Page 84 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

“I knocked it over.” She drew in a breath, cursing the tension in her chest that made it feel like she couldn’t properly fill her lungs no matter how hard she tried. “Just clumsy this morning, I guess.”

Holland snorted. “You’re never clumsy.” He stalked over to the breakfast tray, grabbed a slice of pumpkin bread, and looked at Charis. “Are you sick? Tal, she looks sick.”

If she looked sick, Holland wasn’t much better. His eyes were shadowed with worry, his body bruised from the merciless sparring sessions he and Tal participated in every afternoon. He looked utterly exhausted even as he kept himself in perpetual motion.

“I’m not sick. No, I’m—That’s not necessary.” She flinched as Holland smacked the back of his hand against her forehead. “See? No fever.”

“Then what’s wrong with you?” he asked as he took another bite and began prowling around the sitting room.

Tal crouched next to her as Reuben swept the mess into a towel. “Holland is right. You don’t look well.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to say that she was fine—a lie no one in the room would believe, but one she’d stand behind because the fate of her kingdom depended on her strength—when the suite door opened and a pair of Rakuuna guards walked in.

“On its feet,” he said, his high voice scraping over Charis’s nerves like a razor.

“Hey, genius, I’m already on my feet,” Holland snapped. “It’s like you have two brain cells and both of them are competing for third place.”

The guard snarled, swiveling his head in Holland’s direction.

Charis stood quickly, sending her bowl of oatmeal tumbling. Tal caught it before it hit the floor, but Charis was already rushing to put herself between the guard and Holland.

“We’re ready for your search,” she said, trying hard to sound calm even as her heart slammed against her chest as though it meant to tear itself free.

“We’re sick of your searches,” Holland said. “We aren’t allowed to leave this wing, and we barely leave this room. What do you think you’re going to find that you haven’t found already?”

“Holland, just get it over with,” Tal said.

“Fine.” Holland raised his fists and assumed a fighting stance as he faced the guard. “Come search me if you can.”

The guard lunged forward, his pale, webbed hands shoving Charis out of the way as he went for Holland. Charis slammed into the sofa and tumbled to the floor. Reuben snatched his curtain rod and leaped to her side while Tal vaulted over the back of the sofa to crouch beside her.

Holland roared in fury and grabbed a heavy brass candelabra from the side table. “Come and get what you deserve.”

The guard crashed into Holland, and they both collided with the table. Holland swung the candelabra at the Rakuuna’s face, but the guard wrapped his too-long fingers around Holland’s hand and wrenched the weapon free. He grabbed Holland’s throat with his other hand and squeezed. Holland bucked and twisted, clawing at the monster to no avail.

“Stop him,” Charis said as she struggled to her knees. “Please, Tal.”

Holland was going to goad the Rakuuna into killing him, and there was nothing Charis could do.

Tal ran toward the pair as from the doorway behind Charis, the other Rakuuna guard said something in her own language. Instantly, the guard who was choking Holland let go, though he kept Holland pinned beneath him.

Holland coughed roughly and then said, “Get off me if you know what’s good for you.”

“Holland?” A familiar voice filled the room, and Charis twisted toward the door to see Nalani standing just inside the sitting room. Her dark eyes were fearful, and a bruise shadowed the side of her neck. The air left Charis’s lungs as if she’d been struck.

Holland froze.

Tal used the opportunity to reach his side and press a calming hand on the other boy’s shoulder. Quietly, Tal said to the guard, “We apologize for the disturbance. He was worried about his sister. Please understand.”

The Rakuuna hissed at Holland, but the female guard said something, and he got to his feet in a lithe, graceful movement that was far more fluid than anything a human could manage.

Tal grabbed Holland’s hand and pulled him to his feet. The instant he was upright, Holland rushed to Nalani and threw his arms around her. Nalani hugged Holland, her forehead pressed to his chest, her shoulders heaving as she sobbed.

Tears stung Charis’s eyes as she waited her turn to hug her cousin. She barely noticed the guards searching each room, hardly felt their hands as they swept over her. They ignored the satchel, believing their ship captain’s report that it was medicine. She’d stuffed the little envelope of mursilla herb given to her by Lord Thorsby into the satchel, too.

The guards muttered to each other as they left, closing the suite door behind them. Holland patted Nalani’s back and said fiercely, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

Nalani pulled back, her breath shuddering. “You’ve got a sack of hay for a brain if you think you were the one who was scared. I got dragged out a window in the middle of the night, thrown into a ship’s brig with the nastiest-tempered Rakuuna you can imagine, and spent a week on the water wondering if I was ever going to see anyone I loved again.”

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