Hey guys, thank you for your patience with the slower upload of this chapter. Life has been pretty crazy lately and fanfiction has unfortunately had to take a back seat. In addition to work and moving, I also sprained my thumb (because I'm insanely accident-prone) and it's the thumb I hit the spacebar with so it's made typing and editing more difficult.
But this chapter is one of the key moments from the books so hopefully it was worth the wait!
Gonna reply to reviews on the previous chapter, thanks so much for the love and to everyone who reviewed!
Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter! I agree that Lila's had some amazing character development since Book 1 and I love what her relationship with Alexei is like now
Melissa: Haha thank you, though I've probably disappointed you with getting this chapter out late :P I'm glad you thought I did the Gralexei makeup scene justice! I'm touched that you enjoy my writing ^-^ And I've mentioned my plans for writing what happens in the future in my replies to other readers' reviews in Chapter 30 so you can feel free to check that out!
ggk: Thank you, I'm glad you thought I did the Gralexei makeup scene justice and that I've portrayed Alexei really well throughout these stories! I do have several fanfiction and original story ideas but once Unlocking the Key is finished, I'll probably have to take a break from writing (since I'll need to work on my research project and study for the psychiatry licensing exam, both of which are very important and quite time-consuming)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Embassy Row series and all the characters (except for Tanner and Jordan and Alexei's Moscow friends, who are my own creations). They belong to Ally Carter. I am merely using her characters and plotline to create this fanfiction. I have no intention of profiting off the Embassy Row series in any way. This fanfiction is purely for entertainment purposes and would not exist without Ally Carter's wonderful works.
The events that happen in this fanfiction are not meant to be representative of real life. Any similarities to any real-life events or fictional works is purely coincidental and not intentional (with the exception of the original Embassy Row books by Ally Carter since this fanfiction is literally Take the Key and Lock Her Up but from Alexei's, not Grace's, perspective). The character's actions may not always reflect my own opinions or views. Based on what is mentioned in this chapter, I do not condone parental abandonment or murder.
Content warning: mild to moderate
This fanfiction is rated M, for explicit and suggestive themes (such as mental health and abuse), language, and violence. This chapter contains mild language and mentions of mental health, parental abandonment, and murder. Please read at your own discretion.
Chapter Thirty-One: In the Shadows
And so I took Grace away, leading her through the dark streets of Valancia, winding down once unfamiliar streets that had quickly become home to me, until we reached the townhouse. I pulled the key out of my pocket, unlocking the door and gesturing for her to go in first. She raised her eyebrows, eyes wide and inquisitive.
"Dominic," I explained, with a wry smile. And really, I didn't need to say more because that one name said it all.
Grace and I entered. As I locked the door behind me, the pitter-patter of footsteps rushed towards us. Karina bounded into the foyer, a huge smile on her face.
"You're back! I'm so glad. I was …" She trailed off, her face changing as she scrutinized Grace.
"I know you," she stated. Grace glanced at me warily. I nudged her closer, walking us towards the living room. If Karina's state this morning was anything to go by, she had more or less ridden out the wave of withdrawal, making her relatively harmless and fairly lucid. And it would do Karina some good to socialize with more people.
"Yeah. I –" Grace started.
"Caroline," Karina said, still confused as she studied Grace. Suddenly, that huge smile returned, but with a twinkle in her eyes. "You look just like Caroline, so that means you must be … Grace?"
Grace visibly relaxed beside me, her rigid posture melting away. "Yes. Yes, I'm Grace." For a moment, they looked at each other, taking the other in. One lost princess with a dark past and a broken soul. One woman who had been gone far too long, lost in the throes of insanity with a shattered mind. Neither was whole nor perfect, changed from the people they had once been. But both recovering and healing, becoming stronger in their own ways.
"'Hush, little princess …'" Karina began. Grace tensed beside me. We couldn't let Karina get lost in the nursery rhyme, not when things had started so well.
"No. Stay with me, Karina," Grace said, reaching for her. "Stay here."
"Your mother wanted me to sing that for her, the last time I saw her." Grace and I looked at each other. Was there a chance Karina remembered more than she initially let on? Had something been retained, despite all the drugs that had pumped through her system?
"When did you see her?" I prompted. "When did you see Caroline?"
Karina brightened. "Caroline? Oh, I'd love to see Caroline. Is she here?" Grace bristled beside me, a shiver wracking her body. I placed my hand on the small of her back, rubbing comforting circles. Karina was very touch and go. The smallest thing could set her off, causing all the progress to be easily undone. I had to remind her of that, not just for Karina but for herself too.
