Free Sleepers by Megg Jensen

churning in my chest like a hurricane. I couldn’t think straight. “He’s going to execute them.”
    Kellan jumped up from the bed and paced his small room. Only four strides before he had to turn around, but back and forth his feet carried him. He stopped in front of me, placed his hand on my chin and lifted my face up. Our eyes met.
    “Do you understand now why he needs to die?” Kellan asked. “He’s killing everyone he comes into contact with. He’s like a plague, Lianne. I had hoped the plight of our people would have been enough for you, but I can see now it took this to shock you into realizing my plan is for the best. He needs to die,” Kellan repeated.
    He needs to die. He needs to die. He needs to die.
    I heard his voice echoing in my head. My inner voice mingled with his, singing in full choir telling me what I had fought for so long.
    “How?” I asked.
    “How long do we have?”
    “One week.”
    “Then we have little time to plan,” Kellan said. “But we can do it.”
    He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me close.
    “We’ll save Mags,” he whispered.
    “And the king will die at my hand,” I said.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    The next morning I reported for duty. I wanted to ask Mags if the king had come back and said anything else. If he’d changed his mind. If a miracle had occurred. But I kept silent as I walked into her chambers.
    She glanced up at me, her eyes swollen and red.
    “Albree has already been dismissed for the day,” Mags said, her voice steady. She knew how to carry herself, no matter how she felt inside. Always the queen. “I need you to help me with something.”
    I ran to her side and pulled her into my arms.
    “Anything, Mags.”
    Trevin cooed in his bassinette next to the bed. We held each other, arms encircling our bodies as if we’d become one intertwined person.
    “You need to take Trevin and leave with him. Take him far away, Lianne. You have to save him.”
    I backed away, stumbling off the bed.
    “But I can’t take him and leave you to die.” My heart pounded and I felt the fires in my stomach flare as my anger rose.
    “You have to. You can run now and no one will know until the end of the day. You’d have a head start on everyone else. If I leave too then someone will know. The woman who brings the food or the one who cleans the chamber pot. Someone will notice I am gone. Besides, you are healthier than I am. I’ve been stuck in this room since Trevin was born. I don’t even think I’ve ran anywhere in four years. All I’ve been doing is having babies.”
    I didn’t know what to say. I’d already decided to kill the king to save Mags and Trevin. Running away with Trevin and leaving Mags to die didn’t change the reasons I had for killing him. Her sacrifice only stoked the fire burning in my belly.
    “No. I won’t do it.”
    “Lianne,” Mags cried, tears forming the corners of her eyes. “I don’t have anyone else I can trust to take Trevin away from here. No one else can save him but you.”
    “There’s another way,” I whispered, not daring to look her in the eyes.
    “No, there isn’t. I’ve been up all night thinking about this, Lianne. There’s isn’t anything else we can do.”
    “I have an idea,” I said, louder this time. She had to listen, to take me seriously. I climbed back on the bed and took her hand in mine.
    Mags’ eyes, still rimmed with tears, moved from my face to Trevin. He was still happy, giggling, and blowing bubbles. On anyone else, it would have been disgusting, but babies could even make spittle cute.
    A smile pushed at the corners of her mouth, but her grief was too fresh for even Trevin to break through.
    “Save him,” she begged me, turning away from him.
    “I want to. I will. But I will not take him away from you. I plan on saving both of you,” I whispered. “I’m going to kill Rotlar.”
    Mags said nothing, only stared at me in stunned silence.
    “I can do it. I’m the best fighter in the