Page 78 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

She grabbed a teacake and turned away. Rames picked up his bowl of frosting and stirred briskly. Tal took one look at her face and turned abruptly from Holland. She gave Tal a look that clearly said to keep quiet and smoothed her expression before saying, “Holland, that’s enough. We have to get back to the palace. Look, I convinced Rames to give you a teacake.”

Holland snatched the pastry from her hand, took a bite, and headed to the door, Charis and Tal on his heels.

Moments later, the group was moving swiftly and silently through the rain-drenched night. Ferris and Bartho took the lead, Tal and Charis followed several paces behind them, and Holland brought up the rear. Tendrils of fog rose from the sea, belly-crawled over the shore, and wound their way sinuously through the city streets. It was impossible to see more than a carriage length ahead, much less watch out for the Rakuuna patrol.

Charis dearly hoped the lack of visibility affected the creatures the same way it affected her, but she wasn’t going to bet her life on it. Instead, she and the others clung to the sides of buildings and moved through swirls of fog when they had to cross a road.

The entire time, Charis had one ear straining for any hint of pursuit, and the rest of her mind was fully engaged on the problem at hand.

Ferris knew Nalani was in Solvang. Was it possible Lady Ollen could get a palloren to Solvang before the Everlys sent a Rakuuna to hunt Nalani down? Charis knew firsthand just how fast the Rakuuna ships cut through the water.

Ferris also now knew the location of Lady Ollen and Lord Thorsby, leaders of the rebellion. Charis prayed Rames got everyone far away from the bakery before Ferris returned to the palace and reported it to Queen Bai’elsha.

Fortunately, Charis hadn’t told Ferris about the moriarthy dust or the allies committing ships to her cause. She still had the ability to wage war against her enemies, but she was just now realizing she hadn’t truly realized who was on the other side of the dangerous chess match she’d been playing.

Tal grabbed her arm and anchored her to his side, pressing them both against the gnarled bark of a sugar maple tree. She froze. From somewhere to the east, the rattling of the Rakuuna’s voices whispered through the air. She had no idea where Ferris and Bartho were and could only hope Holland was hiding nearby.

It was impossible to judge how close the Rakuuna were. The gentle patter of the rain and the heavy, muffled quiet of the fog made the entire world feel shrouded in wool, obscuring all sound.

Her damp sweater snagged on the tree’s trunk as she silently adjusted her stance, ready to fight. Not that she’d do much damage.

For long moments, they stayed still, huddled against the tree at the very edge of the palace grounds. And then, from the road behind them, the slap of webbed feet on cobblestones. The rattle of quiet words exchanged. The whisper of danger sent a chill over Charis as she prayed desperately for the fog to protect their meager hiding place.

Then the sound of the patrol faded, swallowed by the fog. The rain was nothing but mist now, gently encasing Charis and Tal as they climbed through the orchard, slipped into the overgrown palace garden, and then tiptoed across the courtyard until they reached the thesserin tree outside the balcony.

“I need you to come to my room,” she whispered as she grasped the damp trunk with cold fingers. “Alone.”

He paused for a beat and then said, “Of course.”

Her cheeks grew warm. “And not because . . . Not for anything . . . We need to talk.”

“Yes, we do.” He created a cradle with his hands and waited. She placed her foot into the cradle and leaped for the branches as he hoisted her up. The instant she started climbing, he shimmied up the trunk behind her.

The night sky was slowly fading into a murky violet as she reached the balcony. Dawn was less than an hour away. She hoped the message she’d ordered sent to Nalani was already safely outside the city’s border, along with those who’d been at the bakery.

Tal climbed onto the balcony and together they crept in through the door, closing it quietly behind them just as the palace patrol rounded the corner and entered the courtyard below.

Holland was already in the room.

“There you are.” He glanced behind them. “Where are Ferris and Mason?”

“They were ahead of us, so they must have arrived first,” Charis said, keeping her voice even, though it took effort.

If—no, when Holland learned that the Everlys were connected to Bartho and that his sister had just been put in even more danger than before, Charis was going to have a hard time stopping him from going after the entire Everly family with his bedpost.

Maybe that was the best strategy. Maybe it wasn’t. Charis needed time to think it through. She needed to look at all the angles. She needed confirmation that she was right before she effectively sentenced the Everlys to death.

She glanced over to find Tal watching her closely, a crease in his brow as he studied her.

“Nice of them to wait here to make sure we all arrived safely,” Holland said, shaking water from his hair.

“It’s Ferris.” Charis moved toward the hallway. “What do you expect?”

Quietly they left the room, hurried down the stairs to the dumbwaiter, and hauled themselves one at a time back up to the southern guest wing. Charis was first inside the dumbwaiter. It was dry.

If Ferris were back inside the palace, he hadn’t used the same path as before.

The guest wing was quiet, the hallway dimly lit by a few flickering sconces along the walls. Ferris stood beside their bedroom door, looking worried.

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