\nWhile royal blood soaked into the whitewashed planks of the gallows, I ran.\n<\/p>\n
\nI didn\u2019t bother to pack up my cart. Leaving it in the palace courtyard meant losing my good shovel, ten sacks of fertilizer, and the half dozen mulberry sprouts I\u2019d hauled all the way up here. But hanging around in the aftermath of an assassination would be much worse for me in the long run.\n<\/p>\n
\nI hurried towards the gate as quick as my weak knees and heavy work boots would allow, waiting to hear cries of \u201cStop, Master Acton!\u201d or \u201cSeize that gardener!\u201d from behind me. Luckily, the red-cloaked guards hadn\u2019t noticed my exit. Even at the best of times, a worker from the lower boroughs wasn\u2019t worth a second glance from them or any other Perch-dwellers. Now, with the sovereigns dying at their feet, I might as well have been invisible.\n<\/p>\n
\nFine by me.\n<\/p>\n
\nBefore I slipped out of the courtyard, I chanced a look back. There, King Phillipe and Crown Prince Rillin Verling were splayed out in the hooked claw shadow of the gallows. Crossbow bolts stuck out from their bodies, and my stomach twisted. Grief and confusion won out over my desire to run. Were they dead? Was the assailant still here? Was the princess the next target?\n<\/p>\n
\nI scanned the parapets lining the courtyard, searching for unseen villains. Nothing.\n<\/p>\n
\nThen, a flash of movement to my right, a shadow disappearing into an alley. Was it the killer? Maybe. If I took the main street, I could head them off at the intersection, tackle them, bring them before the Royal Guard, and–\n<\/p>\n
\nStop. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nI gripped the cold metal of the courtyard gates. I didn\u2019t know who wanted to murder the two most important men in the city, but it wasn\u2019t my responsibility to find out, much less track them down. This wasn\u2019t my world anymore. I\u2019d left the upper borough years ago and returned today for a job. That\u2019s it. And I wasn\u2019t even staying to finish it. Whatever came of this morning, it didn\u2019t concern me. I needed to cut my losses and let the shrikes up here deal with it.\n<\/p>\n \nI turned my back on the courtyard and started the long journey down from the Perch.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nThe midday sun found me kneeling in the hard-packed dirt yard of the lower borough guildhall. Though my legs ached from the long cliffside descent, I needed to stay busy. I needed to distract myself from the memory of the king and his son on that platform.\n<\/p>\n \nUnfortunately, instead of taking solace in the work, I was trapped in an argument with my apprentice.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThis isn\u2019t everyday gossip, Acton.\u201d Maddy\u2019s cheeks flushed beneath her wild brown hair, and her blue eyes flashed with teenage rebellion. \u201cThings are seriously <\/em>happening up there this morning!”\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI don\u2019t care if the whole Verling Palace is on fire. We\u2019ve got work to do.\u201d So far, I\u2019d managed to stop her from sharing the news. The whole city would inevitably be buzzing with news of the attack in the days to come, and I planned to hold on to my feigned ignorance for as long as I could.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut King Phillipe is–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou know if you hadn\u2019t\u2019ve been dawdling in the square, we could be done with this job already.\u201d Avoiding her gaze, I grabbed a thick clump of weeds and tore it from the ground, harder than I needed to. Black peat flew everywhere, including into my mouth. I scoffed at the sharp earthy taste and spit.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI wasn\u2019t dawdling! Not on purpose, at least. It\u2019s not like I can just close my ears when I walk through the borough. I\u2019m not you.\u201d Hair fell in front of her face and she shook it back with a curse.\n<\/p>\n \nI refused to take the bait. Instead, I fixed her with what I hoped was an uncompromising glare. Then I retrieved the pitchfork from where it lay next to me and held it out to her.\n<\/p>\n \nShe sighed through gritted teeth, relenting. \u201cSorry, Master. You\u2019re right, I should have been on time.\u201d She took the fork and set to work loading my pile of weeds into our two-wheeled cart.\n<\/p>\n \nFinally. <\/em>I was in for an afternoon of moping, but Maddy\u2019s begrudging apology meant that the lesson had, at least, been received. Time would tell if it stuck.\n<\/p>\n \nI settled back into my task, content to focus on weeds and minor domestic issues instead of whatever happened on the Perch this morning. I didn\u2019t claim to be the perfect royal subject or teacher, but I knew how to do this job. I\u2019d learned from a master who\u2019d tended mulberries in the lower boroughs for decades. He\u2019d handed over his nursery to me in his late sixties and retired to who knows where. Though I was less than half his age now, I\u2019d been gardening for as long as Maddy had been alive. I knew a few tricks about growing things. I knew even more about hard work.\n<\/p>\n \nI couldn\u2019t expect Maddy to understand all that. Not yet.\n<\/p>\n \nShe worked in silence at my side. The deep scowl on her face was either from anger at me or at the hair again slipping from her ears. Still, she did the job.\n<\/p>\n \nGuilt tugged at my chest. Was I being too hard on her? Taking out my frustrations on my innocent partner? It wouldn\u2019t be the first time. Two years after her farmer uncle had begged me to take her under my wing, I often found myself taking her for granted. Truth was that I relied on her. Not only for help with the work but also as a friend. Or at least someone who would put up with my brooding. If I\u2019d have gotten caught in the courtyard this morning, Maddy would be the only thing I\u2019d miss.\n<\/p>\n \nI sighed and sat back on my heels, wiping my hands on my pants before untying the kerchief from my head. The midday sun quickly dried the sweat on my bare skin and promised a painful burn later. Ah well. <\/em>\u201cHere, Mad,\u201d I said, holding the large, slightly damp square of burgundy fabric out to her.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat\u2019s this for?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou can\u2019t work if you can\u2019t see, right?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOh yeah. I guess I forgot my hat again.\u201d She took it and tied back her brown waves, avoiding my eyes. \u201cThanks.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe was always forgetting that floppy straw hat, the same one she\u2019d been wearing when we met. The kerchief suited her better anyway. \u201cYou\u2019re welcome.\u201d I gave a small nod.\n<\/p>\n \nShe smiled in return. We both understood that that was as much of an apology as I would give. \u201cCan I tell you the news now?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI knelt back down in the dirt and braced myself. \u201cSure. But at least work while you talk, eh?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer eyes lit up, and without hesitation, she let the gossip pour forth. As promised, she continued moving the rest of the weeds into the cart. \u201cKing Phillipe is dead<\/em>!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019d expected something along those lines, but my breath still caught. King Phillipe Verling, ruling monarch for three decades…dead? The attack was right in front of the palace. I guess even the best doctors in the city couldn\u2019t save him. \u201cI see.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYeah, it was horrible. <\/em>The king was busy doing royal things, you know, and then…bam. Hit by crossbow bolts! They even got Crown Prince Rillin, right in the shoulder. Could be he\u2019s dead by now, too. Nobody\u2019s heard for sure.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI grunted and moved to the next patch of weeds. If Rillin was dead, too, the crown would pass to the only royal left: Phillipe\u2019s youngest, a princess. She\u2019d been the one who\u2019d hired me for the courtyard job. Or she\u2019d at least signed the work order. The last time I saw her in person, she\u2019d been a little girl. Now she had a husband and son of her own. No matter her age, this transition was sure to be tough on her.\n<\/p>\n \nNot my problem. <\/em>I shook dirt from a snarl of roots.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cPrincess Natalina wasn\u2019t there, luckily,\u201d Maddy continued, as if reading my thoughts. \u201cBut whoever did it might go after her next. Maybe they have some sort of grudge against the Verlings. I bet she\u2019s so scared.\u201d She sighed. \u201cThe Royal Guard is investigating.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI nodded absently. Years ago, I might have allied myself with a Verling-hating assassin, but over time, my rage had mellowed to a mere simmering bitterness. I didn\u2019t care about the increase in coffee tax or the traffic problems in the port. I was content as long as the royal family stayed away from me.\n<\/p>\n \nOne thing was sure: whoever the killer was, they didn\u2019t live down here. Most of the citizens of the lower borough–Maddy included–adored the Verlings. Or, at least, the Verlings\u2019 opulent facade. No one seemed to understand that it wasn\u2019t all exotic spices and silver bathtubs on that narrow plateau above the clouds. It was corruption. And cruelty.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy had stopped talking. She eyed me, waiting. \u201cWere you even listening?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOf course,\u201d I lied.\n<\/p>\n \nShe planted the pitchfork in the ground. \u201cSpirits, Acton! I know you don\u2019t care about the royals, but would you stop being such a grumpy puddle of sweat and give a damn for once? Someone assassinated <\/em>our king!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI set my jaw. She was right, of course. This wasn\u2019t frivolous gossip about fashion or court affairs. This change would come with new laws, new guards, and a new monarch, whether it was Rillin or Natalina. And the Verlings were<\/em> human. They probably deserved a smidgeon of sympathy. \u201cYou\u2019re right, this is big news. But I wouldn\u2019t worry too much about it. Things will work themselves out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI wish there was something we could do to help.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s up to the Royal Guard, not us.\u201d I got to my feet and stretched my legs. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we were in the courtyard to see any assassin.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAs if on cue, a wave of sound came from the town square a few blocks away. Someone called for people to gather around. I couldn\u2019t make out the exact words, but they had a practiced official voice.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSounds like they\u2019re already here!\u201d Maddy hurried to the guildhall yard wall and peered over it at the street beyond. Footsteps sounded on the cobbles as the crowd rushed towards the excitement. \u201cYes, there they are! They\u2019ve got horses and everything! Can we go?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI shook my head, barely registering the question. The Royal Guard? Here? They belonged on the Perch. The thought of them sweeping their red cloaks through our gutters and interrogating our neighbors sickened me. This was too close.\n<\/p>\n \nPanic rose within me. What if they were here for me? Had they recognized me in the courtyard and come to drag me back up the cliff?\n<\/p>\n \nOr did they think I had something to do with what happened?\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy\u2019s voice interrupted my worries. \u201cActon?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes?\u201d I said, still distracted by thoughts of red cloaks and shadows.