Nox pressed their lips into a line. “Do you really have to ask? He knows.”
“He—”
“He must know we tampered with his safe. Despite my best efforts, perhaps he even knows we have the crown. Or, if not that, he at least knows we’re onto his secrets. So, he struck first.”
“But that was only this evening. How—It’s not possible for him to have reacted so swiftly, is it? To have cultists in place, inside the palace, inside the guard? This took planning and coordination.Access.”
Nox was silent, letting Kit work through her frenzied thoughts aloud as she backed away from the corpse and began pacing in a tight circle.
“For what you’re saying to make sense, it would mean—” Her voice caught. “It was a trap. It was always a trap.”
“You understand, don’t you?”
Kit’s stomach dropped. “No, I don’t.”
She did.
“Katerina,” Nox said gently. “It is the only possible reality.”
Kit’s heart thudded like a war drum in her chest. “Lord Church works for Varyth Malchior.”
Nox waited.
Kit thought about the notes she’d seen in his study, the one still burning a hole in her pocket even now. Thought about his strange, single-minded focus on Cedric and the Crucible. The fact that he possessed half of the crown.
She swallowed. “Lord ChurchisVaryth Malchior.”
The words froze in the air. But she didn’t have time to digest them before a crash sounded from the hall, followed by more furious shouts.
“Shit.” Kit dashed to the side of her bed, crouching low to retrieve her lost dagger from the shadows beneath it. “We need to go. Need to get the others. We’ll regroup and fight our way out of here.”
“What about the king? What about the ones who cannot fight?”
“Fuck their king,” Kit spat. “Who’s to say Callum isn’t really the one behind this?”
Nox shook their head. “I do not believe he is involved. I overheardthe ones who came for me?—”
“Ones?Plural?” She sheathed her dagger, sneering once more at the cultist corpse on her floor. “Should I be offended that I only got him?”
The nocterrian rolled their eyes. “The cultists said they were to go to the throne room after eliminating me.” They grinned, as though the very idea was a particularly funny joke. “Said it was finally time to shove the accords down the king’s throat, where they belonged.”
“Lovely.”
“I may be paraphrasing, but you get my meaning.”
“Then Lord Church—Varyth Malchior is acting alone? What is he trying to do? Get rid of us and, what? Is he trying to take the throne?”
Nox’s lip curled. “As one of Malakar’s descendants, I suppose I wouldn’t be surprised if that was his goal. Treason must run in the family.”
Family.
A tremor passed through Kit’s body. “Tenny.” Her voice cracked. “If her father knows the safe was opened, he’ll know she helped us.”
Nox’s expression darkened. “We’ll find her. We’ll find all of them.”
Kit’s fingers tightened on the hilt of her dagger. “Then, it really is about to start, isn’t it?”
“I fear it has already begun.”
