Vicer glanced over his shoulder at us. For a moment, I wondered if he was about to tell us to shut our mouths. I glanced around us, at the people who were purchasing all kinds of highly illegal goods and services, and almost laughed. No one cared what we were up to. Several of the people here had already slapped Vicer on the back, leaned close to have a murmured conversation, or introduced family members.
Vicer waited for us to catch up to him. “They flee long before the ceremony,” he said. “Whole families disappear in the middle of the night—along with anyone loyal to them. Sometimes, they fake their own deaths. There are hybrids with a gift for illusion who can help there.”
“And those without the coin they need are eventually caught using their power or found attempting to flee, or worse.”
Vicer just nodded, turning away.
I glanced back at my brother. Tibris’s face was hidden in shadows. When he took his next step into the blue-green light, he looked older than his twenty-seven winters. “There are only a few with the ability to mimic the priestess’s mark, and most get discovered, slaughtered by the king,” he murmured. “This…this was my plan for you. I wanted to get you to the city, get you marked, and then we would find somewhere new. As a family.”
“How could we have afforded it?”
“I was working on it. Hiding money away. Vicer has someone who owed him a favor. And…I had a few ideas.”
I gave him a gentle elbow in the side. “I’m still mad at you for not sharing those plans with me. But I love you.”
He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. And I love you too.”
“Tibris?”
All three of us froze. It was Vicer who relaxed first, and Tibris’s mouth curved in a wide grin.
“Gudram?” Tibris released my arm and turned to slap his friend on the back. Vicer just sighed.
“One of his contacts. They’ve only met once but worked together for years. This will take a while.”
Someone bumped into me, mumbling an apology, and Vicer jerked his head, gesturing for me to follow him to lean against the cave wall.
“Do you think we can do this?” I asked.
Vicer kept his gaze on the market. “I’ve been a part of the rebellion since shortly after I arrived in the city. This is the first time many of us have felt hope. If we can get both Asinia and Demos free… I don’t have to tell you that it will strike a blow to the king’s reputation. It will bolster those who doubt the rebellion and allow us to strike where the king thinks he has no weaknesses.”
“This Demos…how well do you know him?”
Vicer sighed. “He’s a hard man but a fair one, and he has done more for your people than anyone else I can think of. I worked under him until he was arrested—it was pure luck I wasn’t there when the king’s guards raided our headquarters that night.”
Pure luck? I had to know I could trust Vicer. He’d been in the city for years now. How could I be certain he wasn’t sending me to my death? “Who did you lose, Vicer?”
He turned and gave me a faint smile. “I understand. You need to know I won’t betray you. You always were the calculating type. Smarter than you were given credit for.”
I winced and he laughed. “It’s not an insult.”
But he’d said it like it was.
Vicer heaved a sigh. “When I first moved to the city, I thought my life was finally beginning. The gods had given me back more power than most, and it was the kind that would be useful.”
“What can you do?”
He glanced away. “I don’t like to talk about it. I…can’t. Not yet.”
“It’s okay.” I’d only recently been able to talk about my own power myself. And I hadn’t been forced to use that power for the crown every day.
Vicer seemed to steady himself. “I arrived, eager to do the king’s bidding. For those who have a purpose, we’re blindfolded and taken somewhere outside the city. There, we have a separate ceremony. They said it was to thank the gods for our power. But directly after, I noticed I had more power, and that power seemed to grow each day.”
“Because that power was useful to the king.”
“Yes. At the time, I thought the gods had blessed me more than most. I embraced life here. I went to the best parties, wore the most fashionable clothes, drank the most expensive wines. Then one day, at one of those parties, I met a woman.”
His eyes held such desolation, a lump formed in my throat. “You don’t have to tell me.”