\n<\/p>\n \nShe\u2019d left the wall and now eyed me with suspicion. \u201cHow\u2019d you know the attack was in the courtyard, anyway? I didn\u2019t tell you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShit. <\/em>\u201cYou didn\u2019t?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe crossed her arms. \u201cYou weren\u2019t in Eastglen meeting a client this morning, were you?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI gritted my teeth. I didn\u2019t like lying to her, but it had been necessary. If I had mentioned the job on the Perch, Maddy would have insisted on joining me. I didn\u2019t want her up there.\n<\/p>\n \nI considered doubling down, but she\u2019d already caught me. \u201cNo.\u201d I wiped my face with my hands. \u201cI had a job. An installation.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhere?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOn the Perch. In that courtyard right in front of the palace.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSpirits! So you were there when it all went down?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI guess so. But I ran before anyone knew what happened.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSo, what, you left our big cart behind?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI had to. I was running for my life.\u201d Spirits knew what happened to any of it. The cart, the bags of fertilizer, the mule I\u2019d rented to haul it all up the cliff…a whole two months\u2019 income was wrapped up in that job.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy\u2019s eyes softened. \u201cForget about the cart. I\u2019m glad you made it back safe.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThanks.\u201d My legs suddenly felt weak, and I leaned heavily against the cart.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhy did you take a job on the Perch, anyway? Today, of all days? You never <\/em>go up there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cSame reason I take any job. Gold.\u201d The job had seemed like such a good opportunity when the royal work order showed up. The princess wanted a line of mulberries planted along the north wall to balance out the grimness of her father\u2019s new gallows at the other end. Only your superior specimens will do,<\/em> she wrote.\n<\/p>\n \nThe promised payment was double what I expected and impossible to pass on, regardless of the location. Since I assumed she\u2019d sent the same offer to all the other lower borough gardeners, I\u2019d let my greed win out over my caution and accepted immediately.\n<\/p>\n \nI should have said no. If anyone recognized me up there, they\u2019d report me to the king and my life down here would be over. I thought of the nosy red cloaks, now only a stone\u2019s throw away. Hopefully I hadn\u2019t ruined my life for a few extra pieces of gold.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDid you see anything before you left? Anything that might help find the assassin?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI shook my head, then froze. I remembered the shadow in the alley, the one I\u2019d decided not to pursue. Had that been real?\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy saw the hesitation. \u201cSo you did <\/em>see something!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo, I saw a shadow. Nothing but a trick of the light. I was in a damn panic, you know. I couldn\u2019t trust my eyes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cStill, you should tell the Guard, just in case. Any detail might help!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo.\u201d I wasn\u2019t going to chance being recognized.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut you might be able to save Princess Natalina\u2019s life! Come on, let\u2019s go!\u201d She tugged my sleeve toward the gate.\n<\/p>\n \nI pulled my arm away. \u201cI\u2019m not getting involved, girl! The damned shrikes can take care of themselves.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe looked at me with more concern than annoyance. \u201cWhat do you call them that?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201c\u2019Shrikes.\u2019 They\u2019re obviously not birds!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThey\u2019re not that different,\u201d I growled. \u201cYou may think shrikes are pretty little songbirds, but they\u2019re cruel animals. They torture prey by impaling it on thorns even when they\u2019re not hungry. And they hunt their own kind.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut how is that anything like–”\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMad,\u201d I warned, holding up my gloved fist and raising three fingers. \u201cYou\u2019ve got three questions left.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe opened her mouth but snapped it shut again as she recognized what I said. Our old game was childish, maybe, but effective. Whenever she got too nosy about things not related to the job, I imposed a limit of three questions. If I answered truthfully, she promised to drop the subject. That way, she could sate her never-ending curiosity, and I could stop us from wasting time on things that didn\u2019t matter.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFine. Why do you hate everyone up there so much?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI hesitated. She couldn\u2019t probe too deep with two more questions. Probably. \u201cI used to live and work on the Perch, but I was forced to leave.\u201d I lowered one finger. \u201cTwo left.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer eyes widened. \u201cWhat did you do up there? Gardening?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo, I worked in the palace. Took orders from the royals.\u201d I lowered another finger. \u201cOne.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe furrowed her brow, considering the crucial last question. \u201cWhy did they force you to leave?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHow could I answer that? \u201cI stole something. Something precious.\u201d True, technically. I lowered my last finger. \u201cAlright, that\u2019s it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat did you steal?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI shook my head and stood up from the cart. \u201cYou\u2019re out of questions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut that last answer wasn\u2019t complete! You\u2019ve got to tell me the whole <\/em>truth.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI sighed. \u201cWhat I stole has been gone for years. It doesn\u2019t matter.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCome on, that\u2019s not fair!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cLet\u2019s just say that if anyone from the Perch recognized me, they\u2019d lock me up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThen I don\u2019t understand why you\u2019d risk taking a job up there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe hadn\u2019t framed it as a question. Clever. \u201cWell, it was obviously a mistake.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWas it? They didn\u2019t lock you up. How long has it been since you left?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFifteen years.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s longer than I\u2019ve been alive! I bet no one even remembers what happened. And I\u2019m sure your face has changed a lot since then.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI gritted my teeth. True, no one had spared a second glance for me this morning. And with my bald head and beard, I looked nothing like the man I\u2019d been when I\u2019d left. Could it be that I was the only one still dwelling on the past?\n<\/p>\n \nIt didn\u2019t matter. I wasn\u2019t going to risk my new life. \u201cI\u2019m not taking another chance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNot even to save the princess?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe shook her head. \u201cI don\u2019t understand you, Acton.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe disappointment in her voice felt like a punch in the gut. \u201cMaster<\/em> Acton,\u201d I corrected.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI don\u2019t understand you, Master Acton. <\/em>Because of something that happened years ago, you\u2019re too selfish to do the right thing. Maybe you\u2019re no better than those shrikes you hate.\u201d She yanked the pitchfork out of the ground and dragged the cart to the other side of the yard.\n<\/p>\n \nI grabbed the pruning shears from my belt with equal anger. As I snipped a thin branch off the nearest tree, Maddy\u2019s words replayed in my head. Was I worried about nothing? I\u2019d spent years losing myself in work and avoiding getting close to anyone except Maddy. What if I didn\u2019t have to live in fear? I could go drinking in the taverns, take Maddy to a play on the Perch, and maybe even allow myself to answer more than three of her questions.\n<\/p>\n \nThe possibilities were attractive but ultimately worthless. The risk was too great.\n<\/p>\n \nA piercing sound filled the courtyard. Shreep! Shreepshreep!<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nI winced. This time of year, singing birds were everywhere, but this sound was shrill and annoying. In the branches of the next tree, I saw a messy bunch of twigs and, below, a pile of grey feathers and a tiny orange beak in the grass. A nestling, fallen from on high. And a shrike. Figures. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nSudden anger rushed through me. Why couldn\u2019t the world leave me alone? Like the nonsense from this morning, I couldn\u2019t do anything about this situation. If the bird needed feeding, that was up to the absent mama. If it had broken a wing, it\u2019d be kinder to let nature take its course. The guild master\u2019s cat needed to be fed, too.\n<\/p>\n \nShreep! Shreep!<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nTo escape the noise, I retreated to the far end of the yard, seething. I only wanted to do my work and not be bothered by birds or princesses. Was that too much to ask?\n<\/p>\n \nAs I resumed pruning, I heard someone cooing softly. Behind me, Maddy crouched under the tree, cupping her hands around the tiny ball of feathers. I shook my head. Why bother? <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nBut then she lifted the shrike to the nest. A chorus of shreeps <\/em>from its siblings welcomed it back. Maddy smiled and stepped back. Not a moment later, the mama returned in a rush of wings, feeding all her babies as if nothing had happened.\n<\/p>\n \nAs I watched the happy family, I keenly felt the deep scowl on my face, heavy and cold. Had I always been this bitter?\n<\/p>\n \nIf all it took for me to put the past to rest was to share a few words with the Guard, why wouldn\u2019t I? I didn\u2019t aim to being a hero, but if the princess wound up dead like the king, Maddy would never forgive me.\n<\/p>\n \nI had to try.\n<\/p>\n \nI swallowed my pride and joined my apprentice as she watched the shrike family. \u201cIf I go talk to the Guard now, can you finish up here?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer eyes lit up. \u201cYes! Of course! I\u2019ll do it good. Well, I mean.\u201d She gave a meek smile. \u201cAnything to save the princess.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI bit back my retort. I wasn\u2019t doing this for Natalina. \u201cAlright. I\u2019ll meet you back here after to help get the payment. The guild master likes to short us sometimes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe nodded and immediately started work again, shoveling the rest of the weeds into the cart with haste.\n<\/p>\n \nBefore I left the yard, she called to me. \u201cActon? I\u2019m sorry I called you a grumpy pile of sweat.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI smirked. \u201cThat\u2019s alright. I probably deserved it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \nAs part of my ongoing efforts to avoid recognition, I stayed away from crowds. I traveled from nursery to job and back via side streets, and I sent Maddy to the market in my stead.