*Isla*
“Rebecca?”
I can’t breathe. I’m trying to get oxygen into my lung, but nothing is happening. My head feels dizzy. My knees refuse to support my body, and the room around me spins.
Maddox’s hands are on my arms, holding me up. “Yes, Trinity looks very much like my dead wife.” The words come out of his mouth the same way that he might order soup or comment on the weather.
“But… but… but….” I can’t manage to form a coherent sentence.
The dream I had the other night all makes sense now. Somehow, I’d subconsciously known that Rebecca would return to being a threat to me now that the contest had begun.
“Isla, calm down,” Maddox says to me. “People are beginning to stare.”
I want to break away from him, to shout at him that if that’s all he cares about, then he can kiss my ass. But if I break away from him now, I will tumble to the ground.
Using the mind-link, I call out to the only other person I would trust to help me in this situation. “Ben! Come here, please! I’m going to faint!”
Immediately, I feel my brother’s arms around my waist. Maddox doesn’t release me though. “What’s going on?” Ben asks, and I have no idea how he’s gotten there so quickly unless he was observing the situation and came over.
“Nothing. We’re just having a discussion. Leave her be,” Maddox demands.
“She called me over,” Ben argues back. “Something isn’t right. What is it?”
“I want to go outside,” I say, turning my head to Ben. “Can you help me?”
“Of course.” My brother glares at the king. Maddox glares right back, not seeming to want to let go, but when I pull my arms away from him, he releases me.
“Have fun dancing with your girls,” I tell him, wrapping an arm around my brother as he turns to move me to the closest door that leads outside.
Once we are out on the balcony, Ben helps me to sit in a chair, but he doesn’t sit next to me. He gives me some space as his eyes oscillate from taking in the gardens lit by lanterns, moonlight, and a thousand stars.
“What’s going on, sis?” Ben asks me, his voice as calm as can be expected. “What is all of this?”
My brother and I have always been best friends, but since I saved his life on the day that the riot took place in the courtyard, in the middle of the executions for treason, including Zabrina’s hanging, we have had a bond unlike any other. He believes I saved his life that day, and he will do anything to repay me that kindness, even though I constantly tell him that he doesn’t owe me a thing.
“He says it’s all for show, that he’s simply giving the Alphas and Betas who came in with him to fight against Alpha Geoffrey what they deserve. The Alphas all want their daughters to be considered as the next Luna Queen.”
“I thought he wasn’t taking another Luna Queen, though.” Ben sinks into the chair next to me, his questions echoing my own.
“He says he’s not, but they asked him to do this, and he gave in.” I shrug my shoulders and finally manage to get some air into my lungs. My head is still spinning from this newest revelation, but I am beginning to feel my pulse return to normal.
“Did you not know this before you came to the dance tonight?” Ben is trying to figure out what triggered the episode I just had. I can’t blame him. It is surprising.
“No, it wasn’t that,” I tell him. “It’s Trinity. That redheaded girl who came in last. She’s Luna Queen Rebecca’s cousin, and apparently, she looks exactly like her.”
“Wh—what?” Ben can’t believe what I’ve said either. I don’t blame him. It’s a lot to take in. “Why would he have her here? Did he not warn you?”
All I can do is shake my head. No words are going to be able to come out of my mouth on that topic.
“I don’t understand. Why does he even need to do this? If he wants a wife, he has you. You’re carrying his baby, after all.” Ben is frustrated. He runs a hand through his hair, leaving it sticking up. I smooth it down.
“I know, but he doesn’t want anyone to know about the baby yet for fear he might not make it. Maddox is afraid the other Alphas will think he’s simply made the baby up in order to pacify them.” It sounds awful coming out of my mouth, and when I see Ben’s reaction, I agree, it is awful.
“He can’t even have faith in your ability to carry his child?” He shakes his head, flabbergasted.
“Apparently not.” I absently rub my abdomen. The baby is so tiny, I can’t feel him yet, but I know he’s there. I refuse to consider losing him ever.
“Well… this all sucks,” Ben says.
“There’s more.” I look around. We are alone. No one else is even near the window through the door. “I have to tell you something else, but you can’t repeat it to anyone, not even Mom and Dad.”
“I don’t tell Mom and Dad anything,” he reminds me.
