The Sinister Regent Page 6

  “Can I go home soon? Now?”

  “Now,” Gregor agreed. “You can come back for the visit when you’re sure everything is settled.”

  * * *

  Mrs. Clemens hugged her so hard that she could barely breathe. “Well done, Princess Jes.”

  Nickname and title. Jes thought she could live with that.

  “Was anyone hurt? Are you all safe?”

  Mrs. Clemens smiled. “It only took us a day to figure out who the people reporting to that creature were. Then we locked them up, and her little worm of a secretary, and her. The soldiers who came switched her off and took her apart, and took the others off to jail. It wasn’t a pretty thing to see, even though we already knew that she couldn’t be human from the way she kept trying to beat down the door hour after hour. If we hadn’t tricked her inside, I don’t think we’d have been able to contain her.”

  Jes smiled. “Mrs. Clemens, I think you have to be the one in charge whenever the family can’t be here. No one else is as amazing as you are.”

  The housekeeper turned pink, but Mom and Dad nodded their agreement.

  They stayed long enough to tell her the whole story, and for baths, and for Alex to pack replacement dresses for all those lost at sea. Jes let her mother pack for her, just insisting that a clean pair of boots be included.

  She settled back on her sister’s bed, watching Alex pack once again. “I’m sorry about your earring.”

  Alex hugged her. “Silly. As though an earring mattered more than you do.”

  “Do you still think you want to stop being a princess, after all of this?”

  Alex laughed. “Now more than ever. But I’ve always known.”

  Jes frowned. “How can you? I don’t have any idea.”

  “Jes, you’ve always known, too. What was the first thing you did when you found out that those people were going to use you as a puppet and possibly hurt the people who live here?”

  Jes paused. “I made sure they couldn’t.”

  Alex nodded. “And the first thing you thought of when the crisis was over? Checking to make sure your people were safe. It’s not something I want, Jes, but it almost doesn’t matter if you want it or not. It’s something you are.”

  Responsibility. And fighting her own battles, which might involve numbers or conversations instead of swords but would still be important. Jes imagined the wandering under the water, and the same thought came to her. I could be happy, if I knew my people were safe.

  She hugged Alex. “Thank you.”

  Alex laughed. “Hey, this time you’ll be coming with me.”

  Jes nodded. It would be fun, going back to the mainland without androids and pirates to fight. The best part, though, would be coming home again afterwards.

  About the Author

  Hope Erica Schultz writes science fiction and fantasy stories and novels for kids, teens, and adults. Her first novel, the YA post-apocalyptic Last Road Home, came out in 2015, and she was co-editor of the YA anthology One Thousand Words for War, in 2016. Her stories have appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines.