A Court This Cruel & Lovely (Kingdom of Lies, #1)(53)

This was the moment when I had to pretend to be much, much more confident than I really was. Vicer wouldn’t involve himself in my plans if he thought my power was undeveloped. “You want a demonstration?”

His eyes lit up. “Of course.”

I reached for my power, and it jumped into my grasp. Time stopped, and I held it just long enough to get to my feet and take a few steps closer to Vicer.

I released the thread, and everyone else unfroze. Vicer shot to his feet, the blood draining from his face.

“You— I— We—”

Tibris grinned at me. “You’ve done the unthinkable. You’ve managed to make Vicer speechless.”

“Well,” Vicer said, and his entire body bristled with energy, color returning to his cheeks. “This changes some things. I have someone who can get you false work papers. We currently have two people in the castle. They’re attempting to update our intel, help us map the castle, and undermine the king when they can. But none of our people has ever been able to get into the dungeon. You would be the first.”

For the first time since I’d vowed to get Asinia out of the dungeon, hope fluttered its wings in my chest. My body felt oddly light.

“Just how big is this…rebellion?” I asked.

Vicer gave me a cool look. “If you’re serious about getting into the castle, you know I can’t tell you that.”

Because if we were captured, we would be tortured. The less we knew, the better.

“But what I can tell you is that all the rebellion members we had in the castle were caught up in a random sweep. The king has an assessor search his servants occasionally to ensure they’re not hybrids. The final two rebels I’ve sent in are volunteers and they refuse to be pulled out, but we won’t send anyone else in again. It’s too dangerous.”

My heartbeat quickened, but I nodded. I knew what we were risking. The question was whether I could convince Tibris to stay behind.

One look at his stubborn expression and I knew the answer. He glowered at me, daring me to make the suggestion. I sighed. At least he wasn’t a hybrid.

Margie returned, her face still a little flushed as she avoided my eyes. Was my power that horrifying?

I cut that thought off at the knees. My power was horrifying. And dangerous. And incredibly useful. My power was going to allow me to free Asinia. My power was going to help us escape.

“It’ll take a day or two for us to get you papers,” Vicer said. “There are a few other things you’ll need to do in the meantime, along with information you’ll need to memorize.”

I studied him. Vicer liked Asinia, but he certainly wasn’t doing this out of benevolence. “And what is it that you want in exchange?”

Vicer smiled. “We have someone in the dungeons too. You get him out when you get Asinia out, and we’ll help you with everything you need.”

“Why is this prisoner more valuable than the others?”

“Because he was the one who organized many of the rebels in this city. Who ensured the splinter groups began to work together. And who learned our enemies’ weaknesses. His mind is a wealth of knowledge. Knowledge we need.”

I studied Vicer’s face. The man I’d known had changed. He was sterner now. And when he laughed, he often cut his laughter off suddenly, as if he’d remembered he shouldn’t feel joy.

“Why are you doing this? You’re not one of the hybrids.”

“We’ve all lost those we love to the king’s greed.”

Vicer’s expression had turned cold. Obviously, he wasn’t going to say anything more.

“There’s another problem,” I said. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out the piece of parchment with my face sketched onto it.

Vicer studied the parchment. “Says here you have blond hair. We can fix that. I also know someone who can take care of those eyes,” he said. “Maids are invisible, and no one would expect a wanted criminal to be in the castle. Keep your head down, use that terrifying power of yours when you have to, and you’ll be fine.”

His confidence eased the worst of my own worries. It was easy to see just why Vicer had stepped into his role here.

Margie took our plates from us and walked away to wash them.

Vicer got to his feet. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”

I nodded. I was more than ready for a moment alone.

We trailed after him, back into the gloomy entrance. Clearly, it was supposed to be gloomy—another way for it to blend in with the other homes in the slum. Vicer led us upstairs to a long hall. “All these rooms are being used,” he said, and one of the doors opened. A tall, thin man stepped out, nodding at us.

I tensed, still instinctively wary about being recognized. But neither Vicer nor Tibris seemed worried.

“This is Jeronth,” Vicer said. “Jeronth, this is Prisca and Tibris. They’ll be staying here for a few days.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said. His eyes met mine and darted away. But not before I caught the hopelessness in them.

Vicer glanced at me. “Most of the people here have experienced incredible loss. The kind of loss that breaks you. Working with the rebellion…it’s the only reason some of them have to keep breathing.”

I could understand that.

We climbed another set of stairs, which led to a large common room. A few people were reading, and a couple of women talked softly in one corner. But my gaze landed on the group of men eating a snack.