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“Where is he?”
“Javer is with Odessa. If you meant Beks...” Draven cleared his throat. “Hawl and Crescent are seeing to his body.”
“Seeing to it? What is there to see?” I demanded, my voice harsh. “He’s gone, isn’t he? What do the Siabra do with bodies, anyhow? Put them on a pyre? Set them out to sea?” That’s what traditionally happened to Pendragon kings and queens. Not that I would ever be one. Not that I was even really a Pendragon.
But it was my name. It was all I’d known. I wasn’t about to take Draven’s, was I?
Morgan Venator. It didn’t sound completely terrible.
Something wet was falling down my cheek. Drops of condensation must have been dripping from the ceiling, I decided, because I certainly wasn’t fucking crying right now.
I swiped at my face as stealthily as I could, then heard Draven sigh.
“What? No one asked you to come here. For once, you couldn’t have just left me alone? In peace?”
“I... could have. You’re right. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Parts of the palace are unstable. There are reports of cave-ins, flooding. I just thought...” His voice trailed off. For once it lacked its steely quality.
“You looked at me as if you didn’t even know me when I came back from the trial.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I needed the court to see I was deadly serious when I announced you were their new empress.”
I laughed bitterly. “I’m not their new empress, Draven. For the love of the Three, please stop fucking saying I am.”
“I know you hate it. I knew you would hate it. But it’s the truth. You are.”
“Then I resign. I abdicate. I bestow the honor on you. You’re my husband, right? So can’t I just... give the throne to you?”
“There might be some precedent for that, but it’s a long and complicated legal process. And besides, I wouldn’t accept it.”
I whirled to face him. “You told me you were doing this because you wanted to become emperor. To rule your people. To change things.”
“That was the original plan.”
“And then?” My voice was hard. “You decided to set me up instead. To what...? Fake your injury? Pretend to be more impacted by the poison than you really were? Were you conscious in that bed the entire time?”
“I was in a self-induced state of stasis,” he said carefully. “A kind of hibernation, if you will. I couldn’t see you or hear you. At least, not usually.”
My nostrils flared. “Yet you knew just when to wake up.”
“I had set a time frame, yes. I told my body when I needed it back.”
“How fucking convenient. Meanwhile, I could havedieddown in that arena. Lyrastra lost her arm. And for what? Because you don’t want to be emperor after all? Thanks for mentioning it.” I threw up my hands and turned away.
“It wasn’t like that. I swear.” Draven’s voice was soft and low. I wasn’t used to hearing him this way. But then, he was probably pretending to be contrite. Pretending to care. Everything had been just that. Pretending.
I sniffed.
“Really, Morgan. It wasn’t.” He hesitated. “I knew you would be safe. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Iknew.”
I turned back around. “You knew? How?”
His eyes fixed on mine. “I dreamed it.”
I stared. “You dreamed it?”
