Read Invasion: A Sequel to The Last Princess for Free Online

“Don’t try to stop me.”
    “Mary, no,” Eoghan was saying, but I didn’t stop to listen to them argue. I already knew Mary would win. She was the queen; she always did.
    By now, word of the sighting had somehow spread to others. Families from local towns joined the rehearsal dinner guests on the beach, pulling their children close to them, passing torches and blankets for warmth. Their hope, their excitement, was like a physical force. England had been alone for so long. Could there really be other survivors of the Seventeen Days?
    I found Polly with her parents. “Will you do me a favor?” I asked, reaching for her hands. At the sight of my worried expression, the smile on her freckled face dimmed.
    “Anything,” she said solemnly.
    “If anything goes wrong, I want you to take Jamie and the boys to Scotland. Right away. At the first sign of trouble.”
    “Do you really think …” Her voice trailed off. Her red hair was blowing wild in the breeze.
    “I don’t know, Polly,” I said quietly. “Mary and I are going out there. I just need to be sure that if anything happens—”
    “Of course,” she said. “You can count on us.”
    I gave her and the boys a quick hug before turning to make my way to the schooner.
    The general was calling out orders to the handful of soldiers that would man the boat. Mary had insisted that he stay behind, to command the
Royal Voyager
once it was ready to join us.
    I hurried to board the schooner, where Mary and Wesley were already on deck. Eoghan was standing alone on the beach, looking studiously at the ground, clearly upset. I understood why he didn’t want to leave Mary’s side, but I agreed with her on this. We couldn’t afford to risk everyone.
    “Eoghan!” Mary cried out as we began to pull away from shore, and blew him a kiss from the railing. He smiled at her, clearly unable to stay angry. Mary waved to the crowd as they cheered us off, their handkerchiefs waving in the salty wind.
    I clutched the railing, suddenly afraid. I hadn’t been on a boat in years. The deck rocked fiercely from side to side beneath my feet and I stumbled to steady myself.
    “It’s okay, Eliza,” Wesley murmured, his arms around my waist. I leaned back into him and closed my eyes. Together we listened to the ocean roar as the ship made its way forward. I could feel the mist damp on my face, like tears.
    Finally, after a few moments, I opened my eyes. Mary was holding tight to the railing, still wearing her elbow-length white gloves. I thought about telling her to take them off, but didn’t have the heart. We all looked ridiculous, sailing out to a ghost ship in our gowns and tuxedos. Hopefully it would be a funny story we could tell our children someday—how we first met the other survivors on earth and welcomed them in black tie.
    Our little boat dipped and rocked against the increasingly rough waves, sea spray covering the deck like rain. As we neared the mysterious ship, its form grew clearer and more monstrous. It looked just like the military officer had described it: enormous, bigger even than the palace. It was the largest ship I had ever seen.
    There wasn’t a single light glowing on its surface, and its decks were bare, yet it didn’t look old or worn. A red and black flag that I couldn’t identify hung from its masthead, flapping violently in the wind.
    I turned back toward the shore, to see the crowd of people on the beach, but they were all just tiny specks now. Still, I could imagine the hope on their faces as they squinted to keep track of us. Since the Seventeen Days, all of England had been waiting for any sign of life from the outside world. And though a few things had washed up on the shores of Dover from time to time—driftwood, billboards, even a red mailbox with the name Madame Verne on the side—this was the first sighting that gave us real hope.
    As we pulled up to the side of the oil tanker, I saw that it wasn’t as new as it had first appeared. There