I trail after the guard. My body receives a shock when I realize we’re back in Geneva, inside the king’s estate, and not the palace where I married him.

Why stop here and not there?

My thoughts are interrupted when the soldier halts in front of a door. Before he can politely knock on it, I push past him and throw the door open. Storming inside, I catch sight of over a dozen important people, including my husband. A tape recording immediately blares throughout the room.

I freeze as I hear a familiar voice—my own.

Chapter 25

Serenity

“Serenity,” the king says, pushing his chair back and rising to his feet, “I wasn’t informed you were awake.”

I can hear the surprise—and happiness—in his voice. That’s where the two of us are now. Caught between hate and love, between our grim reality and what might be.

Montes comes to my side while someone else clicks the recording off. He runs a hand through my hair, tilting my head to get a better look at me. “Are you feeling all right?”

“Don’t baby me, Montes.” I hear several of the king’s men suck in air at that. I want to laugh. I’ve said so much worse to this man.

Montes’s mouth curves at my words. He likes me best with my claws out.

I lift my chin a little as my gaze flicks beyond him to the other people in the room. Amongst them is Marco; guess he survived the hospital melee. Shame.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“The Resistance is blackmailing you,” the king says.

My throat catches. “How bad is the situation?”

Montes lets out a breath. “People’s opinion of you was already shaky since we were still at war with you only months ago. But you also participated in this terrorist group.”

I don’t deny it. I don’t even try to.

“The Resistance is capitalizing on that. Over the last week they’ve begun a smear campaign, and they’re targeting you.”

I’m preoccupied with another portion of his statement. “A week?” I say. “Is that how long I’ve been unconscious?” I can’t keep the accusation out of my voice.

“Yes.” He’s remorseless. Seems neither of us feel the need to defend our actions. I can respect that.

I turn my attention back to the situation at hand. The Resistance followed through with their threat; they’d already begun to disclose the incriminating files they had on me.

“How are people reacting?” I ask.

“Exactly how you’d think they might—they’re getting worked up. Our statistics suggest that there’s been a surge of new recruits in the Resistance.”

All because of some audio files from when the king and I stood on opposite ends of the war. It’s the ugly elephant in the room, this volatile history of ours. When we were more likely to kill than kiss. There will always be that looming shadow, and now it might mean more battles and more violence on the horizon.

I saunter towards the conference table. The rest of the room’s been quietly watching the king and me up until now. I can tell by the glares of some of the king’s men—and they’re all men—that my presence isn’t welcome. They could go screw themselves for all I care.

“I’m going to need to make a statement,” I say, swiveling back to face the king.

He shakes his head, following me to the table. “They’re waiting for that. As soon as you do so, they’ll release the footage of your bloody arrival into the WUN. It’ll undermine your credibility.”

“We could release the footage first,” I say. It would still be a shitshow, but at least we’d control the chaos somewhat.

Again the king shakes his head. “Better to let my team attempt to delete it from the Internet before it catches on.”

I press my fingertips onto the conference table and nod. “Well, now you all know I’ve worked with the Resistance.” When I look up, I give each one of the men in the room a piercing look, then turn back to the king. He’s scrutinizing me, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. I’m giving him a show, one that he seems to greatly enjoy.

“That means you might want to actually utilize me. I’m good for more than just staring at.”

Next to me, the king’s mouth tilts further up. “Yes, why don’t we?” He places a hand on the small of my back and leads me to his seat while someone fetches him another chair. Finally, for the first time since we’ve met, I can tell the king doesn’t just see me as a distraction.

He sees me as an equal.

“The Resistance has moles everywhere,” I say to the men in the room. “And I do mean everywhere. When I was with them, they’d infiltrated many of your research labs. Now, however, they seem to have focused their attention on King Lazuli and me, which means they’ll focus on the king’s homes as well as those places we visit.”

A muscle in Montes’s jaw jumps. “You mean you believe there are Resistance members here right now?”

“Absolutely.”

The king slams his fist into the table. “That should be impossible. We do intensive screening.”

“Montes, tens of millions of people have died fighting this war. There are plenty of identities one can take on, and the Resistance excels at scrubbing them down. You’d never know.”

This causes the king to pace, his hands clasped behind his back. He pauses and scrutinizes the men in the room. Suspicion flares in his eyes.

“Usually Resistance fighters take on positions that allow them to disappear,” I say. “Maids, drivers, cooks, and so on. It’s unlikely that any of the men in this room are in the Resistance’s pocket … though not impossible.”

One of the king’s advisors, who’s been staring at me with intense vitriol, now speaks. “Your Majesty, how do we know the queen’s not still working with them?”

The king stops pacing.

I tense, and not from the accusation itself. I couldn’t care less what the king or his men think of my loyalties. I owe no one an explanation.

No, my muscles coil up the moment the king’s shoes stop clicking against the floor because something bad is about to happen.

My eyes move over the men at the table. Like me, everyone’s frozen in their seats.

I hear the squeak of the king’s shoe soles as he swivels to face the man who spoke. “Are you questioning your queen’s loyalty?” I can hear the dangerous edge in his voice.