“What are you talking about?” I demanded. No one should know anything about my true identity. Not when I’d taken great pains to hide it.
“I have a message for you,” he continued, ignoring my question. “I was trying to bring it to you when we got captured. My cousin, he wasn’t as discreet as he should have been, so they caught us.”
“Who gave you this message?”
“A churail.”
I narrowed my eyes at his mention of a witch. There weren’t many witches left in the Court of River, as they had all managed to flee when the Court of Salt took over.
“She said the curse on the Mountain would be broken when Queen Azari’s crown is found. And then she gave me this.” He fumbled in the waistband of his trousers, revealing a false pocket there, and pulled out a small gold ring.
I narrowed my eyes. This felt like a trap, but if the Viceroy knew anything about my true history, I’d already be facing his wrath.
No, this wasn’t a trap from him.
But that didn’t mean this witch was innocent. They had done their share in the war between Salt and River that made me suspicious of anything they would give me.
And why hadn’t she found me herself?
But the mention of Queen Azari’s crown nearly made my heart stop. If this witch could lead me to the crown, it was worth the risk.
“Where is this churail?”
And who was she?
“She came upon my cousin and me in the bazaar in Charvellan city. She said I should tell you she had a dream that you are the Prince that would return, that you would bring us back. That you would free the Court of River from the Salt Court and would release the royal family from Tirich Mir.”
It felt as though the ground had dropped from beneath me.
It was impossible that one witch would know so much about me when I thought no one knew who I truly was, except for a select few in the Red Jasmine.
The boy glanced up at me, his eyes glazed with something besides terror, and I realized this was why he hadn’t looked at me earlier. Not because he didn’t want me to see his fear, but rather his awe.
I wanted to stand, to leave the dungeon, to run from his eyes and the hope I saw there. I wanted to tell him all the things I was forced to do to the peris in our Court, and all the things I had yet to do.
But I couldn’t turn away.
“Will you bring us back?”
At his soft question, I closed my eyes.
“I’m trying to,” I muttered.
But I still didn’t know what to do with the information he gave me, and unease churned in my gut. “How does this churail know me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she escaped from the Mountain Palace?” the boy said hopefully. But I shook my head.
“Impossible. No one has broken the curse on Tirich Mir since it was triggered. Queen Azari’s magic is impossible to overcome.”
It sounded as if I were echoing General Faisal’s sentiments from earlier. I curled my lip, not wanting to sound like him in the slightest, even with my own doubts echoing through my head.
No onehadbroken the ancient Queen’s magic before, despite our attempts. My family had entered Tirich Mir to retrieve the Queen’s ancient weapon and had never come out. But I wasn’t about to let General Faisal or the Salt Court tell me what I was about to do.
Nor would I let my family rot in a palace prison for the rest of eternity, even if I had to take their place.
The boy looked deflated at my words, and something inside me rose up—that lingering piece of resistance that wanted to be worthy of the hope I’d seen in his eyes.
“But I’m going to be the one to bring it down,” I said softly, surprised at my own words. It was strange saying this all out loud; it felt like being closer to something I’d never been able to touch before. Like with my words I had made it more possible.
