But my shoulders relax when I see it’s Henrietta, followed closely behind by Linny, and by her side Arabella.
Hells Bells lets out a yelp of joy when she spots me and I rush forward and wrap the little girl in my arms. She squeals with delight as I spin her around.
“What are you doing here?” I say.
“Linny said you’re going to be the new emperor, and then I told Linny I wanted to come and find you, and so then Henrietta brought us here.”
She grins at me, and the immediate joy I’d been feeling vanishes in an instant. I place her back down on her feet.
“Do you understand what’s happened, Hells Bells?” I say gently. “Do you understand what’s happened to Mother?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yeah. Henrietta said you killed her.”
“Jeez, Henrietta,” I mutter, squeezing the bridge of my nose between my finger and thumb.
“It’s okay, Beaufort,” my little sister says, reaching out to slide her hand up and down my arm. “You don’t need to be sad. Henrietta said you’re not going to jail.”
“No. Hells Bells,” I say. “I’m not, but… I’m not going to be emperor.”
However, my little sister isn’t listening to me, her gaze is bouncing around the Great Hall and all the people in it, her eyes widening slightly when they land on a couple making out in the corner. I step to one side to block her view.
“Of course you are, Beaufort,” Henrietta says. “You’re the rightful heir.”
I shake my head. “You’re forgetting my brother, and every other lowlife who probably has a claim to the throne.”
Henrietta and Dray snort together.
“Your brother?!” Henrietta says. “Your brother didn’t even come to fight this battle.”
Lynette covers Hells Bells’s ears with her hands. “He was drunk.”
“He still has a claim,” I point out. “And he’s older than me.”
“And I arrested him and locked him in the Black Tower,” Henrietta says, with a shrug. “Well, the three of us did. We did it on our way here.”
Despite the fact that Hells Bells’s ears are covered, she obviously hears, because she nods enthusiastically in agreement with her.
“You did what?” I say.
“He was being naughty,” Hells Bells says. “It was Nurse Marion’s idea.”
I peer back at Briony in desperation.
“There probably aren’t really any other contenders,” Thorne points out. “Not serious ones, anyway.”
“Who says I want to be emperor?” I say in despair.
“Are you kidding me, man?” Dray shakes his head in disbelief. “Why the fuck wouldn’t you want to be emperor?”
Arabella giggles at the use of his curse word.
“I don’t think we should be talking about this now,” I say, motioning toward my little sister.
“You really don’t want to be emperor?” Briony asks, tilting her head to one side and assessing me with her tired eyes.
“I don’t think I’d be any good at it,” I admit, which is so different from how I would have answered that question before I stepped into the academy. I’d always believed there was a good chance I’d take my mother’s seat on the throne. I believed it was my destiny, my birthright, and – let’s face it – a role I was born for. But I’ve come to learn that I have faults and flaws like every other person in here.
“I’m my mother’s son,” I say. “And I’d probably end up being just as bad a ruler as she was.”
