It’s well after midnight, and the forest is quiet, but I follow Karri along the pitch-black trails. Up ahead, there’s a glow between the trees, and my heart skips in my chest. Quint is just beside me, the two guards at my back. We’re all in heavy, hooded black cloaks, but they obscure my vision, and I almost wish we didn’t have them.
But I can’t afford to be recognized. Not yet.
When we draw close, a low hum of conversation is audible through the trees. I expected dozens of people. Maybe a hundred.
This looks like more than a thousand.
I nearly stop short. “We’ll be seen,” I say to Karri.
“No,” she says. “We have runners to draw the night patrol. That’s how they were able to attack so many Moonflower shipments.”
My eyes widen, but I continue.
Karri steps up in front of the crowd, taking a torch from a man waiting there. We cling to the shadows between the trees. Thorin is to my left, Quint to my right, with Saeth following closely behind. My breathing is still loud in my chest, and every breath feels like a struggle.
I haven’t taken a dose of Moonflower since Maxon gave me his.
A tiny flare of panic lodges in my heart, but I shove the fear away. People in the Wilds sometimes go for weeks without medicine. I can last a day or two.
Karri steps onto a wide stump and calls out to the people. Her voice carries well. “You know Lochlan is gone, on a ship with Prince Corrick—”
“The consuls said those ships have sunk!” a woman calls back. “That the king killed them both!”
“Those are lies,” Karri says. “The consuls are trying to overthrow the king again, while Prince Corrick and Lochlan are away.”
A murmur runs through the crowd. My heart keeps pounding. At my side, I can feel Thorin’s tension. He and Saeth are two men. We have no horses. Few weapons. No matter what happens here, they can’t hold off a thousand rebels who might want me dead.
But Karri raises her hands, and the people quiet. They like her. They respect her.
“The stakes are different this time,” she calls. “We have another chance at rebellion.”
“Because the King’s Justice is gone?” calls a man. “You think the king won’t have his army kill us all this time?”
“The king is gone!” someone else yells from farther back. “There’s a bounty on his head!”
“Because he lied!” shouts a woman. “He lied about the Moonflower!”
Another murmur rolls through the crowd, more angry this time. I inhale, preparing to step forward, but Quint reaches out and catches my wrist.
“Wait, Your Majesty,” he says quietly. “Allow her to hold the crowd.”
I glance down at his hand on my arm, but his eyes are on the people, on Karri.
“He didn’t lie!” Karri calls. “The consuls have lied to you all. The king has been trying to protect his people.”
“It’s true!” calls a little voice. “The king was the Fox!”
Violet. She shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous.
A low snicker rolls through the crowd, but Karri doesn’t laugh. “The king was the Fox. Just as Prince Corrick was Weston Lark.”
Complete silence falls over the crowd.
Finally, a man yells, “If the king is trying to protect us from the consuls, why is he hiding?”
“Now,” Quint whispers, and he squeezes my wrist.
In that instant, time seems to freeze. I’ve stood before my people, countless times.
I’ve never done it without my brother at my side.
Corrick. Please be well.
But then I think of Quint’s words from the carriage.
Perhaps it’s time to speak for yourself.
I draw back the hood of my cloak and stride forward, limping, to join Karri. At first, no one recognizes me, which isn’t a surprise. But then a few whispers start to run through the crowd.
Before they can turn into shouts, I say, “I’m not hiding.
I’m here. With you. For you.” Silence falls again.
I stand in front of them all, my hood drawn back. Fully exposed. Fully vulnerable. Torches and lanterns glow in the darkness, but so many faces stare back at me. They’re wary. They’re worried. They just want to be safe and well.
I want the same.
“You know what people like Consul Sallister will do if they’re in power,” I say. “You know what will happen if he is able to take the throne. We need to stop him.”
“So what?” someone yells. “You think you’re going to order us into battle against your own people?”
“No,” I say, feeling the pound of my heart. “I think I’m going to lead you.”
