“I must say, I’m delighted with this irony. You left an honorable position on Luna to come to Earth and devote your last withering years to finding a cure for this disease. A disease that I already have the antidote for. In fact … come to think of it, I might have some samples with me in the palace. I like to keep them on hand in the event something tragic should happen to my betrothed, or someone else necessary to my objectives. I could have the antidote brought to you, but I don’t suppose I will.”
“Worry not, My Queen. I would not take it from you even if you did, now that I know what lengths you’ve gone to obtain it.”
“The lengths I’ve gone to? In order to cure a disease that, until this day, did not affect my own people? I do believe that’s rather charitable of me, wouldn’t you say?”
He slowly, slowly sat up. His head fell to his chest as he tried to recapture his breath, winded from that small exertion. “I’ve figured it out, My Queen. I truly believed that all shells were killed when you took them from us, but that’s not true. Are any of them killed, or is it all just a show? A means of putting them into seclusion and harvesting their blood without anyone coming to look for them?”
Her lashes fluttered. “You had a shell child once, didn’t you? Remind me—was it a little boy or a little girl? Perhaps when I return home I can find them and tell them how small and pathetic their father was when he died right before my eyes.”
“What’s most interesting to me,” the doctor said, scratching his ear and acting as if he hadn’t heard her, “is that the first documented case of letumosis occurred twelve years ago. And yet, you’ve been collecting antibodies for much longer than that. In fact, it would have been your sister who began the experiments, if my math is correct.”
Levana splayed her fingers on the counter. “You have reminded me why you were such a terrible loss for our team, doctor.”
He swiped his arm across his damp forehead. His skin seemed translucent beneath the bright lights. “This disease is all your doing. You’ve manufactured death to bring Earth to its knees, so that when the time was right, you would be there to save them with your miraculous antidote. One that you’d had stashed away all along.”
“You give me too much credit. It was the team working beneath my parents that created the disease, and those beneath my sister who perfected the antidote. I simply implemented their research by determining a means of getting the disease down to Earth.”
“By exposing Lunars to it and then sending them here, having no idea what they were carrying.”
“Sending them to Earth? Absolutely not. I simply made sure that my security personnel looked the other way when they … escaped.” The last word held a bite. She wasn’t fond of the idea that some of her people chose to run away from the paradise she’d given them.
“It’s biological warfare.” Dr. Darnel coughed into his elbow, leaving spots of dark red. “And Earth has no idea.”
“And they will continue to have no idea. Because I’m going to stand here and watch you die.”
He laughed shrilly. “You honestly think I would carry this secret to my grave?”
A twinge of annoyance traipsed down her spine.
The doctor’s eyes were glazing over, but his smile was enormous as he studied the window. “This is a very large mirror I’m looking into. So impossible to hide from what I am … what I’ve become. My Queen, you would not like to die in this room. I suspect you would tear off your own flesh if forced to stare at it for so long.”
She squeezed her hands into fists, digging her nails into the palms of her hands.
“Your Majesty.”
Exhaling, she forced her hands to open. Her palms stung.
Aimery had returned with Jerrico, her captain of the guard, looking as though he’d been in an impressive scuffle.
“Finally. Where have you and Sybil been? Report.”
Jerrico bowed. “My Queen, Thaumaturge Mira and I, along with five of my top marksmen, managed to surround Linh Cinder and her companions on the emergency landing pad on this tower’s rooftop.”
Hope warmed her chest. “And you got them? They haven’t escaped after all?”
“No, Your Majesty. We failed in our objective. Two of my men are dead, the other three severely injured. I, myself, was unconscious when the spacecraft escaped with the traitors and Emperor Kaito aboard.”
Her fury began to claw at her spine again, desperate to be unleashed. “And where is Thaumaturge Mira?”
He respectfully lowered his gaze. “Dead, Your Majesty. Linh Cinder used her gift to torture her mind—I heard her screams myself. Those who were conscious have reported that, after the spacecraft departed, Thaumaturge Mira threw herself from the rooftop. Her body was found in the gardens.”
A mad giggling echoed through the room. Levana spun back as the doctor doubled over his knees, kicking his heels against the table. “She deserved it, the snake. After keeping my little golden bird locked up in her cage for so long.”
“Your Majesty.”
Levana faced Jerrico again. “What?”
“We found one of Linh Cinder’s accomplices aboard their ship prior to the confrontation. Her new pilot, it would seem.” Jerrico gestured toward the hall. Footsteps clicked, and a moment later, two men entered. Another guard escorting—
Her smile was quick. “Dearest Sir Clay.”
Though his wrists were bound behind his back, he stood straight and proper and seemed as healthy as ever. He clearly hadn’t been treated like a prisoner aboard Linh Cinder’s ship.
“My Queen.” He dipped his head.
She scraped her Lunar gift over him, testing for signs of derision or rebellion, but there were none. He was as blank and malleable as ever. “My understanding is that you abandoned your thaumaturge in a pivotal battle in order to side with Linh Cinder against the Lunar crown. Your being here leads me to understand that you are also involved with the kidnapping of my betrothed. You are a traitor to myself and to my throne. How do you plead?”
“Innocent, My Queen.”
She laughed. “Of course you are. How can you plead thus?”
He held her gaze without remorse. “During the battle aboard the spaceship, Thaumaturge Mira was consumed with the effort to control a Lunar special operative who has joined the side of the rebels. With my own faculties open, Linh Cinder forced me to comply with her will and fight against my thaumaturge, ultimately leading to her abandoning the ship and leaving me aboard. Realizing this was an opportunity to ingratiate myself to the rebels, I have spent these past weeks acting as a spy with the intention of reporting weaknesses and strategies when I was finally able to return to my queen, who I am most honored to serve.”
She smirked. “No doubt your eagerness to return encompassed a desire to see your beloved princess as well.”
There—finally. The tiniest ripple of emotion, before the lake was once again still as glass. “I live to serve all members of the Lunar royal family, My Queen.”
She smoothed her fingers down her skirt. “How can I believe that you remain loyal to me when you are standing before me in chains, having been dragged from the enemy’s own ship?”
“I would hope my actions prove my loyalties. Had I wanted Linh Cinder to succeed in her objectives, I would not have sent Thaumaturge Mira a comm informing her where and when I would be arriving with that ship.”
Levana raked her gaze over Jacin before glancing at Jerrico. “Is this true?”
“I can’t say. Thaumaturge Mira did seem confident of the location when we went to intercept the traitors, but she didn’t say anything about a comm. And she seemed furious when we found Jacin in the cockpit. It was under her order that we took him into custody.”