25. Kiera

Chapter 25

Kiera

“Are... are you all right?” I cried. “I’m so sorry, my lord. I was rubbing your neck, and your necklace snagged on my bracelet. I would never?—”

“Hush, hush, my darling.” He patted my knee, his voice creaky with sleep. “You did nothing wrong. I’ve been prone to nightmares since I was a child. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He scooped the key and its chain into his palm. “This gods-damned chain is so old; I need to replace it, anyway.”

“I feel terrible,” I whispered, pressing my shaking hands to my cheeks. “I was trying to comfort you, and instead, you had a nightmare...”

Asher smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s not your fault. Hazard of my job, I’m afraid.”

I frowned. Did he not like being High Treasurer? It wasn’t easy working with my father, but Asher seemed so carefree. Guilt nipped at my conscience. What would Asher do when he discovered the theft? Would he be punished?

“Don’t you worry your pretty head about me,” Asher said, tucking the key into his pocket. “But I feel I’m not the best host at the moment. I would like a second chance soon. If you’ll grant me one?”

I nodded. Melaena would have to make up some story about why he’d never see Katerina again.

“You’re welcome to stay with me. I have the largest bath in the mansion if you would like to use it.”

“Thank you, but I think I should return to the others.”

“Of course. I can walk you, if you’d like.”

I slid off the bed, eager to flee. “That’s kind, but not necessary. I wish you more pleasant dreams, Asher.”

He gave me a wan smile. “Perhaps I’ll dream of you.”

I smiled back but said nothing. I hope you forget me.

I slipped out the door and all but ran back to the dressing room. A splash told me someone was still in the bath, but I didn’t look. I threw on my cloak and tugged down the hood as far as it would go.

From there, it was a simple matter of empty halls and well-oiled doors. A sense of elation rose in my chest as I closed the mansion door behind me. The outside air never smelled sweeter. I smiled back at the grinning moon and took off down the gravel path.

The guards barely glanced at me and opened the gate. Perhaps they were used to letting out late-night visitors smothered in cloaks.

I darted through the sleeping quarter, the dark alleys familiar and less threatening than those the Shadow-Wolves roamed.

Melaena had left the back door of The Silk Dancer unlocked, as she’d promised. I let myself into the dark dressing room.

I felt my way toward the lamp on the wall, grazing the porcelain tub as I did so.

Melaena had wanted me to wake her when I arrived, but surely she—and Aiden—wouldn’t begrudge me a quick bath to finally rid myself of this paint.

I turned up the lamp and twisted the knob to fill the tub with water. I ripped off my mask and shimmied out of my dirty silks. Groaning with relief, I lowered myself into the tub and scrubbed every inch of my skin clean.

Picking the ornaments from my hair was much less fun, but it was worth it to feel like myself again. I carefully placed Melaena’s hairpin knife on a makeup table.

By the time I was divested of my glamor and dressed in my old clothes and knives, exhaustion pulled at my bones and my eyelids. It must be close to dawn. Was Aiden waiting for me in the warehouse like he’d said? I couldn’t get through the tunnel myself without picking the lock and searching for the hidden mechanism to open the tunnel door. Which left waking Melaena.

But perhaps I could let her sleep a while longer. Catch a few winks myself, as Ruru would say.

After all, I wasn’t sure of everything that awaited me once I reached Aiden.

I turned down the lamp and used my cloak and a few old dresses to make a nest for myself in a deep corner behind racks of clothes.

Just a few winks . . .

A door slammed. My eyes flew open. A soft light filtered through the forest of clothes I laid in.

“Gods damn it, Aiden!” Melaena hissed. “You scared me halfway to the Abyss, standing over me like that! And look, the door is still unlocked, and she’s not here. She must be with Asher.”

My breathing hitched. Aiden had come for me. Like he said he would. It must be past dawn.

Aiden growled with frustration. “I can’t believe you let her stay with him, Mel. We had a plan.”

“What was I supposed to do, drag her out? She said she had it handled. I trust her, and so should you.”

“I just don’t want her to get caught,” he snapped. “If Asher realized at any point?—”

“We would’ve heard something. You can’t storm his mansion looking for her.”