\n<\/p>\n \nNow, as I waded through the packed square with my sights on the mounted Royal Guard on the far side, I held onto the hope that all those precautions were for nothing.\n<\/p>\n \nI stopped near the front to study the red cloaks. Two of them were young, barely older than Maddy. They sat tall and arrogant in their saddles, their posture as stiff as their tasseled helms.\n<\/p>\n \nThe third was older, about my age but possibly already forty. By the scar that all but split her upper lip in two, I figured she must be Commander Brynn, the Guard\u2019s grim-faced leader.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWe are looking for any information on the one who did this,\u201d she was saying. Her steady voice held a threatening edge as she glared down at us from her horse. Even in the lower boroughs, she carried an impressive reputation: veteran of two wars, protector of the royal family, enforcer of the king\u2019s will. Fierce, efficient, just. Though, it was hard to say what her definition of justice was with shrikes as her masters. \u201cWe will not rest until the assassin is unmasked.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAs her words echoed through the square, the crowd descended into chattering gossip.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDo you think they\u2019re down here?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhere could they be hiding?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI can\u2019t believe the Royal Guard is asking us <\/em>for help!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI smiled. Maddy would love this.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nBefore I could rethink it, I pushed my way in front of the crowd. \u201cCommander?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn fixed me with a hawklike gaze. \u201cYes?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI was in the courtyard this morning. I might have information that will help you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn climbed down so we stood face to face. She studied me, her eyes glinting like chips of blue ice. \u201cIs this true?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nWith a start, I recognized her. I\u2019d known Commander Brynn as Lieutenant <\/em>Brynn. She\u2019d joined the Royal Guard weeks before I left the Perch. As I recall, she\u2019d been a stickler for rules, always striving to impress the king. I guess that loyalty paid off over time.\n<\/p>\n \nI searched my memory but couldn\u2019t recall if we\u2019d ever interacted. We would have at least passed each other in the halls of the palace, but would she recognize my face after all these years?\n<\/p>\n \nEither way, I couldn\u2019t back down now. Brynn would be suspicious, and I\u2019d never be able to face Maddy again. \u201cIt\u2019s true. I was there.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn\u2019s eyes narrowed. \u201cYou do look familiar.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy stomach dropped.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou\u2019re the mulberry gardener. Acton, isn\u2019t it?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOh, yes.\u201d Of course. She\u2019d been there this morning, too. It was her job to mark me as the out-of-place lower borough gardener. That was all.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI had hoped to speak with you, but you disappeared.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be in the way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI understand. I apologize that your work was disrupted.\u201d Her voice had smoothed and approached what sounded like a friendly tone.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you.\u201d This close, I saw the dark circles around her eyes. The day had been tough on me, but it was worse for her. It wasn\u2019t every day that the king under her protection was killed.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThank you for being willing to help. What information do you have?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI took a breath. \u201cI received the work order from Princess Natalina last week.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nOnce I started, the words flowed. I told Commander Brynn and her red-tasseled lackeys everything, from my pre-dawn journey up the cliff to the moment I fled the courtyard. When I described the shadow in the alley, Brynn\u2019s frown deepened.\n<\/p>\n \nAfterward, she gave a tight nod, not letting on if she considered my story helpful. \u201cThank you, Master Acton. We may call on you if we have further questions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOf course.\u201d I let myself breathe. It was over.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAlso, there is the matter of your cart.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCommander?\u201d I wasn\u2019t sure I heard right.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYour supplies still sit in the courtyard as we speak. If you\u2019d like to retrieve them, we will escort you now. We will also make sure you get paid for the work you did complete.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe last place I wanted to go was back up there. But here I was, face to face with someone from my past life, and she saw only Master Acton the gardener. Maddy was right. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nAnd from a business standpoint, retrieving those supplies–not to mention whatever payment they would give me–was well worth a quick trip up the cliff. I\u2019d be a fool not to go. \u201cThat would be most appreciated, Commander.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cVery well. We should leave now so we can make it by sunset.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI didn\u2019t fancy a ride home after dark, but I\u2019d rather get it over with.\n<\/p>\n \nAs I followed Brynn to the edge of the square, I eyed the crowd with more confidence than I\u2019d had in years. This new world would be one where I no longer had to hide.\n<\/p>\n \nTo my right, I spied a flash of burgundy. I spotted Maddy right before she ducked down behind a water barrel.\n<\/p>\n \nI sighed. \u201cOne moment please, Commander.\u201d Brynn nodded and I strode to Maddy\u2019s hiding place. \u201cI thought you were finishing the job.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy emerged and stood straight up, her eyes wide. \u201cI got most of it done! I only wanted to keep an eye on you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s fine.\u201d I was secretly glad to see her. \u201cBut listen, you need to go back and finish. Get the payment, go home, and clean up for the day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCan\u2019t I come with you? The guild master will understand that we had to–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo.\u201d On that point, I would not yield. Until I was certain that my identity was safe, Maddy would not step foot on the Perch.\n<\/p>\n \nShe frowned but didn\u2019t argue. \u201cAlright. See you at home, I guess.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe turned to go, and I suddenly felt very alone. Before she disappeared into the crowd, I called her back. \u201cWait, Maddy.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat is it?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI–” Why had I called her back? What else did I want to say? Nothing that couldn\u2019t wait a few hours.\n<\/p>\n \nIf–when–I got back with the cart, I could tell her everything. I\u2019d lay it all out: my time in the Perch, my history with the Verlings…all of it.\n<\/p>\n \nBut now was not the time. I could feel Brynn\u2019s gaze boring into the back of my head. \u201cDon\u2019t forget to lock up the tools,\u201d I said finally.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy nodded her head. \u201cI won\u2019t, Master.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \nWith their boundless resources, the Royal Guard quickly found a horse for me to use. We followed a twisting street of muck-stained cobblestones, passing through shadows of faded shop signs and fraying clotheslines. Gradually, the street widened and steepened to become the narrow cliffside path leading up to the Perch.\n<\/p>\n \nWe passed merchants and tradesman returning home to the lower boroughs after a long day of work, some on foot and some pulling carts like mine. I envied them. I\u2019d rather be heading down than making this climb for the second time in a day. At least now I had a surefooted horse underneath me instead of a rented mule and rickety cart.\n<\/p>\n \nAt dusk, the top of the long, narrow upper borough finally revealed itself to us. Arrow-straight streets paved with sharp-cut tiles ran between block after block of pale stone buildings. Carved curling lines of laurel leaves and rosettes bordered doorways, windows, and even gutters. Everything was too clean. Too perfect.\n<\/p>\n \nBeyond the buildings, empty space stretched in all directions. The darkening sky hid the distant valley walls that usually cradled the city. I suddenly felt very small, a mouse perched on a mountain peak. I couldn\u2019t shake the sense of being off balance and exposed. The air even seemed thinner this high up, like I couldn\u2019t draw a deep enough breath. Only a quick errand, <\/em>I reassured myself and my aching chest. Then I can go home. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nWe stopped at the gate leading to the Verling Palace courtyard. A thick-armed sergeant greeted Brynn and the others, but he studied me with a frown. I kept my face neutral, but I was sure he would hear my thundering heart. To my relief, he let us pass.\n<\/p>\n \nInside, the courtyard sat as it had this morning. Empty. Filled with soft echoes. A ring of torches lit the perimeter and left pools of black in the center. To the right sat the platform where King Phillipe had taken his last breath. He and the prince were long gone. Only the lone silhouette of the gallows remained.\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn called a halt and nodded to the far end of the space. \u201cHere we are, Master Acton. As you can see, your property remains untouched.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI dismounted and approached my cart to inspect, following my shadow as it danced along the walls. The rented mule, as expected, was gone. He\u2019d probably either chewed through his harness or been liberated by an opportunistic thief. I\u2019d have to make up the cost to the owner. The cart was as I\u2019d left it except for a deep slash in one of the bags. Dark clumps of fertilizer spilled out onto the stones below. Strange but not unexpected with the crossbow bolts flying around. Next to it were the saplings. They\u2019d need a little extra care after sitting out in the sun all day, but they\u2019d survive.\n<\/p>\n \nAs would I.<\/em> Once I\u2019d packed all this up and made the journey back, all I\u2019d have lost was a morning of work, my deposit on the mule, and a handful of fertilizer. I wondered if the Guard would let me use the borrowed horse to haul it all back home.\n<\/p>\n \nLow voices sounded behind me, and I turned to see Brynn speaking with a messenger in Verling livery. The other guards glared at me. As I watched, the messenger bowed and returned to the palace. \u201cIs something wrong, Commander?\u201d I asked.\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn cleared her throat. \u201cThere has been a change of plans. Your presence is requested in the palace.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThe palace?\u201d Panic rose in my throat. That wasn\u2019t part of the agreement. \u201cI\u2019m afraid I don\u2019t have time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI understand, but the princess wishes to give you your payment in person.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy stomach dropped. The princess? Someone must have seen me and reported it to the palace. Why else would Natalina summon me?\n<\/p>\n \nWhatever the reason, I couldn\u2019t go. Even fifteen years wouldn\u2019t be long enough for a member of the royal family to forget my face.