I held up a hand.“I know he lies, Taio, but it’s because he loves his people.He wants to keep everyone calm and protected.”
“He wants to protect himself and his power.”
I inhaled sharply and had the urge to look over my shoulder to see if anyone had heard.Ridiculous considering where we were.Taio’s words were so completely treasonous...and so completely true.I’d already worked this out for myself.Taio took my hands in his.“Mara, can you hear one more hard truth?”
I began to shiver.“I don’t know.”My world was crumbling.Brick after brick had been stripped away, and I had almost nothing left to stand on.I felt unsteady and frightened.Taio nodded and held my hands, not speaking for a long, long time.
Was it possible there was a cure for the red vein disease?I thought about the conversation I’d had with Lord Ashe and my parents after they’d informed me I was the chosen heir.My father revealed he knew about people living in Zulen and had not told his subjects or tried to initiate contact with them.When I’d argued that we might learn something from the Zulenii, he dismissed the idea.Was it truly because he was protecting his people or was he protecting himself?After all, what better way to retain absolute control over a people than to control the information they are given and make them think you are the only one with the answers?But controlling knowledge was one thing.Keeping to himself a cure that would save our people was not just dishonorable.
It was evil.
“Tell me,” I said, setting my teeth so they would not chatter.“I need to know.”
“The last king of Earsleh—”
“My grandfather.”
“Yes.He unleashed what you call the red vein virus.”
I stopped myself from shaking my head and clenched Taio’s hands tighter.“How?”
“I do not know exactly, but Leed said your healers were attempting to help a woman who had been bitten by a sick wolf.He said the wolf was rabid.The woman developed a taste for flesh, and when she bit one of the healers, that person developed the taste as well.”
I closed my eyes and tried to push down the rising nausea.
“Through more experiments and tests, they were able to infect others.The king was at war with Toledev, a dispute about trade.He unleashed the virus, hoping it would turn the tide of the war.But a virus that was meant to ensure victory in one battle soon spread throughout the world, bringing destruction upon us all.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth and opened my eyes.“Taio, he couldn’t have known what the effect of those actions would be.The virus has killed many of our own people and caused us to change almost everything about the way we used to live.”
“It is terrible, yes.”
If what Taio said was true—and I was not certain this Leed was being honest with the Zulenii—but if what he said was true, I understood why my father had so many secrets.What would my people do if they knew my grandfather was responsible for the scourge of the Hollows?Chaos truly would erupt in the kingdom.This was an evil that could not be borne.
“But there is something more terrible,” Taio said.
I jerked and cut my gaze to him.How much more could I stand?How many secrets did Taio hold?“What could be more terrible than unleashing the red vein virus?”
Taio took a deep breath.“Keeping the cure a secret.”
I jumped off the bed, holding my blanket against me like a shield.“There’s no cure,” I hissed, still mindful of the danger outside—a danger apparently my family had wrought.“Do you think my father would risk his people?”
Taio looked away.
“Very well, would he risk his own children, sending us out on patrol if he didn’t need to?”
“I do not know what your father would do,” Taio said, sliding off the bed.“But Leed says there is a cure.”
“He’s lying.”
Taio went to his pack and rummaged among the contents he’d placed on the floor.He lifted a pouch, opened it, and drew out a piece of parchment.I took a step back as I recognized the parchment as the same one he’d shown me in the wolves’ den.“You said you found it.I thought one of my siblings had given it to you, though I couldn’t figure out why.”
“Leed gave it to me.He copied it from a scroll he brought to Zulen with him.”
“He stole a scroll written in the royal language?”
“I believe it was a copy of a scroll, if that makes a difference.”
I held out my hand and Taio gave me the parchment.I should have realized it wasn’t from Earsleh before.Our parchment was darker and thicker.This was light and had pieces of flowers in it.I read the words again, clearly a recipe.A recipe for a cure?My head was reeling, and one word beat like a drum.
