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“I’m sorry,” he sputtered. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Hot, angry tears blurred my vision and I did my best to blink them away. “How?”

“C–” he stammered. “Castemont.”

I let him go, shoving him to the ground as I stepped back, watching him cough and sputter in the dirt. A scorched handprint marred his throat, and the smell of burning skin bit at my nose. “Explain yourself,” I commanded.

He did his best to straighten, remaining on one knee, a fist across his chest. I fought the urge to spit, to tell him he didn’t deserve to breathe the same air that I breathed, didn’t deserve to swear fealty, didn’t deserve–

My blood went frozen in my veins as I realized what he meant. It hadn’t been Ludovicus, it had been…

Castemont.

Bile surged up my throat as I stared, my lungs fighting for air under the crushing weight of the truth. “The Bloodsinger,” I whispered. “Castemont had your blood too…and he actually used it.”

Ludovicus’ eyes closed, his lips pursed with the turmoil that I could tell ran through every part of him. “I’m so sorry.”

No, it didn’t make sense.But it did. It made perfect sense.

“It’s been years,” he breathed, his voice deep and even, sending chills up my spine for a a very different reason than it had before. “He had me trapped for years, hurting the young women of Eserene through Initiation. Every time he sacrificed to the Darkness Beyond, it was with my blood. Not only did he use it to influence the actions of others, he also used it to influenceme, and he made me commit the most abhorrent acts.”

His head remained bowed as I stared with wide eyes. “I…” Words escaped me as I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me.

“Kill me,” he repeated, his eyes finding mine. “I want you to kill me for hurting you.” His head dropped, the curtain of deep brown hair falling in front of his face.

“He hurt you?” Belin murmured from beside me. His voice was a deadly calm, but beneath the surface I could tell that a turbulent torrent raged.

I narrowed my eyes on Belin, my anger toward him momentarily outweighing my anger toward Ludovicus. “You don’t recognize him? This is the monster that ledyourkingdom’s Initiation.”

Belin stared, his jaw hard set. “The King wasn’t privy to the rites of Initiation.”

My head swung to him, disbelief pulsing through me. Castemont was so fucking meticulous, so fucking conniving that he even managed to keep the King from knowing what occurred within the walls of his own castle.

“Yes,” I breathed, looking back to the man kneeling on the ground, begging for death. “He hurt me.”

Belin was moving, snatching Ludovicus by the collar of his cloak and dragging him off his feet, the Invisible King towering over the quivering figure that had brought me to my knees, broken my bones, punctured my skin.

“Please,” Ludovicus sputtered, “I–”

Belin’s fist landed square across his cheek, Ludovicus’ head flying painfully to the side with a heave. He hardly had time to recoil before Belin’s fist made contact again, blow after blow after blow landing heavy on his cheeks and chin and nose. Blood began to spatter and still he unleashed, ravaging the man who’d tormented me.

He was going to kill him.

I took a deep breath, reminding myself that he was only doing this because I was his Queen. He was only doing this because it was his duty.There is no longer anything past my duty to you.

“Belin,” I called, stepping toward them. He showed no sign of slowing down, beating Ludovicus bloody. “Belin!”

He paused, his face feral as he glared at Ludovicus, whose head rolled back and forth between his shoulders. If he hadn’t been conscious before, he definitely wasn’t after Belin pitched him to the ground, his head bouncing off the dirt with a hollowthud.

Belin’s eyes landed on me for a split second, and he was there. That was Calomyr looking at me. But the mask quickly dropped, the rugged soldier that was Belin Cal Myrin showing his true face once again. “He’ll die for what he did to you,” he panted, teeth gritted. “Either by your hand or mine. He’ll die for it.”

It’s because you’re his Queen. Nothing else.

I nodded and watched as all traces of Calomyr vanished once again. I forced myself to turn back to Ludovicus. “He’ll die.” I surveyed the limp figure on the ground. “But not today. He may have information we can use.”

Belin’s nostrils flared as he nodded and turned away, marching up the street, shoulders heaving with a palpable rage I could almost taste. I turned to Miles, his face glued to Ludovicus’ profile against the dirt. “Tie him up, will you?” I asked quietly, wincing. “Before your brother snaps again and kills him.”

I trailed after Belin, trying to match his stride to walk alongside him. His eyes were trained forward, no sign that he even realized I was here. “Thank you,” I said quietly, and he stopped suddenly. He turned back to Ludovicus, staring as Miles tore strips of cloth from a discarded quilt and restrained his unconscious body.