\n<\/p>\n \nMy gaze darted to the gate. \u201cI changed my mind: I don\u2019t need any payment,\u201d I told Brynn. \u201cAnd you can keep the cart. But thank you for the escort.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nWith that, I left. I headed towards the exit with increasing speed. Soon I was running, my boots pounded on the stone as I again left my supplies and all my good sense. My vision narrowed to a pinpoint centered on the open archway.\n<\/p>\n \nBut the heavy gates clanged shut before I could reach them. The sergeant on the other side glared at me as I tripped into the iron bars, chasing my breath.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMaster Acton.\u201d Brynn appeared next to me. \u201cI know you wish to return home, but you cannot reject a royal summons.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe other guards put their hands on their swords, but Brynn only watched me with genuine concern. I must have looked as foolish as I felt.\n<\/p>\n \nI took one last look at the closed gates and turned back to the palace. Its spires stretched up and up, impossibly long fingers reaching into the void above. If I entered this place, would the shrikes let me leave again?\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019d soon find out. \u201cI apologize, Commander. Of course, if the princess commands my presence, I must obey.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \nA chill seeped out of the giant doors before us. Even on the warmest of spring evenings, Verling Palace was cold. I forced my stiff legs forward as I trailed Brynn through halls I remembered all too well.\n<\/p>\n \nWe paused in the open doorway of the royal audience chamber. I peered inside as Brynn checked my pockets for weapons. A waste of time. All she found were my coin purse and bits of lower borough soil.\n<\/p>\n \nAt the far end of the long room, a white-bearded priest spoke with a woman sitting behind a great desk.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCommander Brynn of the Royal Guard,\u201d the herald announced.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cApproach.\u201d The princess\u2019s voice rang out in response, and my blood ran cold. I prayed to the spirits to whisk me away, back to the courtyard or the guildhall yard with the screeching baby shrike, anywhere. A worthless prayer. Brynn deposited me in front of the desk, and I sank to my knees, more out of despair than deference.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d Brynn said with a bow. \u201cThis is the gardener who was in the courtyard this morning. His name is–”\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cActon: the master of mulberries. Of course.\u201d Princess Natalina stood, her fingertips resting lightly on the edge of the desk. I recognized the weighty authority in her voice so similar in tone to that of her father. If she ordered her priest friend to leap off the edge of the Perch, he\u2019d do it without a second thought. \u201cGood work, Commander. Now leave us. All of you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe priest bowed and trotted past me, followed by Brynn and the rest of the Guard. The door slammed.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou can stand up, you know,\u201d Natalina said when I remained on my knees. \u201cYou no longer need to play the supplicant.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI pushed myself to my feet and stood face to face with a true princess. She was an elegant example of Verling upbringing: straight and tall and confident. A tiara rested in an intricate nest of brown braids. Over sharp cheekbones, charcoal-rimmed eyes watched me, expectant.\n<\/p>\n \nBut was that…a flicker of doubt? I grasped it. Maybe ignorance would save me. \u201cYour Majesty, may I inquire as to why you\u2019ve asked me here?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe laughed. \u201cSpirits, man. I know it\u2019s been a few years, but I\u2019d be damned if I didn\u2019t recognize my own long-dead brother.\u201d A smile softened her face, and she skirted the desk to take my hands. \u201cCome now, Sebastien. You\u2019re home.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI flinched at her touch and the use of the half-remembered name. To me, it sounded as vile as the grotesque spires of this palace. Bile rose in my throat.\n<\/p>\n \nShe frowned at my silence. \u201cSeb, what\u2019s wrong? This reunion is a miracle! Father told everyone you had died in the western woods with your sweetheart. What was her name? Annie?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cEvi,\u201d I corrected without thinking.\n<\/p>\n \nI froze. With the one word, I dismissed the veil I\u2019d hidden behind for so long. She was right. I was <\/em>Sebastien Verling, middle child of King Phillipe. I could hide no longer.\n<\/p>\n \nA violent shiver ran through me. It was all I could do to stand upright.\n<\/p>\n \nMy sister saw the change, and she put a hand to my cheek. \u201cThere you are, Sebastien. Welcome back.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nSpirits, her smile was the same as our long dead mother\u2019s. Before I could resist, she pulled me into a tight embrace, bringing my head to rest on her coiffed hair. My cheekbone pressed against the cut gems of her tiara, and I squeezed my eyes shut. She smelled of sweet pea and vanilla. This was my baby sister, after all. I\u2019d tried so hard to forget her and the rest of my family.\n<\/p>\n \nWhy?\n<\/p>\n \nI returned the embrace.\n<\/p>\n \nShe laughed, almost nervously. \u201cI swear, I never believed that you froze to death out there like a rabbit.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI thought back to the day I had left. \u201cNatalina…\u201d I started. She\u2019d been a girl of ten back then, and now…I barely knew her. How had she changed? What did she think of me? \u201cIs he really dead? Father?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe pulled back, a mask falling over her face. \u201cYes. Isn\u2019t it horrible?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI nodded, gradually lowering the mental barriers I\u2019d constructed over the years and attempting to process the situation. What happened this morning was an attack on my family–no, our <\/em>family–and my father was dead.\n<\/p>\n \nHere, back in my childhood home, I should grieve for him. Instead, I felt nothing. King Phillipe remained only a distant object to hate, a tyrant who would never bother to acknowledge a lower borough gardener like Acton. In my mind, he hadn\u2019t been my father for years. \u201cWhat about Rillin?\u201d My older brother and I had quarreled as children, but he had never been cruel like Father.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHe\u2019s fighting for his life, the poor bastard.\u201d Natalina leaned back against her desk. \u201cThey had crossbows, you know. The first bolt took Father immediately, and the second nicked Rillin\u2019s neck. They tell me he\u2019s lost a lot of blood. It could go either way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI felt a surge of sympathy for her. While I\u2019d been pulling up weeds, she\u2019d been sitting in this empty palace dealing with all this by herself. I reached forward and took her hand.\n<\/p>\n \nShe smiled and squeezed my fingers. \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re back, Seb. Tell me you\u2019ll stay so Rillin can see you when he wakes up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI pulled my hand back. In the joy of the reunion, I\u2019d forgotten what it meant to be known again. There was a very real chance that I\u2019d never be able to go back to my life as Acton. I\u2019d be Prince Sebastien again, a slave to the royal blood in my veins.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy and our nursery seemed a whole world away from where I stood right now.\n<\/p>\n \nI looked around the finely appointed walls of the audience chamber. This might be the only home Natalina had ever known, but in my mind, it was only an ancient battlefield.\n<\/p>\n \nFather and I had fought for as long as I could remember, usually in this room. From my early childhood, I\u2019d tried to earn his respect despite him seeing me as a disappointing second son. Whenever I thought I\u2019d found a way to gain his favor, I\u2019d fall short. When I read every book in the archives over a summer, he insisted that books were for women. When I won an archery tournament at the age of fourteen, he said I should be learning the sword instead.\n<\/p>\n \nThe final straw came when I\u2019d presented Evi as the girl I intended to marry. Princes weren\u2019t meant to marry nobodies from the lower boroughs, he\u2019d said. Even second sons shouldn\u2019t debase themselves that way. And if I couldn\u2019t accept that, he\u2019d have her sent away.\n<\/p>\n \nAfter that, I\u2019d decided to stop fighting. In this room, I rejected my inheritance. I\u2019d delighted at Father\u2019s rage-filled eyes, and then Evi and I had fled the palace with the guards at our heels.\n<\/p>\n \nOn that day, we\u2019d stolen back our lives. Even now, I could feel the raw joy we had shared. We\u2019d been invincible, higher than any spirits or mortal man for a wonderful, golden moment.\n<\/p>\n \nIf only that feeling could have lasted forever.\n<\/p>\n \nA heaviness settled around me. If I returned to this life, it would tarnish the memory of that brief taste of freedom. Even if Father was gone, shrikes still infested the Perch. Shrikes like the young members of the Royal Guard strutting around with their pompous red plumes and the sergeant outside the gate glaring at the dirt under my fingernails. Every single spoiled rich brat up here thought themselves better than the people below.\n<\/p>\n \nThe sooner I left the Perch, the sooner I could get back to my work.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd Maddy.\n<\/p>\n \nI shook my head. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Natalina. I know you need help up here, but I\u2019m not Sebastien anymore.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy sister frowned. \u201cI thought you might say that.\u201d She sighed and lowered into the chair.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI hope you understand. I have a life down there. I can\u2019t abandon it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe stayed silent, absently stroking one of the drawer handles.\n<\/p>\n \nWas that it? Could I go home? \u201cI know you can handle this, sister. You\u2019re so much stronger than I am.\u201d I cleared my throat. \u201cI\u2019ll collect my cart and be on my way. It was good to see you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWait, Sebastien.\u201d She opened a drawer and pulled out an object. I couldn\u2019t see it, but I could hear it scraping against the wood. \u201cI want to tell you who killed Father.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nUnease appeared in my gut. Something had changed. \u201cYou mean you\u2019ve already found the assassin?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy sister nodded, her eyes wide and hollow. \u201cIt\u2019s poetic, really. The killer was none other than King Phillipe\u2019s jealous second son, back from the dead to reclaim his birthright.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat? Me?\u201d Did she really think I was capable of that? \u201cNo, no, you\u2019ve got it wrong. I gave up my place here because I didn\u2019t care about the damned crown. I still don\u2019t. I–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThen why did you come back up here if not to finish off the rest of your family?\u201d Her eyes stayed fixed on mine as she held up the object from the desk. A knife.\n<\/p>\n \nMy heart pounded. Her strange words and the sharpened steel glinting in the candlelight made no sense. The floor tilted beneath me. \u201cNatalina, what\u2019s going on?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBefore I could stop her, she reached the blade up and dragged it along her opposite shoulder. Red blossomed through her sleeve. \u201cSebastien, what are you doing?