"No," Grace said. "She's not here."
Karina's face fell, the light in her eyes fading. "That's too bad. I haven't seen her in … well, I think it must have been months." Months was an underestimate all right. I wondered if Karina knew what happened to Caroline. My guess was she didn't and none of the Binevale staff would have been kind enough to inform her.
"Yes," Grace said politely, a diplomatic smile on her face that looked all too pained. "I think it's been a while."
"We're very dear friends, your mother and I. Did you know?"
"Yes." It looked like it was painful for Grace to be reminded of this fact, that one of her mother's friendships had been ruined by so many things, the Society and the royal family included.
"We were thick as thieves when we were girls. Me. Your mother." Suddenly, Karina's body turned rigid, her face cold and hard, her voice icy. "And her."
"Ann?" Grace asked tentatively.
Karina spun on Grace so harshly I was afraid she would take her out. "Don't say her name!"
"What happened, Karina?" Grace asked softly.
Karina walked towards the living room window at the front of the house. The light from the gas lamps shone across her face, making her look younger but haunted, lost in another time.
"Do you know about the little princess?" Karina asked, her back still to us.
"I know Amelia lived," Grace said.
"Oh, yes." Karina brightened slightly, glad that someone knew what was talking about and didn't think she was insane. "She lived and she grew up. Did you know that? And she had a baby and then her baby had babies. They were in the Society – they had to be. So we – my friends and I – we wanted to find them."
"And then …" Karina stepped out of the light, shrouding herself in darkness, as if emphasizing the dark turn things had taken. "We found them. Oh, how I wish we hadn't."
Grace tensed beside me, shivering slightly. We both knew how badly that turned out, not just for the trio of friends but for everyone else involved. I continued rubbing small circles on her back, reminding her she wasn't alone.
"How did you find them?" I asked. Despite the dark cloud hanging over us, I had to keep pushing Karina, while she was lucid now, to see if she knew anything else of value, anything to help us put an end to this once and for all.
"There were whispers," Karina said, her voice low.
"What kind of whispers?" Grace asked.
"The families who took the babies home kept records, you know. They made notes and plans for the day when Amelia would need to claim her throne. But it never happened. Maybe because peace came and no one dared to disturb it. But I think …" She stepped closer, her face glowing. For a second, she looked like the woman who used to tell me stories about Adrian history and lost princesses. For a second, it made me wonder if I truly had my mother back. But given how long this had gone on, I feared I had never really, truly known who my mother was and that she had already been lost by the time I was born. "I think Amelia was happy. No momma wants to change that. So the records were hidden or lost, but we found them. At first we thought that her descendant was … her. But we were wrong, weren't we? It isn't her." Karina practically spat the final word, showing her distaste for the crown princess of Adria.
"No, it isn't her," Grace echoed.
"It's Caroline. She is the heir. She told me when she came to see me." Karina smiled, giggling like a little girl.
"What did she tell you?" Grace asked.
Karina turned back to the window, looking outside as she sang softly. "'Hush, little princess …'"
"Karina!" Grace snapped. I knew we both wanted answers but between Karina's fluctuating lucidity and Grace's dwindling patience, I feared this wasn't going to last much longer before someone broke.
"She wanted to know about the song," Karina said.
"What about it?"
"She didn't know all the verses. Most people don't. But my grandmother knew about Amelia. She believed Amelia should have been put on the throne – many in the Society did, you know? Many do to this very day. And so Grandmother used to tell me stories about the princess and sing the song. She made me learn it when I was just a little girl. I so wanted Alexei to be a girl so I could teach him. Isn't it a pity?"
The admission sent a stab through my heart, making my stomach drop. On one hand, it looked like part of her hadn't forgotten about me. But it hurt that she didn't even recognize I was here, with her, and had been living with her this whole time. I had no idea who she thought I was but clearly, it wasn't her son. It almost felt worse than not knowing where she was. At least then, I didn't have those constant reminders of my childhood in my face. Now, it felt like my childhood was in reach, but still out of touch, there, but not really.
Nonetheless, I thought back through my early memories, wondering if she had actually taught me the entire song. Given what she just told us, she must have, even if I couldn't remember it. The fact that I was a boy sure hadn't stopped her from telling me fantastical stories about the Society, which was likely a major violation of their code of conduct, or whatever they called it.
Karina brightened again, looking at Grace. "Has Caroline taught you the song?"
"Why don't you remind me?" Grace said, like she wasn't familiar with the song at all. "Please, could you sing it now?"
Karina started singing, as Grace and I listened attentively.
