Chapter Forty-Eight
Valeris
“Your father wishes to see you.”
The messenger’s words hit me like an arrow.
Having the judge order my execution would have been easier to hear.
I didn’t have my uncle to help me battle him.
I had to face my father alone. I knew exactly why he wanted to see me, what had required such a drastic action as summoning me, but it was what he would do with what had caused this meeting that sent a chill to the deepest parts of my bones.
Ezrielle was entering her room when I emerged from mine, and she watched me with an appraising eye, a smirk hovering at the edge of her lips.
She knew.
The walk to his office felt like a walk to the gallows, each step bringing me closer to a certain condemnation. I could face anything in the world, but I could not face my father.
The guards parted the doors to his study, and I stepped inside, my footsteps echoing in the room. He stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, spine rigid. I waited for him to acknowledge me. Afraid to sit. Afraid to stand.
“You disappoint me,” he said. “But that is no surprise.”
I swallowed, unsure of what direction this conversation would take and where it would end.
He turned to me with fury etched across his face. “Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out.
He shook his head in irritation. “Useless. I had faith in you, Valeris, I really did, but your actions have told me you are not taking this seriously and you are not fit to wear the crown.”
Panic surged in me. “I am taking this seriously—”
“I am not finished speaking, boy. You lost your alliance with Ingon! Maybe if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed the diplomat from Bolera was encroaching upon the deal, but you were too busy traipsing around with an assassin, and a Kallistar no less, too stupid to realize who was before your very eyes! You know better than that. This is not how a prince of Paravellia is raised! How could you be so stupid to not see through her deception? Are you only of value to me as breeding stock? No brain to make yourself useful?”
I remained silent. Trying to explain to him that an enchantment had concealed her identity would only send him into an even greater rage.
“You were so blinded by one girl—a wanted criminal. Paravellian royalty does not lie with dogs! You lose the puzzle ball and allow your siblings to outshine you. You should have been at the top! And if all that is not enough, you let the assassin slip through your fingers, letting her run around the city doing who knows what.”
“We captured two of her accomplices,” I interjected.
“Confining sixty-six percent of the problem still leaves over thirty-four percent of the problem to be dealt with.” He paused for breath, anger rolling off him in waves. “You’ve failed, and for that failure, I must withdraw you from the competition for the throne.”
A knot formed in the pit of my stomach.
No.
Visions flashed before me of Ezrielle or Zandyr sitting on the throne, of the havoc their reign would bring. My own life flashed before my eyes. The slave I would be to their rule. The choices determining the direction of my life I would have no say in.
“Father—”
He lifted a hand. “I’ve made my decision, Valeris. You cannot talk me out of this.”
Not long ago, I wouldn’t have cared, would have never dreamed the throne might one day be within my reach, but after having it within my grasp, it was one of the hardest things to let go of.
Not when I knew what would happen if I couldn’t claim it.
Failure weighed me down like a castle wall, threatening to crush me.
My fists clenched, and I marched around the desk to face him.
Lifted my chin with authority. I would no longer tolerate his berating or condescension of me.
I knew he wanted me to challenge him. Wanted me to push back even if it was only so he could push me down farther.
He would never let me off that easy. Accepting defeat was never an option for him.
“You said yourself you know I’m better than this,” I argued.
“Let me prove it to you. You know as well as I that I am a far better candidate for the throne than Ezrielle or Zandyr. Name your price, and I’ll pay it.
Do whatever it takes to prove to you that I’ve learned from my mistakes and that they will never happen again. ”
He eyed me and chewed on his lip, respecting my challenge but not wanting to approve my terms.
His face transformed into a deep frown. “I will offer you one last chance to prove yourself, only because I do not like narrowing the candidates down to two. You will secure every alliance I originally gave you, and you will retrieve the alliance the diplomat stole from you. Now get out.”
I dipped my head, making my way to the door. Retrieving a stolen alliance was no small task, but it was better than being removed from the chess board. I hadn’t expected to get off without more tallies required.
I opened the door.
“And Valeris?”
I cringed, knowing I had hoped for too much, afraid of his next words.
“I want that assassin found and brought to me by the end of the finale. If you can complete all of those things, I will consider you for the crown.”
I ground my teeth together. She was probably already gone, out of the city. I had no idea what my father would do to her if I brought her to him.
I dipped my head, agreeing to his terms. Pushing away thoughts of Analleia’s fate because it was no concern of mine.
This family would always come first.
––––––––
A CHILL RADIATED THROUGH the dungeon, my skin growing damp and clammy.
A shiver ran down my spine as a sense of trepidation overwhelmed me.
I’d always despised coming down here. My footsteps echoed off the confining stone walls, the torches flickering in the darkness, casting eerie shadows across my path.
