A Thousand Heartbeats

“Spare lives! Take captives!” Palmer yelled as we ran. Inigo and I did the same, but it didn’t matter, Everywhere I looked, there were bodies. I was dreading seeing the damage with the dawn.

If we made it that long.

Mamun suggested going to the main hall. Apparently, there was still a lot of fighting there. So, I followed Palmer, hoping to find Annika at the end of these sweeping hallways.

I knew we were there when I saw the bloodstains on the floor. It was strange to see the imprint of such petite heeled shoes leaving a red trail down the hall, and I wondered if the lady who’d left them was safe. Our footsteps echoed in the spacious room. A handful of candles were still aflame, giving very little light to what appeared to be a scene of absolute destruction. Chairs had been tossed everywhere and shattered windows left leaflike piles of glass on the floor.

Annika wasn’t here, either . . . but we weren’t alone.

“Lennox!” Mother called from across the room. Her voice echoed with hope. She went to move toward me, but Kawan grabbed her wrist. He was in no hurry to move. It appeared he’d found a throne.

My throne.

“You always have to do things the difficult way, don’t you?” he said.

I took slow steps toward him, sensing that he, like I, was ready to cross the finish line.

“You never wait. You never listen. You never, never obey.” He spoke with a restrained anger, letting go of my mother and using the same hand to grip the rounded edge of the throne. “But when you left and didn’t show signs of returning, I thought, ‘If that foolish child could get into the palace undetected on his own, then I can take it over with an army easier than I imagined.’” He raised his hands and let them drop. “And I was right.”

After letting out a contented laugh while our people died around us, he continued.

“What’s more, you doomed yourself! You made yourself a traitor at the finish line. Who will follow you now?” he asked.

He was enjoying this far too much.

“Did you know?” I demanded. “That day you came to our house, and you spoke to my father and convinced him to join your cause . . . did you know even then?”

His silence was the only answer I needed.

“We always thought my father came up with the idea to attack the king of his own accord. Did you send him on that mission specifically? Did you hope he would fail? That he would die?”

He twisted his neck a little, uncomfortable with the questions.

“Did you think that if you belittled me enough, you would crush me? Did you think you’d turn me into your slave? That I would never have enough backbone to take what’s mine?”

“What’s this about?” Mother looked between Kawan and me, waiting for an answer.

Before I could say anything, a hand gripped my hair at the scalp and a blade was at my neck. The gasp of surprise I made was nothing compared to the shouts of my mother. Palmer and Inigo turned quickly, swords at the ready.

“Drop your sword,” Mamun ordered gruffly in my ear. “Or die.”

Against my better judgment, I let it fall, metal clanging against the marble floor. I was left with Mamun’s dirty blade pressed against my skin. All I could think was, if I’d been able to survive so much only to die like this, then what had been the point of it all?

“Shall I finish him off now?” Mamun asked.

“Not yet. I may need him still,” Kawan replied. I was almost impressed that he’d chosen a lowly guard as his man on the inside—it was smart. A guard would never fight him for power, never go against him. A guard would take what he could and run to an easier life.

This also explained why Mamun was so quick to strike Nickolas down in the end. He had been dangerously close to making us believe he was innocent in this.

“As I told Nickolas, whatever he’s promised you, it will never come,” I told Mamun quietly. He gave no reply.

“What of the others?” Kawan asked.

“The king died this afternoon,” Mamun reported. “The prince was badly injured but woke only yesterday. Fortunately, he has fled the palace for the sake of love.”

“I trusted you,” Palmer said, the pain clear in his voice. “How could you do this to them?”

“You were there! You saw him push her into a table of glass,” Mamun insisted. “You watched that man injure his own daughter. You saw how selfish the prince has become. You saw the king making nonsense decisions. What do we need with another generation of royals?” I could feel him shaking his head, each word more desperate than the last. “I won’t serve them anymore! Not them, not the arrogant courtiers who hand their empty glasses to me like I’m a butler. No one! I want to be in a land that is free!”

“You think the man who would risk his own people on a doomed mission is going to give you freedom?” Palmer shouted, pointing at Kawan.

“Was not our king worse than that?” Mamun asked. And that silenced Palmer. “No. It will all be new once she’s gone,” he insisted. I could tell by his tone, he moved from addressing Palmer to Kawan. “The princess may be alive or dead at this point; we’ve no way of knowing. If she’s made it this far, it’s quite possible that if she came upon his lifeless body,” he said, speaking of me, “she’d be very happy to join him.”

