Truth, my intuition confirmed.
Mel was a branded apostate too.How could Rahzlyn not have known that everyone in her life was lying to her?Fucking stars, I’d never met someone so… Vulnerable. Foolish. Naive.
But also… Hopeful. Idealistic. Genuine.
Someone who truly wanted to believe the good in others.
Anger rose within me at thisfuckerfor taking advantage of Rahzlyn’s heart. Relying on breathwork I hadn’t had to use in years, I calmed my mind down barely enough to avoid slamming this pig’s face into his own pile of shit in the corner.
“Let’s try something simple, Kole. How didyoufind the Black Rose?”
Kole swallowed. For a moment it seemed like he still wasn’t going to share anything. When I backed away, blade in hand, he sighed. “Okay. When my friend?—”
“Names. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
“Guardians can’t?—”
“This one can,” I snarled.
“When my friend Parsley introduced his sister?—”
“You’re lying.” I turned and picked up the torch, making to leave. “I wonder what sort of pain tolerance your sister has. Guess we are about to find out?—”
“Wait, wait, wait! Fucking stars!” Kole yelled at my back. “When my friendBasilintroduced us.”
“Is that his true name?”
When he didn’t respond, I faced him, contorting my features into something minacious.
Kole quivered. “Basileus.”
Fuck.I rubbed my jaw, wondering how in the stars I was going to explain this to Rahzlyn. “And how did you meet him?”
He exhaled a long breath. “We met where I work, at a tavern called the Stinky Boot.”
“Charming name.”
“We both were in dark places at the time we met.”
“How long ago?”
“Four years, maybe? Basil had a strong dislike for our baroness, for whatever reason, as well as our former king. He spoke about wanting a better, different way of life where royals and Chosens didn’t exist anymore. I told him such a world could come to be if he opened his imagination to the idea. Where the only balance that mattered was fairness for all. No more limitations based on your birth or your blood. No more unfair distributions of wealth, land, and power.”
“No such world exists.”
“Not yet.”
“Explain.”
He groaned. “What do you want from me? My entire life’s story?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
“How long have you known the apostai to exist?” He leaned forward. “How long have we been anuisanceto society?”
“Nearly always.”
“Since the First War,” Kole said. “Everyone always said our people were unhappy with the cards life dealt us. Bitter about never being Chosen. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have simply been waiting for our one true leader. The one who was prophetically promised to bring about the end of the Astrals.”
