Page 114

Mitta’s Gift wasn’t impressive, but it could be intimidating if you didn’t know the truth. He could duplicate himself five times, being able to move and talk as “them” independently. But his duplicates aren’t physically capable of touch or hearing anything. A gentle man, Mitta was one of the least traumatized, but he experienced a lifelong depression and sadness that was exacerbated by the torture. Lyss said he’d been making progress, but she was worried this will set him back.

Throughout the debrief, I’m only half listening. My skin prickles, and every now and then I see patches of my skin change color and texture. I’m barely holding it together. My mind is on one track. I care for Eryn, I do, and I know I’ll stay and do the right thing by him and everyone else. But I want to march down those tunnels myself, not stay here, and certainly not masquerade as King Stol Brud Oferdu.

Riley is missing. I want to change back to myself so I can touch my necklace and run the emerald heart across my lips. Instead, I’m impersonating the impersonated inside a tent in a tiny canyon, outside the half-collapsed cave and tunnel system I was tortured in. Hysteria flushes through the blood in my veins, and I catch the laughter before it leaves my throat.

What if I can’t do this? What if I can’t pretend to be the king? I can kill. I can torture. I can fight. But this is beyond madness. I have no idea what I’m doing.

We will have to send word to Queen Neoniri, which will be fucking awful to write. Because we saved her daughter, only for her son to go missing. My heart sinks. She will also need to be told about the king and my Gift. Assurances from Lyss that she won’t immediately report this to the council do nothing to alleviate my rage. Rage that is currently telling me to run, to disappear. Leave all of them and everything else behind. But I can’t.

Because Riley is missing. And it’s my fault.

One thing I know for certain is that I will find Riley. I will find him, and I will kill the imposter king—my father. Or I will die trying. And I can only think of one way I will be able to do that.

I need to be the fucking King Oferdu.

EPILOGUE

RILEY

“Lyss just screamed!” Bitty says, frantic.

I make eye contact with Tovi, and neither of us needs to speak. We sprint for the cave entrance together. The steps lead down into near-complete darkness, but we continue running. Bursting out of the long corridor, I see my sister. My beautiful, darling sister.

A Laguzborn woman is threatening her, and Lyss looks frightened.

I do the only thing I can think of.

Without missing a step, I tackle the Laguzborn woman.

And the world goes dark.

My ears ring while my head pounds. The fact I’m being carried over someone’s shoulder with my hands tied to my feet isn’t helping matters.

“He’s awake!” a small Sadoriborn woman sing-songs after sticking her face into my line of sight.

I’m flipped unceremoniously onto the ground, sending a lancing pain through my skull. When the throbbing subsides, a dozen or so people seem to be milling about in this darkened cave, though half of them look like the same person. Maybe I’ve taken a bigger knock to the head than I realize.

“Hello,” says a man I don’t recognize. Or do I?

His eyes are the Erduborn brown of the earth, though much about him screams Mievaborn. His big eyes and pointy features are too much like Mika’s to mistake. Eryn had told me a truth I couldn’t believe.

Mika. The thought of her makes me dizzy. Or maybe that’s the head wound.

She stole this man’s Gift.

I knew she was special the moment I laid eyes on her. Standing there, all of five foot nothing with her hands behind her back. She had commanded the room with her mere presence, especially with the black eye she was sporting. I saw the way the council president’s jaw twitched when she came in late, despite her polite apologies.

“My name is Noha. I’ve rescued my friends here, but we’re taking you with us.” His smooth voice tries to placate me. “For insurance purposes.”

I glare at the man, and a sharp pain bounces through my skull again.

“Would you rather be carried or walk, Riley?” he asks, his voice slippery.

“Walk. And my name is Aurelius to you.”

“Fair enough. But give us any trouble, and I’ll leave you for your sister—” He pauses, his smile widening to show his teeth, “—and Mika, to find.”

Noha watches me for a moment, perhaps trying to gauge my reaction to his mention of Mika. How does he know she would mean anything to me? I deliberately—though with strangled effort—keep my features blank. The mention of her name cleaves a hole straight through my heart. If he knew she meant more to me than my own life, it would only endanger her further.

“There wouldn’t be much left for them to find, of course,” he adds.

His maniacal laugh echoes along the dark cave walls.