THE MOON WILL SING ✮ J. HUTCHERSON

014. savior

"that's why i can't be queen."

"that is a lot of reasons, andromeda." ezekiel started, "and you know what? i agree with you. you shouldn't be queen."

those weren't the words andie expected to hear. but she was glad she didn't have to continue listing her reasons.

ezekiel rolled the handle of the sharp weapon between his fingers. she had no clue! he might get away with this...

"you're very oblivious, you know? i would've expected you to figure out what was going on. you are a smart girl, aren't you?"

she was confused. what was he even saying?!

"uh — what?"

"you are a smart girl, aren't you?" ezekiel repeated.

this creeped andie out ever so slightly. why was he saying these things?!

ezekiel was stalling. he could've done what he had to do right this second, but—

"andie!" a voice called.

the two turned to where the voice was coming from, curious on who interrupted their... interesting talk.

the voice came from evan. he was standing at the end of the hallway.

"ah! andromeda's friend! pleased to see you this evening!" ezekiel greeted, sliding the dagger back into his sheath by his boot.

"your highness." evan greeted, approaching the two.

"hey, evan! i thought you were going to bed." andie spoke, glancing between both evan and ezekiel.

"not tired. i figured to come out and find you." evan spoke, giving ezekiel a glare, "i'll take it from here, your highness. have a good night."

evan took andie's hand, pulling her away from the king.

"what are you doing? he was showing me something important." andie whisper-shouted.

"i had an odd feeling, i'll explain later." evan spoke, dragging andie down the hallway.

she was even more confused than she already was; first, the king asked to talk to her, then evan took her away from the situation — lots of things happened at once.

"why can't you explain to me now?" andie asked, in desperate need of answers.

"walk now, questions later."

"wait, i don't understand."

"what don't you understand, andie?! i explained it like five times." evan spoke in disbelief.

"why would he do that?"

"andie, he never liked you from the start, it wasn't a surprise that he'd do something like this." maeve spoke, sitting on andie and evan's bed.

"wait. so, he had a dagger, then he brought me to that hallway and tried to kill me?!"

"don't speak so loud, andie!" maeve hushed, "but, you finally figured it out. it wasn't that hard to put the pieces together; he hates your guts, he conveniently has a dagger, and he trailed you away just so he could get the chance."

"why didn't you guys tell me?"

"we did!" maeve and evan spoke in sync.

"okay! calm down, geez." andie raised her arms in defense, before putting them back down and crossing her arms again, "what am i supposed to tell josh?"

"i don't know. i mean — this is his father for crying out loud." maeve responded.

"we have to think of something eventually."

"i know, evan. but for now, we shouldn't have to worry about it. get some rest you two. we can start brainstorming in the morning." andie suggested, letting the two get themselves comfortable before she did the same.

she was terrified to sleep that night. she thought about the worse things that could happen; what if he snuck into the room and killed her and her friends right here? if she sleeps, who will guard them?

surely he wouldn't — i mean, two people turning up dead in the castle and nobody bats an eyelash? that didn't sound very likely. the king would definitely have to be smarter than that...

questions filled her head which caused her to be paranoid, causing her not to sleep that same night.