43. Kiera

Chapter 43

Kiera

An hour earlier . . .

Explosions startled me awake. Darkness met my eyes. My skin burned, and I couldn’t move.

For one, terrifying moment I thought I was back in Korvin’s torture chamber. Then the truth seeped through my soul like bitter tea.

Aiden had killed my mother. He’d taken the knife she brought with her for protection and used it to murder her before fleeing.

The nightmares I’d suffered. The grief I’d endured. The life I’d lost.

All because of him.

My body curled in on itself, straining against the ropes that bound it.

How could I have been so blind, so foolish? How could I have let my guard down? Renwell was right—I didn’t really know who he was. I thought Aiden had trusted me by showing me bits of his painful past when, really, he’d been hiding the worst secret of all.

Did he truly hate my father so much that he had to kill my mother? My sweet, gentle, innocent mother? The woman who could barely bring herself to pluck the weeds from her garden because she felt everything deserved life.

Tears dripped from my eyes as if bleeding from my agonized heart.

Another explosion thundered over the building. Ruru.

I struggled to sit up. Fucking Four, was it time? Had it started? Gods damn it, he was out there alone. Would Renwell send his Wolves after him?

Groaning, I tried to wriggle out of my ropes, silently counting the seconds.

. . . seventy-eight, seventy-nine . . . where are all my gods-damned knives? Eighty-two, eight-three . . .

Boom! The third explosion made the floor tremble.

If that didn’t get the Wolves’ attention, nothing would.

Please don’t linger, Ruru. Run far, far away.

Growling in frustration, I rolled from my cot onto the floor and shimmied toward the door. Sweat snaked down my spine as I heaved to a sitting position, then hobbled to my feet.

Whoever tied me had done so with my hands behind my back, so I had to turn then hop several times to push the door handle down.

When the door finally opened, I fell through it on my ass.

Flopping around like a fish out of water, I quickly maneuvered to my knees to survey the room.

Everything was gone. Maz’s whistler, Nikella’s staff, all the knives—including my mother’s.

“Gods damn it!” I shouted at the ceiling.

Nikella had given me a bit of bread and water when I’d woken for a few minutes earlier in the day. But no utensils, and Ruru’s cot had been as empty, as if he were never coming back.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Nikella hadn’t said a word when she fed me, then drugged me once more. And I hadn’t had the strength to question her. She was the one who shot me, after all. Perhaps she’d known it was the sleeping dart. Perhaps not.

But if she was feeding me, that must mean they wanted to keep me alive. For what purpose, only the gods knew. I was no good to anyone now.

There were only two people left in the world who might still need me and care for me. Everett and Delysia. And if Aiden was currently attacking the palace, I needed to get to them. I needed to make sure they didn’t land in the crossfire between Aiden’s murderous vengeance and Father’s retaliation.

Bending backward, I tried to reach the knots around my legs. Thanks to Melaena’s training, I was more flexible than I’d ever been, but not that flexible.

I kicked over a chair and kept kicking it until a leg broke off. I squirmed next to it, trying to saw the ropes on the jagged stump. Splinters bit into my palms, but I kept working. Maybe it was my imagination, but a few strands of the rope seemed to fray.

The door suddenly opened, and I froze.

Ruru slipped inside, shutting the door behind him. He dropped all his weapons and a small bag that jingled.

“Ruru,” I whispered, fairly certain he could see me bathed in the moonlight.

“Who are you?” he demanded, stepping into the light.

He looked unscathed, thank the gods. But the anger and betrayal written on his young face were sharper than the splinters in my skin.

“I was born Princess Emilia Torvaine,” I whispered, watching the hurt deepen in his eyes. “I go by Kiera because that’s what my mother wanted to call me.”

He shifted his weight on his feet, looking away from me at the mention of my mother.

My heart sank. “Did you know her? Do you know what Aiden did?”

He shook his head. “I knew something happened that night, but he never spoke about it. I also know she was a kind lady. She gave out gold coins to orphans who showed up at the Temple. Orphans like me,” he mumbled, kicking his bare foot over the wooden floor.

Grief swelled in my throat. “She was very kind, yes. I have two siblings, you know. An older brother—just like your brother, Daire—and a younger sister.”

“Prince Everett and Princess Delysia,” he said flatly.

“Yes. They’re in danger. I need to go help them.”

He crossed his arms over his thin chest. “I’m not supposed to let you go.”

“Please, Ruru. I know I lied to you and betrayed you. But please believe me when I say I did everything in my power to protect you. To keep you out of harm’s way.”

“But you were telling Renwell all our secrets,” he spat out.

“I didn’t tell him everything. Only what I had to. Just enough to keep him satisfied. I didn’t tell him about you. I told him I was meant to set off those bombs so that he wouldn’t try too hard to capture the perpetrators.”

“Well, I suppose you succeeded in that.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Ruru threw his arms wide. “No Wolves showed up to my fires. I even waited a little longer than I was supposed to, but no one came. Some of the guards at the city prison raised an alarm. But still no Wolves.”

I bowed my head. I thought he would at least send a few, enough to lend credence to my cover. Had he cut ties with me when I didn’t assassinate Aiden? Or had he been unable to send anyone? Where was Aiden?

