gianne murmured, before another wave of anxiety rippled across her face. “And you are certain the rebels don’t mean to strike anytime soon?”

Navan nodded. “They are a year away, Your Highness, and none of our Explorer ships have picked up anything strange on their travels. Lazar took the liberty of checking the records himself, to make sure no anomalies have been spotted. Thus far, they are staying under their rock.”

Apparently satisfied by Navan’s words, the queen scraped her chair back and rose to her feet. With a sinking feeling, I watched her gaze flit to Navan, where it stayed. “Navan, would you come with me please? I would like a word in private,” she said sternly, her tone brooking no negotiation.

Navan rose to his feet and followed her across the throne room. They disappeared through a side door, leaving the rest of us sitting around the breakfast table, twiddling our thumbs. There was no telling when either of them would be back, but I couldn’t eat a bite more until I knew he was safe. I stared at the rest of the fruit, pushing it around the bowl.

Nobody spoke much, as the seconds ticked by into minutes, and those minutes became an hour. A nervous energy clung to the group, everyone consumed by their own thoughts and worries. Even the shifters seemed perplexed. Navan had been gone a long time, and that couldn’t be a good thing, where Queen Gianne was involved.

“Screw this, I’m going for a walk,” the male shifter grumbled, getting out of his seat. “Shout for me, or something, when the two of them decide to come back.”

“I could do with stretching my legs a bit too,” Nestor agreed, pocketing a vial for the road.

“They’re probably not even coming back,” Cristo muttered, flashing a glance at the door they’d disappeared through.

The female shifter said nothing, simply got to her feet and followed the male shifter out of the throne room, the two coldbloods trailing close behind. I wanted to call them back, knowing it was a bad idea to leave the table, but they wouldn’t have listened to me even if I’d tried. To them, I was just a pathetic human riding on Navan’s coattails. I had no authority here.

I looked to Lazar, but he didn’t seem to think much of it. With the rest of them gone, he and I were the only ones left at the table. It was strange not to have Navan beside me, bridging discussions with his uncle, and I wasn’t really in the mood for small talk.

As it turned out, Lazar wasn’t either.

As soon as the others had disappeared from sight, he turned to me, resting his hand on my shoulder, just below the spot where he’d removed the chip. An earnest look spread across his face. “Navan and I have discussed a moment such as this, Riley,” he said, his voice suddenly urgent as he looked to each door of the throne room. “We agreed that, should a window of opportunity present itself, you should try to escape. I think this is one such opportunity.”

I stared at him blankly.

“Our escape will be infinitely more hazardous than yours, Riley. Here, we are known, but you aren’t,” he continued, holding me tightly by the shoulders now. “We may have to endure things that you simply will not be able to—not because you aren’t strong, but because you are human. You are vulnerable, Riley. If you don’t go now, you will be putting everyone’s lives at risk… That includes Navan.”

I sat for a moment, trying to process what he was saying. He wanted me to leave… now? I thought back to what Navan had said the night before, about trusting him and doing what he told me to do, when the time came. But it wasn’t Navan telling me to go. It was Lazar. I eyed him suspiciously—I still hadn’t managed to shake the memory of his strange behavior after the surgery. Could I really trust this coldblood?

“I’ve attached a pod to your room, Riley,” Lazar carried on, his hands shaking me gently, urging me to listen. “I had it arranged once the queen called me to this meeting. If you go there now, you can escape before anyone even knows you’re gone. I’ve programmed it to fly automatically to certain coordinates in space, where Navan and I will pick you up later. It will be easy—as simple as being a passenger on a ship.”

Navan’s words kept playing in my head, but, again, he wasn’t here to tell me that the moment had come. He wasn’t here to tell me to trust Lazar, and there was something about the lean old coldblood that made me doubt everything. What if all of this was a ruse to get me out of the picture? What if Lazar was leading a third life, on top of his other two? What if he was in cahoots with Jareth, and this was his opportunity to get me away from Vysanthe? All of this ran through my head in a matter of seconds, bringing me no closer to a decision.

“I need to hear it from Navan,” I replied finally, looking Lazar in the eyes. Even now, his gaze contained a shiftiness that set my nerves on edge. “I’ll go, but I need Navan to confirm you’re telling the truth—that the two of you did discuss this.”

Lazar shook his head in irritation. “You have to go now, Riley. You are running out of time!”

“I need Navan’s confirmation,” I repeated.

“After everything, you still don’t trust me?” Lazar countered.

I stared at him defiantly. “I don’t, Lazar. I’m sorry, but I don’t. What you’re asking me to do is a pretty big deal. I made a promise to Navan to do as he told me when the time came, but you never came into the equation. If now is the time, I need to hear it from Navan.” I just hoped I wouldn’t live to regret those words. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring myself to believe Lazar’s motives were pure. Something fishy was going on, and I wasn’t about to leave Navan on the brink of uncertainty.

“Riley, listen to me,” Lazar pleaded. “Navan needs you to go, now. His life is on the line if you don’t—you will hold him back. He will try to protect you, and it will undoubtedly get him killed. Is that what you want?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Then go, now!” he hissed.

Just then, the sound of footsteps reverberated around the throne room. From both sides, two parties approached—the rebels on one side, Queen Gianne and Navan on the other. Meeting in the middle, they all sat back down, and Queen Gianne called for dessert to be brought. She didn’t seem to mind that the rebel coldbloods had gone for a wander. Nor did she seem particularly perturbed by the fact that one of the Carokians was missing—the male shifter—his seat standing empty too. Which was good. I didn’t feel like witnessing another one of her tantrums.

As dessert was served, I could feel Navan’s eyes on me, forcing me to look up and meet his gaze. And as our eyes locked, I realized I must have made a mistake. He looked unsettled, if not outright shocked, to see me still sitting at the table.

Apparently, that moment with Lazar had been my window of opportunity after all. A window I had just slammed shut.