29. Kiera

Chapter 29

Kiera

Aiden didn’t come for me until I was finishing breakfast with the dancers.

Tullia and Jayde had dragged me out of bed, thinking my haggard appearance was from drinking the night before. They cheerfully passed around scrambled eggs, sausage, apple fritters, and coffee and caught me up on everything I’d missed at the party.

Jayde was telling me of a salacious song Tullia had performed when Melaena entered the entertainment hall where we all ate.

“Kiera? A moment, please.” But the tension in her eyes told me he was here.

I swallowed the last of my buttered toast and followed her out a side door and down the hall. Her pale blue dress whispered around her ankles as we walked.

“What about my knives and my cloak?” I’d left them in my room for breakfast.

“I brought them to the sitting room.” She gave me a sidelong glance. “I’m truly sorry for how you were drawn into this, Kiera. I’m sorry if you feel that you don’t have a choice.”

I almost snorted. I had choices. But hardly any of them were good.

She stopped in front of the sitting room door but faced me instead of opening it. Her cerulean eyes were bright with sincerity. “What I said before is still true. You have a home here. A safe haven, should you need it. And if you so wish, I’d love for you to keep dancing here, even if you can’t perform again.”

Gods damn it, I didn’t deserve her kindness. Thanks to me, she and her business would be under Father’s scrutiny. Even if I tried to steer his attention away, Melaena would never truly be safe while Father was in power.

After everything, I’d at least managed to succeed at that part of Renwell’s plan—earning a place with Melaena. But it didn’t feel like success.

I tried to smile at her and nodded. “I would love to visit and keep dancing. If Aiden allows it.”

Her look turned sly. “When it comes to you, I doubt there’s much he wouldn’t give.”

My stomach rolled over as she unlocked the door. On the other side, Aiden stood in the middle of the room. My traitorous heartbeat quickened.

He wore a thin, dark shirt unlaced at the top with the sleeves rolled up. His dark pants and boots were far cleaner than mine had been last night. His serious green gaze and locked jaw made my steps falter.

“Are you . . . well?” he asked.

I must look as ghastly as the girls had said. “Yes. I—I just didn’t sleep well.”

His brows lowered.

“I’m fine though,” I added quickly. “Did you decide?” By the Four, don’t make me fight to stay.

He nodded. “I sent Skelly on his way this morning. You’re staying with us.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Will I be able to visit Melaena and the others here once in a while?”

He glanced at Melaena, who sent him a pointed look. He shrugged. “If Asher doesn’t cause any trouble, and no one suspects the dancers’ involvement with the heist, then I suppose you can.”

Melaena clapped her hands twice, beaming. “Excellent! Now that’s settled, I’ll leave you to your business.”

The moment she left, the air thickened with tension.

Aiden took a step closer, and my eyes darted to his waist to see if he still carried his knives.

He froze, his face stricken. “I’m not going to hurt you, Kiera. I never should have—” He growled, raking his hands through his hair. “I acted without thinking. Maz says I always assume the worst in people. But when I thought you were eavesdropping with ill intent, that you might be an enemy...” He dropped his hands, lifting them palm-up toward me. “I hated it. I didn’t want you to prove me right. Forgive me.”

Gods, that hurt. Worse than Melaena’s words. He had no idea that I’d fed most of his plans to his worst enemies. He found trust so difficult, yet he extended a morsel of it to me—the person who deserved it the least.

Yes, he planned to kill my father. Yes, he had kept—and still was keeping—secrets from me.

But I had lied to him. Many times. And I wasn’t even sure I was on the right side of the lie anymore.

“I forgive you,” I whispered. Would anyone forgive me?

Aiden’s hands fell back to his sides, regret still lining his face. “Thank you. We should go. Ruru and Maz are waiting for us. Your knives and cloak are over there.” He pointed to a table.

I belted the knives to my waist and threw my cloak over my shoulders. It was probably terribly hot outside, but I didn’t want anyone seeing my knives.

Aiden walked over to a carved wooden panel in the wall and pressed his thumb to the center of a sun. The tunnel sprang open behind the tapestry that I’d left askew the last time I was in here.

“Aren’t you worried that I know the secret now?” I tried to tease him, but my voice came out uncertain.

He glanced at me over his shoulder. “If you’re going to visit Melaena, you should know how to make a quick escape should Asher—or someone worse—come looking for you.”

I bit my lip as I followed him into the tunnel. Asher would never come looking for me. But others might.

The door swung shut, leaving us in damp darkness.

“Shall I go first to scare off spiders?” Aiden’s deep voice spoke ahead of me.

Perhaps we were both trying to ease the awkwardness.

I threw up my hood with a shiver. “Yes, please, and let’s hurry.”

This time, I trailed my fingertips along the uneven walls of the tunnel instead of holding onto Aiden. Then I remembered the spiders and unsheathed two of my knives to feel my way through instead.

Before long, we surfaced in the warehouse. I blinked dust from my eyes as I studied it. My imagination hadn’t been far off when I’d come here blindfolded. A long, low domed building filled with an assortment of crates, barrels, and boxes. Shafts of clouded light pierced through small holes in the walls and the roof.

