I swallowed roughly. “Fine. The Purple Sun comes from an old Ka’s sigil. It’s a shortening of it, a kind of code.” My heart pounded. “The sigil was a purple Valalumir star in front of a golden sun. When shortened it becomes the purple sun.”
Dario’s eyebrows knitted together, his eyes squinting in concentration. “Purple Valalumir. Golden sun.” He shook his head. “I don’t know that one.”
“There’s few who do anymore. The Empire tried to erase every image of it, burning any banner or flag depicting it. They even cut its mention from our scrolls. They started in our library at home. Then they destroyed every sigil they could find after they executed everyone in the Ka.”
“Executed?” His eyes widened in alarm. “You mean … Ka Azria of Elyria?”
And there it was. Ka Azria. The Ka that had been a scary story for us as kids. The tale used to keep Lumerians in line, to remind them what happened if you concealed vorakh. Even if you werenoble. Even if you were Arkasva. It didn’t matter, anyone with forbidden magic would be found and exposed, would suffer the consequences, and so would everyone else who had kept the secret. Even I’d believed the stories as a girl—believed that Ka Azria had broken the law by protecting their vorakh family members. I believed that the whole Ka had conspired to keep the secret in defiance of the Empire. I even thought, at one point, that they had deserved their punishment.
But it turned out that vorakh had had nothing to do with their murder. It was about power. Everything was always about power. Clearing the way for Ka Kormac to rule the South, to open the borders for their occupation of Bamaria.
I took a deep breath.“El Zan Vyletteis a network of Elyrians across the Empire still loyal to Ka Azria. They reject the High Lord of Ka Elys as their Arkasva.”
“Okay,” Dario said slowly. “Okay, so they’re a rebel group.” His eyebrows furrowed. “There are groups like that all over Lumeria. I learned about dozens of active groups in the last year alone. People who don’t believe their Arkasva is the rightful Heir to the Seat of Power, that the bloodline is false, or that their leader is corrupt. But that doesn’t explain why they would be willing to hide fugitives like us.”
“They’re not,” I said. “Not fugitives like us.” I met his eyes. “Like me.”
Dario frowned. “Like you?” He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“El Zan Vyletteisn’t like the other groups. They don’t just reject the Elyrian Arkasva. They’re working to restore the Seat of Power to the rightful heir. The Heir of Ka Azria.” My ring finger burned.
His mouth tightened, his eyes narrowing as he took in my words, before he scoffed, “But that’s impossible. After the Blade came, none of them?—”
“Survived?” I exhaled sharply. “No. Not in Elyria, they didn’t. But no one knew that Arkasva Azria had another heir, because he kept his lover a secret. She wasn’t Elyrian, but more importantly, her duties kept her away. At the time, she was the Second to Arkasva Marianna Batavia, the High Lady of Bamaria. She was her sister, Lady Gianna. And so, when she bore the Arkasva’s child, the child who would become Heir Apparent, she was kept secret, too, to save her life. And after Ka Azria, she was raised in the Bamarian Court with her cousins.”
“The Bamarian Court.” Dario’s eyes widened. “You,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s you.”
I nodded slowly. Cal and Marisol opened the door. They nodded once. It was done. We had a safe house to escape to. A way to hide from the Emperor. But it meant going back to the people who’d cost me everything. The ones who could be salvation, if they didn’t damn me again. I just prayed that this time was different, this time they’d save us.
Because I was the Heir of Ka Azria.
Chapter
Five
JULIANNA
Cal and Marisol wrote down the address for Dario, spending several minutes showing him a map of Thene, tracing out different routes, and pointing out prominent landmarks along the way that he’d be able to spot, even in the dark. We were lucky we didn’t have to go far, but it was going to be dangerous.
Dario looked like he was in shock, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of what I’d revealed, or the sudden flip in Cal and Marisol’s demeanors. Despite their innocent appearances as the sweet elderly inn owners, they were tough—they had to be. They’d long been part of several underground movements. They were the most involved inEl Zan Vylette,but I’d heard rumblings of another movement in the North they supported. One that had recently gained traction. It was possibly why Kenna had trusted her rider to find us here.
Cal and Marisol were incredibly well versed in who to trust within the city, as well as knowing which routes were patrolled by Ka Zarine’s soturi, and at what times they changed the guard. But we had an extremely limited amount of time before those rules were gone. Once Kormac’s soturi crossed into Cretanya,there was no telling where they’d go first, or how they’d organize the search. They’d be everywhere. And they’d be ruthless.
Every second that passed, they were getting closer.
My stomach turned again, and I met Dario’s eyes.
“I’ve got it,” he said confidently. “I’m going to show this to the others, then burn it.”
Cal nodded, pushing the map toward him before he looked at me again. “Marisol will gather some things to take with you. We’ve been ready, just waiting for you to ask.”
They’d tried to help me last time I was here. They’d tried … I rubbed at the scar of my blood oath again, and nodded. “Thank you.”
A minute later, we returned to our room. Dario wasted no time barking out orders and directions.
“We’re splitting into three groups,” he said. “That way we’ll be less suspicious on the road. They’ll be looking for a large group traveling together. We’ll all have a vadati to remain in communication. Galen, you and Tristan are together. Aiden, you’ll go with Meera. I’m taking Julianna.”
I started to object. “No. I should go with Meera. I should be with my cousin.”