'Hush, little princess, dead and gone.
No one's gonna know you're coming home.
Hush, little princess, wait and see.
No one's gonna know that you are me.
Hush, little princess, it's too late.
The truth is locked behind the gates.
Hush, little princess, pretty babe.
The sunlight shines where the truth is laid!'
"That's it?" Grace asked when Karina finished, like she had been expecting the song to be longer. Admittedly, so had I, especially with the way Karina kept hyping it up. "That's all she wanted? To learn the song?"
"She said she had to go to Adria. She needed proof," Karina said. "Nothing was ever going to happen without proof." Grace's eyes widened, her mouth falling open. She stared straight ahead, unblinking, unmoving. I looked at her, confused. From what we gathered, I knew Grace's mother came to Adria to tell Karina she had figured out who the true heir was. But how could she possibly have proven that?
"What kind of proof?" I asked.
"The bodies, of course!" Karina shouted, far too gleefully for such a somber topic. "She said she'd found the bodies … or she thought she knew where the bodies would be. She was going to have to come back to Adria to be certain."
"The tomb," Grace said, turning to face me, a look of realization in her eyes. "In Paris, Ann asked about a tomb."
"What tomb?" I asked. The girls were in far too deep and had totally lost me. I feared both of them had gone crazy and were just egging each other on. Either way, I really didn't want to be checking one or both of them into Binevale again.
"The king and queen and little princes. Their bodies were lost in the war. If Mom needed proof she was Amelia's heir –"
"Then your mom needed DNA," I reasoned, the pieces slowly fitting together in my head. DNA testing and objective scientific data, I could handle. That made sense in my mind. Crazy stories based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence, not so much.
"So if she really found the proof –" Grace looked up at me, guiding me to put things together.
"Then she found the tomb," I concluded. After all, the only way there could be DNA proof was if there were bodies. "And for whatever reason, she went to the palace and told Ann about it."
The next realization hit me all at once, the cold, dark truth settling in. "And Ann tried to have her killed." For what reason, I wasn't sure, whether it would dismantle her throne or disrupt the entirety of Adrian society. But regardless, Grace's mother hadn't been safe and now, neither was Grace.
Out of the corner of my eye, Karina started shaking. When she spoke, her voice was too high-pitched, too frantic. "I told her not to go. I warned her. I said that she wasn't our friend anymore. I said that she had changed. And she was the one who sent me to that place. She did it. She –"
"It's okay, Karina," I said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "It's okay."
"Caroline said she'd get me out. Caroline said that she was going to come to Adria and get her proof and then she was going to get me out!" Karina was shaking harder now, desperate, angry tears falling from her eyes. I didn't know what memory she was experiencing or what was going through her head but either way, it wasn't good. When she finally spoke again, her voice cracked, barely a whisper. "Did she send you to get me out?"
"Yes," Grace breathed. "She did." And in a strange way, through unconceivable twists of fate, it was true. After all, if we hadn't been found by the Adrian prime minister, then we wouldn't have left the American army base. And if Grace hadn't insisted on stopping in Fort Sill, then we never would have found her mother's old shop. And if we hadn't visited the shop, then we never would have found the planner that proved Binevale was real, allowing us to break Karina out.
Karina became limp underneath me, tears streaking down her face as she drifted closer and closer to sleep, to oblivion. When she started singing the nursery rhyme again, I knew we had lost her for good. This was all she could give us tonight but quite frankly, it was more than we expected and the most helpful information we had gotten yet.
She walked over to one of the armchairs, folding herself up onto it, as she continued to sing, somewhere in between wakefulness and sleep. I ran up to her bedroom, grabbing a thick knit blanket. I covered Karina, sound asleep by now, with the blanket before taking Grace's hand, leading her outside.
We walked back to the palace in a comfortable silence before I realized where exactly I was taking her and what that meant for her life. I stopped, leaning down to look directly into Grace's eyes. "Don't."
"What?" Grace looked at me, confused.
"Don't go back there." I couldn't send her back to the palace now, not after what we had discovered tonight and knowing what lived in its walls. It would be like sending her to her death, and then some.
"I have to," Grace argued.
"You're Grace Olivia Blakely. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Since when did the girl who didn't take anyone's bullshit go around following orders, especially those of the royal family?
"This isn't optional."
