The King's Queen

Chapter 21

"You okay, angel eyes?"

I looked up, suddenly pulled out of my thoughts by Garrett's voice. He was watching me intently through the rearview mirror.

"Don't tell me you're having second thoughts about this... well it would be completely normal if you were. What we're doing is risky."

"I'm not having second thoughts," I assured him. "We're doing this."

My mind was still whirring from the conversation Ashton and I had last night. He hadn't said much; in fact he'd barely explained anything at all, but from the little he'd said, I could get the gist of what was happening. Someone in the palace wanted me gone for good. I tried to push those distressing thoughts to the back of my mind. Right now, Garrett and I were on a mission.

I sent Callie another text to make sure everything was ready for our master plan. She responded a few seconds later saying everything was in place on her end. I nodded at Garrett who nodded back and sped up the vehicle. It was now or never.

Prin Odette had given me some very important information about Emperor Caden's soulmate, Lady Freya. Naturally, I would have been intrigued by her, but what really piqued my interest was the fact that we'd apparently met before. Perhaps she knew something about my childhood... Perhaps she knew who Lucas was.

There was no guarantee that she would know anything of great significance to me, or that she even remembered me, but it was worth a try. Garrett and I were travelling to a neighboring city under the guise of getting Ashton a birthday gift, but in reality, we would be going to the Western Palace.

I'd hinted to Garrett that there was something risky that I wanted to do and I needed his help. After giving me a lengthy lecture about staying away from trouble like a good little human-his exact words-he caved to my bad influence and said he was in. We contemplated adding Violet to our plan but it was far too risky. Violet was awesome, but there was no way she would agree to sneaking around with us like this, especially without the emperor's permission. I had to be extra careful.

We finally arrived at the large shopping center and got out of the car. I slipped on my sunglasses and tightened my hair wrap. My identity had to remain a secret. Callie was waiting in the parking lot with a man and a woman who were dressed in formal attire that matched our own. They would be our stunt doubles for the day. Since the car that Garrett used could be geo-tracked, us going directly to the Western Palace would be a setup for exposure.

Our stunt doubles would be driving around to different commercial centers using our car and pretending to be us, while we took a rented car to the Western Palace. We only had a few hours to get in and out before we had to go back to Crysauralia.

"Thanks, Cals. You're a lifesaver," I said as we swapped keys with the doubles.

"You can thank me by searching for baby names." She smiled but her eyes held traces of worry. "Be careful, okay?"

"Thanks, we will."

We got into the car and Garrett promptly sped off. I immediately texted Prin Odette, who had connections inside the Western Palace. They would help us sneak in to see Lady Freya.

"Are you sure we can trust the prin?" Garrett asked. "I get that she wants to see her grandson, but if word of this gets back to her husband, there'll be problems. And normally I love me some good chaos, but we'd get caught up in it too."

"I think we can trust her." I chewed on my bottom lip as I contemplated our options. "We have the upper hand here. We have the means to contact the Spade Kingdom and now we have information about Lady Freya. She's taking a gamble. I could easily turn this against her to win the prinarch's favor."