“That’s the thing, kings have a way of forgiving you if you’re their last surviving heir. So my father isn’t going to have much of a choice.” Ludis smiles like a lunatic. I’ve never seen him this unhinged. I saw a darker side of him, a side that scared me, after my mother died. When he took over the rebellion, he becamesomeone else. We’d already broken up before my brothers died, but their death was the final straw.
Brevan moves in front of me protectively. “You’re not touching her.”
“Oh, I don’t want her. Taylan’s a decoy. It’s actually quite remarkable how much she looks like my sister.”
I feel sick. The whole time we were together, he knew. He knew I looked like his sister. I swallow down the rising bile. He’s fucking insane.
Brevan looks back at me, confusion and hurt in his expression. “Is that true?”
“Of course it’s not true,” Caiden says. “She entered the temple; she got a god’s gift—a peasant can’t do that.”
“I don’t know how she survived that,” Ludis says. “I thought the temple would take her. It would have made this part easier.”
Caiden joins Brevan in front of me. “Where’s your sister, then?”
“I killed her.” There’s no remorse in his voice. “Do you have any idea how hard it was, how expensive it was, to whisper the right things in the right ears to get my stubborn father to think it was his idea to send my sister to Pendralia? It took years to make that happen.”
“You killed her?” I push past the men and face Ludis. “You killed your own sister? That was always your plan? What did you even need me for? Why did you send me here?”
He grabs my chin, and Brevan pushes Ludis, then draws his sword and points it at him. “Don’t touch her.”
Ludis holds his hands up in front of him in mock surrender. “Alright. I get it, she’s a good lay.”
Brevan’s nostrils flare, and I grab his arm. “He’s not worth it.”
“You’re actually fucking her,” Ludis says with a laugh. Then he smirks at Caiden. “Wasn’t she supposed to marry you? Butshe’s fucking a guard? I suppose you can’t teach a peasant taste. I mean, she was with me, but she’s slumming it now.”
Caiden lunges at him.
“Enough!” the emperor shouts, and a boom like thunder vibrates around the room. There’s a strange smell in the air, and the hair on my arms stands on end.
“Nobody is killing anybody, do you hear me?” The emperor stands, then walks to the center of the group. He looks at his son. “Ludis will deliver Iskvaland’s army to us.” He turns to Brevan. “You will remember where your loyalties lie and get your head back on straight. Seduced by a spy? You’re losing your edge, Brevan. If you weren’t so useful you’d be thrown in the pit.”
Then, the emperor looks at me. “And you. You came here in silk, but you’ll leave here in irons. Take her to the dungeon and chain her up.”
Neither Brevan nor Caiden moves toward me. I glare at the emperor, daring him to drag me to the dungeon himself.
“I said, take her to the dungeon, now!” the emperor shouts. Thunder booms again, and I can feel the charge of electricity in the air.
“No,” Caiden says. He lifts his chin toward Ludis. “He is just as much a spy as she is.”
“She’s a peasant,” the emperor says. “A whore sent in to seduce you both.”
Brevan’s knuckles are white around the hilt of his sword, but he remains where he is.
“Fine. I’ll take care of her myself.” The emperor pulls a dagger from his belt and lunges toward me. I reach for my own weapon but can’t find my pocket fast enough in the folds of fabric. Just as I finally free my blade, Caiden shoves me to the ground and Brevan blocks the emperor’s strike. The metal of the blades sings when they meet. My knife slides across the floor out of reach.
The emperor’s blade falls to the ground. Little sparks dance on his fingertips as he stalks toward Brevan. “How dare you defy me. After everything I’ve done for you. It’s a woman who breaks you. You’re no good to me if you’re not loyal. You’ll join her in the dragon’s pit, you ungrateful wretch.”
Ludis picks up my blade and examines it. He looks down at me. “This is quality work. relics in the hilt.” He readjusts so he’s holding it the way Brevan taught me. I recoil, prepared for him to strike, but he smiles instead. “Huh. You figured it out.”
I have no idea what his true intentions are anymore, but in that moment, I realize two things: he has no intention to harm me, and he still wants the emperor dead. I lock my eyes on his, “Kill him.”
“I knew you were still in there somewhere.” Ludis spins to face the emperor, then shoves my knife into the emperor’s throat.
I scramble away, and Brevan leaps back just as the emperor falls to his knees. The emperor claws at the knife, eyes bulging with terror.
Caiden draws a blade and aims it at Ludis’s throat. The tip brushes against his skin. Brevan draws his sword and stands on the other side of the Iskvalandian prince. “Give me a reason to end you.”
