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“I do not have rages,” Toren argued.

As if in mockery, the hum of his magic increased, and Mehl shifted restlessly behind Ria, his fingers flexing against her side.He’s worried about Toren, Ria realized. Considering Tes’s sudden pallor, the princess was worried as well—though for different reasons.

Someone needed to help him settle before he scared the woman back into silence. Ria twisted from Mehl’s hold and rose. Then she marched across the space between them almost defiantly and slipped behind his chair to place her hands on his shoulders.

As soon as she touched him, his energy swelled through her, and her breath hissed out in a surprised rush. She forced herself to relax and let it channel through. Although Toren’s muscles hardened like rock beneath her fingers, he didn’t rebuff her comfort as she’d earlier feared he would. Ria began to rub soothing circles over his tense shoulders, but they barely yielded beneath her touch.

“I don’t understand this,” Tes said, her soft voice tinged with confusion. “That type of power is exactly what Ber warned me about, and my own instincts tell me it is dangerous. Yet you have shown me more kindness than my own father.”

Ria winced in sympathy. How well she understoodthat.

“Holding power does not always equate to abusing it,” Mehl replied when Toren remained silent.

“Perhaps,” Tes said. “I wouldn’t know.”

The matter-of-fact statement bothered Ria nearly as much as the full story, but the princess didn’t linger on the trouble it implied.

“In any case, Ber told me that if his brother had formed a breeding alliance, I should try to help the woman escape if at all possible.” Tes sighed. “I’d expected Lord Aony to accept the invitation to remain overnight, which would have given me a valid reason to be here. When he didn’t, I remained behind in the city and slipped into your household. I’d thought my disguise was strong enough to observe you at dinner, but it seems King Mehl is better able to identify me than my own father is.”

Did the princess mean that she’d once spied on her own father in such a way? Ria’s brows rose at the daring feat. “If you were just observing, I guess that explains the lack of poison.”

“Indeed.” The princess’s low chuckle held little humor. “Gods, I thought I was so clever. Ber was supposedly following me, and he’d claimed he would wait near the far exit of the escape tunnels in case I found some poor woman to lead to freedom. Lord Aony didn’t know about that exit, but he’d been directed to camp in a nearby clearing if we became separated.”

Mehl’s lips straightened into a sympathetic wince. “According to reports, their camp was nowhere near that location, princess. I’m sorry.”

“I guessed as much.”

Toren remained silent, and from the tight line of his shoulders, Ria suspected he was holding back a great deal. Not just words, either. Emotions, energy, recriminations—she couldn’t imagine how he bore it all.

Near the door, Sir Macoe shifted on his feet. “Please forgive the interruption, Your Majesties. Your Highness. But as the one who checked the tunnels, I would like to add that I searched the area surrounding the exit point myself. No one was there.”

For a handful of moments, Tes’s pain lay bare in her crumpled expression, but she rebuilt her composure quickly. Her sadness echoed only in her voice. “I see. Thank you.”

It was the final confirmation—Ber had abandoned her.

* * *

No matterhow much Toren had braced himself for it, the princess’s story still ricocheted painfully through his heart. She’d trusted his brother, much as Toren once had, and for what? It was plain that she’d been used. Yet another victim of his twin’s dark nature.

“What did he hope to accomplish by risking you?” Toren asked.

Tes startled at the unexpected question. “We were preventing harm. To whomever you’d chosen to carry a child and to the kingdom as a whole. He said you would be bound by the magic of the challenge. He could have you imprisoned once he was king. And once my father died, we could consider uniting the two kingdoms to the benefit of all.”

As if it would be so easy to unite anything.

“But Ber was aware of your pregnancy,” Toren countered instead. “If he believed me so dangerous, why would he have sentyou? The beloved wife who carried his child?”

“I don’t know.” Tes’s eyes pinched closed in pain. “I should have thought of those contradictions, shouldn’t I? I suppose I’d been hiding in plain sight so long that I never expected to get caught.”

Toren always felt uncomfortable in the Centoi palace, but he’d never imagined the shadowy thread her confessions now revealed. Why should the heir to the throne have needed to cloak herself to leave her rooms? How could her father not have recognized her? Tes’s every word hinted at the king’s neglect, and Ber had obviously taken advantage of that rift.

What else was wrong in Centoi? Their status as ally needed…examination.

“And you have no inkling of why Ber might have planned this?”

Abruptly, the princess fastened her gaze directly on his. “We can both guess why. He knew you would catch me, and he hoped I’d die in the process. Since he and my father are close, he was counting on being named heir at my death, and as my husband, there would have been little argument. If Ihadmanaged to successfully interfere with your breeding alliance, all the better, but no matter what, he would still have Centoi. Too bad I let love cast my good sense into the shadows.”

After decades of avoidance and denial, Toren couldn’t fault her for it. “Is that all you know about the plan?”