“Montes,” I say, “I need you to promise me something.”

“Why don’t you tell me what it is first?” he says softly.

“Promise me you will always try to do good.”

He flashes me a quizzical look. “Where is this all coming from?”

“Promise me.”

He frowns. “I promise you, I will always try.”

That’s the most reassurance I’m going to get.

I settle back in his arms. And for the rest of the night, I hold my monster to me.

It’s early in the morning, when I finally pull myself out of our bed. The king’s breaths have long since evened. I, meanwhile, haven’t slept a wink this entire night. Instead I spent the long hours savoring the feel of him.

One last time.

I drag on my fatigues and boots, careful to muffle my movements. I clip on my two guns and then I head out onto our balcony.

I stare up at the stars and let the past wash over me. I carry a terrible history inside myself, one full of loss, but it’s the only one I know, so I cherish it.

Over a hundred years ago I stood in almost this exact place, a woman married to her enemy.

How the tides have turned.

I continue to stare up at the dark sky, where everyone I love now lives. Or perhaps they don’t. Perhaps death really is the end.

I push away from the railing and leave the room, not allowing myself to give Montes a parting glance.

Today I’m going to have to be strong.

I make my way to my office. I need a place to hide out until all hell breaks loose. Anyone who catches sight of me before then will see that I’m acting cagey as fuck.

Once I’m inside, I pace a little, sit behind my desk for a bit, flip through reports that I’ll never get around to addressing.

Slowly the hours creep by.

I’m checking the magazine of my new gun for the thirteenth time when I hear a rumble. I slide it into place with a satisfying click and stand, my head turned towards the door.

I hear a hollow, hissing noise, then—

BOOM!

I stumble back as the earth rocks. The walls shake violently. Books rain down from the shelves that line the room and my monitor topples over, along with a lamp.

I grab the edge of the desk and straighten. Out my window I see bits of the palace arcing through the sky. A large slab of marble slams into the fountain the king and I sat at mere weeks ago.

The screams start up almost immediately.

So it’s begun.

[1] Translation: My heart, my wife, my life. I will love you until the day I die.

Chapter 51

Serenity

I storm out of my office, gun clutched in my hand, my heart beating a mile a minute.

I head down the halls to the main entrance as the sound of gunfire joins the screams.

People run past me, and none seem to notice the queen is amongst them, so focused they are on their own self interests.

The second explosion hits the southwest wall of the palace, the shockwave making me stagger. The screams ratchet up.

I throw open the front doors. I get a clear view of the chaos outside the palace.

Trails of dust and debris arc outwards from the blast sites. Both wings of the palace are enveloped in flame. I can already smell the smoke on the wind.

The West’s aircraft are all invisible, as are their missiles. But I can hear them all.

I stand at the palaces threshold, my clothes and hair whipping about.

BOOM!

The explosion hits directly in front of the palace. I’m thrown through the air, across the entrance hall. My body slams into one of the great columns that line the space, the force of it knocking the wind out of my lungs and the gun out of my hand. I fall to the ground, landing hard on my hip.

Those haunting pictures that line the great entrance drop from their perches, smashing against the ground, becoming just one more piece of the growing rubble.

I glance towards my gun, the palms of my hands pressed against the ground.

“Serenity!”

I close my eyes and swallow. I knew he’d come for me.

I am a spider, and I’ve lured my husband into my web. I don’t bother looking above me, where several of the king’s cameras are recording this footage.

I push myself to my knees, my hand reaching for my father’s gun, the one still strapped to my side.

This is it. The moment I’ve feared since I left the West.

This will not be some detached act. It has always been personal between Montes and me.

When I look up again, I finally catch sight of my husband through the haze.

The king covers his head, and even amongst the chaos in the room he’s trying to make his way to me.

On either side of us, bombs detonate, one after the next after the next, down the entire length of the great hall. Just as planned.

The entire thing happens in slow motion.

The walls blast out, blowing plaster and stone across the room. There is a strange beauty to the synchrony of it all.

The columns that hold up the second story sway, but they don’t give out.

I don’t wait for the explosions to stop before I stand, drawing my gun. At some point, the blasts threw Montes to the ground. He’s halfway to his feet when he catches sight of me, gun in hand.

I’m not running towards him like I should be. I’m not panicking either. My true intentions are finally on display.

This must look like a savage reckoning—the king’s brutal queen covered in dust and ash, walking towards him amongst the flames.

Montes doesn’t appear betrayed or confused like I thought he would. It’s desolation that I see in his eyes.