“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.
Eamon shoved a dirty rag in my mouth and tied a gag around it. “I’m going to sell you to the Fate Maker, and then my father and I will both be free of you and your mother’s memory.”
One of the woodsmen holding me up shifted me so that I was facing him and tossed me over his shoulder, my head hanging down to his waist.
“Let’s move,” Eamon said quickly. “We’ve got a long way to go and a wizard to meet who won’t tolerate delays.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
When we finally stopped, the sun was breaking over the trees. I was dizzy, sore, and more than a little ticked. My own half brother had sold me out.
For most of the time we’d been traveling, I’d tried to come up with new and creative punishments to make Eamon squirm. But then all I could think was what if John of Leavenwald was one of those dads who frowned upon exiling your own brother no matter what sort of creep he was? That thought had made me start to think about just what sort of dad he’d be with other stuff. Like curfews. Or whether or not I’d have chores. Did queens have chores?
The woodsman holding me on his shoulder dropped me and I hit the ground hard. “Ouch.”
“Shut up and drink this.” Eamon shoved a flask in front of my face.
I jerked my head away. “Get stuffed, dirtbag.”
“Fine.” He lifted the canteen up so that it was over my head and turned it over, letting the brackish water inside pour down on me. “Have it your way.”
“Why are you doing this?” I brought my bound hands up to wipe my face. “Why did you betray us?”
“Me betray you?” He laughed cruelly. “No one betrayed you. Your mother betrayed us all years ago, and you’re just like her. If we give you the chance, you’ll betray us the exact same way.”
“What? How did she betray you?”
“My father loved her. He would have fought for her. He’d have kept her, and all of us, safe. If she’d have just—”
“If she’d have stood up to the Fate Maker,” I finished softly.
“I remember seeing them together,” Eamon said, a sad expression crossing his face. “I was young, but I still remember her letting me sit on her knee and watch as that goblin who ran the palace did magic tricks for me. He used to make birds out of thin air that would come to life and sing me songs. He was—good. He was a good man. I’ll miss him.”
“What about your mom? Where is she?” I asked. I forced myself to keep my voice kind, hoping I could change his mind about wanting to kill me. There had to be some kind of brother-sister bond inside us somewhere I could appeal to, right?
“She died when I was born.” Eamon shrugged, still not looking at me, his eyes focused on the fire. “But it didn’t matter because the crown princess herself would let me sit on her lap and she’d read me stories. I thought—well, I thought a lot of things when I was a kid—but I thought they’d get married, and it would be okay because I’d finally have a mom.”
“What happened?”
“The old Rose died,” Eamon said, his voice flat and his eyes avoiding mine. “Then the Fate Maker looked into his magic sphere and declared that Fate had decreed him the new prince consort.”
“But your father—”
“Do you want to hear this story or not?” he snapped.
I nodded, giving him a small, forced smile. I had to stay on his good side—or, well, better side.
“Okay, then,” he said, his voice relaxing again. “Before the coronation was held he had my father kidnapped and ordered the two of us imprisoned in the Borderlands. After my father was out of the picture, the Fate Maker had your mother crowned Golden Rose and married her the very same night. Two months later she was gone. I never even got to say good-bye.”
“Did you know that I existed?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
“Yes.” Eamon crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his feet. When he turned to look at me, his eyes were red.
“You knew about us? He knew about me? Why didn’t he—”
“When I was ten, the Fate Maker decided to go to war with the trolls on the northern border. He called up his soldiers, but the men of the Leavenwald refused to fight. So he came to our castle and he brought the Mirror of Nerissette. That night, in my father’s banquet room, he had it brought in, and he forced the cat—”
“Esmeralda.” I glared at him.
“She opened the mirror,” Eamon said, “and there you were. Five years old, with freckles on your nose eating a chocolate ice cream cone with the queen. Then, when he was sure my father knew who you were…” He turned to look at me and stopped, jerking his head away again.
“What? What did he do?”
“The Fate Maker brought out a hammer and told my father that if the men of the Leavenwald ever shirked their duty to the throne again he would have the mirror destroyed. That he would break it into a million pieces and then grind those pieces into sand. All my father would have left would be a pile of dirt. The Fate Maker would leave you both there, in the World That Is, to rot.”
He was clenching his fists at his sides now, his whole body shaking from the strain. “I was ten years old, but I remember the look on my father’s face that day. That’s when I knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That our father would do anything for you. No matter how stupid you are, he’ll risk it all!” His voice rose. This wasn’t good.
“What are you—”
“He’s willing to die so that the rules no longer have to apply to you! So you can do whatever you want, even if the rest of us don’t get the same chance. Why should you get to be special?”
“I don’t want to be special,” I said, my voice bitter, rage clawing at my chest. “I just want to find a way to go home.”
“Liar. Gag her again,” he told his men. “We’ve got ten miles more to go before the sun is at its peak, and she’s going to be dead weight.”
“Emphasis on dead,” one of the men chuckled.
My heart began to pound. Whatever my older brother had planned I was pretty sure it was going to not end well—for either of us.
“No.” I tried to struggle, even though I was still bound. “Tell me. Explain it to me. If you’re going to kill me then at least you owe me that.”
“Explain what to you?”
“Why are you working with the Fate Maker? You said it yourself—he’s a bad guy. The bad guy, in fact, all capital letters: the BAD GUY.” I looked straight at Eamon. “He kills people and oppresses just about everyone else. He kept our parents apart even though they loved each other. He blackmailed your father into fighting for him. Why do you want to help this guy?”
Eamon shook his head and gave me a bitter smile. “Because he promised that if I brought you to him he’d get rid of you. He’ll prevent you from destroying this world.”
“Eamon, you know that our army is going to beat him. Our army will win and then what are you going to do? What do you think your father is going to say when he finds out you betrayed him? Not me, him.”
“It won’t matter. The Fate Maker will find the tear, and when he has it, he’ll trap you and your dying mother in the Bleak.”
“So that’s what you want? Me and my mother trapped in the space between worlds? Why? Do you really hate her that much?”
“Yes.” He grimaced. “I hate her. And you want to know why?”
“Why?”
“Because once upon a time I loved her and then she left us. Forget the rest of them. She left me. She left me here in this world, this nightmare, so she could go take care of you. But it will be okay now because the Fate Maker will fix it. He’ll wipe my and my father’s memories of you and your stupid mother, and we’ll finally be free.”