My eyes shot down to the end of the letter.
Your not-so-favorite lord, of the mixed colors of black and white, has finally made his romantic intentions known. She hasn’t come to tell me yet, but I expect she will soon—they’re together now. Officially.
I think this will be a good thing for her.
My chest tightened. The night I’d first kissed Tristan. I remembered running to meet her before the ceremony, telling her in an excited, hushed whisper of what had happened.
And all this time, Rhyan knew. Gods. Myself to Moriel. Kenna said Rhyan had spent a year not looking at any girls. And then something happened …This letter. This letter had happened.
He knew. He knew that very night. After a year of waiting for me, he’d tried to move on. Auriel’s fucking bane.
“I stopped in Numeria, briefly on my way to your aunt’s consecration,” his father said. “I took our little friend here. Imperators have special privileges at the Emperor’s Palace, you see. We can access certain rooms, are granted the privilege of guarding copies of the building’s layout, and blueprints. Things you might need if you were to say … attend the Valabellum and attempt a rescue of Lady Julianna.”
He made a sharp hissing sound, and suddenly the nahashim was across the table, staring into my eyes. Its blackened orbs filled with blue light, until all I could see was the color blue.
The room vanished. And suddenly, I was slithering down a hall, seeing what the nahashim saw.
Black and white marble shone beneath me, the black scaly reflection was as clear as if I were sliding across a mirror. I slipped beneath a door, feeling the roughened wood slide against my back, the floor cold against my stomach. And then I slid beneath another, and another, until I entered a room. Small, rounded, with multiple doors. A single bed in the center. Jules lay on it. Her skin was lightly tanned, paler than when I’d last seen her. There were marks on her arms, and thighs: bruises, the kind that came from being gripped too roughly.
My eyes welled.
She was thinner than she had been, wearing a long black dress with slits to the tops of her thighs, and a V from her shoulders to her belly that left most of her body exposed. Though revealing, the material was loose. The dress looked too big on her, like she’d once filled it out, but no longer did. Some of the threads at the hem were coming undone. She noticed the snake, and sat up. But there was no sense of fear in her eyes, only a tired, and resigned dullness. Her brown hair fell like a lion’s mane around her shoulders.
The vision ended.
A tear rolled down my cheek, and my hands clenched. She was so thin, so pale. Those bruises. And her eyes … she wasn’t dead. But she wasn’t far from it, either. I had no time to lose.
“I think we can all speak plainly now of what we know,” Imperator Hart said. He retrieved his nahashim and returned to his seat across from me, taking another sip of wine. “The stripping of a vorakh’s power in Lethea was one of the greatestlies the Empire ever sold. Those in power know better. They are taken to the Emperor’s Palace to serve as thechayatim,the cloaked ones. The Emperor’s most esteemed servants. His spies. They are the ones who keep an eye on Lumeria for him. Lady Julianna has spent two years as his personal slave. She offers insights and visions to the very man who ruined her life.” His lips curled. “Amongst the otherservicesI hear she supplies.”
I was shaking. If I had my weapons on me, he’d be dead. Fuck the consequences. I couldn’t take any more of this torment, this grief. But no. No. I needed to breathe. I needed to calm down, to find some control.
I tried to imagine Rhyan was here, telling me to keep a clear head. To do what I had to do to survive, to get us out of here, to focus on the outcome I wanted. See the end.
Partner. Inhale … Exhale … I’ve got you. It’s okay. I’ve got you.
Hearing his voice in my mind, I took a breath.
“And your plan is what, Your Highness? I agree to become your servant, agree to do whatever you want, and you’re going to rescue her for me?” I asked in disbelief. “Out of the goodness of your heart?”
“The goodness of my heart,” he scoffed. “Call it that if you will. But no. I will do this as a favor, if you do something in return for me. There is something I want from the capital. Something I believe only you can take. I will provide you and my son all that you need to get it. The blueprints to the Palace, the full layout of the Nutavian Katurium. You’ll have access to keys, knowledge of the soturis’ schedule, and a group of mercenaries at your beck and call. I will personally assign two of my most trusted men to assist you in planning. I’ll even let you in on the secret of which of the Emperor’s guards are loyal to me. You will have everything you need to acquire it.”
I frowned. “You want me to be your thief?”
“If that’s how you want to put it, then yes. Now, are we in agreement?”
My mind was whirling. None of it made sense. What did he want so badly that he was willing to dangle Jules in front of me?
“What am I stealing?”
He slowed, and reached into his pocket, removing a small cloth bag which he passed to me. “I need to know that you will not speak to anyone about what I share with you.” He gestured for me to open the pouch.
I did. It was a lock of hair. Ash brown and fine. Meera’s. Aemon had left me something similar after she’d been taken by his akadim.
“How did you get this?” I asked.
“How do you think?”
A chill ran down my spine. Kane had a key to her room. “You’re threatening her.”
