the floor with Kresten’s axe in the middle of the debris.
Chester’s shoulders sagged. “Ah lad, what did you do?”
“He crushed the stone,” I answered for Kresten. His swift thinking and his distracting the queen had saved my life.
Chester’s head dipped lower. He laid a hand over Kresten’s heart and didn’t move.
The queen’s lamenting had grown silent. Jorg was in the process of binding her hands behind her back. She continued to gaze at the golden box and the place on the floor where the white stone spread out in hundreds of small pieces. “He destroyed it. The fool.”
“The power of the white stone is gone?” I asked hopefully.
“It’s gone,” Chester replied gravely, “but so is he.”
I stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“Anyone who touches the white stone dies.” The queen spat the words, bitterness punctuating each one.
“He did not touch it,” I protested. “He merely hit it with his axe.”
“It doesn’t matter the method,” she replied. “The only way the stone can be rendered useless is if someone crushes it. In doing so, they will surely succumb to the slumber of death. But how could he know such information? So few do . . .”
“I knew. And I told him.” Chester straightened one of Kresten’s arms. “This is my fault.”
From where Jorg stood behind the queen, his expression was stricken. “No, it’s my fault. When we parted ways, his farewell was too final. I should have stayed with him.”
“I hold neither of you responsible.” As much as I wanted to fall across Kresten and weep for all that had happened, I couldn’t allow his sacrifice to be in vain. We had to finish this fight against the queen, and that meant lowering the drawbridge and allowing Pearl and the rest of the attackers inside.
I pressed Chester’s hand. My heart was breaking inside, but outwardly I kept myself composed. I had to. If Kresten could sacrifice himself to put an end to the queen’s alchemy not only for my sake but for all people, then I could surely find the strength to do the same. “As much as we shall grieve for Kresten, we must go now and bring swift victory to Mercia.”
He bowed his head. “Your Majesty.” When he rose, he looked at me with a new respect I’d never seen there before. And I understood then that respect was something one earned a little at a time with courageous feats in the face of fear.
I retrieved Kresten’s sword. “We shall take the queen with us and have her order her men to stand down and open the gate. If she refuses to comply, we shall slay her.”
At my order, Chester and Jorg ushered the queen between them out of the chapel. I followed on their heels, pausing in the doorway to gaze back at Kresten and fight down the tears that I wouldn’t allow. Not yet. Not until I had privacy and could weep for the loss of the only man I would ever love.
As we made our way into the courtyard, Chester stopped in the center and held his torch high so it illuminated Queen Margery as well as me. “Your fight is over,” he called.
Several of the guards standing at the arrow loops in the gatehouse wall turned. And at the sight of Queen Margery bound as our prisoner, they took aim at us with their arrows. In an instant, Chester had his knife out and against Queen Margery’s throat while Jorg shoved me to the rear out of harm’s way.
I stepped around him and raised Kresten’s sword, unwilling to cower and needing these men to see me as the strong woman I wanted to be. Though I still had much to learn, I could start here and now. “Your queen is vanquished!”
My call drew the attention of more guards, and within seconds they were all facing us, their weapons still poised to fight but surprise registering on their faces nonetheless.
“If you lay down your weapons and cease fighting,” I called, “I shall spare you and the queen your lives. If not, you will force me to a bloodbath, starting with your queen.”
Silence descended over the crowd of soldiers. Behind them, a figure darted out from the shadows of a nearby building and slunk along the perimeter toward the gatehouse. Ruby. I needed to buy her another moment or two to climb into the tower and release the lever that would lower the bridge.
“I am Queen Aurora Leandra Floretta, the true queen of Mercia, the granddaughter of the