I still felt my old power brewing underneath my skin, ready to unleash, but it never had the opportunity. Reza had smothered our power with the King’s crown, and I couldn’t figure out a way to bring it back.
Not for the first time I wished I was anyone other than me—even the halmasti from the River. Then I would’ve torn the crown from his chest with my snapping jaws and found a way to destroy it.
But while it sat in his skin, I couldn’t raise a hand against him.
Not a hand of the living, but perhaps one of death.
I’d keep honing my unexpected death magic, keep sharpening it, and hopefully when the time was right, I could pierce his heart.
As if he knew what I was thinking, he spoke. “What is this I’m hearing about a rebel attack? A rotted thing that killed one of the soldiers?”
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. I’d planned this conversation but handling Reza was always delicate; you could never predict his moods.
“It should’ve been Faisal telling you this. He’s the one who tried to fight it. I was doing a training exercise with the Salt Guard when it happened. I didn’t see it, but I don’t think it was due to the rebels. We’ve certainly never seen them with this sort of magic before.”
“Well, Faisal’s now dead. He’s not available to be questioned.”
He turned his bright eyes on me, in them the glimmer of mania that always set my teeth on edge.
“I lost one of my soldiers, Kiyan. If it does turn out to be the rebels, I’ll be taking that loss from you in blood. Either yours, or...” he looked over to the boy, still gathering up the weapons from the field.
I exhaled, knowing his threats weren’t idle.
But, neither were mine. My mind flitted back to a human girl with strange clothes, wild hair, and an unfamiliar bright magic that could find what was lost.
“What happened to the human?” I said, abruptly, suddenly desperate for the answer. I needed to know if the girl was dead.
IfYaseemawas dead.
There was a feeling of sinking dread in my stomach, even though I was glad Faisal had been killed. Because there was no way I could save the girl from Reza’s punishment. I could only hope she’d been executed, despite the magic she harbored. Otherwise, the torture she would receive at the hands of the Viceroy would render her mindless.
Brown eyes from behind golden frames flashed, and something in me mourned that her spark of life might be gone.
The bright flower in the desert wasteland, never able to thrive.
“She’s in my dungeon.”
My body lurched involuntarily, my mouth dropping open before I could school my reaction.
“But I won’t be executing her.” Reza picked at his teeth. “Not when I’ve seen what she can do.”
I raised my head and looked at him directly.
No. He couldn’t possibly know.
Panic raced through my blood, my heart pounding so loudly I felt as though I were in the middle of battle. The thought of what Reza could do with a power like that—one that allowed him to find hidden things, discover new relics, increase his power tenfold? He would raze River and laugh while doing it.
The Court of Salt would have the power to take over all Peristan.
“What can she do?” My voice cracked at the end, but Reza didn’t even glance my way. That light in his eyes was now an unholy gleam, and I recognized it for what it was.
Power lust.
“The most magnificent thing.” He licked his lips, as if imagining her conjuring the same golden threads I’d seen her call in the east wing library.
Bile rose to my throat.
“I saw her pull magic from the air and use it to locate a hidden map. And a book about Queen Azari’s hidden vault.”
