The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(73)

“Footsteps,” whispered the wraith boy. “Someone’s following.”

We started to run as a handful of red-coated soldiers thundered after us, their blades drawn.

“Stop there!” The feminine voice was as familiar as my own.

I skidded and spun, my cloak flaring. On either side of me, the wraith boy lifted his hands like claws, and James melted into a guarded stance, but I sheathed both of my weapons. A true smile—the first in what felt like forever—slipped out. “Melanie.”

“Wil!” She motioned for her five soldiers to stay their weapons, and a moment later, we stood between our groups, embracing.

A hard knot inside me loosened at last. “I missed you so much,” I whispered.

“Me too.” Her voice hitched. “It feels like forever.”

There was so much to talk about. So much to do. But I wanted to stay like this. Magic, wraith, war: What were those things to true friendship? We could fight—with each other and on opposite sides of a battlefield—but our bond ran stronger than any of that.

“Wil,” said James. “I know the feeling, but there’s no time.”

Melanie and I stepped back from each other, and she reached as though to move a strand of hair from her eyes, but she’d cut it. The black locks that had once fallen to the middle of her back were gone, leaving choppy sections that framed her face. It made her look older. More mature.

“Where is Patrick?”

Her gaze shifted upward. “Here. We learned Prince Colin was returning to Aecor. We’ve been waiting for his convoy to arrive. This side of the bay has been ours for almost a week—and the soldiers stationed here didn’t even realize.”

“Good work.” The praise came automatically, making James give me a sharp look. “I mean, I’m impressed, but I’ve come here to stop the fighting. I won’t allow Patrick to destroy the peace I’ve been working to build.”

“Some peace, if what I heard is true.” Her eyes cut to the wraith boy, then to James. “Captain Rayner. Lovely to see you again.”

“This is taking too long,” he said. “If you’re on Wil’s side, take us to Patrick.”

She’d take me to Patrick, regardless.

Melanie gestured to three of her men. “Fix the door. Make sure no one follows us. And you two”—she turned to the others—“come with me.”

The six of us moved through the room, into the hall and a dark staircase that switched back several times. We passed doors to other levels of the guard station, and to the interior of the passageway that stretched over the bridge entrance. Finally, we came to the top.

“You know what he’s going to tell you to do,” Melanie said as the guards hauled open the door. “You know what he wants.”

“Patrick no longer gets to make demands of me.”

Icy wind blasted through the doorway, tearing at my cloak. Lights shone in from atop the passageway, blinding as I stepped outside to find Patrick exactly where I’d expected. He’d torn down the Indigo Kingdom flags, and was releasing them one by one into the sea. The House banners hanging over the parapets were likely next, but he saw me first.

“Wilhelmina.” The last indigo flag whipped toward the ocean.

James’s whole body tensed, but he didn’t stray from my side.

Patrick didn’t move; he waited for us to come closer as he took in the group surrounding me: Melanie, two of his own men, a boy who looked like me, and the new king’s cousin. He placed his hands behind his back. “The convoy is overwhelmed. Casualties on both sides will be heavy.”

“Call them off. If you do, James can stop the Indigo Army. We will discuss everything peacefully, once we reach Sandcliff Castle.”

Patrick shook his head. “It’s not going to work like that. Colin will never give up Aecor, not willingly. There’s only one way to get it back, and that is to take it. Our people don’t want to be under Indigo rule. They want their queen. They want you.”

“And you told them I’ve been a hostage in Skyvale.”

“Haven’t you? The Wilhelmina I know would never have sent letters like the ones I intercepted, claiming to be from you.”

“That just proves how little you know me.”

“The letters weren’t even in your handwriting.”

I clenched my jaw. “Call off your soldiers, Patrick.” Wind tugged at my clothes again, and flecks of snow from drifts stung my face.

“I will not. This is an important battle for our people. They’ll see we can beat the enemy.” Patrick glanced at the door opposite the one we’d come from, but the way was dark. “I won’t stop you from doing whatever you came to do, though. You are still my princess, after all.”

I turned to the wraith boy. “Chrysalis, I need to be heard.”

A smile sliced across his face, and he leaned over the edge of the passageway. “People of Aecor. People of the Indigo Kingdom.” The wraith boy’s voice boomed across the area, thunder in my ears. “Stop what you are doing.”

The sharp, ozone scent of wraith flooded the battlefield, but still the fighting continued.

The wraith boy looked at me, as though for permission.

“Don’t hurt anyone,” I warned. I touched Connor’s mirror in my pocket.