Iย donโt want to take Tessa to another room. I want to keep her here, right here, where I know no one can hurt her. Where she canโt take any actions that will force my hand.
I want to sneak her out of the palace and over the wall and back into the workshop, where we can stand in the quietย relight as Wes and Tessa.
Where I can help my subjects instead of harming them.
What I want never matters, so I lead her down the hushed hallway, our feet making little noise on the velvet carpeting. Sheโs barefoot, her hair long and unbound down her back, her hand clutching that scrap of fabric against her shoulder. My guards have the good sense to keep their eyes forward.
Quint has chosen the Emerald Room, which, contrary to its name, is decorated in shades of red and pink, from the satin coverlets on the bed to the heavy curtains that line the walls.ย ๎ขe only element of green at all is the massive jewel hanging from the neck of the woman in the portrait over the
replace. My great-grandmother. Itโs a good room, nothing too grand for someone who is ostensibly a prisoner, but deย nitely a sign that Tessa is not someone destined for the Hold.
Four guards have been stationed by the door, which feels like overkill, but then I consider how easily she got inside the palace and I say nothing.
We stop outside the door to her room, and she glances at the guards, her eyes a bit wide.
โ๎ขey wonโt harm you,โ I say. โUnless you try to leave.โ โ๎ขatโs it?โ she whispers.
โIf you wake early, the guards can call for food.โ โYouโre leaving me here. Alone.โ
โShould I not?โ
She shakes her head quickly, then steps across the threshold and turns to face me, as if she thinks Iโm going to grab her arm and jerk her back out.
โAnd I can close the door,โ she says. โI recommend it.โ
She stares at me for the longest moment, then grabs hold of the door and swings it closed so๎ly. A๎er a moment, I hear a key turn in the lock.
I glance at the man closest to the door. I donโt know every single guard by name, but I know Lieutenant Molnar. Heโs older, well into his sixties, with thick graying hair. He served my grandparents, and then my parents, and now us. Heโs quiet, but he knows his job, and he does it well. He follows orders and doesnโt gossipโand heโs senior enough that he wonโt let the others do it either.
โYou have a key?โ I say to him. โYes, Your Highness.โ
โGood.โ
I should return to my own chambers, but Iโm too rattled, too unsettled. I feel like Iโll never sleep again.
I hate you.
When she said it to Wes, she never meant it.
When she said it to Prince Corrick, I could feel her conviction in every syllable.ย I. Hate. You.
I walk past my chambers, guards trailing me as I stride down the hallway.
๎ขey donโt usually shadow me everywhere, but Iโm sure Tessaโs sudden appearance has their captain spooked.
I stop in front of Harristanโs door. His guards tell me heโs asleep, but Iโm the only person theyโd allow through without protest. I slip through the door like a ghost, carefully easing it closed so the latch doesnโt click.ย ๎ขe only light in the room comes from the hearth, which has burned down to embers. A tray with teacups and saucers sits on the side table, but one is on the table near Harristanโs bed. Good.
I can hear his breathing from here. Not good.
I rub my hands over my face and sit in the armchair near his desk. A leather folio sits on top of all his other documents, the seal from Artis.
I ease it o๏ฌย the desk andย ip the cover open.ย ๎ขeyโve submitted an amended request for funding. Jonas is wasting no time. I pinch the bridge of
my nose. โCory.โ
I glance up. Harristan is blinking at me from the bed. โYouโre supposed to be sleeping,โ I say.
โSo are you.โ He pauses. โWhat did you do to the girl?โ โSheโs sleeping in the Emerald Room. Under heavy guard.โ โNo.โ He gives me a look. โWhat did youย do?โ
โNothing. I fed her dinner and sent her to bed.โ He studies me. I study him back.
I want to tell him. Iโve wanted to tell him for years. Heโd understand my drive to get out of the palace, to get out of the Royal Sector. Heโs the one who taught me how to sneak out, how to scale the wall and get lost in the pleasures of the Wilds. Heโs the one who always wanted freedom from this place.
Iโm the one who got it, even if only for a short while, and it seems unfair to taunt him with the knowledge.
Even if itโs over. Iโm done.
Regardless, itโs as treasonous an act as anything I could come up with. I was stealing from our subjects. I was acting in direct opposition to his orders
โin direct opposition to orders Iโm expected to enforce. If anyone found out, it would be a scandal beyond measure.
Harristanโs gaze is heavy, as if he can pick apart my secrets with nothing more than his eyes, and Iย nally have to look away.
He clears his throat. โIย nd it hard to believe that youโd o๏ฌer leniency to someone who snuck into the palace to kill me.โ
Heโs right, but I can o๏ฌer him this truth. โShe snuck in to steal medicine.
She meant no harm.โ โA smuggler?โ
โNot quite.โ I think of the books in her pack, the way Quint thought we would need spin. โShe has many theories about how to adjust the dosage of Moonย ower elixir to make it more e๏ฌective.โย ๎ขis isnโt a lie, but it feels like one. I pause. โShe steals medicine and distributes it among the people. For those who cannot a๏ฌord it.โ
๎ขat turns him quiet for a long time, as I thought it might. Regardless of what people think, Harristan isnโt heartless.ย ๎ขe dwindlingย re snaps in the hearth. โDo you think there are many who do this?โ
I shake my head. โI have no idea.โ
โWhen the guards said someone breeched the palace, I thought revolution hadย nally found us.โ
I think of the true smugglers who escaped, the way the crowd called for rebellion. โIt still might.โ
He falls quiet again, but this time, his eyelidsย icker. โSleep,โ I say so๎ly. I stand. โIโll leave.โ
โCory.โ His voice catches me before I reach the door. I stop and turn. โWhat?โ
โ๎ขereโs something youโre not telling me about her.โ
My brother rarely dwells in details, and it usually serves him well. But there are times, like now, when something earns his focus, and itโs always hard to shake it loose.
Iโve been quiet too long, and the silence swells between us.
โI know people keep secrets from me,โ he says. โI didnโt think you were among them.โ
If his voice was harsh or full of censure, Iโd deny it. But Harristan is rarely like that with me, especially not when weโre alone.ย ๎ขere are few people who have his full trust in the palace. I might be the only one. For the barest instant, I wonder if this might chip away at it.
โI keep no secrets that put you at risk,โ I say. โI know,โ he says equably.
Of course he does. But it puts my mind at ease. But then he says, โIโd like to talk to her.โ
I wonder how that will go. I imagine Tessa throwing a punch at my brother, or tossing a drink in his face.ย ๎ขere are a million things she could say that would end with her in the Holdโor worse.ย ๎ขere are a million questions Harristan could askโand a million wrong answers that will put Tessa in danger.
But heโs the king, and no matter how much power I have, he has more. I nod. โIโll arrange it.โ
