Free Broken Crowns by Lauren DeStefano Page B

for my mother, whose body was likely burnt in secret with all the other victims of the king, without a proper send-off and without anyone to say so much as a few final words. Is her spirit still trapped there, looking for my brother and me? Does she wonder why we’ve left her?
    It is not a pain I’ve allowed myself to feel. I was so caught up in the danger and the mystery of our journey. I have worn this cloth of grieving tied around my wrist all this time—it is tattered and dirtied—but I have not truly grieved.
    Now it comes all at once.
    And my father—I have to believe he’s alive and whole and safe. I have to.
    I shall have to speak to Thomas about Pen. She and I have never been apart for more than a day, and I’ve seen what loss can do to her. I don’t want to return to the ground and find that she has drunk herself into illness. That’s what I’ll tell Thomas. Make sure she isn’t hoarding bottles. Make sure she isn’t going off alone. She can be quite deceitful, so be vigilant. I want to see her well when I get back.
    When I get back.
    That’s what I’ll say.

7

    The festivities are a blur. The king’s seamstress and tailor have created clothes for Basil and the prince and me that are a mix of what we wore back home and what people wear in Havalais.
    Prince Azure goes up to the podium before us, and he reads the words that have been prepared for him in neat typewritten letters on small squares of paper. Words about joining the kingdoms and ending the war with Dastor. But it is not Prince Azure’s war, and it is not Internment’s war, and I know that there is anger behind the prince’s dazzling smiles.
    I never get a chance to ask him about that anger. Nor do I get a chance to ask why he has denied Pen her chance to go to Internment with me. She is the one with the knowledge he needs. The moment after his speech, he is whisked off into the crowd, escorted by two of King Ingram’s men, to reassure the people.
    Charming the people is nothing new for Prince Azure. Back on Internment there was little else for him to do in public. He is tall and attractive and rather eloquent, even if all his words have been prepared for him.
    I sit up on the stage, holding Basil’s hand, doing my best not to look terrified.
    Eventually the king sends us out into the crowd. He has not given us an exact script, but we know what he wants us to say. Everything will be well. Internment is happy to help. The war will be over soon. Dastor is the enemy but soon they’ll leave us alone, once the phosane makes us the more powerful kingdom.
    The others don’t approach us. Pen and Judas and Amy and Nim. But I see them sometimes in the crowd, watching Basil and me. I see Judas’s expressionless face that hides so much, and I see Pen’s worried eyes.
    I swallow a lump in my throat, and I go on speaking lies.

    On our last night in Havalais, Basil and I arrive at the castle for a feast being held in our honor. A send-off. Roasted animals of every variety and vegetables that weren’t cut out of a can, for once in this world. I force myself to eat. Everything tastes like paste. All I want is to go home, and I’m not sure where that is anymore.
    â€œGhastly party, isn’t it?” Prince Azure says, stepping up from behind me. He’s holding two long-stemmed glasses of sparkling tonic and he hands one to me. “I think that’s an entire pig on that table over there with—what is that in its mouth?”
    â€œI don’t know,” I say, because I’m too nauseated to look.
    â€œTomorrow’s the big day,” the prince says. “I have been waiting all week to have a moment alone with you. Looks like now’s our only chance.” He nods to the opened glass doors that lead to the balcony.
    I look to Basil, trapped in a conversation between the king and one of his guests.
    â€œHurry, before the king forces us to