Page 87 of Return of the Vengeful Quee

“I’m sorry.” She hiccupped and then cried harder.

“It’s all right.” Charis scooted closer and wrapped her hand around Nalani’s. “You can cry if you need to.”

“I’m not ready to die,” she whispered.

Charis’s throat closed, and she had to swallow twice before she could speak. “I’m not, either.”

“I haven’t seen Mother and Father in months. They won’t know that we’re innocent. What if they aren’t even there tonight to say goodbye?” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Or what if they are there, and they have to watch us die?”

“We can’t think like that.” Charis tried to sound firm, but her voice shook.

“I’ve never even been kissed.” Nalani sniffed again. “I know that’s a stupid thing to think about right now, but I want so much out of my life. I loved being ambassador to Solvang. I was good at it.”

“You’re good at a lot of things.” Charis blinked as tears stung her own eyes.

“So are you. I had dreams for the two of us. I wanted to live a long, useful life and be remembered as a strong, smart woman who changed our kingdom for the better.” Nalani squeezed Charis’s hand. “I wanted you to be remembered as the best queen Calera has ever known. And together, we would be unstoppable.”

Charis used her free hand to gently wipe tears from Nalani’s cheeks. “Who says we aren’t?”

Nalani choked on a laugh that sounded suspiciously close to a sob. “We’re surrounded by traitors and monsters, but you don’t waver. You don’t break.”

“I can’t.”

“Even if you need to?” Nalani lifted tearstained eyes to hold Charis’s gaze.

“Even then.” Charis blinked before her own tears could fall.

“I want you to know that I have faith in you.” Nalani’s voice was earnest. “I know I’m a mess right now, but I won’t be tonight. I’ll be proudly standing next to my queen, ready to help you take back our kingdom. I won’t break when it counts.”

“I know you won’t.” Charis soothed, feeling raw and unsettled. She wanted to crawl into Father’s arms and believe everything would be all right just because he said it would be. She wanted to follow Mother into the dining hall, taking her cues from the fiercest queen Calera had ever known.

She didn’t want to find the strength to carry the weight of her kingdom’s fate on her shoulders.

She didn’t want to, but she would.

It was her job to tell others it would be all right and make them believe it. Her time to become the fiercest queen in Calera’s history.

Nalani’s eyes fluttered shut, and she slid into sleep. Charis lay still, eyes wide open, thoughts racing as she considered every possible scenario that might happen at the wedding feast and chose the best countermove. Tonight was the final chess match between her and her enemies. She couldn’t afford to lose.

Hours later, as the sun was disintegrating into fiery ribbons across the horizon, Lanni brought clothes for each of them and set them out. Nalani had chosen to get ready with Holland, who’d taken to pacing again while strongly advocating for simply breaking the Everlys’ necks before they ever had a chance to leave their rooms.

Someone knocked softly on her bedroom door as Charis surveyed the clothing laid out on the bed. “Come in,” she called.

Tal entered wearing a formal dress coat, trousers, shirt, and cravat. He stared at her bed, where a frothy, pale blue confection of a ball gown lay. It had long sleeves that still left most of her shoulders bare, and delicate swoops of lace and ribbon decorated the skirt, which glittered with tiny bits of sea sapphires woven into its threads.

Tal pointed at the dress. “Isn’t that—”

“The wedding gown my seamstress was creating for me before the invasion? Yes.” She moved to the bed and brushed her hand over the skirt. A pair of silver dancing heels rested on the floor. “Getting fitted for this seems like a lifetime ago.”

“That was the first time Bartho tried to have you killed,” Tal said, coming to stand beside her. “Seems appropriate to punish his bosses tonight while wearing this.”

“I’m going to need help getting into it.”

His eyes widened. “Do you want me to—”

“Get Nalani for me? Yes.”

He cleared his throat. “That’s exactly what I was going to say.”

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