Sometimes I forget he’s so young. He seems like such an adult. Perhaps dying and coming back to life will do that to you. That’s an experience the two of us share, and we are both wise beyond our years.
“Our cousin, Antony, was here in the castle. He’s from Maatua. He pretended to be someone else so that he could get close to me, but Maddox found out he was an imposter, though he still doesn’t know who he was. He wants me to go back to the island with him.” I blurt it all out, watching my brother’s eyes widen with every word I speak.
“Where is he now?” he asks me.
“He had to flee when Maddox’s soldiers started looking for him. He’s hiding.” I hadn’t heard from Antony in a while, and I am worried. I’d like to think that Maddox will tell me if he has been captured, but he probably won’t.
Maddox isn’t very good at telling me stuff.
“Why does he want you to go back to Maatua?” Ben wants to know, still puzzling over all of it. I can see it in his eyes.
“He believes I’m the only one who can break the curse and save the island. He says that his mother, our Aunt Mary, is the one that cast the curse, and the only way to break it is to kill her. He believes I’m the only one that can kill her.” It’s all so very complicated and sounds silly when I say it out loud.
Ben nods as if I’ve said nothing surprising. “Why does he think you’re the only one who can break the curse?”
“Because of the fact that I was reborn in the pool of water in the forest. So was she. I’m not exactly sure why, but that is the main reason.” My eyes go back to the window. People are dancing and having a good time. It must be nice to be so carefree, oblivious to the truth.
The truth.
The words I’m speaking to Ben affect every single one of those people, and they have no idea. They think they are here for a contest, a bit of fun, and the chance to become a queen.
They have no idea they are in for a rude awakening.
“You should go.”
Ben’s voice cuts through my thoughts. I turn my eyes away from the dancers and fix on his face. “What?”
“The islands. You should go. We’ve talked about going there someday. Why not go now?” He shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“Are you insane?” I ask him. “I’m pregnant. And I can’t fight that woman. And… while I’m gone, Trinity will be here with Maddox without me.”
“Isla, I remember how concerned you were about the fact that your baby might not be okay when he’s born because of everything that those people did to you when you were kidnapped. What if you need that pool of water to bring your baby back to life, but you’re not there? What if you can’t do it yourself because it’s your own baby?”
“What difference would that make?” I scoffed. “You’re my own brother, and I saved you.”
Ben gets a little closer to me. “Listen, there’s something else, and I have to wonder if maybe our cousin doesn’t know about this, too.”
My eyebrows furrow as I lean closer to my brother. “What’s that?”
“I heard Mom and Dad talking one night when they thought I was asleep. It was right after King Maddox had gone to war, when Father was contemplating going with them. He said he wished he had the stone. Mom said it was lost on the island. But Dad said, if they had it, they could give it to Maddox to make sure that he never lost power.”
Confusion washes over me as I try to put the story together. “What stone?”
He shakes his head. “That’s all I heard, but it sounded to me like there’s a stone on the island that gives a person power to rule, a power that can’t be questioned.”
“Well, it must not have worked very well if Dad had it,” I mutter.
“Unless… Uncle Tony took it. Maybe that was how the war got out of hand, why we had to flee, and maybe now, Aunt Mary has it.” Ben shrugs again, and I have to wonder if what he has to say is true.
I take a deep breath. This is all too much information. For now, I need to concentrate on the first problem. Maddox.
“You should see what else you can find out about that,” I tell him. “But I think I’m ready to go back in now.”
“Are you sure?” Ben asks me. “I thought you were going to pass out before. If you do, you could fall, and either way, that won’t be good for the baby.”
Talking to my brother has given me strength I didn’t have before. “I’m okay,” I assure him. “Now, let’s go back in there, and let me fight for my man.”
Ben purses his lips together and shakes his head. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
I pat his arm. “Thank you,” I tell him. “But he does. He’s just… not used to having a woman to answer to. Not since Rebecca. It’s been years.”
“No, he just doesn’t deserve you,” Ben insists.
I walk back inside with Ben behind me, ready to catch me if need be. But I feel confident this time. Maddox is mine, and these other women need to see that. They need to understand that he’s not theirs to take.
I will find him, dance with him, and show them all.
As I approach the dance floor, my feet freeze, and I nearly topple forward. So much for showing everyone who he belongs to.
Maddox is already dancing with someone, and every eye in the room is plastered to them.
Of course, it’s Trinity.