A sound wrenched through me, a scream, a cry, a gasp.
It was more than a break, it felt as though he’d ripped my leg in half.
“After all, you don’t need to be able to walk for what I need from you.”
He twisted his wrist on my shoulder and before I could scream again, snapped the bones in my other leg. This time no sound came out, I opened my mouth but my body was too shocked, overwhelmed by too much pain to properly process everything. Darkness seeped into my vision, pulling me under.
The last thing I saw was his face, looking down at me, without any expression at all.
Chapter 43
When she walks, I imagine growing wildflowers in the shell of her footsteps.
—Letter from Kiyan to his mother, unsent
Kiyan
Something was wrong.
After I’d deposited Tal in the dungeons, I’d left immediately to speak with Ramishah. She had to know about the crown already, given that she’d stolen Yaseema’s bag and it hadn’t had the crown inside it at all. But she wasn’t in her room, nor the kitchens.
The air in the palace was thick and heavy with anticipation—Salt soldiers were not patrolling the halls and there was a tenseness that hadn’t been there before. Maybe it was that the rebels had openly attacked Reza and stolen something from him. I knew he was planning a big retaliation and it would be difficult to get Tal out of this alive.
Perhaps I wouldn’t make it out alive either.
I went to Yaseema’s room, but the door was shut. I didn’t have her ability to unlock doors, or find the missing—both of which would have been fairly helpful—but that didn’t mean a closed door would stop me.
I tried the door first, before slamming my shoulder into it, and was surprised to find it unlocked. It swung open and I stared in shock. Her curtains were smoldering, a flame recently put out. Everything was knocked over, showing there’d been a struggle.
Things were strewn about the floor; her drawers were empty. A soft breeze fluttered through the room beside the smoking curtains that were still managing to hang on somehow. A metal hook was wedged under the windowsill, and I recognized it as the thing Yaseema had tried to get me to use to climb the lower mountain to the Queen’s vault.
I strode over to it, my stomach sinking as I realized what she’d done. Yaseema had climbed out of the palace and taken the crown with her.
She had gone to cross the River and head back into the human lands.
That was the only explanation. She didn’t even stay long enough to tell me why.
Does she owe you an explanation? Did you give her one?
I needed to stop her.
I bolted from theroom, my boots slamming against stone as I left.
But as I entered the main courtyard Ramishah appeared, her red-rimmed eyes stopping me short.
“Mishah.”
“Kiyan, I’ve fucked up.”
“What did you do?”
“She was escaping. I couldn’t stop her.” She swallowed, and I noticed the curl of a scorpion’s tail hooking around her neck—the Viceroy’s stamp. She’d been tortured by him.
“What did you do?” I repeated, nearly yelling. Anger rose in my blood, and something white-hot, making me feel sick. Fear.
“I told the Viceroy she’d stolen the crown.”
I closed my eyes, my hands curling into fists. This was much worse than Yaseema stealing it and heading across the River.
