“I heard,” Kaan said, his tone morose. “My deepest apologies,Kyzaire. I hope the female is all right.”
“You know she is,” I said, “considering it’s your tracker scout.”
Kaan blanched, his mouth falling open in shock. “You cannot possibly be suggesting that I had anything to do with—”
I tapped a button on my new Halo screen, and before us, a projection of Lesana appeared. On the opposite side of the room, I projected the recording of Hanno for good measure, so Kaan was trapped between members of his own House.
The recordings began to play simultaneously. The words were a jumbled blur. Their voices, their pleading, panicked, melancholic tones made bile rise in my throat. Sickening. Perhaps I had suggested execution wasn’t out of the realm of possibility when I had questioned each of them. Perhaps I had played into my rage, my fury, my bloodlust a little too convincingly. Because it hadn’t taken long for both of them to turn on Kaan.
“I never wanted to hurt her,”Lesana said, fat silver tears tracking down her cheeks.“But Kaan insisted it was the only way to secure the proposal for the House. Akyranabond is too powerful—that’s what he said. He knew I had access to tracker scouts. I’ve used them before…in thedyaan. But—but I never wanted to hurt Millicent,Kyzaire.I didn’t have anything to do with the fire. Kaan only ordered me to monitor her location. I had no choice. Hanno controls RaanaDyaan, and Kaan controls Hanno. I would have been left with nothing. Draan and I have worked too hard to be left with nothing.”
Behind Kaan, Hanno’s recording sounded. His voice was quieter, not as desperate as Lesana’s, and his expression was drawn tight.“Kaan said it was best for someone within the House to do it—the less that knew, the better. He asked me to do it. He went to House Kraan’s social event that night, to be seen, whereas I went to the cottage. Lesana told me where to find it. There were these trees lined in silver that guided the path. It was almost too easy. I didn’t expect it to burn so quickly.”
Azur shut off the recordings. Lesana’s and Hanno’s projections fell away. The silence was almost too loud, and Kaan’s fear smelled acrid, like smoke.
“They’re lying,” Kaan said, eyes bulging. “You must believe me. They’re lying,Kyzaire. I had no part in this. They’ve always been jealous that I was the head of the House. Now they’re trying to blame this—thisheinousact on me!”
“That’s the difference between House Arada and House Kaalium,” I said quietly, watching him fall apart in my office, unraveling like a tapestry. He realized that he wouldn’t be able to lie his way out of this. This had his stench all over it. “Because I know my own family wouldn’t sell me out, even in the face of death. That is true loyalty. You? House Arada is weak and greedy. You have no true allegiance to one another.”
Kaan’s wings were beginning to tremble, a reaction I’d only ever seen in a child. Good. Fear made a great motivator.
“What was it, Kaan?” I wondered. “After you tried to go behind my back to my ownfather, you realized that I still wasn’t going to join our Houses? Did that thought make you desperate? Did it make you afraid that you would lose everything you desired, everything you had maneuvered toward for years because of one human woman?”
He said nothing, smartly.
“If he’d done the same to mykyrana,” Azur murmured to me casually, staring Kaan down, “I’d pluck his head right off his shoulders. I’d give it to my wife as a gift.”
Kaan’s wings gave a mighty quake.
“Luckily for you,” I said, “mykyranahas asked menotto do that.”
“Kyzaire,” he said, his tone turning pleading, his reality upended in the span of mere moments, stepping forward quickly. He would kneel if I asked him. “I beg you. I had nothing to do with this and—”
“Stop lying,” I clipped out, the first of my rage beginning to rear its head. I was on edge already, only managing to get through the day on blood rations that tasted like mud in my mouth. “Tell me the truth, and I promise I won’t slaughter you where you stand.Tell me the truth.Now!”
“All right!” Kaan burst out, his jaw tight with horror but his fear more palpable. “I—I did it. I told Lesana to track the girl, and I ordered Hanno to kill her.” His tone quickened. “But they were in support of the idea—both Hanno and Lesana, despite what they tell you. Weallwere to benefit from the marriage, not just me.”
It took him a moment to realize his confession hung in the air like a thick, suffocating haze.
He crumbled in a heap on the ground, his shoulders curling in. I’d never seen a more pathetic sight. I’d never wanted to kill someone more than I wanted to kill Kaan of House Arada right then.
But things are never simple,I reminded myself, my conversation with Millie from that night in Grace’s meadow returning to me.
“What…” he started, his voice breaking. “What are you going to do?”
“Your family was once loyal to House Kaalium,” I said, gritting my teeth because it took everything in me to choke out the words. “You were given the Three Guardians as a gift, as a sign of respect for that loyalty and friendship.”
“If you take the Three Guardians away, it will ruin us,” came Kaan’s hollow words.
Azur laughed, the sound cutting.
To Kaan, I said, “You have already ruined your House, Kaan. I didn’t need to do it for you.”
Rounding the desk, I crouched in front of the male who had nearly taken Millie from me.
“The Three Guardians belong to you,” I continued, which finally made his head tilt up toward me. “But as way of apology, to show your obvious remorse for the actions you’ve taken against me and my House, you will give back two of the Three Guardians. You will sign them back into House Kaalium’s name. Tonight.”
Disbelief went through his gaze. This was a mercy. A great mercy. Because I’d needed to remember optics and perception. I needed to remember my own ancestor’s bloody rule in Erzos a hundred years ago. Of Jynaar, my great-grandfather’s brother. Where blood had flowed quickly in the streets of Erzan for all those who’d opposed him.
