More tears rolled down Tipp’s face, but Kiva’s eyes remained dry. Not because she didn’t feel like joining him, but because she couldn’t. What she felt was too much, too consuming, the thought of Caldon being dead —
A sob left Ariana, reminding Kiva that Caldon’s family was standing right there.
But she couldn’t think of that.
Couldn’t think of him at all, rejecting what she’d just been told, ignoring the truth in Galdric’s gloating smile, the agony in Tipp’s eyes. Instead, she welcomed the numbness spreading through her veins, knowing it was all that kept her from crumpling to the ground. Through stiff lips, she rasped a single word: “Why?”
“Why did I kill the prince?” Galdric asked, before carelessly answering, “One less Vallentis brat to get through. You gave me the perfect opportunity when you asked him to stay behind. Thank you for that — as I said before, you made it too easy.”
Kiva didn’t let his words penetrate, not that they could have made it through the ice overwhelming her entire body.
Caldon was dead.
Caldon was dead.
Even through her numbness, Kiva could still feel her heart cracking in her chest.
But somehow, she forced out, her voice hoarse, “No — why all this? Why are you here with Navok?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Galdric answered, cocking his head to the side. “I’ve been playing you from the very beginning.”
Kiva flinched, even if she’d already come to realize as much.
“I loved your mother — I never lied about that,” Galdric said, his tone softening, before it hardened again. “But when she started having second thoughts, when all she could think about was freeing you to heal Zuleeka, when she began to wonder if her own bloodline even deserved to rule, that was when I knew — the rebels were always better off with me as their leader.” His face darkened. “My family has served the Corentine bloodline for centuries, all the way back to Torvin’s era. But of all the generations, I was the one who unified the rebels, I was the one who found us a willing heir of royal blood. And your mother was willing — until she wasn’t. She cared too much for her family. That was her weakness. And her undoing.”
Kiva swallowed at the look in his eyes, but Navok spoke then, sounding bored.
“Can we hurry this along?” He pressed his dagger deeper into Tipp’s throat until a drop of blood appeared on the blade, causing the young boy to wince and Kiva’s stomach to lurch.
“Patience, my friend,” Galdric said. “She deserves to understand.”
“We’re not friends.” Navok’s light brown eyes flashed. “And I don’t care what she deserves. You can give her the full bedtime story later.”
Galdric sighed, then turned back to Kiva and said, his words faster than before, “Everything I told you was true, how Tilda went to Navok to make a deal. But I didn’t follow her out of loyalty, or even out of love. I followed her because I intended to make my own deal.”
Kiva’s hands were fisted now, the rings cutting into her palm, her focus shifting between Galdric and Navok.
“I’d heard how interested Mirraven’s new king was in magic, so I went there to bargain with him, offering information about the Hand of the Gods,” Galdric explained. “He’d already made his agreement with Tilda, and thus already intended to get you out of Zalindov, wed you, and use you against Zuleeka, but now he had a new reason: that being, only you can use the rings.”
“Yes, yes,” Navok said, impatient. “We made a deal: Galdric would act like my prisoner, and you would free him — don’t look so surprised, you’re too predictable. It was easy to rough him up a bit, and even easier to make you think I was trying to stop you from escaping, when really that was the plan all along.” His voice turned bitter. “Though even I can admit I didn’t realize Ashlyn had infiltrated my palace. She’ll pay for that soon.”
Navok glowered at the carpet, but then his face cleared as he continued, “After you freed Galdric, he was to tell you about the rings and how desperately important it was for you to keep them away from dangerous little me.” The king’s smile was a slash of teeth. “He was then to help you collect all four of them, with his reward being that you will use the Hand on him first while my army wipes the Vallentis family and their loyal soldiers off the map, leaving the throne open for the true rebel leader to take the crown. Without a Vallentis or a Corentine to rule them, Evalon’s citizens will bow down to any king with elemental magic — and thanks to you, he’ll have that magic.”
“That’s our bargain,” Galdric told Kiva. “Both of us get magic, but I get Evalon, while Navok gets the rest of Wenderall, taking one kingdom at a time, building his anomaly army as he goes.”
“And I get one more thing, too,” Navok said, his eyes snaring Kiva’s. “After destroying your sister, you will rule by my side. I have an agreement to keep with your mother, after all. Not even I would risk breaking a deal with the dead.”
Kiva was breathing heavily, disbelief giving her the courage to demand, “Why would I help with any of that? You can’t force me to use my magic. You can’t make me —”
Galdric interrupted, his voice knowing, “Because you have the same fatal flaw as your mother: you care too much about your family.”
Tipp cried out then, as Navok’s blade dug deeper, the blood no longer a drop, but a smear.
“NO!” Kiva cried, rushing forward, but she stopped at the warning look in Navok’s eyes.
“There are four people in this room who you care about enough to not want to see them dead,” the king said. “We will go through each of them if we must. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll go after him.” His gaze flicked to the window, and Kiva looked out, doing a double-take when she saw the gilded bridge that had been empty before, but was now covered with Gray Guards and anomalies, with only a handful of silver Royal Guards and black-leathered soldiers barely managing to hold them off. As she watched, a wall of water rose from the Serin and slammed into half of them, causing warriors from both Evalon and Mirraven to tumble straight over the railing, while others merely paused their attacks to brace, before continuing on with even more fervor.
All of that, Kiva took in within the space of a blink, because it was the person fighting at the center of it all who captured her horrified notice, right where Navok had indicated.
“Jaren,” Oriel whimpered, seeing his brother for the first time in over three months.
Kiva had thought she couldn’t feel any worse after seeing Tipp with a blade at his throat, after hearing that Caldon was —
No.
She slammed down on that thought, knowing she couldn’t deal with it on top of everything else. For now, she had to live in denial. Caldon would be the first to tell her to concentrate on the challenge in front of her, and anything else could come later.
Her fear, her panic, her dread — that was what had to hold Kiva’s attention right now, none of which she’d thought could possibly become worse.
Until she’d seen Jaren on that bridge.
Because at the eager look in Navok’s eyes, Kiva knew exactly what he would do if she didn’t obey.