Evie took one long inhale. “There’s this tradition before the wedding where the groom has to find the bride and I had to leave the Capital in a carriage–”
“That doesn’t sound antiquated at all,” Dax drawled.
My elbow jammed him again. Dax gave me a mean side-eye.
“–and we got ambushed.” Her eyes, normally soft and curious, turned to steel. “There was a being who looked exactly like me. Same face, same voice. But her eyes…they were completely black. A replica, they say.”
Dax stilled next to me.
“She froze my friends in the carriage and knocked me out.” A darkness slithered in her voice. “The attackers kept saying they wanted my blood.”
A dull roar erupted in my ears. “Orion said the same thing about me.”
A terrifying silence descended upon us.
We’d known we were hunted, but the attacks were getting more complex. More dangerous.
If someone had risked attacking Evie so close to the Capital and the fiercest army on the continent, they were desperate to get us.
“This can be good, in a horrifying way, though, right?” Dax asked. “At least they don’t want to kill us. Not right away, at least.”
Evie shook her head. “They had no qualms with trying to strangle me, as long as they didn’t spill any blood.”
My hand flew to my own neck before I could stop it, sealing the questions in my throat.
“What about the replica, is she alive?” Dax asked.
“She ingested a poison when Adara captured her. She’s currently rotting in my kitchen.” Her face contorted with disgust, all that naivete gone. The Capital had truly changed her. “I wanted to warn you to stay safe.”
“Us?” I finally found my voice again; of course it would come back when it came to safety. “You’re the one who just got attacked.”
“And you had to fight off attackers only days ago.”
“It’s different. They didn’t come forme.”
“They did before.”
They had. Led by my own Clan, no less.
I turned to Dax. “Clara and Dara?”
“No attacks. Not yet.” He clenched his jaw. “Clara’s secluded in that heinous temple and Dara knows how to stay hidden.” He gave Evie a pointed look. “In places where others can also hide. If they wish.”
“I’m not vanishing like a coward,” Evie said.
I knew Evie hadn’t meant it–she probably didn’t even know about the lies Silas had spread about me.
But the reminder that so many people thought I had run away to protect my own hide slashed through me once more. My eyes slid toward the crown’s hiding spot.
Out of sight, but permanently on my mind.
“I’m as safe as any of us can be.” Evie rolled her shoulders back. “The Capital is on lockdown. Nobody unaccounted for goes in or out. Which means…”
“We already know we can’t come to the wedding,” Dax said.
“I’m sorry,” she said with so much kindness, I wanted to jump through the palaver portal and hug her. “I would have really loved to see you here.”
Dax cleared his throat. “Actually–”
