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She only recently met the malevolent Claude Mirage, and she already knew why he was nicknamed the Mad King.

CHAPTER 19

Magdalena

The sun had set by the time that Magda and Odie made it to the royal palace. After they had left the main marketplace, they had paid a carriage driver to take them all the way to the palace gates. The palace was outside of the city of Eloquas, set in the lush, green hills. All around the palace grounds were public gardens interspersed with statues of the royal guardians and majestic floral displays that could only have been produced with earth magic.

Magda entered the gardens, and the Flaustran palace spanned out before her.

It was much bigger than the Azuremi fortress, built in the shape of a rectangle from a mix of sandstone and marble. An outer wall enclosed a front courtyard. Brown double doors, which were framed by two windows filled with mosaic glass, blocked the entrance. The second story hosted massive, arch-shaped windows leading out to flat roofs on different tiers. On each corner of the roofs was a dome-shaped tower held up by small posts. A glow protruded from the torches, lighting up the ivory sandstone against the midnight sky.

Magda pulled her hood and scarf up over her face, even though the thick Azuremi fabric was making her entire body sweat. As she approached the outer gate, she was unsure of her strategy. The only way she would automatically be granted a meeting with the royal family was by revealing herself as Princess Magdalena. But, it didn’t seem like a viable option to announce that the princess was in Flaustra, and not in Ilusauri. It would put Dagmara in danger. In addition, it could send another round of assassins after her. She could only hope there was another way to gain a meeting with the queen without revealing her identity.

Magda and Odie walked at a brisk pace through the main road of the gardens, until they reached the front gate of the palace, which was guarded by two men.

“Stop! Who’s there?” an officer flashed a colored lantern in Magda’s face.

“It’s okay!” Magda yelled out from the darkness. “I’ve come to see the queen.”

When the officer noticed she was Azuremi, he switched to Magda’s language. “The queen isn’t expecting any visitors this late. Do you have an invitation?”

Magda scrunched her face. “No, but…”

“No exceptions! There will be no admittance to the royal palace without an invitation. You can come back in three days when the queen will be taking public visitors and listening to their grievances,” said the man.

“Three days?” Magda asked. What was she going to do in the city during those three days? She couldn’t waste any more time. She continued arguing with him for a half hour more, telling him that the royal family in Azurem had sent her to speak to the queen, but he wasn’t buying any of her story. It was clear Magda needed to be a better story-teller if she was going to get anywhere in this kingdom.

Distraught, Magda turned back around and exited the gardens, with Odie behind her. She decided that they would be back in three days’ time, and then she would have to use every opportunity to talk not only to the queen but to Princess Kiran. Kiran would hear her out—Magda was sure of it.

When she got to the edge of the palace gardens, Magda paid her carriage driver once more to take them back to the city so they could find a place to stay for the night.

“I told you I should wait for you,” the carriage driver grumbled. “No one gets in and out of that place.”

“Not even for the day of grievances?”

“What?” the man piped up.

Magda cursed under her breath. The officer had lied. There was no public day where the queen was going to greet visitors from the village. What was she going to do now?

Once back in the city, Magda and Odie were again lost in a maze of small streets. The streets weaved in and out of each other, and buildings arched over the tiny alleyways like bridges. Magda’s only hope was that they would be able to find an inn this late at night. She had no idea where to look.

A shadow reflected in the light of a colored-lantern, and she snapped her head to the darkness behind her. It was quiet and practically deserted in this area.

Somewhere in the distance, she heard the soft sound of music, but it didn’t seem as if any of the storefronts were open at this hour. She continued circling the streets, Odie at her heel, wondering which direction to go next. Up ahead, she heard a few voices. Maybe someone would give her directions.

Magda emerged in a small town circle. Pathways spoked off in every direction, heading back into the maze of the city. In the center of the town circle, was a statue of Queen Sanyal.

She headed to her right, but suddenly a man in a hat stepped in front of her path. Behind him, a few companions pulled a large wagon down the road, and strange noises came from the tarp underneath it.

“Excuse me,” Magda said.

The man placed his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “What do we have here?” He also had a gilded pin on his chest; however, instead of a peacock feather, it depicted a strange beast.

Odie let out a soft growl.

Magda’s heart fluttered, as the danger of the situation sank in. “I don’t want any trouble,” she said, stepping away from the man and holding out her hands in front of her. If there was ever a time to use magic—this would be it. Although she wasn’t exactly sure how to use earth magic or what types of things were even possible with earth magic. Her eyes darted to Queen Sanyal’s statue. It had to be created from some type of malleable stone, right?

Magda screamed as someone grabbed her from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her high in the air. Magda kicked and yelled as she helplessly watched the other two men throw a metal net over Odie, pinning him down on all sides. Odie snarled ferociously, but his bites were no match for the twisted wires that caged him.