\u201d she cried. \u201cGuards! Help!\u201d Then she tossed the knife onto the desk between us, the handle pointed toward me.\n<\/p>\n \nI stared at it, frozen.\n<\/p>\n \nBy the time the Royal Guard swarmed the room, I\u2019d realized what had changed. To Natalina, I was no longer her beloved brother. I was her scapegoat.\n<\/p>\n \nCommander Brynn was on top of me first, wrestling me to the ground and knocking my head against the desk in the process.\n<\/p>\n \nDazed, I saw Natalina cowering behind her chair. \u201cHe\u2019s the lost prince!\u201d she cried. No doubt the tears of pain were real, but the note of fear in her voice was artificial. Could anyone else hear it? \u201cHe killed Father! My own brother is the assassin! He wants the crown.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s not true!\u201d I tried to wheeze, but my breath was gone. Brynn\u2019s knee pressed into my spine and pinned me to the floor.\n<\/p>\n \nThe room spun around me, and I mourned all the chances I\u2019d had to escape. The square, the courtyard, this room before Natalina pulled the knife. I\u2019d squandered them all, convincing myself that I could escape my past.\n<\/p>\n \nNow I\u2019d pay the price for returning to the Perch.\n<\/p>\n \n \nI lived more than two decades in the Verling Palace, but I\u2019d never found a reason to visit the cells below ground. Now, they were my whole world.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd it was a dark world. Occasional torchlight accompanied the guards when they dropped off my daily bowl of gruel, but the rest of the time my eyes failed to be useful. I stopped trying to make out my waving hands in the blackness. Whose hands would I see, anyway? Acton\u2019s, with the calloused palms? Or Sebastien\u2019s, with his soft shrike skin? Or perhaps the blood-soaked tools of the king\u2019s killer.\n<\/p>\n \nReality quickly faded into exhaustion. I spent most of my time curled up on the cold floor, praying for sleep but usually drifting in a timeless abyss of wakefulness. Here I was, the lost Verling prince returned from the dead and immediately cast away, condemned by my supposed crimes.\n<\/p>\n \nWith shame, I remembered the moment in that audience chamber when I\u2019d taken comfort in Natalina\u2019s familiar smile. Now, I knew that her smile hadn\u2019t come from sisterly love but from knowledge of her eventual victory. Had she planned to frame me for everything from the beginning?\n<\/p>\n \nI recalled the strange slash in my fertilizer bag. What if she had originally intended me to be not the villain but the third target? Her lackeys could have easily sunk a third crossbow bolt in my back while I planted her damned mulberries.\n<\/p>\n \nHad I been saved by a sack of shit?\n<\/p>\n \nThat had to be it. When I\u2019d failed to die, Natalina had changed tactics and pinned the attack on me. I was an instrument for her to pluck. She was like Father, like my father, like all the shrikes who wouldn\u2019t stop until they had shaped the world exactly as they wanted. I should have seen it.\n<\/p>\n \nIn the corner of my freezing cell, I found a rotten blanket so full of holes it was no better than a spiderweb. It did little to curb my shivering. The last time I\u2019d felt cold this fierce was in the woods, not long after we\u2019d left the city.\n<\/p>\n \nEvi and I had walked for days until we collapsed from exhaustion, utterly lost and no longer able to rely on the joy of our newfound freedom. Night came swiftly, and we\u2019d huddled closer than close to share warmth.\n<\/p>\n \nThen one night, our warmth wasn\u2019t enough. The relentless, heavy cold sank into our bones. By the time we found shelter in an old shack, Evi had already taken sick. Weeks later, she still wasn\u2019t better. Then, she was gone.\n<\/p>\n \nIn the daylight, maybe I could blame Father. In this cell, I could only blame myself.\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019d been so adamant that we leave the city. She hadn\u2019t wanted to, but I\u2019d convinced her. Father would never let us live in peace, I said. He had a legion of assassins to send after people who displeased him. Like the long line of bullies and warlords he descended from, he was ruthless. We had <\/em>to go before the Perch corrupted us, too.\n<\/p>\n \nSorrow washed over me, as fresh as it had been in those last days. She trusted me completely, even when I\u2019d looked at her gaunt face in the shadows of a dying fire and told her she\u2019d be alright.\n<\/p>\n \nI bolted up in alarm. I couldn\u2019t picture her face.\n<\/p>\n \nWhat had she looked like? I searched the memory again, but her face was only a shifting combination of eyes, a nose, lips. The details were gone from my mind.\n<\/p>\n \nOh, Evi.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nI used to talk to her, I remembered. After I buried her and tried to figure out how to navigate the world alone, I talked to her every night. At first it was an attempt to ease my grief, but then it became how I organized my thoughts and made plans. Before I lay down to sleep every night, I\u2019d told her about the odd jobs I took to survive, about disguising myself by shaving my head so I could return to the city and make more gold, about the gardener I\u2019d found to train me.\n<\/p>\n \nBut on one night lost to memory, I stopped. I\u2019d forgot to tell her I was alright, and eventually I\u2019d forgotten her face.\n<\/p>\n \nI pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, filling the darkness with flashes of light. Fifteen years ago, an overconfident prince had left the Perch with his beloved\u2019s hand in his, thinking he\u2019d stolen back his life. Now, a gardener returned only to end up shivering alone on a dungeon floor. He\u2019d seen what comes of na\u00efve optimism.\n<\/p>\n \nI wiped tears from my cheeks. None of it mattered. Evi, my glorious break from Father, all those years keeping my head down and tending mulberries…even the life I\u2019d built with Maddy.\n<\/p>\n \nOh spirits, what would happen to her? She may be smart, but she still had so much to learn. She needed someone to watch over her, and I was stuck on the Perch.\n<\/p>\n \nI pounded the stones with a feeble fist. I was fully ensnared in my previous life. I\u2019d die here, slowly succumbing to the evil built into the mortar.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd Maddy would never know the full story.\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019m so, so sorry. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n \nI lost count of the bowls of gruel pushed through the bars of my cell. Eventually, rough hands dragged me into the light.\n<\/p>\n \nBefore I could get my bearings, they dropped me in the dirt. I groaned and shielded my eyes against the savage sun. Was I finally out of that cell? Among the perfumes of growing things? Scents of sweet pea and rose petal found my nose, wafting from one of the palace gardens I had played in as a child. The breeze on my skin barely felt real. Nothing felt real.\n<\/p>\n \nCommander Brynn offered me a hand. \u201cCan you stand, Prince Sebastien?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThat name. Was that who I was? Prince Sebastien, the king slayer? That sounded right.\n<\/p>\n \nI ignored Brynn\u2019s hand and pushed myself up onto shaky legs. Sleeping on that stone floor had done nothing for my knees. I looked around and saw that we were in a small enclosure on the north side of the palace. A score of guards lined the path. Quite an escort for a ghost. \u201cWhere are we going?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nInstead of answering, Brynn closed cold metal shackles around my wrists.\n<\/p>\n \nWe followed the path as it led around the palace. I shambled along in my soiled tunic and noted that the guards kept their distance. Spirits knew what I smelled like.\n<\/p>\n \nOnly Brynn kept close, a hand on my elbow lightly guiding me. When she finally spoke, her voice was solemn. \u201cYou\u2019re to be hanged this morning, by the orders of Queen Natalina.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAs expected. Natalina couldn\u2019t wait to test the new gallows. And she was the queen <\/em>now. No longer the princess. I winced. \u201cIs there news of Rillin?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn lowered her gaze. \u201cPrince Rillin passed two nights ago.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI waited for grief to surface, but like with Father, I felt nothing. In that dungeon, my compassion–for my family and for myself–had shriveled to a pebble. With detached amusement, I realized that I was next in line for the throne. I doubted anyone would hand me a crown now.\n<\/p>\n \nNow that I knew my fate, I studied the grim-faced commander next to me. Brynn kept her gaze on the path ahead, unreadable. Who was this woman leading me to my doom? Was she simply a devoted servant doing her duty? Or had she been involved in Natalina\u2019s plot from the beginning? \u201cDid you know who I was?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWhat?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDid you know who I was when we met in the square? Are you that good of an actress?\u201d I doubted it.\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn looked pained. \u201cI was in that square to search for an assassin.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI snorted. \u201cAnd you found him.\u201d I had my answer. I\u2019d been trapped since the arrival of the work order. \u201cMy sister is lucky to have the service of such a loyal dog.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBefore I could react, Brynn shoved me off the path and into the nearest wall. \u201cListen to me,\u201d she hissed, pinning me to the wall with an elbow in my neck.\n<\/p>\n \nI winced at the sharp stones digging into my back. \u201cYou\u2019ve got my attention.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI know you\u2019re innocent.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe muttered the unexpected words while she held me up against the wall like a child. \u201cHow?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThe knife that drew the queen\u2019s blood wasn\u2019t yours. It was hers, from the desk. You couldn\u2019t have known it was there. And the crossbow bolts that killed the king and the crown prince came from the parapets, not your cart.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHope flickered inside me, but I quickly extinguished it. This had to be part of the game. \u201cYou think I\u2019m innocent, and yet you\u2019re still escorting me to my execution.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes.\u201d She lessened the pressure on my neck. \u201cI advised Queen Natalina to reconsider, but she had already passed judgement. I cannot disobey her.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThen why tell me?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe scowled. \u201cI am advising <\/em>you that any attempt to rebel will only cause more suffering. The queen is too powerful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAnger flared within me. How did she think I was going to rebel? Was there some way out of this that I couldn\u2019t see? \u201cIt\u2019s not like I have a choice here–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou always have a choice. You can choose to face your fate with dignity for the sake of the ones you\u2019re leaving behind. Or you can fight back and still lose.\u201d She pulled away, and I spied a flash of shame in her eyes. \u201cPlease know that I am truly sorry for what\u2019s happening. If I could find a way to help you, I would.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nWith that, she released me. The march resumed in silence.\n<\/p>\n \nI limped along and my vision blurred with rage. I had already accepted my fate in that jail cell, and now Brynn had complicated it. Why? To clear her conscience with a senseless apology? I should have known she was a shrike like the rest of them, only concerned with herself. Of course she wanted me to face my fate without protest. A smooth execution would win her more favor with the queen. She didn\u2019t care about my \u201cdignity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nWhat did she think I was leaving behind, anyway? All I had was a reputation as a mediocre gardener, a couple squeaky carts, a half-empty nursery, a set of well-worn tools.