After

Behind me, I could hear a fight. I looked over to see Leo punching the driver of the second carriage while Elise, Mother, and Daniel looked on.

“What are you doing?” I hissed at Cynder.

My mind whirled with both emotion and shattered thoughts.

“He’s The Regent!” shouted Leo, laying a final blow to his opponent and knocking him out completely.

It was no good, though. The people who had filed out of the farmhouse descended on him. There were too many of them, and despite us all putting up a fight, we were all led into the house. I was dismayed to see that Daniel joined them. He was in on this all along.

It was huge, with a large sitting room, big enough to cram us all in. On the outside, it looked deserted, but inside, it was decorated in a modern fashion.

Knowing that we were outnumbered, we all sat quietly on the sofa as the thirty or so members of the MDS stood around us.

“You lied about everything!” I screamed at Cynder. “There never was any Freedom of Magic was there? It was fabricated to throw us off the scent. How could you do this? Elise is pregnant!”

I put my arm around my sobbing sister. “I’m ok, I feel the baby kicking,” she whispered between sobs.

“And you, Daniel,” I yelled. “I trusted you. I trusted both of you!”

“It’s not what you think,” said Cynder.

“I don’t care what it is. Luca will find me. He’s been working with the palace guards, recruiting so many of them we almost have an army. They’ll find us.”

“They won’t, but that’s not the point,” replied Cynder. “I’m not The Regent.”

“I don’t even care anymore if you are him or just one of his servants. More the fool, you!”

“Charm, listen to me. Please!”

“Don’t you dare call me Charm. I’m not your Lucky Charm. I’m Queen Charmaine!”

“Will someone switch on the TV, please?”

“The TV?” I asked astonished. “You want us all to watch a movie. Great, let’s have popcorn!” I was being sarcastic, but I couldn’t help myself. I was unbelievably angry. If I wasn’t surrounded by so many people, I would have punched Cynder again.

“I want you to know the truth.”

The TV turned on. There I was coming out of the cathedral with Luca, smiling for the cameras. Below me, were the words ‘recap of today’s events.’ Seconds later, I watched as I toppled over in the carriage when Cynder spurred the horses on. I saw the shocked look of Luca as he tried to chase us but was stopped by the second carriage cutting off his path. Behind him, I could make out Dean chasing behind him. Poor Dean. He was supposed to be my driver. I wondered if Cynder had hurt him to get his place on the carriage.

With folded arms, I glared at Cynder.

“Keep watching!” he said, without even looking my way.

The crowds descended into a panic as our carriages ploughed through them. It was a miracle no one was hurt. I gripped Elise’s hand tightly, my eyes fixed on the screen.

Luca hailed another carriage and with a few of the guards, got in. He followed our carriages rather than heading to the palace on the official route. Somehow, the crowds had closed in, not letting him pass. At least, he’d tried to rescue me. Eventually, the carriage cut through the crowd. He was behind us. We’d gotten a bit of a head start, but he would catch up with us.

“He’ll find us!” I said. “We only had a ten-minute head start.”

“He wasn’t following us,” replied Cynder.

Back on the screen, Marybelle rushed to the camera and began to talk, recapping for everyone what the scene looked like from her point of view, A totally pointless endeavor, as we could all see the confusion around her. As she was talking, there was a huge bang followed by even more screams.

Marybelle faltered and then looked out to something behind the camera. Raising her hand, she gently pushed the camera so it showed the thing she had seen. In the distance, a plume of smoke filled the air. Even at the distance from the cathedral, I could see where it had come from. The palace had gone up in flames.

The picture cut to an anchorman. Behind him, was a live feed of the palace. It was completely consumed in flames.

“Those were the scenes four hours ago at the cathedral. Back at the palace, fire-fighters have been working tirelessly since then to get the blaze under control, but sources say the palace has been completely gutted by the flames. A number of explosions were heard which suggested more than one bomb, although the fire sergeant has yet to confirm this.

“A number of palace staff are still unaccounted for, and there is no word yet on the whereabouts of the queen and the rest of the royal family.

“Prince Luca is also missing. The acting chief of police has issued a statement that they knew something was going to happen, but even with the heightened security, they weren’t prepared for the magnitude of today’s events.

“A number of people are still fighting for their lives after being crushed in the crowds of people fleeing the scene. If you know someone who was there and are worried about them, we’ve set up this hotline for you to call...”

The sound on the TV was shut off although the picture remained.

“You blew up my palace?” I screamed. I didn’t care that I was completely outnumbered. I stood up and punched Cynder’s chest.

Someone pulled me back, pinning my arms behind me, so I spat in his face instead.

“Let her go!” said Cynder, wiping his face with his sleeve.

My arms fell to my sides.

“I’m not The Regent, and I never lied to you,” he said.

“So then, who is?” I asked, not really caring anymore.

“It’s your husband. Luca is The Regent.”

I stared up at him, unable to process what he was telling me.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe him,” said Daniel, coming up beside him and resting his hand on his shoulder.

