I sat back and waited for the others to return. The truth he’d gotten me to admit swirled around me like a restless wind.
As much as Maz wished to protect me, I still couldn’t let Kiera in on the rest of my plan. I couldn’t put her in worse danger by dragging her back to the palace to face the man she was running from. And I didn’t want her to try to convince me otherwise if she knew how I felt about her.
That I did love her. That she’d stolen bits of my shattered heart since the moment she freed me from my chains.
So, I would ready my weapons. I would put Maz on the ship when it arrived.
And I would rid Rellmira of its greatest threat before I found Kiera again and begged her to take the rest of my heart in exchange for hers.
Chapter 39
Kiera
Tomorrow.
Everything ended tomorrow. For better or for worse. Even though I wasn’t sure if there was a “better” for me.
The last six days had passed in a haze. Most of it waiting by Maz’s side—wishing him to wake up, telling him silly stories when he did, feeding him when he was hungry. All while trying not to let my guilt eat me alive from the inside.
Aiden eventually dissolved the clay shell from Maz’s back, leaving a mess of raw skin that was already scabbing and turning pink rather than red. But his tattoos were gone. Aiden had heavily wrapped him in bandages, but Maz didn’t speak a word that day.
Occasionally, Ruru sat with us, passing on gossip and sticky bread and telling Maz about his training. He cajoled me into running the rooftops with him a few times, but my heart wasn’t in it. My heart was under the knife in my boot.
Mother’s knife seemed to grow heavier and sharper the closer we came to the end of Aiden’s plan.
We hadn’t spoken much since the night he found me with Maz. We both seemed to be avoiding each other. I knew my reasons, but what were his?
He didn’t seem to suspect me or my story of “finding” Maz in the alley. He didn’t seem angry with me. Every so often, I caught him looking at me with a strange look on his face. As if his gaze was the only way he could reach me because there was something insurmountable between us. Something that he planned to remove.
But he didn’t know I’d been tasked to removehim—a crime I already knew I couldn’t commit. But no choice was so simple anymore. What would happen to him if I didn’t obey Renwell? What would Renwell and my father do to everyone I’d grown to care about when I didn’t assassinate their enemy?
Aiden might be their enemy, but with every day that passed, it became clear he wasnotRellmira’s enemy.
Yet, ever since Renwell released us, I’d been waiting for another repercussion of some kind, especially since I hadn’t acted on his last order. But none came. And the silence was suffocating.
Which was why I’d come to see Melaena one last time. She didn’t know it was goodbye, but from the somber mood in the sitting room, she could feel it as I did.
“Did you get the food baskets I sent for all of you?” she asked, spinning a silver bracelet around and around her slender wrist.
“Yes,” I said, trying to smile for her benefit. “I think Maz appreciated the love notes from the dancers the most. But we all loved the food, especially the cinnamon ham.”
“I wish I could’ve done more,” she whispered, her beautiful eyes filling with tears. “I wanted to come visit, but... but I think Renwell is still watching me.”
My smile died. No words of comfort came because it was likely true, and there was nothing I could do about it. A few of the dancers had left after Renwell’s invasion of the club. Shows had been cancelled. Melaena had been skittish since the moment I’d shown up.
Melaena buried her face into her hands. “Gods, Kiera. It feels like it did before. During the rebellion. The hunts. The executions. The waiting, the gods-damned waiting, to see where—who—Weylin will strike next.”
“I’ve always hated waiting.”
“Yes, I suppose you would have a lot of experience with that. Being a personal guard and all.”
I nearly laughed, taking a sip of the red wine she’d offered me. “Yes. That.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You would’ve had a different angle of that dark time, though. What was it like in the palace during the rebellion?”
I slowly swirled the crimson liquid in the crystal glass. Maz’s blood splashed over my memory, and I set the glass down. “Much like what you experienced, I’m guessing. Servants disappeared overnight. No one wanted to speak or look each other in the eye anymore. Fear so thick you could ball it up and toss it back and forth.”
My eyes caught on the tapestry covering the tunnel, the one Renwell probably guessed was here now. Yet he hadn’t come looking for it.