“You don’t know if she’s alive?” Kawan asked sharply. “How can I possibly trust you if you’ve lost the one person whose corpse we need?”

“Oh, I’m very much alive.”

Even with my hair pulled taut as it was, I wrenched my neck as far as I could, just needing a single glimpse of my Annika. She walked into the room, still barefoot, dragging her sword across the floor. Her other hand was weighed down by two books that were bound by one chain. She’d crisscrossed the chains around her wrist, and it looked painful, but she didn’t seem to notice. There was a huge bloodstain seeping through the fabric where she’d been cut. On top of all that, she was covered in something—maybe dirt or ash—and looked as if she’d been through hell.

“We meet again,” Annika said to Kawan by way of greeting. “I must say, for someone so determined to take over a crown, you have the manners of a dog.”

“I’m not sure this is the moment to be hurling insults. I have your kingdom in my hands. Shall I order every last one of your subjects killed? All because their pathetic princess couldn’t hold her tongue? Have you not been taught your place?”

She sighed, turning to look at me. She seemed unbothered by the fact that I had a sword to my throat, that her enemy was settled on her father’s throne. She merely lifted her sword to point at Kawan, her voice painted with a tired irritation.

“Another one who thinks he can tell me what to do,” she said.

She was right. I’d made that mistake only once.

“Get off His Majesty’s throne,” she commanded.

Kawan tilted his head, amused. “Your father is dead, child.”

She mirrored the action, cocking her head to the side and smiling. “But the king lives. You and I both know that.”

Kawan’s smile disappeared instantly. “Kill him!” he shouted.

“Down!” Annika yelled.

I dropped, but not quite fast enough. She took a piece of my hair as she opened the side of Mamun’s neck with her sword.

He backed away, clutching his throat, trying to stop the bleeding.

I was already on the ground, so I grabbed my sword and charged at Kawan. In the seconds it took me to cross the room, he played the last card he had in his pocket.

He pulled out a dagger, and, at first, I thought it was meant for me. Instead, he swung it around, plunging it deep into my mother’s stomach.

“No!” Annika screamed, her voice not that far behind me.

My mother crumpled to the floor, but I kept my sights on Kawan, who started to unsheathe his sword. My vision turned red, and I leaped up ready to end him, once and for all. But before I could reach him, Inigo was there.

Inigo had always been a hair faster than me. Stronger, smarter, more levelheaded. I got lucky once, and he had to yield to me.

He pushed Kawan back, forcing him to stumble against the throne, blocking his escape and forcing me to stand back.

“Are you truly king?” Inigo asked me.

Annika, who was now down at my mother’s side, answered for me. “Yes. Yes, he is.”

“Then prove yourself just. Put him on trial. You came here in peace; he made war. Let’s be better than him.”

Once again, Inigo proved that he was the superior man in every way.

“I’m sure Officer Palmer would be pleased to take him to the dungeon as soon as he’s able,” Annika commented, keeping her tone soft as she brushed my mother’s hair back from her face.

I stepped back. “Bind him,” I ordered, and Inigo bowed his head, moving to throw Kawan on the ground.

“It will take more than this,” Kawan muttered.

“I doubt it,” I replied.

“Dowager Queen,” Annika said quietly. My mother focused her eyes on Annika’s. There was blood gathering in the corner of her mouth, and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. I stepped away, coming to join Annika on my knees. “Do you have any commands, my lady? Anything you wish me to do?”

She smiled a little. “Is my Lennox truly king?”

Annika held up her chain-bound wrist. “Yes. I have all the proof here. And I will use what little authority I have to my name to secure his place. You needn’t worry about anything, my lady.”

She nodded weakly, turning to me. “You chose well. Better than your father.”

Tears stung at my eyes. “Don’t say such things.”

She reached her hand out for mine, moving slowly, arm trembling. “I was too desperate to be brave. I’m sorry.”

“I have long forgiven you. And I hope you will do the same for me.”

She smiled. “Then I do have one command.”

I dipped my head to her, showing her the respect she should have had ages ago. “Anything.”

“Live. Live a life overflowing with joy.”

My lips were trembling now. I didn’t want to break down in front of her; I didn’t want that to be her last sight.

“Yes, ma’am.”

She gave a shaky breath and went still. And so, on the same day, Annika and I lost our last remaining parents.

I couldn’t form the words to express everything I was feeling. The despair, the hope, the uncertainty. I’d gained a throne today, but I felt a hole growing in my stomach, leaving me feeling hollow.

In the end, it didn’t matter if I had words or not. Finally at her limit, Annika passed out, falling heavily into my arms.