"Yes." I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly, trying to make her see how dire and unsafe it was. She had voluntarily chosen to go to the palace. She didn't have to stay there. "It is. Go to the US embassy. Come with me to Russia. Come with me to Moscow. We'll get on a plane. We'll borrow Noah's mother's van and drive all night. I don't care. Just get lost, Grace. Run away. Disappear and I'll go with you." That plan I had thought of that fateful night in the barn, to take Grace to Moscow, resurfaced in my head, but stronger. After seeing just what the royal family was capable of tonight, I didn't feel comfortable letting her walk right back into their chains. I had to take her someplace safe, somewhere I'd be able to protect her. It would be so easy for me to take her to Moscow. Yes, the transition would be difficult at first, especially for her, not knowing any Russian, but we'd make it. I'd be sure of that.
"I can't." I pressed my hand to her cheek, turning her head so she had to look at me, willing her to see reason.
"She killed the king, Gracie," I said, my voice low. Ann was capable of many things and I didn't want Grace to be her next victim.
Grace gazed into my eyes, looking almost too certain when she spoke. "She won't kill me."
"How do you know?" I challenged. Because really, the princess could do whatever the hell she wanted and none of us would be any the wiser.
Grace pulled away from me, looking right at me, almost into me. "Because I'm playing her game. And she's winning."
After dropping Grace off at the palace, I made my way back to the townhouse, alone. At this hour, the streets were deserted. Before everything had happened this summer, back when I had just been a normal teenage guy, I wouldn't have been too concerned. But now, my guard was up. These streets could contain all sorts of danger, specifically people who were out to get me. I could never be too careful now, even though I was more or less cleared. I'd never forget what it was like to have to watch my back all the time. I feared I'd never be able to shake that feeling, as I constantly checked to make sure my surroundings were clear and that no one was hiding.
As I passed by a dark, sketchy alleyway, the crunch of broken glass got my attention. I whirled around, wondering who else could possibly be around, despite the empty streets. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as a shiver went down my spine. I had a very bad feeling about this and every gut instinct was telling me to run.
The crunch of broken glass sounded again, louder, like someone was purposely trying to get my attention.
"Who's there?" The only answer was a quiet cough that sounded like it was from somewhere behind me.
"Where are you?" There was no answer, aside from the cold night wind picking up, running through my hair and chilling me to my very core.
"Show yourself!" I roared. I slowly counted to ten in my head.
"Don't make me come for you," I seethed. I spun around in a slow circle, trying to figure out where they could possibly be hiding. I felt like I was losing my mind. Who was after me and what did they want?
The crunch of broken glass sounded once again. I ran towards the source, a gas lamp across the road. I jumped behind it, finding nothing. The only thing greeting me was the whistle of the wind in the otherwise still air, bringing the putrid smell of cigarette smoke with it. I couldn't shake the creepy feeling running through my entire body. Was I going crazy? Or were there spirits after me, looking for vengeance?
The wind suddenly gusted, blowing my hair into my face. I carelessly pushed it out of the way, as something blowing against the gas lamp caught my eye. There was a small folded up note, tucked in the lantern base, just under the glowing light.
I gingerly eased it out, unfolding it. It was one of the napkins from the palace, the telltale palace logo in the corner, with something scrawled across it. I held the napkin under the lamp, barely making it out despite squinting. I pulled out my phone flashlight, its powerful fluorescent light much brighter than the dim glow of the gas lamp. At once, the words became clear, hitting me like a ton of bricks.
You can run but you can't hide.
Even more, it was written in Russian. I was suddenly brought back to my run-in with the Mexican gang, where the gang leader had said that exact phrase to me.
I was just about to throw the napkin into a nearby trash can when something else scrawled in the corner, just above the palace logo, caught my eye.
You can run but you can't hide… from me. My stomach sunk even more. Someone was clearly out to get me but who? It was far too late and I couldn't think straight, not after everything that had happened tonight. I needed to go home and get some sleep. This could be dealt with in the morning.
Song Inspo: SayWeCanFly – 'In The Shadow (feat. Julie Elven)'
Genre: Alternative/ Indie
This song has some amazing ethereal and haunting vibes which fit this chapter quite well, between the desperation of trying to figure out what's happening before it's too late, the mythical stories of the Society, and the chilling scene at the end. It also inspired the chapter title!
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be up between Sept. 2 and Sept. 17. Hopefully it will be up within a fairly reasonable time but don't be surprised if it takes me longer to upload chapters from now on. The next chapter is a super long one (sitting at 6500+ words but with editing notes) that can be split into two shorter chapters. The more I think about it, the more I want to split it so I can get the next chapter out earlier (like maybe even at the end of August but I don't want to make any promises I can't keep). Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the reviews or on IG.
All I can say is you guys aren't ready for what's coming next…