Kiva closed her eyes, unable to look at her sister. She knew all about Zalindov haunting her nightmares — but she’d also had to live in that nightmare. Alone. For ten years.
“I’m sorry,” Zuleeka whispered. “I shouldn’t have listened to Mother, I know that now. I should have told Tor, and we should have come for you. We failed you. I failed you.”
Feeling raw, Kiva took a moment to gather her thoughts. She’d lost ten years of her life needlessly, so she wasn’t capable of just forgiving Zuleeka like that had never happened. But her sister had made a good point about how she’d also been young. If their positions had been reversed and Tilda had told Kiva that everyone was safer if Zuleeka remained locked away, wouldn’t she have trusted that their mother knew what she was talking about?
Sighing deeply, Kiva said, “Let’s just — Let’s try to forget about it. As you said yesterday, what’s done is done.”
Zuleeka looked startled. So did Torell.
“You’d be . . . all right with that?” Zuleeka asked slowly.
“I’m not all right with any of this.” Kiva’s voice rose in the dark alleyway, before she lowered it again to add, “I’m also not all right with how you tried to kill Jaren two nights ago, and how you’re the reason Naari lost her hand. But I can’t change any of those things either, can I? So for my sanity’s sake, we need to —”
“Hold on, back up,” Torell interrupted, his brow furrowed. To Zuleeka he asked, “I know about Naari, but what’s this about Jaren?”
Zuleeka didn’t answer, instead looking at Kiva and saying, “If I’d wanted to kill the prince, he’d be dead. That wasn’t my intention. I’d just hoped to rattle him a little. Remind him we’re not going anywhere.”
Kiva marveled at Zuleeka’s overconfidence, but only said, “He knows you’re not going anywhere. But he also doesn’t see you as a real threat in the grand scheme of things. And with good reason, given what I learned today.”
Both of her siblings turned alert, and Kiva scrambled to think of how to downplay her statement, before realizing she didn’t have to. The information Jaren had shared couldn’t hurt him or his family. Not when one piece of their guaranteed demise was hundreds of miles away and protected not only by magic, but also an entire army.
“What did you learn, Kiva?” Torell asked, morphing from her loving brother into the commanding general of the rebels.
Warring with herself, Kiva debated what to say. On one hand, she was still dismayed that her family would have no swift means to lawfully take the kingdom. But on the other hand . . .
That young man is destined for greatness. He’s going to be the best king we’ve ever seen.
Healer Tura’s voice came to Kiva again, the words ringing true. Having witnessed Jaren amongst his people today and seeing how much he cared for them not just in speech, but in actions, Kiva had known.
The kingdom was better off in his hands.
She felt like a traitor to her own family, but try as she might, she couldn’t imagine Evalon with Zuleeka as its queen, not even with Tor as its king. And she certainly didn’t want to rule it herself, having no idea how to juggle politics and diplomacy. She’d been bored to tears just listening to the Royal Council discuss mundane kingdom matters — the idea of having to take part in such conversations made something inside her shrivel up and die.
Jaren, however, had spent a lifetime being groomed for the role, loving every second of it.
He truly was the people’s prince.
And so, while Kiva knew she should be more upset, there was no denying the relief she felt knowing that, at least for now, the Vallentis family was safe, their throne secure.
“Kiva?” Tor called when she remained silent for too long. “Did you discover something?”
Licking her lips, she said, “Yes. I did. And you’re not going to like it.”
An unpleasant feeling twisted inside her as she told her siblings about her visit to the library and her viewing of the Book of the Law, sharing everything she’d learned about the Royal Ternary clause — Jaren’s greatest secret, something only he, his mother, and the council knew. And now his blood-sworn enemies, too. Kiva hated betraying his trust, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that no harm would come to him; it was an unactionable secret, one he would never even know she’d shared.
When she finally finished speaking, the only sounds in the alley were a light dripping noise and the distant hiss of a tomcat.