Page 65 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Euyn

The Palace of the Sky King, Khitan

I’m getting a little weary of my family reunions.

I had no idea Quilimar was also illegitimate. She was our father’s favorite—at least that is what I always heard and what I vaguely remember. But I was so young when he died that perhaps I just believed the rumor. Her illegitimacy explains so much, including her molten anger toward me. We are both bastards, and yet I was pampered and crowned and she was sold off to the highest bidder. She had to allow the king of Khitan to bed her until she had a son. Such is being female royalty.

“Tell her the truth,” Mikail says.

For the first time since the throne room, he actually looks shocked. He scans me, his eyes moving rapidly. He wants me to deny it. I can feel the waves of emotion coming off him, how badly he needs me to say it isn’t true, to deny what my mother told me on her deathbed.

The truth eats at me as the lump builds in my throat. I want to say out loud that I’ve known for years that the old king wasn’t my father, but I can’t. I’ve gone entirely too long living this lie. I’ve built our love on it, and I can’t pull out the foundation now, or the house will crumble. Mikail will never view me the same, and his love has already waned. I can feel it. I’d decided long ago to take the secret of my blood to my ashes. There is no reason to change course now.

With a breath, I try to gather myself. I’d like to sip water, but I won’t eat or drink anything in this room. Quilimar isn’t above poisoning us all, and even Sora isn’t touching anything.

“I-I am the king’s son,” I say.

The room is silent, aside from rain trickling into the fountain. The audience outside the banquet hall is also quiet, desperately straining to listen in. But they can’t hear us from so far away. A golden thread constantly marks a hundred feet from Quilimar, and everyone needs to remain farther than that.

Except for us.

The four others stare at me, their gazes burning into my skin.

“Right,” Quilimar says, raising her eyebrows. “Well, we are nearly out of time. Obviously, I won’t give Joon the Ring of Khitan but do send him my best. My apologies that you came all this way for nothing.”

“He is starting a war of the realms,” Mikail says quietly.

That gets my sister’s attention. She’s halfway out of her seat when she pauses.

“Here?” she asks.

Mikail nods. “Either he killed all the Yoksa or you did. Either way, the edict was broken here. The amarth said a war of the realms is coming, and my sources tell me the same. I’m not sure if we were merely a decoy or if Joon thinks he can actually take the ring, but the other three realms will be here within a matter of days.”

Quilimar retakes her seat and curls her fingers, mindlessly tapping the ring on the arm of her throne.

I can’t tell if my sister murdered the priests. Her expression is unreadable. My gut feeling is that she did not, but unlike me, Quilimar has always been an exceptionally good liar.

Finally, she meets Mikail’s eye. “Why are you giving me this information? What do you want?”

He gestures with his hands apart. “We wanted you to invade Yusan so we could steal the Immortal Crown and place Euyn on the throne, but with the war of the realms coming, and for…other reasons, there are complications to that plan.”

Mikail glances at me. He didn’t believe me because I am twenty-three and still can’t lie.

“We are seeking an alliance,” Sora says. “We have a common enemy and a shared goal.”

She is speaking out of turn, but Quilimar doesn’t seem to mind. She has always preferred women.

“Now I understand why you needed an audience badly enough for that.” Quilimar points to the egg. She draws a breath and sits back. “I assumed you came to try to assassinate me. What terms are you offering if I help you put my pretend brother on the throne?”

Sora’s eyes dart over to me and Mikail. Now she waits for guidance, unlike before when she ruined everything by revealing that we wanted to steal the ring.

“Favored trade partner status, relaxed border tariffs, a removal of the lost indenture tax, and, of course, Euyn would owe his crown to you,” Mikail says. “We’d also sign a new alliance of peace, although those always seem rather short-lived. The best term, however, is putting an end to Joon’s life. I assure you that none of us here want him breathing a moment longer.”

She considers it. She looks over at Aeri, who holds her gaze.

“Except the obvious issue is that Joon’s crown makes his death impossible,” Quilimar says. “You’re well aware that I have tried.”

She has. Before her wedding, after the wedding, before she became pregnant, and I assume after the prince was born. There might’ve been another time I’m missing—probably a failed attempt during the nuptials, if I had to guess.

“We are here because we stole the king’s crown,” Sora says. “However, we didn’t understand it was all a setup. He had the real Immortal Crown on his arm when we tried to assassinate him.”

“Who was able to remove it?” Quilimar asks. “Certainly not you.” Her eyes land on me.

I raise my eyebrows at her petty insult, but she is correct. It was not me.

“It was me,” Aeri says.

Everything, their entire plan, hinges on whether Quilimar believes her. I’m not sure what she will think of a silly girl who looks like Soo Lin.

As for me, my plan to take the ring will depend on what Quilimar does next.

Suddenly, we’re interrupted by the insistent beating of drums. The percussion rattles the room from the chandeliers to the silverware. The nobility in the grand hall gasp, and the guards begin to shift around.

I close my eyes. I know that sound—war drums. The country is under attack.

Joon has arrived in style.

We need to get him the ring immediately, or he’ll slaughter us all.