Adon remained silent for a few seconds while he processed everything the Queen had said and tried to come up with the best strategy possible to talk his way out of this situation.

Do I actually try to give her advice on how she could make friends with the Princess? No, that’s probably out. I don’t even know why Rosslyn took an interest in me, other than the fact that she likes butterflies and likes the garden. Kind of random, honestly. And what would I even tell Regina based on that? “Oh, you can get along with her great, you just need to be a butterfly?” That’ll go over really well.

Then what should he say? Surely the Princess herself had given him some information he could use here…

Adon thought back to the conversation. He found he was able to pull the memory up like it was a video saved on a hard drive. Better than a video, in fact, because it was enhanced by his own intellect and awareness of what was important. The whole conversation with the Princess played back perfectly in his mind, but at a heightened speed that slowed for critical moments in the conversation.

She burned the Vendetta Ants, she told me she was going traveling for a bit—maybe that emboldened Regina to act now, while Rosslyn was gone—she knew that Goldie and I were friends and that we both had names. All that’s useless. She said the Vendetta Ants come back every year. She asked about other talking bugs. That might come in handy. She was enchanted by the idea of monsters and mystic beasts having unlimited growth potential. She was interested in the fact that I was intelligent and seemed really stunned that I was connected to my past lives. She wanted us to meet other people—wanted to introduce us to the wider world for some reason. She said I shouldn’t turn away from greatness. I bet Regina will love hearing that; it sounds right up her alley. And Rosslyn also wanted to talk to us when she got back from her journey. I don’t think there was anything else useful.

Adon refocused on the present. The Queen was still waiting for his answer. Only a few seconds had passed, but he already knew how impatient Regina was. He framed his response carefully, trying to ensure that Regina would see she needed him alive to make her connection with the Princess possible.

I could introduce you to the Princess, Adon sent. I think she would like you. You already guessed that we have a bit of a rapport. Well, you’re right—she’s friendly! She seemed interested in meeting Goldie—that’s one of the spiders—and seeing me again when she got back. She’s very interested in intelligent nonhumans. I think that if I introduced you, she would like you too.

The Queen hovered in the air thinking for a moment. Then she shook her head.

Her voice came out eerie and sinister again, pushing its way into his mind like a poisonous gas seeping through cracks in a wall.

I don’t like that plan, she sent. It requires me to trust you and get your help. I want to know how I could meet the Princess and catch her eye on my own—with you out of the picture. This garden isn’t big enough for the both of us. I may as well tell you, you’re not leaving here alive. The only question is whether your spider friends are going to join the vole family we just found as food for the next generation of wasps, or if it will just be you.

Why? Adon sent, frustrated. Why are you so hostile to me specifically? Why can’t we work together? We could both be friends with the Princess. And each other. There’s plenty of room in this garden—

No, Regina replied. The kind of friendship you and the Princess have—it’s not the kind of thing that can divide evenly. I would never be her favorite the way you are.

I’m telling you that’s not true! Adon sent. I’m nothing special. I’m not important to her! I’m just a curiosity. A freak of nature that reminds her of her family’s coat of arms.

The wasp nodded. Yes, her coat of arms is the butterfly—that makes a little more sense of it. I remember I saw her carriage had the butterfly emblazoned on the side.

But that’s it—that’s the whole explanation. We don’t have a super special connection.

Regina was shaking her head now. That can’t be all of it. She wiped out a whole species of ants for you. My worker saw it. You’ve been trying to downplay your connection with the Princess this whole time, but that kind of loyal support isn’t something I could get. Not while you’re here. I need you out of the picture. Permanently.

Adon was stunned for a moment. Well, I guess that was a pretty extreme action, he thought to himself. And it was for me, yeah. I don’t know if that’s just the sort of thing the Princess would do even without a good reason, but probably not. It’s possible that she’s more attached to me than I realized—she did say that I represent some kind of hope for her country and that she might have to tell the King about me if they’re in real trouble. I didn’t quite understand it at the time, and really I still don’t. Ugh. If I just understood the Princess better, maybe I could tell Regina what she wants to hear…

He began transmitting again, injecting a pleading note into his tone this time. Listen. There’s no reason this has to escalate to violence. I could leave the garden. I would be happy to go explore the world. I was planning on doing that anyway, after I go through metamorphosis into a butterfly. If they bother you, I could take the spiders with me, and the Princess would never be the wiser. She would just think we decided to leave. Please. I don’t want to be your rival or any kind of thorn in your side. I just want to live.

