Lorwen clearly means to argue further, but her husband nudges her to silence.
“Widow’s Hall is corrupt,” Kaidren says. “Full of people more concerned with protecting their family legacies than making it any better.”
All true.
“As Praeceptor, I will make it my mission to weed out this rampant corruption in the Honorate.”
Lie.
He is identifying real problems and offering real solutions. But he has no intention of ever implementing them.
For all the liars in Widow’s Hall, Kaidren Vale is the most putrid, most vile.
Unfortunately, the best lies are the ones that align with what wewantto hear. So, even though I burn with the force of his deception, the Virdeians below the Collar are riveted, pleased to have finally been heard.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
PIECE BY PIECE
I leave the temple early. Partly because listening to Kaidren feed people lie after lie is making me ill. Mostly because I’ve been presented an opportunity.
The Nights are occupied, which means their rooms are not.
Sef keeps guard in the corridor outside, equipped with a feather duster in case anyone questions her presence here, while I snoop.
The Nights’ room is spacious—far larger than mine. The walls are pale blue and white, hung with paintings of oceans and sand to remind them of home, and the floor is so polished, I can almost see my reflection in the wood. Such luxury is to be expected, but it still irks me that guests from a kingdom we hate get nicer chambers than I do.
Their chambers are impeccably neat. The only thing out of place is an inkwell and pen sitting on the bedside table. Curious, I open the drawer. I rustle through a few Shadow Queen pamphlets and beneath those, find blank sheets of parchment. I flip through every sheet in the stack, but there’s nothing written on any of them.
I frown. There’s ink on the tip of the pen. Someone’s obviously been writing something. My eyes scan the room and stop on the faintly glowing fireplace.
The fire has been snuffed, but the embers burn red, and thehearth is filled with ash and bits of something else that catch my eye.
I crouch beside the hearth. Mixed in with the ash are charred bits of parchment.
I sift delicately through the fireplace, trying to keep my fingertips from burning on any cooling embers. Most of the parchment is too burned to read more than a few words, but I find a chunk that’s charred around the edges, with enough writing in the middle to make out whole sentences.
poison us, we steal from them. It is only fair. Farvelle does not belong to
The rest of that line is charred, but it picks up again in the next one.
not a treaty violation if we take what is not theirs to begin with
I’m only able to read a few sentences, but my stomach drops. Farvelle is a farm town on the outskirts of Ophera.
Just a few weeks ago, the Shadow Queen received a letter from an Honorate claiming there were Petruvian soldiers on Opheran land. Land that is supposed to be under Virdeian control. Just today, the Nights—ambassadors for the Petruvian King—exchanged whispers regarding their King’s plans for Ophera. I’m not sure what they’re plotting or when, but I know one thing for certain: Petruvia is looking to steal more of my home.
Luc stares at the burned scrap of letter. “Where did you get this?”
He already knows where I got it, or at least suspects. “Does it matter? This was written to Taelon Night. Petruvia is plotting to take more of Ophera.” I loom over his desk, studying each twitch of his expression, trying to guess what he’s thinking.
Luc massages his temples, looking far more exhausted than he did when I entered. “You don’t know that. This doesn’t prove—”
“It does.” I speak over him, trying not to raise my voice. “I went to the library and found a copy of the treaty.” Before he can ask, I set the text in front of him, dragging a finger over the line in question. “There’s a loophole. This most recent version gives control of this cluster of fields on the eastern border to Praeceptor Anleck.”
Luc’s head jerks up, recognizing the issue. “It specifies his name?”
“Yes. Only for this land in Farvelle. This is amassiveoversight.” Praeceptor Anleck had the throne before Luc. Which means, right now, thereisno Praeceptor Anleck, leaving a whole section of Opheran land allocated to no one. It seems Petruvia has discovered this error and intends to exploit it.
