Queens & Liars-Sequel to Three Broken Kingdoms (Completed)

Chapter Twenty: The Beginning of the End

Talia couldn't stop shaking.

"What in the name of Elena were you thinking, Lysandra?" She shouted at the princess as she crept into their meeting spot after she had returned to the Crimsith Palace. "That place is a death trap. Layla is going to die!"

"There's no way anyone comes out alive from that place!" Jasper shouted at her. "And now you're throwing Myra in there. Medea will kill her. There's no chance of escape."

Talia suddenly realised that the princess was pale and shaking. Lysandra looked like she'd seen a ghost, but she had little pity for the Empress' daughter.

"That was a stupid decision and if you'd consulted with anyone about it beforehand, then we would have stopped you from throwing our best hopes," Jasper continued to rant. "You freed them too early. None of this was part of the plan. You were meant to wait!"

"Nala's in there," Lysandra said softly and collapsed onto the ground. "Nala's in there."

Jasper immediately fell silent. He went pale and collapsed right with the princess. Talia felt a surge of pity for the boy.

His aunt—his mother in all but name--and Myra were in there. He reminded her of herself through his situation—someone who had lost everything but two people and was holding onto them like the last lifeboat in a sinking ship. At least—at least Maia wasn't there with Layla. At least she would still live.

"All the more reason not to shove Myra and Layla in there as well," Talia hissed anyway. "Nala's loss is regrettable, but it's no reason to doom others. What difference does it make to you anyway if Nala's in there, there are still other leaders for Tarua Teris—" Talia froze.

She'd always suspected something of a friendliness between the princess and the Chancellor, but if it had motivated Lysandra to risk the entire rebellion then they must have been closer than Talia could have ever imagined.

"She was your friend," Jasper said softly.

"She is my friend," Lysandra replied stubbornly. "She is not going to die."

Suddenly the strangeness of the scene washed over Talia, earning a humourless laugh from the elf and stares from the other two. Here they were three liars, three spies, three traitors waiting as the great and noble people they loved fought and—almost certainly died.

Jasper's hand slid into Lysandra's. More out of peer pressure than anything else, she gripped his other hand.

"I sent her a note," Lysandra said. "Through Myra. I hope she gave it to her. I told her that...that every second that she was there was killing me." The princess blinked, and Talia could have sworn she saw a hint of tears in those black eyes. "I'm glad I told her. But I wish we had gotten more time."

Jasper spoke next. "I told Nala and Kestra that I wanted to be the one to tell Myra that it was all a lie, that I was always on her side. But I hope if it's clear we're going to lose, Nala will explain everything to Myra. I would hate for her to die thinking the worst of me.

"I never repaired my relationship with my aunt after...everything. I wish I had. I wish I hadn't hidden from her. I wish I had just...faced it, rather than running away. I regret it so much now."

There was a silence as both of them turned to Talia.

"What?" She hissed, razor-sharp.  They both went silent.

"Oh, come on, if I talked you have to-" Lysandra moaned. "Come on I dropped the whole terrifying and invulnerable Lysandra thing for a moment there and you repay me with hissing?"

"No." Talia growled, dropping Jasper's hand. "I can't-I don't want to talk. I don't want to be part of...whatever this is." She walked out, slamming the door behind her.

Odin—Orion's father—had taken her to things like this before. People who'd tried to understand her. But it hadn't helped. It simply suffocated her.

She didn't want to talk. She didn't want to be part of some big happy family. She didn't want people to try to understand her. She didn't want their pity. No, the only way Talia knew to deal with grief was to run from it.

When Vivienne Silverian had lost everything, she hid herself in a dead girl's skin and became Talia Swallow so completely that no one would ever discover who she really was.

When the girl she'd hidden herself in lost her husband and her daughters she ran away from that too. She hadn't attended the funeral. She'd avoided the subject religiously. It wasn't healthy. It wouldn't bring her closure, everyone said.

Talia had spat in their faces and said she didn't care.

For the past five years, she'd been shoving down the latest tragedy.

Orion, Selene; she had tried to not think about them since the day they died. Layla's hatred was just another thing for her to not think about. She'd drowned herself in her work, finding this information for the rebellion, slipping poison in this noble's cup, constantly and relentlessly pursuing her cause until nothing else mattered.

No one can hurt me if I care about no one. That had been her mantra ever since Silvera fell. Unfortunately for her, Talia couldn't help but find people she cared about, like a particularly stupid moth drawn to the same fire again and again.

And now Layla was about to killed or brought back to Dorgon and declared a failed experiment. Medea would never attempt anything like this again. There was no way out of the prison for Layla.

No, Talia corrected. Medea wouldn't bring Layla all the way back to Dorgon. Her niece—one of her last reasons to live—would either be killed on valkyrie soil or brought back to her home to be executed in front of her people.

And there was nothing, nothing at all that Talia could do about it.

She regretted so much. She regretted that Layla would die hating her. She wished that she had had the chance to apologise, to beg for forgiveness for everything she had done.

Talia would give anything and everything to switch places with Layla right now.

"Talia?" Lysandra's voice called out. She whirled around, ready to shut down whatever attempt at friendship the princess would give next—

"Once the battle is over, we initiate the plan."

Talia breathed a sigh of relief, followed by a gasp of surprise.

"You're sure?"

"Yes. It's time to rise up."