“Hmm,” he muses, eyeing me, “the lady doesn’t mind talking about destruction and death, but throw in a little sex and she gets demure.”

My face flushes before I can help it, and the king chuckles. “My, my, have you never … ?” He gazes at me curiously. “How old are you?”

Even through my burning cheeks I give him a nasty look. “Nineteen.”

“Nineteen? And you’ve never been romantic? Did you just get out of an ugly phase?”

Despite his offensive words, I flash him my first real smile of the evening. “I was too busy killing your men to bother with love.”

Now he looks mad. It’s nice to know that the king might actually care about the death of his soldiers. “Watch your words,” he snaps.

I decide to back off. If I anger King Lazuli too much, my father and I could easily find ourselves on the wrong end of a gun.

He watches me, and I can practically see the anger flow away from his face, replaced with that predatory look I saw when I first locked eyes with him. “You were a soldier?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“But not anymore?”

“I will always be a soldier,” I say, “but right now I fight with my tongue rather than my fists.”

He gives me a slow smile. “Perhaps we can put that tongue to other uses.”

“Then perhaps I will resort to fighting with my fists.”

“I welcome the challenge.” In his eyes is a promise that he’ll make good on.

Tonight I’m sleeping with my gun.

I rip my dress off and run my tongue over my teeth as soon as I enter my bedroom. The representatives knew. They knew there would be a chance that dolled up I might catch the king’s attention. Of course. All other tactics hadn’t worked with him. Everyone else came back in a body bag. Why not give it a shot and tempt the king with flesh? It was the oldest trick in the fucking book. And it worked.

I tear the rest of the clothes off of my body and change into a pair of pajamas.

“Serenity?” my father calls from the sitting room.

“What?” I ask as I untuck my hair from my shirt. My voice is angry.

He fills up the doorway to my room and takes me in. Neither of us needs to say anything—and we wouldn’t dare anyway, the room had to be bugged. But he doesn’t need to. His anguished expression tells me how he feels about our current situation.

“I’m sorry.” He shakes his head.

“Why did no one tell me?” Even as I say this, I wonder if that’s what had my father tense around the general when we left. He might’ve known then what I’d only just figured out.

I can’t bring myself to be mad at him. We were all just pawns at this point.

My father pinches the bridge of his nose. “It was never official. You’re a soldier and a future emissary. We wanted you to do what you do best—represent the WUN.”

I read into what he can’t say under the king’s roof: acting was never my strength. I can barely hold my tongue; pretending to like the vilest man I know is beyond my abilities.

“We should check in with General Kline right now,” he says.

I nod, my hands balling into fists. “I’d love to talk with him.”

“Serenity.” My father’s voice carries a warning.

I sigh. “Let’s just get this over with.” I had a bad case of jetlag, and I wanted to get some sleep before tomorrow’s peace talks.

I follow my father into his room, where his laptop rests on a side desk. I grab a nearby chair and pull it alongside my father’s.

Once we’re situated in front of the computer, my father calls up the representatives. They answer almost immediately.

“Ambassador Freeman and Serenity Freeman checking in,” my father says.

On the other side of the screen I can see the bunker’s conference room and the representatives sitting around the table. Now that I’m here inside the king’s house, in this place filled with glittery objects and natural light, the conference room looks especially bleak.

“Good to hear from you Carl,” the general says. “How’s it going?”

My father’s eyes slide to mine. “Fine so far. Have you been watching the footage?”

“Yes. Is Serenity there?”

My father turns the laptop so that my face takes up the screen. “General Kline.” I nod to him.

“Serenity, aside from that comment you made during your introductions, you seem to be doing well making the king’s acquaintance.”

There are so many things that I want to shout at the general, none of which I can voice, one because he’s still the leader of my country, and two, because I have to assume we’re being recorded.

So instead I say, “Surprised? I was too.” I lower my voice. “You’ve thrown me to the wolves, General.” That’s the closest thing I can come to the truth, that I’m here to persuade the king through more carnal means.

“Serenity, nations rely on your actions. Now is not the time for weakness.” General Kline’s practically chastising me.

My throat works. “He killed her.” My father reaches over and squeezes my shoulder, his subtle way of telling me to shut up, that I’ve said too much. But the king already knows what I’ve just spoken out loud—that I blame him for my mother’s death.

“And you’ve killed mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. War has taken something from everyone, Serenity. We can end that. You can end that.”

His words sober me up. He’s right, of course. The only difference between the king and I is that the king’s body count is much higher, and for most of his kills he never had to dirty his hands.

My gaze moves from the general to his son who sits further down the table. “I’m sorry, Will,” I say. His face is too grainy to make out, but I’m sure the expression he wears is not a pleasant one.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he says. “Negotiate an agreement and make it back here safely. That’s all I want.”

My throat constricts and I nod. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I know what I must do.

I’m going to have to charm the king into giving the WUN what it needs.

Chapter 6

Serenity

Five years ago my father and I moved into the bunker. By that time we were in a full-scale war with the eastern hemisphere, and the king had started picking off those political leaders not already dead. Located several miles outside of D.C., the bunker was an asylum for what was left of our government officials and their families.