One True Queen (School for Good and Evil Book 2)

Chapter 6

Agatha followed the line into the Royal Keep, the king and queen's private residence, as evidenced by the preponderance of children's bedrooms, cozy sitting rooms, and opulent bathrooms. She peeked in, unnerved by an unmade bed, an open wine bottle in one of the sitting rooms, a wooden toothbrush askew by the sink. Signs of life but no one living there.

At the front of the line, Hester coughed in surprise, snagging the chain. Agatha followed her eyes, as did everyone else—

The library was coming into view, a two-floor yellow-and-pink rotunda cased in glass. Inside the library, three giant steel cages hung from the high ceiling, each packed to the brim with maids, guards, stewards, and members of the royal family. Two shirtless teen pirates, one thin and dark, the other hoggish with pig-colored skin, were perched on the railing of the second floor. They took turns kicking the cages as hard as they could and watched them swing back and forth, tossing all the people inside like marbles while they screamed and cried, though Agatha couldn't hear any of it through the thick glass.

The pirates looked bored.

As one of them punted a cage, Agatha saw the King of Jaunt Jolie tumbling inside it, his royal robes slashed and stained, his crown-points speared with rotted fruit, as he tried to grip onto two bawling boys—the same little boys Agatha had seen playing with the dog in the foyer painting. (The dog was cowering beneath a woman's blue gown in another cage, anticipating the next kick.)

The line pulled Agatha forward and the library started to recede from view. Through the glass she met the eyes of the king, who spotted her as his cage stopped swinging. His eyes watered as he clasped his hands, appealing to her for help, his tear-stained boys tucked at his sides. Agatha could only gawk back like a tourist in a sadistic museum being pulled to the next display.

This man's wife has been killed for satchels of gold, she thought, sickly. Were these his boys? Agatha felt her own eyes grow wet. His now-motherless boys?

Agatha looked at the next cage and gaped, getting a good look at the woman's face.

It was the same face they'd seen on that poster in the pavilion.

The one stamped EXECUTED.

The Queen of Jaunt Jolie was alive?

Astonished, Agatha watched the queen try valiantly to reach through her cage bars and touch her children and husband as their cage swung past—

The chain jerked Agatha forward and the library was out of sight.

Dragged ahead, Agatha thought back to the Lady of the Lake, who'd looked just as tortured as the Queen of Jaunt Jolie. The Snake could have killed the sorceress in Avalon, but instead he'd drained her magic and left her feckless and afraid. He could have killed this queen too, but instead he peddled news of her death. And he could have left Avalon without a trace, but instead he'd left that map in Chaddick's hands to taunt them. . .

He's always one step ahead. Like Rafal used to be, Agatha thought. And this one plays games too. Just like him.

An unsettling thought crossed her mind. But why? If he has Arthur's blood . . . if he thinks he can pull Excalibur . . . why play games?

Agatha held her breath. Was it really Camelot's crown the Snake was after? Or was he after something else? Something . . . more?

The line halted in front of her and she broke from her trance to see golden double doors at the end of the hall.

They opened magically, revealing a room Agatha couldn't quite make out from this far back in line.

Suddenly her cuffs split open. So did Hester's, and the piece of chain between them levitated into the air, turning black and shiny like an eel before it flew off into the room, vanishing from view.