Rebekah led them to a room full of birds.
Ospreys, owls, sparrows, crows. And worst of all: a desert hawk. All of them unnaturally still. All of them watching Roa from the walls. Their eyes lifeless. Their souls gone.
Roa and Theo exchanged glances.
The room smelled like death and fear.
Thank the stars Essie isn’t here.
Rebekah sat in an armchair that was too big for her, staring at Roa from across the desk. “As I said, my father loves birds. This is his second favorite room.”
Roa swallowed. What did his first favorite look like?
“Why are we here?” she asked.
Rebekah leaned back, gripping the arms of her father’s chair, studying the new queen.
“Theo came seeking my help,” she said. “He’s very worried about you.”
Roa looked to Theo, who sat in the chair beside her.What?
“He says you didn’t realize what you were doing,” Rebekah continued. “He says Dax convinced you to march an army to his side, fight his war, break off your betrothal... all in the hope of protecting your people.”
Roa lifted her chin. That wasn’t how it happened. Daxaskedfor her help, and in exchange, Roa asked for a marriage. She knew exactly what she was doing.
She was not the victim here.
“You realized too late he wasn’t the man you thought he was.”
Roa leaned back against her chair. This, at least, was true.
“And,” Rebekah continued, “now you want to undo the choices you’ve made.”
Roa looked to Theo, wanting clarification.
Theo looked back at her.
And the pieces clicked together.
Why he was dressed like a wealthy draksor. Why he’d been personally invited to a dinner party by Rebekah—a girl who barely tolerated scrublanders.
Thiswas the contact he’d mentioned to Roa last night.
Roa stared at her friend. “Tell me you didn’t,” she whispered.
“Theo told me everything. I know all about your plot against the king.”
Roa’s mouth went dry. She looked away from Theo to Rebekah, lying through her teeth. Lying with everything in her. “There is no plot.”
“Then why did you sneak out of the palace last night to meet him?” Her lips curled into a smile.
Roa gripped the arms of her chair. Theo couldn’t possibly have told Rebekah that. It put them in so much danger.
“You were plotting with the boy you love to remove your husband from his throne.”
It felt like her heart had stopped beating.
What have you done?she thought, staring at Theo.
