The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(114)

“Indeed. You already have police and military on duty. This is one of those times you need to let other people do their jobs, while you do yours. Right now, your job is to be the great queen people expect you to be.”

I didn’t feel like a great queen. Or a queen at all. Just a girl dressing up for yet another deception.

“After the wraith came though Skyvale, I felt so helpless. It made me think of you and the One-Night War, and the two of us watching my father’s army burn through your city. I couldn’t stop wondering if you felt the same hopelessness that night.”

“Yes.” I almost reached for his hand, but his face was dark and downcast.

“When I left Skyvale, I could have sent someone else for my mother in Hawes. I could have sent someone else to Two Rivers City.” He pressed his mouth into a thin line. “But I’d never seen either city before, let alone any of the small towns and villages between. I wanted to go because I needed a memory of my kingdom before the wraith covered it.”

“Are you glad you went?”

He opened his eyes and nodded. “The Indigo Kingdom is magnificent.”

“Yes, it is.” Easily, I could recall the rolling blue mountains, the Midvale Ridge, the glorious valley. It was a place I’d always denied was my home, but now that it was gone, I missed it. I didn’t blame Tobiah for taking the time to create one last memory. But . . . “Why didn’t you write back to me? Or James? What about the Ospreys? Did you lose the notebooks?”

“No,” he said. “We had them. We never let them out of our sight.”

“Then you know what you put us through.”

“I know.” Darkness passed over his eyes. “I had to make everyone believe I was dead. I traveled the Indigo Kingdom under disguise, revealing my identity to only those necessary.”

“Why?”

“The Wraith Alliance. I knew James would make the argument for your coronation as soon as my death was presumed. I hoped it would be sooner, but I suppose people don’t give up on kings easily.”

“You could have waited until you were here. The Wraith Alliance holds even when you’re alive.”

He smiled faintly. “My uncle would have argued that if I were alive, I would still rule Aecor Territory. I had to leave no room for that. Your claim had to be irrefutable.”

“Unfortunately, I think we’ve only angered him.” I didn’t like that he and his people were missing. Not at the same time large parts of the Red Militia were missing. Not tonight of all nights.

“I know.”

A thread of silence pulled tight between us.

“Wil, I wanted to talk to you about Mere—” Someone knocked on the door and Tobiah let out a breath of frustration. “Go away.”

James poked his head into the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but people are looking for you.”

“Wilhelmina and I are discussing important matters.”

The last thing I wanted to do was discuss Meredith. “It can wait.” I caught James’s eye and motioned for him to enter. “You two had an argument before James followed me here. It’s time to work that out.”

Both boys shot frowns. “Are you sure this is the time?” James asked.

“You almost never had the chance to work this out. Don’t waste more time.”

James faced Tobiah; the two weren’t mirror images, but could easily have been mistaken for brothers. Both were narrow faced and strong jawed, with piercing dark eyes. But where Tobiah stood with the lazy grace of disguise, James held himself tall and straight and just like a soldier. “I have to know something.”

“All right.”

James’s expression pinched, as if questioning his king were physically painful. “I think there’s something you’re not telling me, and that’s why you always put off investigating my healing.”

Tobiah’s expression flattened. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know.”

As curious as I was, this was starting to sound like something I shouldn’t witness. “I’ll leave.”

“No.” James’s eyes cut to me. “I’d like for you to stay.”

Oh. Great. I glanced at Tobiah, but his face was hard and revealed nothing. “All right.”

James squared his shoulders and seemed to gather his thoughts. “The night I got shot, after Wil created Chrysalis, I shouldn’t have lived. I know my wound was as bad as yours. But I healed on my own. Mysteriously. Miraculously.”

“It was a miracle.”

“Wil said you called her to wake me. Her power doesn’t work that way, though. It only awakens inanimate objects. But when she touched my hand—I awakened.”

Tobiah’s dark eyes darted toward me, like I’d promised to keep a secret and failed him.

“What’s wrong with me?” A pleading note touched James’s words, though he tried to hide it. “Why did you refuse to investigate?”

Tobiah’s hard expression cracked. “Oh, James. Can this wait for another time?”

“No.” I moved next to James. “He deserves to know.”

James shot me a grateful look. I just hoped the answers were worth it.

“All right.” Tobiah glanced at the desk, as though tempted to sink into the chair, but he remained standing. “I need a moment to figure out how to say this.”