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd Maddy.\n<\/p>\n \nMy breath caught.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy would learn about all this when news filtered down to the lower boroughs. Did I want her to hear that her old master went to his death begging and sniveling and pleading for his life? Of course not. I wanted her to remember me as Acton, not as Sebastien the murderer. I might not be able to help her anymore, but I could avoid tarnishing that memory.\n<\/p>\n \nDammit.<\/em> Maybe Brynn had a point.\n<\/p>\n \nI summoned what was left of my long abandoned Verling pride and lifted my gaze from my feet to the path ahead.\n<\/p>\n \n \nWe stopped in front of the palace-side wall of the courtyard. A line of guards stood across the entrance arch, blocking our view of what sounded like a ravenous crowd. I could clearly hear the calls for my death.\n<\/p>\n \nI did my best to take Brynn\u2019s advice and drew calm resignation around me as a cloak. This is how life worked. Trees die, people disappear, corrupted rulers rise and get their way. It was unnatural for second sons like me to pretend we could control it.\n<\/p>\n \nQueen Natalina awaited, dressed in a gown covered with the black roses of mourning. The softness I\u2019d seen the other day was gone, replaced by a look of triumph. I wondered if anyone else could see it.\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn deposited me in front of her and then stepped back to give us privacy.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019d command you to bow, but I don\u2019t think it would do any good.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAt least my sister allowed me that kindness. \u201cHow long have you known where I was?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer eyes flashed. \u201cMany, many years, dear brother.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nIt had been hubris to assume my secret life was ever actually a secret. Not in this city. \u201cAnd you never told Father?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo. He would have had you killed for your disrespect. I didn\u2019t want that fate for you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI gestured toward the courtyard. \u201cAnd yet here we are. Do you think you\u2019re better than him somehow?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer face sobered. \u201cI am not Father. All you Verling men are blinded by selfish pride. Everything I\u2019ve<\/em> done–and will do–is to help my son.\u201d She nodded behind me to where a young boy of maybe six stood with a group of guards. He was yellow-haired with a spattering of freckles on his nose and cheeks, not unlike how I remembered his mother at that age.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHe\u2019ll grow up outside of Father\u2019s influence,\u201d she continued, her eyes sparkling. \u201cAnd he will be the greatest Verling ruler to have ever lived. He\u2019ll be better than me, than Father, and even you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI took a deep breath. \u201cWe can only hope.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nA sudden roar of sound came from the courtyard. Word of my arrival must have spread. Bloodthirsty shrikes pressed against the line of guards, vying for a glimpse of me, the object of their hate.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWorried about what comes next?\u201d Natalina watched me, smug. Her work was done. The mob and the hangman would take care of the rest.\n<\/p>\n \nI straightened up, thinking of Brynn\u2019s advice. \u201cI\u2019m impatient. I don\u2019t much care for this spectacle.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s right, you\u2019re a simple man of the lower boroughs now. Honest work is the only thing that makes you happy. Though, I would like to point out that you did abandon <\/em>your installation job in the courtyard, not unlike how you abandoned your family. I\u2019d imagine that was difficult for someone with so much…integrity.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nEvery second we waited here only delayed the inevitable. Why did she have to wallow in her victory? \u201cMy biggest regret will be not beautifying your courtyard, sister.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe smiled. \u201cI thought so. That\u2019s why I hired someone from the lower boroughs to finish it. She should be finishing up now, actually. She\u2019s young but surprisingly talented. Merely an apprentice. But she might make a good royal groundskeeper in the future.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nNo.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \nNatalina had the gold to hire any gardener in the city, upper or lower. Why would she drag Maddy all the way up here? Just to get a reaction from me? She\u2019d already won. I was going along with this outlandish plan. She didn\u2019t need a hostage.\n<\/p>\n \nThere was <\/em>another reason, but I\u2019d made sure to bury any evidence of that long ago. It couldn\u2019t be.\n<\/p>\n \nStill…\n<\/p>\n \nI tried to judge the look in Natalina\u2019s eyes. What did she know?\n<\/p>\n \nHer smirk revealed nothing. \u201cBrother, the girl intrigues me. Strange for you to hire someone so young. How old is Maddy now…fifteen?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer name on Natalina\u2019s lips sounded vile. \u201cMany start their apprenticeships much younger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMaybe. Maybe your relationship is only professional.\u201d Natalina\u2019s brow wrinkled as she pretended to be deep in thought. \u201cOr maybe it\u2019s something else entirely.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nNo. <\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHer age would mean that she was born a few months after you and your lover left in such a hurry. I find that extremely <\/em>interesting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI struggled to keep my face neutral, clenching my jaw so hard my neck ached. Natalina\u2019s gaze bored into mine as she gauged my reaction to her guess.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd that\u2019s all this could be: a guess. The thought brought me a sliver of relief. She couldn\u2019t <\/em>know. Evi had barely been pregnant when I\u2019d stood up to Father. We left before anyone else could find out. After Maddy was born, I delivered her to the doorstep of a kind-eyed couple with a farm who agreed to raise her as their niece. And they never knew who I was. I made sure of that.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen fate had brought us together again, Maddy and I had been strangers: just an apprentice needing a master and a gardener needing a strong pair of legs.\n<\/p>\n \nNo, Natalina didn\u2019t know. She was paranoid, grasping at anything that might spoil her claim to power, including possible rogue branches of the royal bloodline. She had no proof. \u201cI don\u2019t give a damn what you think you know, sister. That girl is no threat to you. If you\u2019re thinking about harming her…\u201d I stepped forward but keenly felt the metal rings binding my wrists. \u201cYou can go right to hell.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBold words for someone who will be there by midday.\u201d She gestured to the archway. \u201cI think we\u2019ve kept the people waiting long enough. Shall we?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes, please, before I finish the job your knife started the other day.\u201d My words were bold, but fear had me in its grip.\n<\/p>\n \nThe guards led me to the archway, and I stared through the gates into an ocean of roiling hate. We\u2019d have to cross it to reach the gallows fifty yards away.\n<\/p>\n \nBut it wasn\u2019t the crowd\u2019s bloodlust that scared me. It was the thought of Maddy somewhere in there, unsuspecting and completely defenseless against Natalina\u2019s paranoia. Even if my weak words had convinced my sister that Maddy wasn\u2019t a threat, she could still send assassins after her on a whim. It\u2019s not like the new queen needed proof to dispose of a mere gardener\u2019s apprentice.\n<\/p>\n \nI curled my hands into fists and the shackles rattled. What could I do? I was alone, and like Natalina said, I\u2019d be dead before midday. All I could do was hope Natalina wouldn\u2019t be heartless enough to murder an innocent girl.\n<\/p>\n \nSomething told me that hope wouldn\u2019t be enough.\n<\/p>\n \nThe guards cleared a path before us, and Natalina swept into the crowd, draped in feigned humility. People bowed and kissed her fingers, all at once worshipping and sympathizing with her. She was a grieving sister and daughter, the lone survivor of a heinous plot against her family.\n<\/p>\n \nMy reception was less welcoming. Brynn kept a hand on my shoulder as we waded into a mass of writhing, red-faced shrikes. She did her best to wave them off, but every few steps an elbow or fist would strike out from the crowd and find its way to my upper arms or ribs. Rotten fruit rained down on us, some of it pelting my skin and some exploding on the ground into clouds of putrid scent. The verbal assault continued through it all.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMurderer!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFilth!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDeath to Sebastien the Traitor!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI stumbled over my feet and went down hard on the stones several times. Once, someone pulled off my boot and stamped on my bare ankle. The sudden explosion of pain took my breath, and I cowered on the ground until Brynn hoisted me back up. Eventually, she ordered the other guards to form a protective wall around me while I limped forward the best I could, blinded by tears.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDo you see her?\u201d I managed to ask Brynn. Never mind that Brynn was Natalina\u2019s minion. In this moment, she was all I had.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWho?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nSomething exploded against my head, and liquid trickled down into my mouth. \u201cMaddy.\u201d I spit out a bit of eggshell. \u201cMy apprentice. She was with me when we spoke in the square.\u201d Was that yesterday? A week ago?\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThere\u2019s too many people. I can\u2019t–\u201d she grunted. \u201cWait, yes, I think so. In the back standing up in your cart. Red kerchief?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThat\u2019s her,\u201d I said, my voice breaking. Had the news reached the lower boroughs yet? Or was Maddy only now finding out that grumpy Master Acton was a prince…and a king slayer?\n<\/p>\n \nAnd did she believe any of it?\n<\/p>\n \nThe last thought made my chest tight. Like Brynn\u2019s apology, Maddy\u2019s support ultimately wouldn\u2019t matter for me. But it would certainly make things worse for her.\n<\/p>\n \nIt\u2019d be easiest if she accepted the lies outright. Let her become one with the crowd and call for my death along with the rest of them. That would lessen Natalina\u2019s suspicion and keep her from harm.\n<\/p>\n \nLet her hate me,<\/em> I prayed, though it tore at my heart. Let her hate me to keep her safe.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n \nAfter what felt like hours, we reached the gallows platform. I stumbled onto the steps and collapsed, struggling for breath. Below me, streaks of brownish red still stained the whitewashed wooden planks. Was it Father\u2019s blood? Or Rillin\u2019s? Would mine look the same?\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOn your feet, prisoner.