“None of this was planned, us bringing you all here. We only found out this morning who The Regent was. At first, I didn’t believe it myself, but as I thought about it, it made perfect sense. He has access to you and the palace. He was the one who provided all the security who, let’s face it, were next to useless today.”

“He’s been helping me promote Magi rights for the past year!”

“And I’m a Mage,” said Cynder “but you still accused me of being The Regent. Also, just for the record, we aren’t the MDS. The MDS are all those people who have been recruited over the past few months as your palace guards. I even recognized some of them on the TV.”

“You are the Freedom of Magic,” I said quietly, trying to wrap my head around everything that was happening.

“Give the girl a cigar,” shouted someone at the back, causing Cynder to glare at her.”

“We knew someone had been providing fake documents to Drusilla Bloom. She’s not rich enough or smart enough to figure out how to do it on her own. Thanks to you opening up the police force, we managed to get a couple of our own into the task force so we could keep tabs ourselves on The Regent. A lot of what we know is thanks to you, Leo.”

I turned to look at him. It was then I noticed he had a black eye from the fight earlier.

Up until this morning, we knew exactly what you knew. That The Regent was planning something. A lot of the Freedom of Magic were already planning to be at the wedding to protect you in case anything should happen, but this morning we received a tip-off. We found out that Luca was The Regent. It was too late to contact you, Leo. You were too busy with the wedding. If we had have been able to get through to you, we might have been able to stop this before it started.”

“I told Copper that I couldn’t be reached today.”

“And I didn’t know Inspector Copper. For all we knew, he was one of them.” I was frantic, knowing Luca was going to do something big. I got on my horse and rode as fast as I could to the capital, just in time to see you say your vows on the big screen. I gathered up the Freedom of Magic people and told them what to do, Then it was just a case of pulling the drivers from the front two carriages and driving off quickly before anyone could stop us. Once we had gone, our people closed around the other carriages so no one could follow. As I said, Luca wasn’t intending to follow you. He was making his escape.”

“I...” I had no words. It couldn’t be true.

“He wants to rule the kingdom. He doesn’t care in what capacity, whether as a prince or a president. With you out of the way, he’s free to do that. He is not the fan of the Magi he pretends to be. If you look into his past, you’ll see that he opposed Seraphia when she married his brother. It’s only in the last year or so he’s had this amazing turnaround.”

“Since the ball?” I asked.

“Exactly!”

The room went quiet. I looked over at Leo. He nodded his head.

“I believe him. I also believe Daniel.”

“I actually didn’t know what was going on until I got here,” said Daniel. “But I know these people, and I trust them with my life.”

“If you don’t believe us, you are free to go now,” said Cynder looking directly at me. “We won’t follow you. Your horses and carriages are still outside. I don’t want you to go. I don’t think any of you are safe in the capital at the moment. I suspect Luca will show up on TV at some point, blaming us or someone else. He’ll become the kingdom’s hero and all the while he is publicly grieving, he’ll have his best men looking to kill you all. I can only keep you safe here, but I’m not going to keep any of you by force.”

I waited to see if anyone would get up but no one moved. Cynder looked at me almost beseeching me to believe him, and I found that I did. There was more in the way he looked at me then, than there had been all the way through my wedding with Luca. No wonder Luca’s hands had been cold and clammy. He knew that the palace was going to blow up. He knew I was going to be inside it when it did. I wondered what excuse he was going to give me for him to leave just before it happened.

I thought back through the past couple of months when he’d been absent all day. He’d told me he was recruiting palace guards, and I’d believed him. Instead, he was hatching a murder plot, no doubt inspired by Xavier and my own father. He must have thought it hilarious to wait for our wedding day, echoing the disaster that had happened last year. Perhaps he only chose today to be guaranteed that we would all be at the palace. It occurred to me that he wasn’t just planning to kill my family, but his own too. If Cynder hadn’t rescued me when he did, the palace would be filled with hundreds of people there for the wedding reception. Cynder had saved hundreds of lives, not just those of us here. I felt sick at the thought of it.

“Can you all leave us?” Cynder said to his people. “Our guests need a bed, and I suspect they will be hungry. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, and I’m sure they’ve had enough to deal with already today.”

“A couple of women took Mother, Elise, Leo, and Daniel through a door. The rest of the people left through other doors until it was just Cynder and me in the room.”

“I was going to leave you to live in peace. I’m sorry this has happened to you.” He moved forward and got to his knees in front of me so that we were now almost eye level as I sat on the sofa.

“You saved our lives,” I said. “I don’t know how to begin to thank you.”

He took my hand and sat next to me on the sofa. Our eyes both went to the picture on the screen which showed the charred remains of the palace.

“You can thank me by fighting them. You are the best queen Silverwood has ever had. The Magi need you. Everyone needs you. Please don’t give up.”

I wasn’t about to give up. My fighting spirit was angry. I was going to bring Luca down and turn this around no matter what it took.

“Anything else?” I asked, gripping his hand tightly, knowing that this time I wasn’t going to let go.

“You might want to think about getting a divorce.”

From the depths of my despair, a laugh bubbled to the surface. I would win. With Cynder by my side, I knew that this was just the beginning.