“I will if I have to.” My heart danced at his conviction. “But I’ll wait here a little longer first.”

Something creaked as if he’d sank onto one of the makeup chairs. I shifted, preparing to reveal myself when he spoke again.

“I brought your cut, by the way.” Coins jingled as if in a bag. “And I wondered if you could keep this safe for me.”

Melaena gasped. “Oh, Aiden, was this in the vault?”

“Yes.” His voice turned cold and harsh. “Weylin must’ve stolen it from my father’s finger after he stabbed him in the back.”

A wave of horror crashed into me, drowning out every other sound.

Weylin— my father —stabbed Aiden’s father in the back? He killed him? And stole—what, a ring?

Another wave knocked me backward.

The ring from the vault. The one Aiden slipped into his pocket. That was his father’s ?

Why would my father kill his? Why was this ring so valuable?

I shook my head to clear the buzzing in my ears, desperate to hear more.

“... found it on the floor?” Melaena was asking.

Aiden snorted. “I doubt Asher knew who it belonged to. It was probably just another piece of jewelry for his collection.”

“I can’t keep this, Aiden. Garyth said Renwell searched his house. What if he came for me next? I can’t afford to lose this place. These women depend on it.”

I leaned forward, my fists clenched in my makeshift bedding. Why? What was so dangerous about a ring? And how would Renwell recognize it?

Aiden sighed. “Very well. I’ll find somewhere safe to keep it.”

There was a beat of silence where I didn’t dare to breathe or move a muscle, even as my mind screamed.

“He wants to meet you,” Melaena said. “Garyth.”

“It’s too risky.”

“But—”

“We’re so close, Melaena. After years , we’ve almost reached our goal. I’m not going to throw all that away to soothe a noble’s fears. That’s why I have you. Deal with him.”

“You are not the only one who has sacrificed for this,” Melaena snapped. “I have lived here all my life, unlike you, and seen much worse.”

Aiden’s voice softened. “Forgive me, Mel. It was not myself I thought of. I will never forget what you’ve endured here. You, nor anyone else who has fought or died, hoping for a better world.”

“I will never understand why you hide who you are,” she said, her voice breaking. “You have all the power you need to unite this kingdom?—”

“I will never be king. The Falcryn line ended with my father. Betrayed by his gods-damned closest friend. I want no part of a life where I’m nothing more than a crown to steal.”

My heart stopped. My vision blurred. No.

But even as every fiber in my being tried to deny it, images flashed through my mind.

Falcryn. The house name inked on the royal history of Rellmira. The name just before the house of Torvaine. Falcryn, a falcon insignia. The inked falcon on Aiden’s shoulder. The gold falcon melded to a stolen ring.

Aiden mentioned the king when we played Death and Four. He’d respected the king’s treatment of the miners as well as his title. King Tristan Falcryn—his father.

Aiden was the original heir to the Rellmiran throne. Even if he didn’t want it. And if what he said was true, my father had lied to an entire kingdom about the circumstances under which he became king.

Which was why he’d slapped me when I said he’d gotten the crown by chance.

My cheek burned with the memory, and my lips curled into a sneer. Pulling off such a betrayal certainly would’ve taken a great deal of work.

What had he told me once? “We were dear friends—Tristan and I. He trusted me implicitly. Which is why he wrote into law that I would inherit the throne if he passed without heirs.”

Without heirs. Had he known of Aiden? What happened to Aiden’s mother?

My world shifted further. It tipped and spilled a darkness over me like an overturned ink well. My entire life, and everyone in it, was stained with lies.

Aiden and Melaena were quiet now. I didn’t know what other conversation I’d missed. But I couldn’t reveal myself now. I didn’t know what in the deep, dark, wandering hell I was supposed to do with this.

I sank against the wall, rustling a few dresses hanging over me. I stilled.

Silence.

Then, “I’m sure Kiera will be back any moment,” Melaena said. But her voice sounded oddly shaky. She cleared her throat. “Perhaps we should wait elsewhere? Would you like something to eat?”

A rustling noise, then a door opened and closed.

I waited. More silence.

I’d need to sneak out the back door and then come in, pretending that I’d bathed at Asher’s.

Hands and feet numb, I crawled out of my hiding place.

“Hello, little thief.”