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nWith my cheek pressed against the top step, I saw a harsh-faced man sporting a white beard and the arrogant eyes of inherited wealth. I placed him as the priest from the audience chamber. No doubt one of Natalina\u2019s lackeys. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he was the shadow I\u2019d seen in the alley. He looked down at me with disgust. \u201cI said on your feet!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCome on, Sebastien,\u201d Brynn knelt next to me and whispered in my ear. \u201cStand up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI nodded. If I stood up, I might be able to spot Maddy.\n<\/p>\n \nShooting pains in my foot told me that something was at least sprained if not broken. This time, I used Brynn\u2019s arm to help pull myself up.\n<\/p>\n \nThe courtyard was filled with hundreds of people, far from the eerie emptiness of the other day. Every archway overflowed with enraged faces and accusatory fingers pointed my way.\n<\/p>\n \nMost of the noise came from shrikes in brightly colored robes and gaudy hats. The residents of the Perch were treating this like a festival. But I was surprised to see a familiar face among them: the guild master we\u2019d done work for before this all began. He looked at me with curious, sad eyes. What was he doing all the way up here?\n<\/p>\n \nFinally, I spotted Maddy. She\u2019d left the cart and now waded through the crowd with surprising speed, her burgundy handkerchief bobbing and weaving as she shouldered past people. Her gaze locked onto the platform. Onto me.\n<\/p>\n \nI wanted to yell at her to turn back, but I couldn\u2019t draw attention to her. Was she coming to try to free me? To demand answers?\n<\/p>\n \nOut of the corner of my eye, I saw Natalina step up onto a raised part of the platform, no doubt to have a clear view of the show. Flanking her were a dozen guards with swords at their hips. A black-hooded hangman stood near the gallows, patiently silent. Everyone on this platform, except maybe Brynn, wanted me dead. If Maddy was planning something stupid, she\u2019d fail. \u201cAny attempt to rebel will only cause more suffering,\u201d <\/em>Brynn had said. She\u2019d known this was coming. Somehow.\n<\/p>\n \nThe priest cleared his throat and addressed his audience. \u201cMy children, the accused comes before us, in the sight of you, the queen, and the spirits. Here, he will be judged for his crimes.\u201d He turned to me. \u201cChild, are you, in fact, Prince Sebastien Verling, second son of our dear departed King Phillipe?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYes.\u201d Maybe if I cooperated, we could end this before Maddy got here. Then she\u2019d have no choice but to turn around.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnd did you abandon and deceive your city by feigning your death fifteen years ago?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe priest gave a simplified version of what had really happened. \u201cYes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBoos. Jeers. A clod of dirt hit the wooden planks at my feet.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnd did you plan and execute the deaths of your father and brother in order to gain the crown?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI hesitated, watching the crowd. More projectiles and curses sat ready in waiting hands and throats. But I had already made my decision. Lie. Cooperate. Do whatever I need to do to get this over with before Maddy could interfere. \u201cYes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI ducked, but the rain of debris still hit me. Next to me, a rock bounced off Brynn\u2019s helm.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMurderer!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cString him up now!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe priest continued with his list of my crimes, but I didn\u2019t listen. Maddy was here.\n<\/p>\n \nShe stood below me, pressed against the shoulder-height platform. She waved her arms as if she didn\u2019t already have my attention. \u201cActon!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI turned away, refusing to acknowledge her. Get on with it, <\/em>I silently urged the pompous priest.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMaster Acton!\u201d she tried again, louder.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGo back home, Maddy,\u201d I tried.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAre you crazy? What is happening?\u201d Her eyes were wide, desperate. \u201cYou\u2019re not a prince!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe crowd around her booed.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cShut up, girl!\u201d a man in a fine silk cloak said beside her.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut I know <\/em>him,\u201d she cried. \u201cHe\u2019s innocent!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNah, you\u2019re just delaying the show.\u201d With that, the man shoved her, almost sending her to the ground.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHey!\u201d I started forward but Brynn stopped me.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cStay still, Prince Sebastien,\u201d she pleaded with a squeeze of my arm.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWho is this interfering with my justice?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn spun us around and I locked eyes with Natalina. The queen towered over me and all her subjects in the crowd. Surprisingly, I read amusement in her face.\n<\/p>\n \nThis is what she wants, <\/em>I realized. Natalina wanted this public display. Why?\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cShe\u2019s no one,\u201d I stammered. I didn\u2019t have time to decipher Natalina\u2019s games. I had to convince Maddy to get out of here.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo one?\u201d the queen said. \u201cOr your co-conspirator? Perhaps a second assassin?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe crowd buzzed in excitement and my heart fell.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOf course not. She knew nothing about…what I did. She\u2019s innocent.\u201d What else could I do? \u201cLet me speak to her, and she won\u2019t trouble you anymore.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nNatalina pursed her lips. \u201cIf you wish.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer sudden mercy must be an act for the crowd. It wouldn\u2019t last, so I had to be quick.\n<\/p>\n \nI shook myself free of Brynn\u2019s grip and hobbled to the edge of the platform. With difficulty, I knelt down so I was face to face with Maddy. \u201cGirl, you need to get out of here. Now.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nShe shook her head. \u201cIs any of this true?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAll of it.\u201d I didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cI\u2019m a prince, and I\u2019ve wanted the crown for years. But now my plan has failed.\u201d The lies spilled out easily. I would have said anything to make her go.\n<\/p>\n \nShe scoffed as she struggled to make sense of my words. \u201cI don\u2019t believe you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy heart swelled. For once I wished my headstrong, kind-hearted apprentice was anything but. \u201cFine, you don\u2019t have to. Just get out of here.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNo, I\u2019m not leaving you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou should listen to him, girl,\u201d Natalina called from behind me. \u201cAfter all, he\u2019s the expert at running away from the people he cares about.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy frowned. \u201cWhat?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDon\u2019t listen to her. Go, please.\u201d I searched for what else to say. \u201cYou\u2019re such a good girl, Mad. I–”\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cOh, he never told you?\u201d Natalina continued. \u201cHe left his family fifteen years ago to elope with some lower borough girl–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cStop,\u201d I pleaded.\n<\/p>\n \nShe ignored me. \u201cHe left everything <\/em>for her, and then he let her freeze to death in the mountains.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI could barely get the words out. My chest was so tight, I couldn\u2019t draw a deep enough breath. \u201cNatalina…\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnd then he even abandoned you, his only daughter–\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI found my voice. \u201cI never <\/em>abandoned her!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy words, spoken with more confidence than I\u2019d felt in years, faded. Silence settled over the platform like a thick fog. The only sound was my thundering heart. Had I really said that aloud?\n<\/p>\n \nI watched as Natalina\u2019s surprise mellowed into a satisfied smirk. \u201cWell, well.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy heart fell. That was it. I\u2019d doomed both of us.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cFinally at the end, the truth emerges,\u201d Natalina said. \u201cBrother, you\u2019ve spent your whole life lying. Today, your deception ends.\u201d She signaled to the thick-armed sergeant at her side.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWait,\u201d I said, breathless with a sudden need. \u201cLet me have one more moment with her.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI\u2019ve already given you more than you deserve.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAnd yet you\u2019ve taken even more.<\/em> \u201cPlease, I need to…I need to…\u201d What did I need? My eyes flitted across the platform, to the priest, to the swinging rope. Anywhere but Maddy. Not yet. What would I say?\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMy queen, I advise you to grant his last request,\u201d Brynn said, her calm voice filling the silence. \u201cThrough mercy, a ruler may show strength.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nNatalina turned toward the commander of the Royal Guard, brows lifted as if she couldn\u2019t believe the woman had spoken.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cYou said you wanted to teach your son to rule justly,\u201d Brynn continued. I don\u2019t know how she kept her voice so steady. \u201cThink of this as his first lesson.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nAt first Natalina\u2019s glare deepened. But then, with her eyes on the waiting crowd, her face softened. She nodded to me. \u201cTake your moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cThank you,\u201d I said. Showing gratitude for any of this felt ludicrously wrong, but having these few seconds meant more to me than anything in the world.\n<\/p>\n \nAs I turned back to Maddy, everything around us fell away. Her shocked face could have been chiseled from stone. A stray lock of hair fell loose from the kerchief and dangled against her cheek. Just like…\n<\/p>\n \nEvi.\n<\/p>\n \nSpirits, she\u2019d been here this whole time: in Maddy\u2019s bright eyes, in that wild brown hair. But I hadn\u2019t let myself look.\n<\/p>\n \nIn a flash, I saw what could have been. On any of the hundreds of days since Maddy came back into my life, I could have taken the day off work and packed for a picnic on the nursery. We could\u2019ve spread out a blanket underneath that tree on the end whose branches gave the most shade. I\u2019d have offered her a sweet cake and then told the truth.\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019d say I knew that the farmers would raise her better than I ever could, but I still secretly dropped sacks of coins on their doorstep to make sure she was properly fed. I\u2019d describe all the odd jobs I\u2019d worked to earn what was needed. I\u2019d never let on how many nights I had gone hungry because of it.\n<\/p>\n \nI\u2019d tell her that she looked like her mother from the moment she was born. I wouldn\u2019t tell her about the nightmarish days after her birth when a self-exiled prince and his infant daughter huddled in a drafty shack far away from everything, helpless as her mother slipped away.