Falling to her side on the rumpled bed, Meena hugged her knees to her chin, wishing tears would come.
They had failed.
She had failed.
King Gareth would launch his attack on Iseldis with the ships from Istroya. He would destroy them in a matter of hours using the chaos magic he’d tortured from innocent Majis.
The Majis would continue to suffer.
Her people would suffer.
Her family would suffer.
Sol would suffer.
Her eyes remained dry, but her stomach turned.
She buried her eyes in her knees, pressing until it hurt.
It was a hopeless mission from the start, and she had done nothing but treat it like some grand adventure. She’d smiled and talked and asked clever questions, thinking she had been making a difference.
But she had done nothing.
Sol, their only chance at finding and destroying the magic receptacle, was gone. She was nothing. Her part in the ruse was a ruse in and of itself. She was the jest.
What was it Sol had said? That she should be the leader because people would listen to her?
A sob finally escaped Meena’s throat. Of course Sol would say that. The man who had been little more than a slave his entire life, treated as powerless, had been kind enough to tell her she was not powerless.
The tears came. Fast and hard and ugly, blinding her eyes and swamping her cheeks.
How wrong he had been.
No one would listen to her. She was a spoiled princess who used smiles and fluttering eyelashes to get what she wanted.
Younn thought so little of her, he did not even suspect her. It never seemed to cross his mind that she was a part of Sol’s plan, or even aware of his identity. He just saw her as a lovesick princess because that was all she had shown him.
Meena relaxed her body. The sobs had clogged her throat, and she struggled to breathe.
She loosened her knees, opening up her chest and shakily inhaling.
Sol was the only one who believed in her. He had blinked twice. He had consoled her when he was being taken.
There was no more plan to hide. No more blinks to share. No more Sol to destroy the chaos magic. She certainly couldn’t do it. No one would believe her.
Meena rolled onto her back.
No one would believe her. No one would even notice her. No one saw her as a threat.
She sat up.
She couldn’t drain the magic receptacle, but she could still find Neven. He was a Majis, too.
She knew where they needed to go. Mostly.
She still had Sophie, even if she didn’t know how the woman could help her.
Meena stood from the bed.
