The Inner Circle | A Midnight Quartet

Chapter 26 | Darcy Edison

Darcy must have died, for she was seeing a ghost. It must have been the flowers, maybe a bee sting that got her. Maybe the shock of the week was catching up to her. Anything was more believable than the woman standing in front of her.

Irena Carnelian smiles at the group before her. Her eyes meet each of them, then stop at Darcy. There is a man next to her, unmoving from her side.

"Hello," Utters the walking corpse. Darcy watches her mouth move but hears no word coming out. Her ears ring and her eyes water.

Darcy is frozen. Irena steps forward, looking at Darcy with such sorrow, such regret. She opens her mouth for some kind of consolation. She can't take it.

"No." Darcy shakes her head, stumbling back into Carmen. "I don't- I can't- What are you-?" She takes in a shaky breath. "You are supposed to be dead! How are you-?" Biting her lip, she looks away, unable to look at the face that has haunted her nightmares for the past week.

For once in her life, Princess Irena looks ashamed. "I'm so sorry Darcy." She reaches for Darcy but she pulls away. "I should have told you, it just all happened so fast."

Darcy's heart feels like it has been ripped out, beaten to a bloody pulp, and shoved back in. All her thoughts are muddled, and for a moment she considers that it could all be some elaborate dream.

"You can't be here." She manages, pushing through her haze. "H-how are you here?"

"I had to fake my death. I am so sor-"

Darcy holds up a hand, unable to take an apology right now. She looks to the sky, unsure of how to react. "Why?" is all she can say.

"My father got suspicious of spies in the castle. He hired an assassin to find and kill whoever the person might be."

"An assassin?" Her eyes drift to the tall man beside Irena, Who is he?

"Yes." Irena says, pulling the attention back to her. "Father was getting too close. I had to do something drastic. I am sorry, Darcy. I never meant to hurt you, or anyone." She looks to Carmen, Aspen, and Miles.

"But I found you, Irena! You were dead. How did you..." She trails off, waiting for a proper explanation.

"Well it had to look believable. And I'm sorry you were the one who found me, I-"

"Irena. I need you to stop apologizing. I will choose to forgive you when I am ready. Tell me how it happened."

Irena is clearly taken aback by her boldness but slowly nods. "You're right. I'm sorr-" She bites her tongue. "Well, I had some help." Irena turns to look at Aspen. "Your mother, Margaret, made me a tonic to make me appear as though I were dead. It put me into a catatonic state."

Aspen's mouth is hanging open. "She knew?"

Irena winces, hesitantly answering, "I sent a servant to get the tonic for me. She didn't know that I would be the one using it, I promise. That was all she helped with though; I didn't want there to be a way where anything could be traced back to her." She gives them a tentative smile, and Aspen nods despite the steely look on her face. "In my years of constant tutoring, I discovered that if you squeeze a rubber ball under your arm, it dampens the feeling of the pulse to your wrist... That's why Darcy thought I was dead."

I should have known, Darcy thinks. I am better than this.

"The guard that found and took you out of the room was working with the Cnidaria." That's why there was only one guard. "After he got you out, he switched my body with a look-alike. Once I woke up, we escaped through the tunnels."

"What about the autopsy?" Miles asks, the only one not seemingly disgusted by her lying. "How did you trick the doctors?"

"We didn't have to. One of the longest spies working undercover was Doctor Gilbert."

Aspen gasps. "The Head Physician is a spy?"

Irena nods her head. "Yes, he took care of the details for the autopsy. All that was left was to have everyone else believe it, especially my father." She turns to Darcy, grasping her hands before she can pull away. "Please understand, I never meant for it to happen this way. I tried to tell you, but you stopped sending weekly updates. I had to assume it was because of the letter I sent. But just this morning, Grace informed me that we don't believe you were getting our letters. I had reason to hope... you could still forgive me."

Darcy fixes a glare to Irena, pulling her hands from her reach. "I will forgive you when I am ready." She says through gritted teeth. Her eyes do not miss Irena leaning towards the man beside her. They share a look of sadness and Darcy juts out her chin. "Who is he?"

"He worked at the castle. He helped me escape." She says. Darcy had never seen him before, or at least never really noticed. "Please Darcy. You are my best friend." Irena's voice breaks, but she holds Darcy's eyes.

She can feel her resolve crumbling. The princess was like a sister to her; she was crushed when she died. Could she forgive her? Her mother's voice penatrates her thoughts, Resentment is a poison and you are the only one drinking it. She will not let her life be brought down by the mistakes and lies of others. One look at that familiar face and her eyes begin to water. "I missed you." She says quietly. Irena smiles and crushes her in an embrace.

"I missed you too." The princess whispers back.

Darcy pulls away first, shoving Irena's shoulder. "If you ever do that again, I will kill you myself." She says, wiping at her wet face.

Irena laughs and throws her arm over her shoulder. "Noted."

Carmen suddenly steps forward. "I actually have a question." Irena stiffens and turns to face him, waiting for whatever accusation Carmen is going to cast. "The night of the ball, when you bumped into me in the hallway..." He pauses and Darcy realizes a smile is playing on his lips. "Why in the world did you make me change my tie? The red wasn't that bad!" They all break out in laughter. "No, really. I have been thinking about that for way too long."

Irena covers a hand over her mouth to hide her laugh, ever the princess. "I knew how Darcy felt about you, so I picked out a dress for her and a matching tie for you. I was hoping it would, I don't know, help the awkwardness. Quite ingenious if you ask me." She winks at Carmen and he nods in agreement. Darcy blushes. She hadn't realized the princess had tried so hard to get them together.

"Well... now that that's solved, what do we do? Just live out the rest of our lives bathing in the sunshine and eating grapes in Aurelia?" Carmen says.

"Eating grapes?" Darcy questions.

He shrugs. "Yeah, I don't know, it seems like something we would do here."

"I think we should try to fix Derowen." Miles says suddenly.

"Fix as in... take over?" Carmen says with an excited glint in his eye.

"Well technically, Irena is still royalty. If we get Alastair and Ernest to step down, Irena is next in line. We wouldn't be taking it over, just changing who is ruling."

"Hmm. Sounds like anarchy."

"That is not what anarchy- You know what, never mind."

"I guess that's a good idea, if Irena's up for it." Aspen says. They all turn to the princess.

She just smiles. "Can't we just have this?"

Darcy grins and slips her hand into Carmen's. "I think we deserve at least that." She meets each of her friends' eyes. Things would never be the same. They would never again meet in the library. Never share secrets. Never laugh about the royal family's antics. And that was alright. Things were different, but it was a good different. They would be okay.

"So, I have another question... How did you, the Princess of Derowen, come to betray her own country anyway?" Carmen asks bluntly.

They turn, looking out at the Aurelian coastline. Birds soar overhead, boats drift in the harbor, and the air smells of salt and lavender.

A smile dances on Irena's lips. "I think that's a story for another time."