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The Queen fixed her eyes on Adon for several long, tense seconds. Then she shook her head sharply from side to side. I don’t believe you. Why should I trust a strange insect? Especially one who’s done as much killing as I know you have. A species perfectly capable of surviving on leaves, but you’ve chosen to eat other bugs. You’ve gone beyond that, too. I know you’ve viciously attacked even animals as big as snakes and birds.

Isn’t that just what you’re doing by going after me, my spider friends, and the voles? he replied instantly. Eating meat when you could survive on fruit and vegetation? Wasps aren’t that different from caterpillars, are they?

Exactly, the Queen replied. We’re not so different. Both ambitious. Determined to rise. No matter how many have to suffer for us to reach the top. I respect it. But I know that coexistence is impossible. Trust is only possible for us if we understand that. We’re two conqueror insects. Each trying to spread our wings in both the garden and the context of the larger human world. The only thing we can trust is that if both of us remain alive, we must eventually fight. Even if you allow me to temporarily occupy a superior position, I know you’d come for my head eventually. Just look at what you did to that poor snake.

Adon tried to come up with a response to what Regina had said. He did not identify as a conqueror insect, whatever that was supposed to be, and he often found himself regretting that he had to get his hands so dirty. But there was just a little too much truth in her judgment of him for Adon to simply rebut it.

Am I ambitious? he thought to himself. Well, yes. Not like her, though. Right? I—I don’t think I’ve been as vicious as she’s saying. Have I? Maybe it started out as a little bit at a time, and then I started to accept it more and more, until finally I was a monster. Something that would kill and eat anyone—or anything—to advance. Haven’t I eaten baby birds and ladybugs and anything that would hold still for long enough at this point?

The Queen interrupted his self-pitying train of thought. I’ll give you one last chance to give me useful information for befriending the Princess. If you can do that, my subjects will only kill and eat you. If you can’t, both you and your friends die.

Wait a second! he sent, his tone slightly desperate. You and I might both be predators in this life, but we also both have past lives as normal humans. What about our common humanity? If I give you my word that I’ll go and practice my predator lifestyle elsewhere, why do you have to reject that? Why can’t we live and let live?

Pfft, the Queen scoffed. Common humanity. I don’t identify with humanity at all. I’m a wasp, and I’m happy with that. They’re vicious and ambitious. I have unlimited growth potential, as long as I keep my eye on the ball. As long as I keep advancing. In the end, humanity is just another stepping stone for my advancement. She paused for a moment. Really, that’s how I know you would just break your word. You and I are just alike. We’re both too ambitious to be restrained by something as flimsy as a promise. Just like I was going to break my word and eat your friends even if you helped me. No point in hiding it anymore.

Adon instantly sent a surge of Mana throughout his body, reinforcing his exoskeleton. He had been ready for the outbreak of violence. He thought the paralysis effect of the wasp venom was mostly gone now. He was prepared to endure the assault of the hundreds of wasps.

And he was beginning to be very angry. Regina had intended to break her word the entire time. Even if Adon was willing to help her and die, she would still have killed his friends.

As he strengthened his exterior, the Queen sent a telepathic message that she seemed to be directing broadly. Adon could hear it, but quite clearly, so could the whole wasp colony, because they all began to move as the words entered Adon’s mind.

My children, go forth and do my bidding! Kill the caterpillar. And capture the spiders that we marked for extermination earlier. Don’t let a single one of these creatures escape. They are valuable nourishment for the juveniles! As the words rang through Adon’s mind, he saw they were also accompanied by images. Images the Queen had dreamed up of the wasps attacking him, and images of Red and Goldie being eaten by juvenile wasps.

No! Adon thought. I won’t just let this happen.

An increasing number of wasps began moving toward Adon, while the ones holding him began trying to stick him with their stingers. The tips of the stingers bounced harmlessly off his exoskeleton, doing so little to drain his now vast reserves of power that he could afford to ignore them for a moment as he focused on something else.

He listened. Beneath the loud droning noises close to him, he heard the sound of receding buzzing as some wasps began breaking off to carry out Regina’s will. They were indeed heading in the direction of Goldie’s web.

No! No no no!

He felt an almost blinding rage at the thought of Goldie and Red being hurt after all they had been through together.

Acting with incredible speed, Adon reached out to the place in the dark magical realm where he had first uncovered mental magic, and he connected himself to that power. He was executing an impromptu plan, inspired by the fact that the Queen had connected herself and him to all of the wasps in the area with her mass telepathic communiques.

Feel my intention, he thought, almost praying to the statue in the darkness. Give me the power to hurt them. To hurt them until they can’t hurt my friends anymore!

Summoning a massive swell of Mana, he unleashed a vicious wave of mental magic through the telepathic connection, aiming to harm and destroy as many of the wasps as he could.

For a moment, the air was still and silent.

Then wasps began falling from the sky.