\n<\/p>\n \nInstead, I\u2019d describe the joy I felt when I heard that the farmers\u2019 niece had an affinity for growing things and that she was looking for a master to apprentice herself to. Together, we\u2019d remember that moment when she had shown up at my nursery, clutching that damn floppy hat.\n<\/p>\n \nThen we would have laughed and shared another sweet cake.\n<\/p>\n \nEmotion clouded my throat. If only I hadn\u2019t been so stubborn.\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy spoke. \u201cIs it true, Acton?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI took a deep shaky breath. No more lies.<\/em> I gave a single nod. \u201cYou\u2019ve got two questions left.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer eyes widened and a tear escaped down her cheek. Eventually she said, \u201cIf I hadn\u2019t convinced you to talk to the Guard, would this have happened?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI reached out my shackled hands and touched her cheek, wanting more than anything to banish the tear. \u201cThis is not <\/em>your fault. I\u2019m the one that hid from all this.\u201d I cleared my throat. \u201cOne left.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBehind us, the guards argued amongst themselves, trying to decide whether to break up our conversation. Brynn loudly commanded them to hush. \u201cYou will wait until I give the order,\u201d she insisted. Spirits, I needed to thank her for this. Her words even silenced Natalina.\n<\/p>\n \nI lowered my voice and asked my own question. \u201cDo you understand why it\u2019s not safe for you here anymore?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMaddy\u2019s eyes flicked behind me to the queen and her jaw set in determination. She nodded.\n<\/p>\n \nI smiled despite everything. In an instant, she\u2019d already accepted the truth and understood its implications. She\u2019d always been smarter than me. \u201cThen you\u2019ve got to run. Fast. As soon as the guards are distracted, get out of this crowd. Leave the city. And don\u2019t look back.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cAnd you\u2019ll follow?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nMy broken foot throbbed in pain as I thought of the leagues of winding streets between here and the city gates. I doubted I could walk even as far as the edge of the courtyard. But the agreement was that I answer with the truth. \u201cIf I can.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cGood.\u201d She opened her mouth to say something else but closed it again. She gave a tiny smile. \u201cLooks like I\u2019m out of questions.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI nodded, my words exhausted. Perhaps that was for the best. Words could only say so much.\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn grasped my shoulder with a tentative hand. I nodded and let her pull me up, away from Maddy. I\u2019d done all I could.\n<\/p>\n \nOr had I?\n<\/p>\n \nMy hands may be bound, but I was not powerless.\n<\/p>\n \nOnce standing, I pretended to stumble on my injured foot and fell into Brynn. As she shifted to support my weight, I whispered into her ear, \u201cWill you help me?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nA terrible beat of silence followed. Then came a mumbled word. \u201cYes.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nRelief flooded my chest. \u201cThen follow my lead.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI swiped the sword from her belt, threw my shackles over her head, and pressed the blade to her neck. \u201cStay back!\u201d I cried at the guards as they drew their weapons. \u201cI\u2019ll slit her throat!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nBrynn reacted perfectly, pretending to struggle against my bind. Her tasseled helm fell off and rolled from the platform into the crowd. \u201cDo as he says!\u201d she gasped.\n<\/p>\n \nIn return, I kept the sharp-edged steel a finger\u2019s width away from her skin.\n<\/p>\n \nThe guards stayed back, exchanging confused glances.\n<\/p>\n \nTogether, the commander and I backed away along the edge of the platform to the far corner, away from Maddy. I caught a glimpse of her sliding the red kerchief from her head and immediately disappearing into the distracted crowd. Good girl.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMy child, think about what you\u2019re doing,\u201d the priest said, holding his hands up in warning. \u201cDo not compound your sins.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI barked a laugh. \u201cMy only sin was being born a Verling.\u201d My back to the crowd, I removed the sword from Brynn\u2019s neck and pushed her to the ground. She rolled into a crouch and spread her arms wide, preventing the rest of the guards from rushing me.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cStand down!\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \nNatalina spoke, a flicker of unease in her voice. \u201cBrother, you don\u2019t even know how to use a sword.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cDon\u2019t I? I started training long before you were born.\u201d The blade was heavy and awkward with my shackles, but I brandished it as best I could. For the moment, my fake confidence and Brynn kept the guards at bay. All of it was at least enough to fill my sister\u2019s eyes with fear. I turned to the crowd.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cPeople of the city, I owe you an apology.\u201d My parched throat burned, but I carried on. \u201cYou\u2019ve been lied to today. I <\/em>have lied to you.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe crowd\u2019s mood had shifted in the preceding moments. I could almost see the news of my conversation with Maddy fly from person to person, no doubt twisted and exaggerated at every exchange. Eyes that had been filled with simple bloodlust changed to focused interest. I had their attention.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI am <\/em>Prince Sebastien, but I had nothing to do with the deaths of my father and brother. I mourn them the same as all of you.\u201d I supposed that was true in some deep part of me. In truth, I mourned more for what the city would be like under the rule of my sister.\n<\/p>\n \nI lifted the sword and pointed the tip toward Natalina. \u201cThe truth is that your new queen arranged their deaths and tore me from my life in the lower boroughs to take the blame. She was willing to sacrifice her whole family to gain the crown.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nGasps. This drama was better than any performance in the upper borough theaters.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cRidiculous!\u201d the priest said, the pitch of his voice rising with his desperation to regain control. \u201cYou dare add fresh treason to your list of crimes?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cHe\u2019ll say anything to save his neck.\u201d Natalina\u2019s voice was icy cold. She sounded more like our father than ever.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cWill I?\u201d We locked eyes, and I finally accepted that there was nothing left of my baby sister. She was a Verling ghost like me, cursed to haunt this city. Maybe Maddy would be the first one of us to truly escape.\n<\/p>\n \nWhen I spoke again, it wasn\u2019t to the crowd. It was to Maddy, somewhere in the throng. \u201cBelieve me or not, this is the truth. And I\u2019ve waited too long to say it. For that, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nThe gossip swirled before me, some snatches of conversation sticking out.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cCould he be right? Is Natalina guilty?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cShh, that\u2019s treason!\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut what if it\u2019s true?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nI closed my eyes and lowered my sword. The responses from the crowd sounded far, far away. Shrikes…visitors from the lower boroughs…they all sounded the same. I didn\u2019t care what they said anymore. For the first time since I\u2019d returned to the Perch, I could breathe. I shut my eyes and dropped to my knees, drunk on deep lungfuls of air that smelled of dirt and fertilizer and mulberries.\n<\/p>\n \nNatalina barked orders at the guards, her voice tiny and distant. When I finally opened my eyes, Brynn knelt before me. She no longer tried to hide her rebellion. \u201cI can\u2019t fight them off. What do you want me to do, Acton?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nActon. That\u2019s right. That\u2019s who I was. \u201cGo to Maddy. Make sure she\u2019s safe.\u201d I thrust the sword hilt into her hand.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cBut if I leave you, they\u2019ll…\u201d she started, eyeing the frothing guards as they approached.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cPlease.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nHer argument evaporated on her lips. She gave me a quick nod and a squeeze on my shoulder, and then she was gone, leaping off the platform into the shocked crowd.\n<\/p>\n \nThe guards looked after their commander in utter bewilderment.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cNever mind her!\u201d Natalina yelled from somewhere. \u201cHang the traitor. Now! <\/em>\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nRough hands grabbed me from all sides and dragged me towards the back of the platform where the hangman stood ready. Someone guided me up onto a wobbly knee-height stool.\n<\/p>\n \nFrom my new vantage point, I could see all the way to the far end of the courtyard. My abandoned cart stood alone in front of a line of freshly planted young mulberry trees. I smiled. Maddy had finished the job.\n<\/p>\n \nA scratchy rope appeared around my neck, as thick and round as my forearm. From somewhere I heard boos from the crowd. Protests. Calls to halt the execution. And was that the guild master\u2019s deep voice speaking hurriedly to someone? A man climbed onto the platform and rushed a guard. I heard the clang of steel. Natalina screamed.\n<\/p>\n \nBut I registered none of it. I could only see the trees.\n<\/p>\n \nThey stood tall, their angles immaculately straight thanks to expertly-placed guidelines. At their bases lay a blanket of rich, dark, life-giving fertilizer. In a few weeks, the bed would need weeding so that the saplings would get all the necessary nutrients. But with continued attention from a passionate gardener, they would flourish. And maybe, the courtyard of Verling Palace would once again be filled with something beautiful.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n Julie is a fantasy author who has worked backstage in live theatre, on the sales floor of a used bookstore, and in the 24\/7 chaos of an architecture studio. Born and raised in the Midwest, she adores Cincinnati chili and thin crust pizza but admits that the barbecue is better in Texas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While royal blood soaked into the whitewashed planks of the gallows, I ran. I didn\u2019t bother to pack up my cart. Leaving it in the palace courtyard meant losing my good shovel, ten sacks of fertilizer, and the half dozen mulberry sprouts I\u2019d hauled all the way up here. But hanging around in the aftermath …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107924,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14,20125],"tags":[20122],"class_list":["post-140240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-publications","category-tcl-47-spring-2023-publications","tag-the-colored-lens-47-spring-2023","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/107924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140240"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140241,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140240\/revisions\/140241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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