Emmett tries to stanch the bleeding with his hands, but it’s no use. “No—please.” He weeps. “I just got you back.”
Edgar reaches up and brushes his son’s face. “You’ve done so well.” He takes a final rattling breath, and then he is gone.
There is screaming all around, complete and utter mayhem. “Emmett—” I pull him to his feet. “Please, we have to leave, it isn’t safe here.”
I look to the altar where Marion and Faith are standing, silent and terror-struck. Olive and Emmy have disappeared into the crowd. “Where is Lydia?” I call. But no one answers. I scan the crowd andspot my parents. “Have you seen Lydia?” I ask.
“We thought she was with you,” my father answers.
“Go home,” I urge them. “Leave now. Bar the doors and don’t open them for anyone but me, Emmett, or Lydia.”
My mother kisses both my cheeks. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“I’ll follow just as soon as I find Lydia.” A lie.
Emmett is next to me, covered in blood and silent with shock. I tug at his hand.
There will be time to mourn Edgar, to figure out how to fight this, but for the moment we’re right back to the night we met. “My sister is missing.”
I pick up the skirts of my blood-soaked wedding dress and flee.
I sprint off into the relative seclusion of the trees that surround the orangery, but from beyond the garden I hear the awful metallic banging of steel on steel. Citizens have already arrived at the gates, and there will be more by the minute.
Lydia.
I search my muddled thoughts. The last time I saw her, we were walking down the aisle. Where is Bram? Is he safe? We got what we wanted, but why is this all going so wrong?
The silence of the orangery is unsettling after the screaming from outside. There’s nothing but the quiet rustling of leaves, but then, suddenly, I hear a low, familiar voice.
We round the corner and find Bram, the golden circlet on his head, surrounded by the Queen’s Guard. He doesn’t see us at first, he’s too busy barking orders.
“The Tower, make sure there are at least six guards at all times. I can get more iron, if need be, but you should have plenty. Secure the west gate, and make sure—” He pauses as he spots us.
“Oh, Emmett, Ivy, what a lovely surprise.” He waves off the Queen’s Guard—King’s Guard now, I suppose. “Leave us.”
“What is happening?” I ask.
“You got what you wanted.”
Emmett hesitates in confusion.
Bram just grins. “You think I didn’t know about your little plans and schemes? This is what I like about humans. You think you’re so clever, it really is a joy to watch.”
“You knew?” Emmett asks.
“Oh, I’ve known for ages. Your father always makes such a racket in that library of his. It was cute, watching you two.”
“Why not tell me?”
Bram considers for a moment. “Because I had so many other things to do. It’s not easy being both a king and a prince. The multitasking! The lies to keep straight! I didn’t see the need to add one more thing to my plate. Not when you were already doing the work for me.”
“King?” I ask.
“Keep up.” Bram claps his hands together. “The door to the Otherworld—I told you all about it, how my mother enchanted it only to open for me? I never gave up my crown there. I was here to reopen the doors between our worlds for us all.”
I’m shaking, horrified and confused. “I thought your father was king.”
“That old bore? I killed him like”—he counts on his fingers—“Three hundred years ago?”