Howland led me to Kallistar’s cell, clinking the key into the lock and opening the door. It let out a loud groan as it turned on its hinges. We hadn’t executed him. Not yet, but I was a witness to him breaking Nadiyah out of the dungeons. Aiding a criminal. He could be executed for less.
He hung from a chain mounted to the ceiling, his hands shackled over his head.
Sweat and blood poured down his chest in a gruesome mixture of pain.
I avoided looking too closely, glad it was hard to see the injuries in the dim light.
They hadn’t managed to pry any information from him.
As soon as I caught wind of the interrogation methods, I had put a stop to them.
Kallistar didn’t meet my eyes as I stepped into the room. He stared beyond me as if in another world.
“My men informed me you haven’t talked.”
His face remained unchanged.
I circled him, keeping my eyes on the blood-splattered floor.
“I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t care about you.
I don’t even care to waste the time to hang you when we could slit your throat right here.
However, what I do care about is your sister, and I would be happy to clear you of all charges should you provide me with her whereabouts. ”
I came to a stop in front of him, watching for any reaction.
He spit in my face.
One of the soldiers surged forward, hand raised to strike him, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him as I wiped the spittle from my face.
I sighed. “I thought that might be your answer, which is why I’m prepared to offer you a trade.”
I motioned behind me, and two guards dragged the other prisoner into the room, her body sagging between them. Desmond’s eyes snapped to attention, surprise and relief overwhelming his features even as he tried to stifle his emotions.
The girl wasn’t conscious. I motioned for them to take her back out of the cell.
“She’s alive,” I said. “For now. The infirmary has managed to keep her from dying, but without their help she will quickly succumb to her injuries. Her life rests in my hands. It would be easier for my paperwork if we let her die, but I could ask them to keep her alive—if I was persuaded with the right information.”
He stared at me, and I watched the torment play across his eyes, the moral dilemma I had presented him with.
Sickness roiled within my stomach, but I kept my face impassible, revealing nothing.
So many of his facial features resembled Analleia’s, the bright blue eyes a mirror match—but she didn’t matter anymore.
She was no one. She didn’t care about me, and she never had.
It was all a trick. All a betrayal. I pummeled down the conflicting emotions within me.
They had enacted violence upon us, and that had sealed their fate. Kallistar could either save his sister or the girl I knew him to love.
I shrugged, turning to leave. “I’ll leave you to think on it, but I doubt your dying girl has much time.”
I stepped out of the cell before his voice stopped me.
“There’s a safe house. In the city.” His words came out in defeated rasps.
“Where?”
He took several breaths before giving the exact location. “I don’t know if she’ll be there. She may have already left the country.”
I shook my head. “No. She wouldn’t leave without you, and she came here to do something. She won’t abandon the city until it is finished. What did you come here to do?”
His eyes narrowed. “All you asked for was her location. None of the other information is part of the deal. Even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn’t. Whatever she’s planning will have changed by now. She never revealed all of her secrets.”
I hesitated. Could it have all been a lie? If my father was the real reason she had come here, why had she not done anything to him yet? They’d had ample opportunities to harm him.
I let it go. No matter. All I cared about was finding her before the end of the finale and bringing her before my father.
My chest tightened.
“You may not know her plan, but you know how she thinks,” I said. “If she’s not in the safe house, where is she going to be next? Lie to me, and I’ll know, and your friend will never get the treatment she needs.”
Pain etched across his face, his skin crawling with betrayal.
“She’ll be at the finale.”
I lifted an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh. Had they damaged his head? Everyone knew who she was now. It would be impossible.
His hard gaze bore into mine without a glint of humor. “She wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Something in his eyes convinced me. He was not leading me on.
The corner of my mouth lifted. “Once a betrayer, always a betrayer?”
His jaw clenched at the accusation, chained hands tightening into fists above him.
I would keep his secret.
Kallistar’s expression turned distant again, focusing on the beyond, and I sensed he had retreated to another world within his mind.
I stormed out of the dungeon, my head spinning as it tried to piece together what her plan might be. Howland fell into step behind me.
“Send a squadron of soldiers to that safe house,” I ordered. I turned, jabbing my finger into his chest. “But she is not to be harmed. No matter what happens, I want her brought to me. Alive.”
He nodded his acceptance, and I leaned against the first window ledge I could find, inhaling the fresh air into my lungs that wasn’t tainted with pain and despair.
She was nothing. She meant nothing. But I had questions. A corner of my heart refused to believe it was all a lie no matter how hard I tried to destroy the idea. I clenched my jaw. I had questions, and she would answer them. Whether it be now or at the finale.
“What are you up to?” I asked the air, fearing the answer was darker than I could ever imagine.