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My chin jutted up to indicate the huge suite in which I lay, with the adjoining bathroom. It felt similar to my apartment in Goldhaven Palace, but I couldn’t imagine the gall it would take for Lysandra to kidnap me and keep me under King Zen and Queen Mirielle’s noses in their palace. Then again, she wasrunning an entire operation, more or less out in the open. But I still found it difficult to believe that we were in Silverhold Tower—not that I’d been there before to compare. I knew very little about the other kingdoms outside what I’d read about in books and seen online.
“This is Homage,” Lysandra replied simply, as if that explained anything to me at all.
“What is Homage?” I asked impatiently.
“The house that the King and Queen of Silverhold had built for us when they were sure we were brainwashed enough to do their bidding, that we didn’t have any dark magic left in us. It’s where they keep us working for them.”
Well, obviously, that didn’t keep with you, I thought. Or does Lysandra just hide her dark magic better… like me?
Could she be right? Did we have more in common than I wanted to admit?
“This is where the Anti-Order lives?”
She grimaced at the title, but shrugged and nodded. “Yes. This is where my sisters and me were put after Queen Mirielle went on her rampage to brainwash us clean of the Order of Soul’s teachings. Here.”
She scoffed as if she was living in squalor, gesturing wildly, but I couldn’t see anything wrong with the surroundings.
“Oh, come on,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “It doesn’t look like you’re living too shabbily. From what I hear, it beats the hell out of how Agnan had you, running from abandoned house to abandoned house, squatting on others’ property.”
Lysandra’s smile faded. “There’s more to life than riches, Elix. That’s the core tenet of the Order. We can live together harmoniously without hoarding.”
But murdering and dark magic is not a problem. Is that how it works?
I considered her words, my mind racing. Fighting with her wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and with my legs and arms locked down, I was powerless, even if my rage was slowly breaking down the block. But I was getting tired, and my best hope was Lysandra lowering her guard.
“Lysandra, you lived with nothing,” I reminded her quietly. “I’ve done it, too. It’s not fun. At least the monarchs do their best to ensure that everyone in their kingdoms is cared for. That’s why we have them. To ensure a system of government.”
“Is that what you think they’re doing while they live in their palaces, exploiting the poorest in society so they can have clean pools and tennis courts?”
The bitterness in her voice alarmed me. Agnan really did a number on her.
“I don’t think they exploit anyone. And what’s your solution? To have no government at all? That would be worse. It would be a free-for-all. You’ll just trade one problem for another.”
Not that I believed the kings were the real problem here.
“I won’t debate the politics of it with you, Elix. It’s much too complex an issue, and you’ve already had twenty-four years of propaganda shoved into your skull. It doesn’t matter, anyway,” Lysandra sighed. “Once the King learns about your bloodline, he’ll throw you out. How’s that for fairness for all?”
I felt like I’d been stabbed in the heart by her true words.
He already has done that. She’s not wrong.
“What were you doing out in Copehaven all by yourself, Elix? No guards, no Saint, even? I find it hard to believe you just picked up and needed a change.”
“How long have you been following me?” I fired back.
“Your whole life,” Lysandra replied without hesitation. “Agnan demanded it. He wanted to approach you at the right opportunity and have you join the Order, but your brother trulyis like a bloodhound. He thwarted my latest attempt with that warlock quite unpleasantly.”
The blood drained out of my face as I remembered the terrible date that had been the catalyst for me going to the palace. “That was you?!”
“It has always been me,” Lysandra sighed. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
I wished the comfortable mattress would open up and swallow me entirely.
She has to be lying. I would have known if that were true. How could I have been so oblivious to eyes on me the whole time? What good is my control of the elements if I have no common sense at all?
“Why did you choose to come now if that’s true?” I asked suspiciously, not buying her recount.
Lysandra was prepared for the question. “It was never safe to approach you. Your brother was always too closely connected to King Jace, so it was too risky. Then, when he sent you to live in the palace, well, I thought I’d never be able to tell you the truth. Approaching you meant antagonizing the Royal Guards, and our numbers have depleted, thanks to King Zen and his traitorous queen.”
