“Tor isn’t done yet,” she replied, heedless to Jaren’s mood. “He needs to finish before you can see how I fit into things.”
Sensing everyone’s patience was growing thin, Torell quickly summarized, “Zuleeka wouldn’t tell me where Kiva was, and demanded that I help her take control of the kingdom. When I refused, she tried to attack me with her magic.” There was enough disbelief in his tone to confirm he’d had no knowledge of her deadly power. “I only managed to escape because Mirryn arrived and talked some sense into Zuleeka, giving me a chance to flee.”
Kiva’s eyes widened at the thought of Mirryn intervening. Jaren, Caldon, and Ashlyn all showed visible reactions as well, making her wonder how they were dealing with the emotional fallout of her betrayal. Jaren especially.
“After that,” Torell said, turning to Kiva, “it took me some time, but I found a witness from the masquerade who saw you being carried away by two guards. I assumed they were Royal Guards, so I lost even more time trying to hunt them down, only to learn they were transfer guards who had taken you back to Zalindov.”
His sorrowful green gaze held hers. “I’d already abandoned you once — I wasn’t going to let you rot in there a second time. But I also worried that the rebels might report what I was planning to Zuleeka, so I knew I had to go alone. Rhess agreed to stay behind as my eyes and ears inside Vallenia, and Tipp —” Torell looked down at his lap, before meeting Kiva’s gaze again. “He was harder to convince, but he knew he couldn’t go back to the palace while Zuleeka and Mirryn were there. Since he had nowhere else to go, he agreed to travel with me to Zalindov.”
Kiva’s heart shriveled, now understanding what Caldon had meant earlier. Unlike Torell and Cresta, Tipp wasn’t there because he’d wanted to find her. He was there because he’d had no other choice.
Painfully aware of how many people she’d hurt with her lies, Kiva only half listened as Torell explained how he and Tipp had stayed at the inn in Vaskin until they’d overheard some guards complaining about the new recruits who had finally arrived to replace those killed in the riot. Tor quickly realized that was something he could exploit, especially when the guards went on to laugh about “that healer girl” locked in the Abyss. It took a few days, but he eventually managed to corner a different guard and knock him out, before stealing his uniform and sneaking into the prison disguised as one of the recruits. Thanks to Tipp’s reluctant sharing, Tor knew exactly where the punishment block was and headed straight there, only to find not Kiva, but Cresta.
“You’d already been taken by then, and I told him I’d only share where you’d gone if he got me out,” Cresta said, shameless. “So he did.”
Kiva had a feeling their escape wasn’t as straightforward as they’d claimed, but she didn’t pry for more details. Instead, she looked at Cresta and stated, “I would have come back for you.”
Cresta’s face was solemn. “I know.” Her features filled with mirth as she added, “But now you don’t have to get your ass stuck in there a third time because of some idiotic rescue attempt that was doomed to fail.”
“Back up,” Caldon interjected, looking between Kiva and Cresta. “Why did those guards say you were in the Abyss if you weren’t?”
“Because I was,” Kiva said, and she thought she saw Jaren give another twitch, just the faintest of movements. “Until Navok had me released.”
This time she was certain Jaren gave a visible jerk.
“That part I didn’t know,” Cresta said. “I just lied to Tor so he’d get me out.” She flashed an unrepentant grin — the expression transforming her face enough that Kiva heard Caldon suck in a swift breath — and said, “He wasn’t very happy with me. Naughty Cresta.”
Caldon coughed to hide his amusement, and Kiva shot him a warning look.
“Tipp was even less happy,” Torell said, his tone revealing that he wasn’t quite over Cresta’s lie, even if they appeared to have reached a truce. “We had to come up with a new plan, but it was around then that we heard whispers that the Vallentis princes were with their army at Stoneforge, safe from Zuleeka’s reach. So we headed here, hoping you’d be able — and willing — to help.”
“He dragged me along, saying I owed him that much, but I would have come anyway out of curiosity,” Cresta said. “This has been the most entertainment I’ve had in years.” She wiggled her feet. “Well worth the blisters.”
Kiva eyed Cresta’s boots, taking in her travel-worn clothes properly for the first time. Somewhere along her journey she’d traded her prison tunic for a functional shirt and leggings, but both she and Torell were covered in dust and in need of a good wash.
Cresta yawned loudly, stretching her arms over her head. “As fun as this is, I’m tired. And hungry. Are we done yet?”
Caldon shifted forward, his cobalt gaze narrowed on her hands. Her unbound hands. “How did you —”
“Oh, was I supposed to wait to be freed?” she asked, picking up the untied ropes resting uselessly on her lap. “I’m afraid I missed the how-to-be-a-good-prisoner lecture on my first day at Zalindov.”
Despite the emotional trauma of the night, it took all of Kiva’s willpower to keep from laughing at the guileless expression the redhead was attempting to pull off.
“Eidran —” Ashlyn started.
“Never mind, I’ll do it myself,” Cresta muttered, retying her own ropes.
This time Kiva couldn’t hold back her snort, and was mortified when the frowns that had been focused on Cresta turned her way.
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s just — I mean —” She waved a hand weakly toward Cresta, as if that was answer enough.
Caldon returned the warning look she’d sent him mere moments ago, then came to her rescue by indicating between her and Ashlyn and saying, “You mentioned Navok. Is that how you two ended up together?”
Kiva nodded slowly, unsure how much she wanted to share about her own misadventures.
Ashlyn, however, had no such hesitation, and launched into an explanation of how she’d traveled to Mirraven to spy on the king, only to delay her return when she heard he was having Kiva collected from Zalindov.
“But why would he —” Caldon stopped mid-question and turned to Kiva. “The night of the masquerade, you’d just found out about a deal your family made with him, but you didn’t know what that deal was. Does this have something to do with that?”
Kiva rubbed her arms, stalling, but the look on Ashlyn’s face told her that if she didn’t explain, then the princess would.
“My mother” — Kiva struggled over the word when Jaren’s expression tightened — “wanted to get to me in Zalindov. But she also wanted to, uh . . .”
“Take over Evalon,” Cresta said, yawning again. “Blah, blah, evil queen, we all know this part.”
Kiva frowned, but Cresta only winked in return, her serpent tattoo shifting with the movement.
Deciding just to get it over quickly, Kiva said, so fast that the words blurred together, “Mother allied the rebels with Mirraven.”