But my curiosity for this place had dimmed considerably after everything that had happened in the last few days. Unless...

“Is this where you’re keeping the gold?” I asked.

“Only yours.” Aiden hefted a small, bulging sack and handed it to me. “Your cut.”

I weighed it in my palm. “It’s heavier than I expected.”

“You earned it.”

My stomach soured. Earned it. And Asher paid the price. I doubted this would have been enough to appease Father. He would have killed Asher, anyway.

I glanced up to see Aiden watching me with an impenetrable gaze. “Is there somewhere I could keep most of this?” I asked. “Where it won’t get stolen? Perhaps with the rest of the gold.”

“The rest of the gold is gone. Spent.” His smile made a brief appearance at my incredulous expression. “I told you I needed it. But there is somewhere safe you can keep your gold. It’s where I put my father’s ring.”

I tried to crush my rising panic. If all the gold was already spent, there was no hope of me getting it back. Certainly not before Father’s deadline. Gods damn it, I needed more time. Which meant I had to keep this information to myself for now. Renwell could wait.

Aiden peered more closely into my eyes. “We don’t have to go now if you would prefer to go back to the apartment to get some rest.”

“No, no, I want to go.” I really didn’t want to carry Asher’s blood money with me, and I also wanted to see where Aiden had deemed safe enough to hide his ring.

“I believe Maz and Ruru will also be waiting there,” Aiden said, gesturing toward the door.

I tied the bag of coins to my belt and draped my cloak over it. “Then perhaps you can tell me about my role in your... plan?”

“Yes. Maz and Ruru are aware of what you know and that you’re staying. I thought it best to discuss this with them.” He gave me a half-smile. “They were much happier about it than I was.”

My heart swooped high, then low. “You still wish I weren’t here.”

His eyes traveled over my face, lingering on my lips. “It’s complicated.”

My skin tingled under his taut gaze. Very, very complicated.

“Should we go?” I whispered.

He jerked his head in a nod, and I strode to the door. We left the stuffy warehouse and walked into an ocean of heat. Immediately, sweat rose along my skin. Holy Mynastra, even a cloud would be nice. I looked up at the clear, bright blue sky.

Aiden led the way, angling west, then south, following the wider road close to the west wall of the city. The same road Ruru and I had fled down not long ago.

But everything seemed so different in the daylight.

Carts, drawn by animal or human, rumbled along the road. Day guards joked and spat in the dirt from shaded corners. Children carried buckets of water from a wide cistern nearby.

“Gods, Maz must be suffocating in this heat,” I grumbled, garnering a few strange looks from passerby at my heavily cloaked appearance.

Aiden flashed me a heart-stopping grin. “Days like this, he refuses to even step outside unless it’s to a bathhouse.”

A rusty laugh scraped from my throat. Aiden’s gaze warmed. But then he nodded to a tower we were approaching. “We should skirt the city prison.”

I skidded to a halt. “Where are you taking me?” I demanded, my voice high and sharp.

Aiden frowned. “To the Temple. Is that not...”

The rest of his words faded as memories swallowed me.

A rickety scaffolding erected in the square between the Temple and the city prison.

A line of prisoners awaiting execution. Julian’s beaten face and sad eyes among them.

His gaze held mine until the last moment.

“Kiera? What’s wrong?” Aiden gently pulled me to the side of the road. Then understanding dawned in his eyes. “Ah, I forgot. The boy. Julian.”

I flinched.

“We’ll take a route that will shield you from the square, Kiera. Unless you would rather?—”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s just go around.”

A cry arose from near the tower. A large crowd had gathered in front of it, near the execution square.

Aiden frowned. “Wait here.” He strode off into the crowd, keeping to the edges of it.

I fidgeted for a moment, then darted after him. The crowd murmured around me while a few of them broke off and hurried away.

“Gods, when did this happen?”

“May the gods find his soul.”

“I can’t believe the king?—”

“—no explanation?—”

Somehow, I knew before I saw it—Asher’s head on a spear in the square. A crude wooden sign with the word THIEF burned into it was laid at its base.

My stomach churned. This was why Father wanted the head sent back. As a message for everyone else. There was no explanation because the king didn’t need to explain himself. He was simply threatening the city with their fate should they commit the same crime.

I trembled next to Aiden, who stared at the head with an expression of barely suppressed rage. Did he expect this outcome? Would he have done things differently if he had?

A slight breeze lifted Asher’s limp curls, and I spun away, charging blindly through the crowd.

A warm hand closed around my arm and gently pulled me into a narrow alley.

Aiden didn’t speak. He simply wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I slipped my arms around his back and buried my face in his chest. His heartbeat pounded like thunder, and he smelled like salt and sunshine, sea and warmth. He rested his cheek on top of my head.

He had held me several times—out of comfort, desire... threat. But this embrace felt fierce and desperate in a way that made me think he needed it, too.

We stood there for several moments, lost in our need to cling to an anchor in the storm.

“It’s not your fault,” he murmured.

A harsh laugh sputtered from my lips.

