He flashes that polished, charming smile. “Curiosity is a strong motivator when one’s subject is as captivating as you.”
My nerves are alight with suspicion, but everything he’s said is the truth, and regardless, I have a clear edge. If he lies, I’ll be able to tell. He’ll have no way of knowing if what I reveal to him is the truth. “All right . . .” I agree warily. “But I get to ask my question first.”
Kaidren laughs. “I figured you would. Ask away.”
I can’t exactly ask him if there’s some massive scandal in his life I can use to blackmail him. But there’s one question that’s been running through my mind, over and over. “Why didn’t you turn me in on the mountain?”
It’s been haunting me. There must be some larger plan at play. Some reason he thought it better strategically to keep my interference in the second trial a secret. But I can’t think of a tactical advantage for not seizing a permanent victory.
Kaidren cocks his head to one side, bemused. “Praeceptor Kyler would have been eliminated, butyouwould have gone to prison.”
I pause, waiting for him to continue. He doesn’t. I frown. “So?”
“So, I don’t want to ruin your life, Remira.”
I can’t help scoffing. “Since when?”
“I recently went to the library and looked into some of the orders your brother has written since taking the throne. I hadn’t read them before, so I didn’t know all the details, but imagine my shock when I saw that most of them mentioned Ophera. Someone wrote provisions to fund resources and schools. That same someone snuck them into orders that were completely unrelated so they’d pass. Any idea who that might be?”
I’m even more confused than I was before I asked. “That’s why you didn’t turn me in?”
“I realized that my fight isn’t with you. It’s with your brother. You fight Lucien’s battles, and you take on all the risk. You bear the brunt of the penalty and receive none of the reward.”
“I know that. What does that have to do with the Tournament?”
Kaidren’s eyes drop briefly to my wrist, and I realize the direction of his thoughts. I yank down my sleeve with a glare. “You spared me because youpityme?”
“No, I don’t,” he says quickly.
The heat that rushes through me burns, more than anything else. After everything, he still doesn’t see me as an opponent, just some fragile, pathetic creature that needs protection.
Kaidren must read the fury in my eyes because he stands from the bed and reaches for me—I think to comfort me—but I jump back. “Don’t touch me.”
“I’m sorry.” He holds up his hands in a placating gesture. “I feel for you. Not pity you.”
“I don’t care if you feel for me.”
“How would you like me to feel about you, Remira?”
I speak before I’ve thought through my answer. “I want you to respect me. See me as an opponent so formidable, you want to destroy me.”
“I have limits. Is there no line you wouldn’t cross? If our roles were reversed, surely you wouldn’t ruin my life to win.”
“I’d ruin your life for free.”
“These games we play are one thing. But to destroy a person . . .” Kaidren’s eyes search mine intently. “I don’t believe you’d do that.”
Maybe he’s right and there is a difference. What I’ve doneso far—soiling Kaidren’s name and reputation, defaming him in Eteria, defeating him in the first trial—hasn’t ruined him. At the end of it all, Kaidren is still an Honorate.
That’s the difference between us: in this race for power, we are starting from two different places. At his core, Kaidren is an Honorate. I have to earn the right to matter, even if it’s just a fraction as much as he does. Every scrap of authority I have was fought for and won.
If Kaidren loses, he’ll still have his title. If I lose, I have nothing.Lessthan nothing. The difference between me and Kaidren Vale is I can’t ruin him. Not really.
I step away from his intensity and drop my gaze to the floor. “Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t. Guess you’ll find out.”
His hand twitches at his side, but he doesn’t move it. “Fine. Then it’s your turn. One true thing.”
He mentioned my mother, and she’s always fresh on my mind, so I say, “My mother named me after her favorite star.”
