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“Tell me. Now.”
Valerian gave me his eyes. “During my escape, after I made it into the city, I asked a commoner on the street if they could tell me where you had gone. I couldn’t trust this… thing… I was feeling to guide me all the way to you, but I knew you were outside, somewhere—across the bridge.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me the Princess was up in the palace, more than likely. So, I prodded… and he didn’t recognize your name. He corrected me, in fact.”
“What?”
“He didn’t know who Princess Amara was. He told me the Princess’ name wasMalys… Malys Wolfsbane.”
I shook my head, but that only made the dizziness worse. I felt weak, faint, like I was about to pass out, but I held it together as much as I could. “Malys… that name doesn’t… I don’t know who that is. I’ve never heard that name before in my life.”
“Whoever it is, she’s Princess of Windhelm now. Not you.”
“This can’t be happening. It can’t.”
“Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
I looked up at him, but I didn’t want to answer him. I still didn’t trust him and telling him about the dream I’d had seemed like a bad idea. Aterribleidea, in fact. “I woke up today and nobody knows who I am,” I said, “And someone else sits in my place at the palace. Eating my food, sleeping in my bed, and spending time with my parents—wait, myparents! They must know there’s an impostor in the palace. They have to know.”
Valerian shook his head. “If they did, I would have heard something about it on my way out of the city.”
“I have to go back to the castle. I have to find them.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
I frowned at him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
“With all due respect, I could be the only person in all of Arcadia who even knows yourname. You’re not a Princess anymore, you’re nobody, just like me, and if you want my help, you’re going to have to talk to me like an equal.”
“I didn’t say I needed, or even wanted your help.”
“You don’t have to say a thing for it to be true. If you go back to the city now, you’ll never make it past the castle walls before the guards stop you.”
“I’ll fight my way through.”
“If you think you can take on all of Windhelm, then be my guest, but I can tell you right now, that’s another terrible idea. Our goals should be survival and evasion, not storming the city.”
“Ourgoals.”
“Yes,ourgoals. Like it or not, we’re in this together.”
“And what do you suggest we do, then? Run and hide?”
“Exactly that. We should take the road, head to Lysa, and lay low until we can figure out what’s happened to us.”
“Why do we have to lay low? No one knows who we are.”
“You’re on the run from the Moon Children, and I’m on the run from Windhelm. There will be people looking for us, no matter where we go.”
I took an angry step toward him. “I don’t know where you get off pretending you’re the one in charge, here. I’m the Princess.”
He took a step toward me, his shoulders rolling. “Not anymore.”
“I don’t trust you,” I said, advancing on him once more.
“And I don’t think you’ve told me all you know about what’s happened to us,” he said, also advancing, “But we’re each going to have to put that aside and work together to survive.”
