Chapter 18

ARDEN and Maple arrived days later.

Aiden and I were training, as usual, when we heard shrieking from inside the house. We exchanged glances before Aiden sheathed his knives and we walked inside — there was Arden, being smothered by his parents and Meadow. Beside him was Maple.

She turned as we walked in, her eyes widening. I looked down at what she was wearing. A beautiful white gown, but torn in places, dirt ruining its bright beauty. Arden had arrived just in time, it seemed.

Aiden gave a happy cry, and ran to Arden, while I stood in my place, looking at the girl who'd been my best friend.

"Maple."

"El," she whispered. I could see her hazel eyes becoming watery, and my own vision was becoming blurry. I blinked hard to push back the tears.

"Let's go outside."

She nodded. I led her out, into the trees, where we stood, facing each other.

"El, please let me say how sorry I am — "

"Why did you do it?" I asked sharply.

She looked down, biting her lip. "The Queen — she had my mother. She knew of our friendship — El, you know how much mother means to me, after father passed —"

"She threatened you," I said. It sounded just like Ivy.

Maple nodded, tears spilling over her eyes. "I — I know I shouldn't have betrayed you, but mother — "

"What did you tell her?" I asked. "You said you didn't betray Juniper. What did you do?"

Maple sobbed. "About you. How you were doing, how hurt you were — I never betrayed Juniper. I wanted you to escape as much as you did."

"You never let her know when we were going to escape."

"Not you and Juniper, no..." Maple didn't meet my eyes, and I felt my gut sink. "But she was getting suspicious, once, around Juniper's death anniversary — "

"I was going to escape," I said, realizing.

Maple bowed her head. "I'm sorry, El..."

"You told her. You told her I was — "

"She had my mother, El, she was hurting her!"

She was hurting me.

I didn't say that, though. I could understand. Maple loved her mother more than anything. If Ivy was threatening to hurt her...she'd betray me. I couldn't forgive her...but I could understand.

"Your mother?" I asked. I'd met Maple's mother when I was young, too young to remember her.

"I don't know where she is. Or if she's alive — " Maple's voice broke as her shoulders caved in. I nearly took a step towards her, but thought better of it.

"I'm sorry. I know you won't forgive me, and I don't expect you to," she said, wiping her tears.

"Maple — just tell me what happened at the palace."

"I don't know half of it. They locked me up in a room for days. Then some women stuffed me into this dress...the rebels came just in time."

I nodded slowly, pursing my lips. I didn't know how I'd deal with Maple — but I needed some time away from her. "Let's go inside."

She followed me back in the house, where we found Arden and Aiden talking alone, the others gone. They looked up as we came in.

"Princess," Arden said, standing up.

Aiden snorted.

I glared at him before turning to Arden. "Hello, Arden. I'm glad you made it back safely."

"So am I," Arden sighed.

"And you must be Maple," Aiden said, standing up as well. Maple nodded. I was sure both the boys had noted her red-rimmed eyes and my grim face. I was thankful they'd chosen to say nothing about it.

Aiden glanced at me again before turning to Arden. "Elvina and I are training, do you want to join?"

Arden nodded. "Yes." He turned to Maple. "You should join us to."

"Wait!" I cried, a horrifying though occurring to me. "Ivy could have put a trace on Maple."

Aiden's eyes widened, and he turned to Arden. Arden was already shaking his head, though. "She doesn't have it. She used the Forest — we were careful."

I exhaled, Aiden doing the same. He grinned. "Then let's go."

***

"Yes, I know soldiers who will be more than happy to join us," Maple said patiently.

We — Birch, Maple and I — were standing in front of the leaders of both the rebel camps. One of them was Sir Sorrel, an old Council member, who'd retired after my father's death — he'd joined the rebels when Ivy had killed his wife and two daughters.

It was another reminder that Ivy hadn't harmed only me, but so many others.

They were getting all the information they could out of Maple and I, as we'd lived there. But they weren't getting much done. They didn't know how to move forward. To attack the palace, they'd have to send messages to the other rebel camps, organize and plan everything...but they'd still be outnumbered. Ivy was too strong.

Maple gave the names of plenty of soldiers, while I told them about the secret passageways that they hadn't known about. I'd memorized where each of them were, the knowledge just another thing my sisters had passed down. Of course, Ivy knew about each of them as well.

Finally, they dismissed us, but kept Birch with them. Aiden and Arden were waiting for us outside the tent — they'd been quite offended at not being allowed inside. We walked to the edge of the Forest, away from our little camp, to talk in peace.

It was the first time the four of us had been alone anywhere.

Somehow, over the days, we'd become a group — the distance between Maple and I decreasing. As much as I hated what she'd done, this was the girl that had been by my side since we were toddlers. I couldn't let go of her because Ivy had forced her to betray me. But there was still tension between us, and I knew that wouldn't go away anytime soon.

"How did it go?" Aiden asked as we sat down in a small circle.

I shrugged. "We told them everything we could."

"It's going to take a lot to defeat the Queen," Arden said, his eyes thoughtful. "All the camps are prepared, but now even the Queen's soldiers are learning how to use the Forest like us. We're losing our advantage."

"We have to attack soon," Aiden said, voice grim — almost tired. We'd been working hard nowadays, but it was more than that. We were all afraid. I'd had nightmares, Maple too.

We looked up as a girl came in. Fawn, the girl whose house we lived in. "Lunch."

"Thank you," I said, as she nodded and scurried away. Fawn was about a year younger than us, only fifteen, but she seemed much younger. She had so much hope that things could be better, even though she was born in a rebel camp, constantly in danger. Danger that came from my mother.

She had to be stopped. She was ruining our Forest, putting threatening shadows on elves like Fawn, who deserved to live full lives, not go through attacks on their home and running for their life from place to place.

We had to stop her. And we would.

***

"We have to go somewhere, I think the four of you should come," Birch said.

"Where?" Arden asked.

"Our old camp."

I glanced at Aiden before turning back to Birch. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Why?"

"We need to pick up some things, supplies, from there. Many of us are going — I thought you might want to," Birch said.

"What if the Queen has soldiers waiting there? What if it's a trap?" Aiden said, eyes dark.

Birch's mouth tightened. "There's no one, we sent a scout beforehand. But there's plenty of damage done. If you can't handle it —"

"I think we should go," Arden said. I didn't want to, but I nodded. As did Aiden and Maple.

"How are we going, though? Surely it's too far to walk?" Maple asked.

Birch raised an eyebrow, eyes mischievous. "Ask Elvina. We're going the way she came from the Palace."

I groaned. "Maple, brace yourself."

The Maple plot twist. Is El justified in the way she'd reacting? Next chapter is interesting! Don't forget to:

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