The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(63)

In spite of the generous accommodations, to the Ospreys, moving from the palace to the house was not much different from being transferred from one prison to another.

“I don’t want to stay here.” Carl picked up a silver box of mints and started to put it in his pocket, but laid it down instead. He didn’t even want to steal anymore.

I paced the length of the parlor, the plush carpet softening my footfalls. “You’ll follow the king’s orders, attend your lessons, and behave exactly as you would for me.”

Theresa cocked an eyebrow.

“Better than you would for me,” I amended. “Behave as if you actually know what it means to be nobility and future leaders in Aecor.”

“Shouldn’t we go with you?” Kevin asked. “There’s only a few months until the anniversary, and if we’re supposed to meet that deadline . . .”

The other Ospreys nodded in agreement.

“None of you are coming with me.” I held up a hand to forestall Theresa, who perched on the arm of a chair, tracing the fleur-de-lis pattern in the upholstery. “No, not even you.”

She scowled and slumped back. “What will people say, you going to Aecor without a female companion?”

“What does that matter, compared to what they already say? I can silence entire rooms by walking through a door.” It had been two days since the wedding and I’d been back and forth from the palace seven times to sign things, answer questions, and mostly just be inconvenienced. As though forcing me to make the short trip so often were anywhere close to the punishment I deserved.

But I was a princess—a future queen: nothing they were permitted to do would ever come close to making reparation.

“I don’t like you going alone,” muttered Kevin.

“I’ll be traveling with Crown Prince Colin,” I said, “and heading toward Patrick. I won’t drag any of you into a war.”

“How will we know you’re safe, though?” Connor turned his silver mirror in his hands, faster and faster. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“The wraith boy will be with me.” I glanced at his broom closet. “He won’t let anyone hurt me.”

The room went silent while everyone took that in.

“What is your plan?” Kevin asked. “You’ll be traveling with enemies, and the wraith boy isn’t exactly trustworthy. And in Aecor . . .”

There’d be Patrick and the Ospreys who’d followed him, and the resistance groups who’d united to fight in my name. The Red Militia. Not to mention the other dangers present in a city whose leadership was in flux. Crime. Violence. Desperate people doing desperate things.

“Will you declare yourself queen?” Carl asked. “That’s what Patrick wants you to do. And what everyone will expect.”

The others all nodded, their message clear: they’d like me to declare myself queen, too. They viewed it as a solution to all our problems.

If I declared myself queen, I’d start a war against the Indigo Kingdom.

“I can’t.” I looked them all in the eye, one at a time. “Not yet. Our relationship with the Indigo Kingdom is already fragile. Even more now that Meredith—” Her name caught in my throat. I took a steadying breath and tried again. “I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to fully recover from what happened at the wedding.”

“But it wasn’t your fault!” Connor pressed his mirror against his knees. “You didn’t tell the wraith boy to kill her. You didn’t want any of that to happen.”

“You’re right.” I fought to keep my voice even, but it was too late: the cracks were showing. “I didn’t want that to happen, but it did, and because the wraith boy is supposed to be under my control, I need to accept responsibility. That’s part of what it means to be a queen.”

Connor and Theresa both stared down at their knees. Carl and Kevin glared toward the closet containing the wraith boy.

“If I declare myself queen now, it will mean I’ve sided with Patrick, and that Aecor is truly at war with the Indigo Kingdom. It won’t be just the Red Militia rising against Indigo Kingdom rule. I don’t like Prince Colin controlling my kingdom any more than the rest of you, but for now I must help him calm the rebellion growing in the capital. I must announce directly to the people that the letters I sent were genuine, and that I’m working with the Indigo Kingdom to peacefully reclaim the vermillion throne.”

“You think that will be it?” Kevin asked. “That you’ll just go in and everything will be fine once you explain?”

“And you’ll accept Prince Colin’s authority?” Theresa shuddered.

“No, I don’t anticipate it will be that simple, but I hope that the reappearance of their long-lost princess will force people to listen. The wraith is already close. I need to stop the war so we can focus on bigger problems.”

“Patrick will find some way to turn this all against you.” Kevin drummed his fingers on his knee. “He’s wanted this war for years.”

“He has.” I paused next to a bookcase, the gold-foil titles gleaming in the lamplight: A History of Mirrors, The Flora of the Indigo Valley, and The One-Night War: An Indigo Kingdom Victory. “Nevertheless, I’m going to do everything in my power.”