“Something’s wrong,” I said, staring up at Ruru. I put every ounce of fervor I possessed into my expression and my words. “You need to let me loose so I can find out. I’m the only who can get into the palace. I can make sure everyone is all right.” Right before I throw Aiden in prison for murdering my mother.

Ruru hesitated, uncertainty loosening his features. “I’m not supposed to go looking for them under any circumstances. I’m supposed to leave the city by way of the city gate. Or, in the worst need, on Skelly’s ship.”

“You can still do that,” I said softly. “Take all your weapons and money—take my money—and leave. Get somewhere safe. Just... untie me first.”

Ruru sighed, rocking back on his heels. Then he pulled one of the knives I’d given him from his belt. He knelt in front of me and cut through my ropes.

Blood rushed back to my fingers and toes. The sting of many cuts from the wood worsened. But I threw my arms around Ruru’s shoulders.

“You’re the very best of friends, Ruru,” I said, squeezing him hard and inhaling his familiar scent of dirt, sweat, and sticky bread.

He gave me a brief hug and backed away. “I wish you had been a better one.”

My heart jerked as if he’d stabbed it. “I hope one day I can be,” I whispered.

“Here.” He brought me my knife brace—loaded with my knives—my sack of gold, and Mother’s knife.

My eyebrows arched. “Were you going to run away with these? Or did you always plan to set me free?” I slipped the knife into my boot without looking at it.

Ruru’s dark eyes were solemn as an owl’s. “I owe you my life, Kiera. I don’t think you saved me to thicken a lie. I think you saved me because that’s who you are. You protect people.” He shrugged. “Sometimes you just protect the wrong people.”

I stilled, my sore fingers halfway through buckling on my knife brace.

The wrong people. He thought my father, Renwell, Korvin, and their allies were the wrong people. And on most counts, he was right.

I finished buckling my brace. “I wanted to tell Aid—everyone the truth. That’s what I meant to do last night. I wanted to protect all of you.”

“I know,” he said, holding my bag of gold out to me. “In case you need to run, too.”

I shook my head. “Keep it. There is no escape for me anymore.”

Ruru’s fingers curved around the gold, and he shoved it in his pocket. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to protect the right people,” I said grimly. Everett and Delysia. “And enforce justice if I can. Will you be all right?”

He gave me a faint version of his usual smile. “I always am. Good luck, Kiera.”

“And you, Ruru.” I clasped his shoulder, then hurried into the empty night.

I wore no cloak, no mask. I carried nothing but my knives.

I ran through the alleys, which were indeed empty, up to the Noble Quarter gate. Two guards paced beneath the torchlight. Wrapping my arms around my waist to cover my knives, I hurried up to it.

“Melaena at The Silk Dancer ,” I said breathlessly.

“No one gets through,” the tall guard said

“You’ve seen me a dozen times! Melaena’s expecting me!”

He leaned closer, pressing his nose between the bars of the gate, and surveyed me. “ No one gets through.”

“What’s all the gods-damned noise about?” the other guard demanded. “We heard explosions.”

“I don’t know,” I said impatiently. “But I need to see Melaena immediately. ”

“Are you deaf or just stupid? We have orders to not let a single person through this gate.”

I kicked the gate, making the guard jerk backward, but then I stilled. “You haven’t let anyone else through this gate all night?”

“No.” The tall guard sneered, hefting his spear. “So, why would we let you in?”

I whirled and ran back into the shadows. Father must’ve ordered them to keep the gate shut. Had Renwell warned him of a possible attack? There would be more guards if that were the case.

How was Aiden planning to get into the palace, then?

Moments slipped by like a waterfall, too fast for my liking, as I picked the lock on the warehouse and dove into the tunnel. I whisked through the dark, silent club, quiet as a cat, and snuck into the back alley.

I’d almost reached the bridge when my steps slowed. I didn’t have Renwell’s Death token with me. And if the guards at the gate wouldn’t let me through...

But it didn’t matter what their orders were. Everett and Delysia could be in danger on the other side of the bridge, so I was getting across one way or another.

My hands clasped my knife hilts, and I strode into the light.

The two guards snapped to attention, lifting their spears as they eyed me suspiciously.

“Let me pass,” I said, my chin held high.

They both laughed. “No,” said one. “Get gone before we make you.”

“I am Princess Emilia Torvaine, and you will let me pass,” I commanded, my voice carrying over the thunderous waterfall.

They froze. A flicker of uncertainty rose in their eyes.

“You’re bluffing,” one spat. “The princesses never leave the palace. Especially not looking like a street urchin.”

I stepped further into the light, angling my face for them to catch any trace of Father’s features that lingered in mine.

“Would you care to wager your lives on that?” I said in the deadly soft voice Renwell liked to use.

One of them paled while the other turned bright red with anger. “You dare threaten us?”

Gods damn it, I didn’t have time for this. I ripped two knives from my brace. “I’ll do much more than that if you don’t let me pass.” I flipped the knives over, catching them by their tips. “Last chance.”

The pale one nudged the other. “Let her through.”

Snarling under his breath, the angry one finally stepped aside, and I stalked past them. I didn’t stow my knives until I was halfway across the bridge.

The water pounded below me as the moon and stars shone above. Yet it reminded me of being on the Temple roof at sunset... with Aiden.

I had no idea what awaited me in the palace. But if I fell tonight, I was taking him with me.