He drew back to pierce me with his furious gaze. “It’s not, Kiera. It’s Weylin’s. He didn’t have to execute Asher and display him like this.”

I closed my eyes, unable to look at him. “Did you think this would happen?”

He hesitated. “No. But with Weylin, it’s always a possibility. I thought we would have more time. I’d hoped Asher would be able to hide the theft if he discovered it. I only wanted to take what we needed—a pittance compared to what that vault should’ve held.”

I opened my eyes to see the sincerity in his. And the guilt buried deep within.

I wasn’t alone.

My fingers dug into the muscles of his lower back. His jaw clenched, and he nestled his forehead against mine, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

“We shouldn’t linger,” he whispered.

I matched his breaths for one heartbeat. Two. Then I let him go.

He gave me one last penetrating look before walking further down the alley. The bell towers of the Temple and its massive white dome floated above the buildings. I didn’t relish the idea of going there either. I’d never been able to go back after Julian.

Mother had asked me time and again, but I refused. Eventually, she’d stopped asking. If I’d just gone with her to the Temple the night she was taken and murdered, maybe she’d still be alive.

It wasn’t the first time the thought had occurred to me. In my darkest moments, I’d had to wrestle with that gnawing guilt and reason it back into its cage.

But now, Asher’s death also had a stranglehold on me. I couldn’t bear the weight of any more. I needed to save everyone I could.

The alley spat us out in front of the Temple in all its sun-bathed glory. Wide white marble steps rippled from the soaring doors to the cobblestones. A few people entered and exited the Temple while most bustled about their business under its great shadow.

I followed Aiden up the steps and let the heavy, ornately carved wooden door ease shut behind me. Instantly, all sound disappeared. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dim interior, lit here and there by candles and braziers.

The smell of jasmine and wood smoke evoked memories of coming here as a child—for grand weddings, solemn pilgrimages, and joyful celebrations of the gods’ days. Beautiful singing had filled the enormous, marbled hall. Teachers from around the world had traveled here to speak and share their knowledge.

But now only a few Teachers in their long, hooded robes moved quietly among the colorful pillars and sparkling statues of the gods, tending the flower offerings and polishing the Temple.

Father no longer allowed any celebrations here. After he’d executed the High Teacher for aiding fugitives during the Pravaran rebellion and replaced her with an old, bitter man—Nefteus, the Temple was used for little else than its bells and its library.

And apparently hiding stolen treasure.

Aiden motioned me toward a side door, which led to a small, plain corridor lined with other doors. He opened the third one and gestured me down a steep flight of stairs.

The scent of parchment, ink, and leather instantly made me think of Everett. My eyes widened at the rows and rows of books in the underground library. They seemed endless.

Everett would probably weep with joy if he could stand here once more. Like me, he hadn’t been here since he was a child.

A handful of desks with stools stood empty in front of the shelves. Piles of half-inked scrolls and books were stacked neatly at each one.

“Holy Four,” I breathed. “ This is where you hide things?”

Aiden smiled a little, shaking his head. “Further still.”

I frowned. I’d never heard of a lower level to the library.

We walked past shelf after shelf of books until Aiden made a sharp turn down a row that looked like any other. We came to the end, and he faced me with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Nefteus has no idea this doorway exists. The old High Teacher claimed she had it sealed off and burned any evidence of its existence. You must swear to the Four never to reveal what you are about to see.”

I mimicked his stance. “Must I?”

“Yes, I had to as well.”

“Aren’t you breaking that vow by telling me?”

“I had to get special permission.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Well? Do you swear?”

“I swear to the Four I will not reveal what I’m about to see,” I echoed him. Unless keeping it secret will cost a life.

Holding my gaze, he stepped on a stone floor tile, and something unlocked in the floor. He shoved the last shelf by the wall, and it swiveled easily, revealing a very narrow tunnel.

I grimaced, peering into it. “For someone who hates being underground, you sure spend a lot of time in it.”

“I suppose that’s what happens when someone lives most of their life in hiding,” he said dryly.

I lowered myself into the passage, using the short wooden ladder someone had propped up at the entrance. Unlike the tunnel from The Silk Dancer , the walls of this one were stone. Ages old from the wear of them.

Aiden clambered down behind me, flipping a latch that swung the bookshelf back over the entrance.

He nudged me forward. “It’s not far.”

I could already see a faint light ahead. Quiet voices echoed toward us. I hurried down the passage and came out in a wide room. The floor was smooth stone, but the ceiling was like a cave—craggy and dark.

Several targets were set up at the far end of the room with a collection of weapons—bows and arrows, spears, and even two swords—near me. Perhaps the Teachers used to train here, back when they were allowed to teach the skill of combat.

A group of people hovered around a few tables against another wall.

One of them broke off and ran toward me. Ruru. His beaming face made me smile as he folded me in a hug. He smelled like the sticky bread he was so fond of.

“Kiera! I’m so glad you’re here! We were just catching up on the heist and—oh! Aiden, guess who showed up?”

But Aiden’s eyes were already fixed on one of the strangers in the room. A woman.

Ruru waved to her. “Yes, Nikella’s finally arrived!”