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“His cock was always hard, but Cinder is right, he never cared if I came or not.” she sighs. Eyes widening, she covers her mouth. “Please don’t tell her that. She’ll kill me, the queen is so jealous. He cornered me a few days ago, asking if I was fucking Cinder. I lied, saying we were friends. Charming made a point to pull me into a room whenever he saw me. I was hiding to appease the queen. We have trouble keeping our relationship a secret.”

The sound of heels tapping against the floor announces Cinder’s approach. Lana looks as if she’s about to swallow her tongue. Glancing at Ayden, I lift my brow when I catch his eye. There’s a twinkle in his eyes, and I decide to take this as an admission of guilt. I wonder if everyone else is a walking truth sayer tonight.

“Cinder has wanted Charming dead for a year, she just wasn’t sure how to go about it. His need to find an heir was fueled once rumors started that he has a possible nephew who has royal blood. Cinder has been trying to recreate the tea you would give your step-father,” Lana hisses, taking a breath as Cinder steps back into the dining room.

Silla is shaking at the admission, her hand finding mine under the table and squeezing. I will gladly allow her to mangle my hand if it’ll help her keep it together. I don’t know how long we’ll be stuck at the castle, but I feel like we’re doing well since Cinder hasn’t thrown us into the dungeons yet.

“Excuse my absence,” Cinder murmurs. “I was checking on one of my guests. The auditor was correct, he did take someone who belongs to you. He asked him to spy on you, and he refused. The poor boy misunderstood, thinking the decree was a suggestion.”

A guard who appears quite pale, stumbles in with a young man who’s been beaten badly. His head is dropping down, he can barely walk, and appears to be holding his arm protectively against him. Why does he look so familiar?

Silla stiffens next to me, a look of horror on her face as she whispers something so low I can’t hear. Ayden, however, does and curses under his breath.

“This young man was left unattended. Really, Drizella, you shouldn’t leave your toys lying around. Gerome found him outside your apartment glaring at it,” Cinder laughs.

Oh shit.

Kal looks up, and I wince. His face is full of bruises, scrapes, and I see blood on his shirt along his left side. The way he’s holding himself shows me he’s been beaten and possibly has a knife wound.

“Cinder, what are you doing?” Silla rasps. “Kal is innocent. I don’t understand why you would do this.”

“You were supposed to bring me the head of the Underground on a pike, and instead you’re fucking him!” Cinder screams. She’s slipping in her language more and more, the madness eating her alive. I wonder why she’s deteriorating so quickly, or maybe she’s just been hiding it really well.

“Is that what he told you?” Silla asks mildly. There’s no hurt in her voice, it’s clear Kal has been tortured, and a kid his age can’t be expected to keep secrets under that kind of pressure.

At nineteen I would have sung like a canary.

“I didn’t, I swear,” Kal says in a shaky voice. There’s tears filling his tone, but they don’t spill over. He’s really fucking stubborn, swallowing hard as he struggles to stand tall. “I’d never.”

There’s so much he isn’t saying with his words.I’d never betray my brother. I’d never betray the Underground. I’d never betray you all.

I arch my brow at Cinder, folding my arms across my chest. As expected, she withers a bit under my commanding posture. Usually, this wouldn’t do shit, but she’s off her game.

“What happened to a court of law, are we just pulling kids off the street now to torture them, Cinder?” I ask. “He’s nineteen, a child. There are laws that precede your term as queen about this.”

“There were photos of the two of them together,” she whines. “They look very similar, so of course they’re brothers. The masked ball Drizella went to made me search for photos of them together. People stated Drizella spoke to both of them, why else would she have bothered?”

“That’s the dumbest logic I’ve ever heard, respectfully,” I tell her. “We’ve been actively working to find the leader of the group, and she has a meeting with him tonight. Do you want her to be late?”

Cinder’s lips tighten, and she yanks Kal from the guard. “Go lay down before you fall down,” she snaps at the guard. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Stomach bug,” he mutters, hurrying away, but not before releasing a noxious fart that makes me wince.

“Gods,” Cinder gags. “If you’re still alive tomorrow, I’ll flay the skin from your bones!”

“I’m so sorry, Your Majesty!” the guard wails as his boots pound against the stone floor. Thank goodness for the guard that he’ll be dead from the toxins racing through his system very soon.

The queen shoves Kal toward the table, scowling. “Something wicked is happening, and I want to know what it is. You killed Charming so easily, Drizella, how is that possible?”

Silla shrugs. “I trained a bit when I was in the reform camp, as it was part of my coursework. Coding, knife work, self defense,” she explains.

“Sidney, Andrya, and I added it because we felt the Section B spies were dying too quickly,” Ayden says in a bored tone. “Why bother training them if it’s a death sentence? You pump a lot of money into those reform programs.”

“That’s true,” the queen mutters. “I never thought I’d see those skills being used before by Drizella. She’s just so dainty.”

Cinder absently shoves Kal so that he’s bent over the dining table, yanking back his hair. “If I kill you, would anyone care?” she asks him.

“Cinder, don’t,” Silla whispers. Ignoring her step-sister, she picks up a sharp knife, and ironically, it’s the same one Silla killed Charming with. Fuck.