Curiosity is an addictive drug, my father used to tell me when I asked too many questions. I wanted to heed the warnings of my childhood about my inquisitive nature, but I found myself lured by my interest. Still, I refused to look at Max when I finally whispered, “How do you deny your own brother?”
His expression darkened. “I didn’t turn my back on him. He was the one who decided that being a royal wasn’t good enough. He was the one who wanted to change the world.”
I looked at the men in front of me, studying the back of Xander’s head and trying to imagine how I’d missed the resemblance between him and Max, not just in looks—their eyes were varied shades of molten steel—but also in build and manner. Even their voices were similar. I’d been so consumed by their differences that I had never recognized just how alike they really were.
Max tried to bridge the distance as he reached for my hand. I jerked it away; I wasn’t yet ready for him to touch me. “Every lie I discover leads back to you.” The words were true enough, but even I understood that I was wrong, that I could trust Max. Angelina would have warned me if he was disloyal.
He inhaled deeply, an impatient sound, and Zafir turned in his seat, his black brows raised as he checked on the well-being of his prince. Max shook his head and waved his guard away.
“Charlie, please. I’m not asking you to choose sides; it’s not me or my brother. But you’re about to face my grandmother. Let me stand beside you.” His hands closed around mine, his eyes watching me intently. “Have some faith that I have your best interests in mind, that I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.” Max was making me a pledge, just as he’d done before when he’d written a note and slipped it into my history book.
But his reminder of where we were going made my stomach tighten.
To the palace. To the queen’s palace.
I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat behind me.
The palace was a place like no other. We were on the estate grounds long before the buildings came into view. The green lawns looked like they’d been hand-shorn, every blade a sliver of perfection spread out before us in sweeping verdant waves.
Glittering ponds were stocked with beautifully feathered waterfowl, beyond which forested lands stretched for as far as my eyes could see. If paradise were a real place, I imagined it would look very much like this.
I glanced at Max, nerves and anticipation making it easier to forgive his deception. He was right, I needed his support.
“You’ll be fine,” he assured me. “I’m right he Jthi aght he Jre.”
I took a breath as the vehicle passed through gates that stood open, awaiting our arrival. Both sides of the stone-tiled driveway were lined with manicured hedges that obscured my peripheral view and forced all my focus forward, toward the grounds that opened up before us.
Anxious to get my first glimpse of the palace, I raised my head, straining to see above the three enormous men crowded into the seat in front of me. But they were taking up all the space, and I could catch only fleeting glimpses of stone and iron and glass. Nothing to satisfy my mounting curiosity or quell my overworked nerves.
And then everything happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to contemplate the view. The vehicle came to a stop, and the door was opened. My pulse hammered recklessly. Max exited ahead of me, and I knew what he was waiting for, but I couldn’t find the will to move.
From the front, Xander turned to me, eyeing me with admiration. “You can do this, Charlie. You’re stronger than you think.”
I wondered if he would say such things if he knew how badly my hands shook, if he knew that my skin felt brittle, like ice, as if it would shatter should I move too suddenly. Or if I dared to breathe.
My parents are in there, I reminded myself. And Aron. They need me.
It was enough, and I was propelled into motion.
I reached for Max’s awaiting hand and let him draw me from the shelter of the transport. I held my teeth together to keep them from chattering as my eyes searched for his. I needed to see his calm,
to borrow from it.
The tenderness I saw there thawed my chill and gave me the strength I’d been searching for.
Yet as I emerged from the vehicle, it wasn’t the opulence of the palace that captured my attention, but rather the thousand uniformed soldiers who stood before it in faultless, evenly spaced rows. Every muscle in their bodies was aligned as they awaited . . . something. They were vast and powerful and commanding. I was overwhelmed by the very sight of them.
My eyes widened, my breath caught.
Max took my arm and forced me to take a step forward; Zafir and Claude stood on either side of us.
From the field of men, a lone voice barked an order to the hushed crowd, and in an instant a thousand heads bowed, a thousand men fell to their knees in unison, and I was awed by the show of respect, this harmonic display of reverence.
I’d seen this kind of action only once before, in the shelter below the city the night of the attacks. When I’d learned that Max was a prince.
“Is—is this for you?” I whispered, reaching for Max’s hand, no longer caring who saw.
I awaited a response as I watched all those soldiers kneeling on the ground in respect.
“No, Charlie. It’s for you.”
THE QUEEN
She stood at the window watching her men—guards and soldiers alike—bow low before Jthi aght h he the girl. Baxter had done well delivering her message throughout the ranks, making sure that the new queen was welcomed properly.